PAGE TITLE Catholics that lived in Denver at the time, despite there being nearly 70 other social organizations for whites. UNDERCURRENT WASHES OUT According to Goodstein, the numerous charitable and antipoverty organizations in Denver earned the city a national reputation for its social climate. In turn, Goodstein writes that other states would literally bus their impoverished to Denver to receive services. Several church congregations also banded together to help the city’s poor. Pastors such as Myron W. Reed, who preached at the First Congregational Church in Denver during the 1870s, would tell his well-to-do audience to support antipoverty causes, which can “quell revolutionary upheavals,” according to a report by the Rocky Mountain News. However, Denver’s robust social services system and the individualistic needs of an agrarian and domestic manufacturing economy didn’t mix well. This juxtaposition created an undercurrent of resentment against those who were seen as simply “emptying the stores” of supplies that other, more productive Denverites might need, according to news reports. Similarly, B.T. Vincent gave a sermon at Trinity Methodist where he said the only way to treat the “moral ill of poverty is with kindness.” However, one listener published a rebuttal in the Rocky Mountain News the following day saying the masses of Denver “are too matter-of-fact” to understand such abstract reasoning. Those who were successful saw the city as a testament to the human spirit. Founded some 500 miles from the Kansas Territory capital of Topeka, Denver was known as an outlaw’s paradise. An article from The Daily Herald sums up the views of many of Denver’s early settlers: “When we consider the numerous difficulties with which it has been necessary to contend — difficulty of access, of materials, and supplies — we doubt whether the Anglo-Saxon race, with all its boasted triumphs, has yet to achieve anything which compares to Denver City,” it reads. News reports suggest this sense of pride in Denver City pervaded the local business community at the time. Meanwhile, people in poverty emerged as tricksters who were perceived to be seeking the riches of the successful miners, manufacturers, and farmers. An obituary for a noted horse thief named “Pendergrast” accused the person of using “the guise of poverty” to defraud their victims. As one writer in the Rocky Mountain News so eloquently surmised: “If a person is too poor to support a government with taxes, then they are too poor to need government at all.” The same article continues: “Such persons can have no property worth protection, and the lives of such povertystricken individuals are never in danger, unless they should be the drunken brawlers of the streets of Denver.” Denver’s first property tax assessors were also told to exclude those who seemed to be so impoverished that it was unlikely that they could contribute any property taxes, which further added to the sentiment of distrust. Eventually the undercurrent that helped support Denver’s impoverished slowly settled as the expeditious needs of Denver’s industrious class continuously outweighed the social needs of the city’s poor. Some of the city’s first ordinances restricted the sale of bootleg liquor and gambling on the sidewalks, as they were a threat to more legitimized competitors. Following the economic downturns at the end of the 19th Century, Denver would work to instill a culture of industrious productivity among its people. To that end, Denver found champions in the moguls who molded the city into what it is today. ■ The Hard Times Writing Workshop is a collaboration between Denver Public Library and Lighthouse Writers Workshop. It’s open to all members of the public, especially those experiencing homelessness. Each month, the Denver VOICE publishes a selection of writing from these workshops. Virtual workshops: lighthousewriters.org/workshop/denver-public-library-hard-times More writing by these featured poets: writedenver.org HABEEL HARNEY IT’S JUST CRIMINAL I dreaded closing my eyes Not to be knowing I would miss anything But knowing I would have to wake to the same thing Eventually after the war Of who was in charge You latch shut with paddle locks Everything still echoing For there is no peace Blackness arrives with surprising comfort Silence followed creeping through the souls Still I am in darkness Why was I distill Waiting like patient capture For the blackness to command. WRITING THROUGH HARD TIMES COURTESY OF DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY AND LIGHTHOUSE WRITERS WORKSHOP D. GLORSO SMELL THE CLEAN AIR Smell the clean air of morning As the sun rises bright Morn no more When sorrow grieves the eyes Look away just for a moment Relax the tension in your mind Think of better times past Imagine a life of only good If one can think it Calm again is possible Listen for the calling of love Sweet acts of friendships past Can be repeated in the mind Believe in smiles ever so slight They carry with them hope Laughter needs parted lips Relax the jaws of pain Search the room for objects of joys The cup from which a lover drank Memories sparkle in the home When unity was the norm As with time the world will turn From grief to joys again October 2021 DENVER VOICE 11
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