New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-07-29
THE Rich RICHER AND THE POOR POORER.

THE RICH RICHER And THE POOR POORER.
There is nothing novel or startling In the
denunciations of the existing order OF things
by Troup, Shupe and Company. because, as
they allege, under our present social and po-
litical conditions wealth is accommodating to
dangerous amount in the hands of a few cap
italsts. 1t was urged fifty years ago as one
of the strongest arguments against the rechar-
ter of the Bank of the United States that the
control of such an immense sum as twenty
or thirty millions of dollars by single cor
poratiOn was standing menace to free msti-
tutions. In this country, however, the notion
has but lately taken root that the capitalist
is per Sc public enemy-a drone who subssts
on the toll of his betters, or a spoiler who
actively confscates the earnings of the OPP
pressed hireling. Among the influences which
have helped TO prepare the soil for the
reception of this Sociaistic idea, we ought
not to overlook the constant repetition OF that
taking anttheSis, "the rich richer and the
"poor poorer" which is forever in the mouth
of every scbemer who wants to offer some eX-
cuse for debasiDg the coinage, or floating
more paper money, or repudiating the Ma
tlonal obligations, or making eight hours n
day, or abOlishng labor-saving machinery, or
regenerating society by any other patent plan.
This phrase has been so often and so pas
sionately acclaimed that 1t has doubtless done
much to impress unthnking people with the
belief that the accumulation of wealth Ivy the
wealthy must of necessity be balanced 10y
more pinchIng poverty among the poor, ana
indeed that the increase of capital In tine
hands of the few must of necessity be an
efficient cause of distressful want TO the many.
Now, even if 1t were true that one man can
not grow rich without impoverishng several
of his fellows, it is hard to see how this
calamity could he averted in n society where
any right to property whatever was recog-
nized Wealth brings with it the power to
multiply itself-pOwer TO seize opportunity, to
overcome opposition, to gain wider and more
accurate information, and 10 employ more ana
more efficient agencies. Wealth needs no
GLASS legislation TO foster its growth, for 1t
tends to accumulate by natural and inevitable
laws OF course, there are counter tendencies
at work TO limit this accumulation,
so that if the attainment of great
wealth by an individual is an evil to
society, society is never compelled to wait
long to see it disspated. For if great for
tune survives the rivalries and uncertainties
and perhaps the acquired extravaganza of one
lifetime, the first generation which inherits it
will be very likely to relieve society of any
further apprehension.
But III reality there Is nothing in the nature
of things to make the poor poorer because the
rich grow richer, any more than there is to
make the highest intellectual acquisition by
the few dependent on the densest ignor-
ance of the many. Capital is nothing
but the treasured results OF past labor, and the
capitalist is only the man to whom these
treasures gravitate because OF his peculiar tit
ness to employ them 10 the greatest profit. The
whole community enjoys the benefit of his tall
ent and experience but the labOIing man gains
the especial advantage of securing employ
ment from the renewed investment of these
accommodating profits. Nothing can be palmer
than the fact that the position which the cap
italist fills in our complex society is
essential to ITS healthful existence. a com
munity which saves nothing is sunk in bar
barism. In a community which lays up some
thing from the product of its labor the rich
will grow richer. And in the long run that
community will be most prosperous from top
to bottom which produces men who possess III
the highest degree this faculty of discovering
the controlling needs of the people and the abil-
ity to supply these needs with the least friction
and waste. Most certainly an ideal society
would not be one in which the rich were re-
strained from growing richer by being COM
PEELED to divide their savings with Justus
Schwab and "The" Allen. or to intrust Gen
eral Cary with the investment Of their capital.
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