William Graham Sumner: What Social Classes Owe to Each Other

In this reading, Sumner makes the argument that government programs to help the poor are abused and that rich people should be able to keep their wealth. To a certain extent, I see where he's coming from. When I see how much money gets taken out of my paychecks for taxes, it makes me sick (and I am definitely not considered rich), but, this guy has absolutely no sympathy. 

I know that some people do take advantage of the systems set in place in the United States now, and I'm sure it happened then too. However, there are some legitimate reasons why some people live below the poverty line. I try to exercise as much sympathy as possible in this situations and not judge people. Sumner, on the other hand, is completely insensitive. He writes,  "Labor organizations are formed, not to employ combined effort for a common object, but to indulge in declamation and denunciation and especially to furnish an easy living to some officers who do not want to work." 

Over the summer I worked at a drugstore that sold groceries. The area where I live doesn't have a very high level of income in some areas. I'm lucky enough to have a family that has always been able to live comfortably, but I know that some people that live on the other side of town aren't so lucky. A lot of people that came into my work used food stamps to pay for their purchases. Most seemed to actually need food stamps for their purchases. These customers seemed embarrassed of  their situations, and some even explained their situations (lay offs, difficulty finding new jobs, etc). To me, these people hardly seemed to not want to work, most just couldn't find a good job that was close enough to our village to be financially worth it gas wise. And while there were some people that paid for extra frivolous things with money or a credit card and then bought food with food stamps, they were definitely in the minority.