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ambition. For a generation 1 10 Amor can pcop lo
Uuvo boon monoy-mad, and llfo liftfl boon moa
urod by iicctimuhillonH. Tho poor luivo Imitated
tho rich, and tlio rich huvo nuulo now records
of extravagance. Plutocracy In America, lack nb
oven tho liiHiiHlclont restraints imposed by prljlo
of pedigree, has run riot, and tho excesses of tlio
purMO-proml, instead or oxcltliiK contempt, havo
only awakonod a HpIrIL of emulation.
I3ut the crisis 1h past. From tho press, tho
pulpit, tho college, the Chautauqua platform and
tho homo, Is coming a healthy protest against
tho measuring bf llfo by a pecuniary standard.
Tho change In tho Ideal means a revolution in
tho llfo, whether the change takes placo in tho
Individual or In the group. An Increasing number
of our people realio that there is a higher end
In llfo than (ho making or money that money
In only 11 means to an end. They also realize
that money, while a good servant, is a heartless
master. Tho popularity of Charles Wagner's
book, "The Simple Liro," is due to tho fact that
It Is a vigorous Indictment of present conditions,
whoroln man lias been made subservient to his
material possessions. The author's plea for a re
versal of the order and for tho placing of man
above matter ilndtt a quick response in a multi
tude of hearts. The translation or this little
volumo Into many languages shows how wide
spread is tlio weariness with materialism and
how eagerly the new thought is grasped, whllo
tho fact that tlio book sold best in the United
States is evidence that hero the movement is
already strongest. Hut tills now bit of ovidenco
was not necessary to convince any unbiased mind
that our country leads the world. In disinterested
effort.
Tho substitution of a new ideal of life for
tho old 0110 Is maniresling itself in several ways.
In tho Individual, It introduces justice into the
methods of accumulation and altruism into tho
distribution of money, and, of the two, tho first
Is tho moro important. It Is bettor to gather
honestly than to distribute generously. Some
times distributions havo silenced tongues that
otherwise would have spoken out against the
methods employed In nccumulnfion. Trust mag
uitos. for instance (whether they Intended to or
not), have subsidized colleges, charities and oven
religious societies Into a defense of business
methods which violate all moral and statuto
law.
ENLARGING THE SYMPATHIES
Assuming that the means employed In ac
quiring a fortune aro legitimate, much depends
upon tho spirit and purpose with which it is
used, it is as selfish for a man of means to
spend nil of his fortuno upon his family as it
is to spend It upon himself, for the family is
only a larger self. Tho country was shocked
when Marshall Field ignored the claims of society
and tied bis tremendous estate up in a trust
for the benetlt of his family. That one could
live in a world like ours, amid tho appeals from
worthy societios engaged in works or humanity,
charity, education and religion, and still be deaf
to tho cries for aid and blind to tho needs of tho
Buffering and neglected, shows how small a heart
this successful business man had.
There can bo no moral awakening that does
not onlargo one's sympathies and creato a senso
of stewardship, however fairly one's wealth has
brcn secured; but an examination into the meth
ods employed In making money is of still greater
momont. One can not atone for wrong done to
n multitude by giving to a few, oven though the
few may bo very deserving; and, moreover. 0110
who docs wrong to the masses is not likely to
bo conscientious In tho use of his money. Tho
employment of immoral methods in business so
perverts the mind and corrupts tho heart that
om, takes a distorted view of tho relations of
life. Wo have soon abundant evidence of this in
ini.ndlxT a" ,Vtt?rnncos of tllc nation's ex-
c.w.vto. u IIISLIUILIUII 18 inn cnmnl f.. Ai
denie-govprnment, tho homo and t.1,0 m,,.
allko suffered it. timii. imn.1,1
to
have
vbuio irom inheritance, tho only honest
method of accumulation is bv rendering to qSSnfv
a service equal in value to the 5m L ?
drawn from
often been
r,nti mi. V. """'I'VllBailUH
ouwu.jr. iUe word honest has too
Used in flns,.h , A. . ' '" !
that was not punisha lo a "a crime bu fit
not properly bo used to dosctVo mv transcS
business hrZ":. assumed
Hnn P ",. - r"r a."nU St. Tho
If
applica-
self go
I upon a
justice
such a M by mo inrtivi , inl R1 u
sound tasls .11. .,". . "' i "' ."""moss
,, W111W&I II I I It Vlj-tt- l .
can ho n.nnn.1 ,. ' " ""i an, n-
vlflinii in .ni" ;v:.1. 1. l" UUJ onort of
- - w iitni? i v'lTirni
,, .
one indi-
"
The Commoner.
that Ifl, by tho employment of customary methods
without stopping to examine into them. It is
probably true that a largo proportion of tho
wrong now dono through illegitimate business
methods is dono without deliberate intention to
wrong. When a Chicago banker was exposed
in wrongdoing recently, a government official
throw the mantle of charity over him and said
that ho only did what others were in the habit
of doing. But this excuse will not stand at tho
bar of conscience. No collusion between wrong
doors, no long-standing custom can change the
moral character of a transaction, and when the
searching process begins no one will delude him
self with tho argument that others also aro
guilty.
SPOILS DIVIDED ARE STILL SPOILS
Tho manufacturer occupies a dual position.
Ho sustains a relation to those who work for
him and to those who buy from him. If he is
entirely selfish he may do injustice to both classes,
or ho may advance his interests by conspiring
with one class against the other. Some of the
trusts have sought to form an alliance with their
employes against the public and have gone so
far as to promise a division of the spoils. Such
a contract would be indefensible in morals even
if it were enforceable by law.
Tho moral quality of an act is not deter
mined by the character of the beneficiaries. A
private monopoly might be less objectionable
if all the pecuniary advantages secured by it wero
fairly divided among those who work for it, but
to say that a private monopoly is necessarily
good because the wage-earners in its employ reap
all the benefit is equivalent to saying that tho
laboror can do no wrong. While, as a rule, tho
wealth producers receive too small a share of tho
products of their toil, tho remedy is not to be
found in allowing them to increase their share
by a conspiracy with the trust magnates for, in
doing so, they would be trespassing upon the
rights of other wealth producers as well as upon
tho rights of the general public but in legisla
tion which will eliminate the principle of private
monopoly and protect all alike. But, ignoring,
for tho sake of argument, the moral element in
volved, the wage-earner can not afford, as a mat
ter of policy, to assist the trust magnates in cor
nering the market, for tho same greed which
leads tho owner of a monopoly to overreach the
consumer will lead him to overreach the laborer
also whenever circumstances will permit. In fact,
an arbitrary increase in price tends to lessen con
sumption, and that in itself reduces the demand
for labor.
The employer, while guaranteeing to his em
ployes a wage which will be just as between him
and them, must guarantee to the public a price
which will bo just as between the public and
him. The organizer of an industry tho execu
tive who plans tho work, purchases the material
and assigns the tasks is necessarily a factor in
production and as such is entitled to compensa
tion out of tho product. The trouble has been
that the "ciptains of industry," fixing their own
compensation, have been too generous with them
selves and havo appropriated to their own use
a part of labor's share, while they have at the
same time extorted from the public a compensa
tion uul 01 proportion to
society. This fact was
Harrison in his letter of
paign of 1892, when, referring to the Homestead
ouinc' "G iu uiuso pauietic words: "I regret
employers of labor are not lust wwi n.
and that capital sometimns n-a t
of the profits."
the service rendered to
admitted by President
acceptance in the cam-
that all
si derate,
largo a share
CONSCIENCE THE POTENT RESTRAINT
While legislation should, as far as nossible
protect each citizen from injustice at the hands
of every other citizen, there is a wide zone be-
ween the duties which the law can enforce and
ttio wrongs which the law can prevent-a zone ta
which conscience, and conscience only, controls
It is in this zone that the larger part of life is
spent and the larger part of life's work s one
For every person who is honest because of the
law a hundred are honest because of conscience
for every person kept in the path of rectitude bv
fear of the penitentiary many hundreds are made
righteous by the promptings of the conscience
The ethical awakening upon which our naUon
s entering will not expend its whole forCen
aV
willing to profit by the wrong act of 'tho L.m
oven when ho would shrink from doin J ?h??Ctop'
act himself, so the citizen win aStta"
VOLUME 7, NUMBER 2
. i"
port his party in doing that whicht he would hesI-
tate to do as an individual. But this .is less likely.
to happen when he begins to emphasize moral
considerations. When one begins to analyze legis
lation and the administration of the law he. 1b
likely to bo amazed at the magnitude o the in
justice done by this intangible thing which 'wa
call government.
LARCENY IN THE FORM OF LAW
Take, for instance, the subject of taxation,
the oldest and most constant of all the sub
jects with which government has had to deal.
The 'supreme court of the United States has
described unjust taxation as "larceny in the form
of law." It is a harsh phrase, and yet no'one
will question the propriety of its .use. If .one
citizen is compelled by law to pay ten dollars
for the support of the government when he.
ought only to pay five, and, under tho same
law, a neighbor is required to pay only fivo when
he should pay ten, the law which causes this
inequality simply transfers five dollars from one
man's pocket to another's.
If we could ascertain the exact amount taken
from tho overtaxed and given to the undertaxed
by the national, state and municipal laws the
total sum would be appalling. Unjust taxation
is bad enough when the inequality is due to the
frailty of human judgment, but it is worse when
it is due to deliberate effort upon the, part of those
who desire to shirk their share of the burdens of
government.
Every state has to fight to compel the rail
roads and other corporations to pay their just
proportion of the taxes, and every city has a con
tinuing struggle to force the tax-dodgers to make
a return of their property. Under our federal
laws almost the entire expense of the govern
ment and the expense is greater than it ought
to bo is thrown upon consumption, and the peo
ple, instead of paying in proportion to property
or income, pay in proportion to what they eat,
drink, wear and otherwise use.
Such taxes make the poor man pay more than
he should and the rich man less than he should, ,
and yet when an income tax was proposed for" the.,
purpose of equalizing the burdens, we were"
warned that it would defeat the party that"
favored it, and it did array against the party ar
large number of those .who now escape a con
siderable part of their share of; the federal
burden's. It was evon urged against the income
tax that rich men would perjure 'themselves to
escape it and that they ought not to be driven
to this extremity.
TWO PRICES IN THE TAX OFFICE
It Is not an uncommon thing for the railroads
to set forth the market value of their stock and'
bonds as the basis of value when rates are under
consideration although the market value of the
stocks and bonds rests upon exorbitant rates
and then present the cost of reproducing the road
as the basis of taxation.
In municipal taxation the corporations hold
ing municipal franchises franchises of great
value and often given to the corporations by cor
rupt councils are often taxed on a lower basis
than the property of citizens, and huge business
blocks are not infrequently taxed on a lower1
basis than the small homes.
While allowances must be made for differences7
of opinion as to the best systems of taxation and:'
the best methods of administration, there can bo
no difference of opinion as to the desirability
of equal and exact justice in the collection of
taxes, and no one whose vote affects the subject r
can excuse himself if he neglects carefully and
conscientiously to investigate the various systems1
proposed As Indifference to"the truth is scarcely"
to be distinguished from wil perversion of the
truth so indifference to tlie character of laws1
enacted is scarcely less reprehensible than de
liberate support of systems known to be unjust
Every quickening of the individual conscience,
therefore, must show itself in better govern
ment, and there is no better test of good lovem
Sxationf11 tlmt embdied in the wf relate to
There has already been an outcry against
what s known as graft, a form of monoy-mal dng
in which the officeholder enriches himself at the
expense of the public. Graft appears in a rauli
tude of forms, but it has its root in the beSaval
of public trust. It is the easiest ?orm otiZt
he afCt0ei.rwh'nn7Grr' beCaUSe no oVdotaSTg
the grafter when he is once exposed. The legis
lator who sells legislation, the purchasing St
who collects a commission from those from whom
he buys, and the executive who puts a pro un
immunity-all these lose their Mends ?s soon as
their misconduct is made public. But the big g?aS
ers who remain in the shadow, and make fortuSci
by the corruption of loss prominent mL-these
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