Smyrna times., 1855-08-08
The Individual and the Communitv,

The Individual and the Communitv
Every man desires to secure as much of the
good things Of life rs possible. 1t is the origi-
nal effort, that to which al! others are subscr-
Went, and from which all laws and customs,
rules and regulations, must derive their yalidi-
ty. To Robinson Crusoe it was, in itself, a
complete and perfect code of morals.
The difficulty in its application arises from
the necessary arrangements of many human
beings living together. The division of labor
makes it impossible for any individual to seek
directly for more than very limited portion of
the good things he requires. The tailor can
only seek, directly, for hisapparel; the gardener
for his produce; the butcher for his meat. All
else, each man can acquire only by indrection;
he must look for exchangeable commodities,
which, while in themselves useless to him, may
be converted into that which he himself re-
quires In other words every man must make
money.
Yet experience proves, that wherever this
advice mas been solely and exclusively followed,
all have ended, not i'll gaming an increased
supply of the good things of life, but in losing
even the quantum formerly possessed. Poor
Croesus is case of universal appllcation.-
Tyre and Sidon were destroyed, and their
wealth absorbed by the needy Macedonian
rich Carthage fell at the feet of impoverished
Rome. The Roman aristocracy, gluttcd with
wealth, fell into the hands of the barbarians.-
In I diC
lowed up by the descendants of a poor robbcr
knight OF Switzerland; the wealth Of the lIansa
is going into the hands Of the thirtv-six little
despOts Of Germany. Even England, though
England never was ruled exclusively by the
search of wealth,-is suffering at the hands OF
the peasants of the Ukraine.
These phenomena are easily explained. The
source from which every one derives his money
is the product of that particular kind of labor
which, in the division made by society, has
fallen TO his share. To convert this product
into the greatest possible amount of money, one
of two things Is necessary, either 10 furnish as
great quantity Of the product as possible, or
to make it as inaccessible, as dear as possible,
or at least as the effective demand will stretch
The former expcdient benefits society, no less
than the individual, while the latter mpover-
ishes society at the expense of the individual
Unfortunately, to do the latter, is, in many
cases, much easier than to do the former. The
demand of any particular commodity, at any
given stage of civilization and improvement, is
limited to a certain quantity; if supplied be-
yond that limit, it will not bling return to the
immediate producer. The ineXhaustible zinc
mines of Pennsylvania, We're left to lie idle be-
fore the introduction of zinc paint, because Il
single mine in Europe was then said to be sufii-
cicnt to supply the demand of the world. The
cotton manufactures of England periodically
reach all extent when the market Of the world
no longer sufliccs to consume, or at least to pay
for them the cost of production and transporta-
ton. They are then forced upon the market at
reduced rates, which constitutes the "over-
trailing that always precedes commercial
crisis. The crisis generally ruins the manu-
factnrers, but it at the same time extends the
area of trade, and the market of succeeding
manufacturers by the increased capabilities and
demands which the goods sacrificed have crea-
ted in the quarters to which they have been
taken. The manufacturers who are ruined
have, in effect, made the community present
of the capital invested in the goods sacrificed,
sometimes, it is true, at the expense of their
creditors or their workmen.
more commodions way of making money
is, therefore, to enhance the market value of
the commodity sold,-to make it less accessible
to the public, and thereby compel them to pay
more for it. The tailor conceals the device by
WHICH he makes his coats fit better than the
other tailors,-and thus gets a portion of the
pay which would otherwise be divided among
all the tailors acquainted with it. The MEM
bcrs of trade or profession keep down the
members of those who enter it, in order to dis
tribute the total of employment, and therefore
of rccompense, among a smaller number
Doctors are more fond of enshrnIng their pro-
fessiunal knowledge in bristling technicals,
than of diss eminatng a knowledge Of the prin-
ciplcs of hygiene and physiology. Lawyers
get the larger fees the more intricate, involved,
contradictory, loose, vague, and antiquated is
the code Of laws through which they undertake
to pilot the barks Of their clients The Roman
Catholic clergy enveloped the learning of their
order in such clouds of scholasticism that, upon
their representation, no man could be saved by
comprehending the truth itself, but only by
contributing literally to the support of pro.
fession who made it their particular business to
understand it for him. The best way to grow
rich is to give as little as you can, and to take
what you can. get.
But the misfortune is that this system works
too well. Each craft takes from every other,
and contributes as little as possible, until al
last every craft has exhausted every other, and
can get no more, simply because there is moth
;no, 10 ha oof No man coU 10 o ~..l