Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1878-08-15
The Rich Richer and the Poor Poorer.

There Il nothing novel or startling in the
| dcnunciations OF the existing order OF things
/ bv Iroup, Shupc and Company, because
| as they alege, under our present social
| and political conditions wealth j. accunn-
latng 10 n dangerous amount Ia the hands
| OF few capitalists. IL was urged MY
| years ago aS one OF the strongest argu-
ments against the recharter OF the Bank Of
the United States that the control of such
an immense sum as twenty or thirty mill
/ lions OF dollars by single corporation was
a standing menace to free institutions. In
| this country, however. the notion has but
| lately taken root that the capitalist is per s.,
| public enemy-a drone who subsists on
the toll o! his tetters, or spoiler who ac-
, lively confscates the earnings of the op.
pressed hlrelins. Among the Influences
which have helped TO prepare the soil for
the reception of this Sociallstic idea we
ought not 10 overlook the constant repetl-
ton OF that taking antithesis, THE rich
richer and the poor poorer" which ia for
ever In the mouth OF every schemer who
| wants TO offer some excuse for debasing
the coinage. or floating more paper money,
! or repudiating the National obligations or
! making eight hours a day, or abolishing
laborsaviug machinery. or regenerating
society by any other patent plan.
This phrase has been so often and so pas
sionately declaimed that 1t has doubtless
done much TO impress unthinking people
with the belief that the accumulation of
wealth by the wealthy must OF necessity be
! balanced by more pinching poverty among
tie poor, aud indeed that the increase Of
capital in the hands of the few must of ne
cessi:y BE- an efficient cause of dis,ressful
want to the many. Now, even II were
true that one man cannot grow rich with
out impoverishing several OF his fellows, II
is hard TO see how this calamity could be
| ayerted In society where any right 70
property Whatever was recognized. Wealth
| brings with II the power 10 tnultiply itself
power to seize opportunity, to overcome
opposition, to gain wider and more accur-
ate Information, and TO employ more and
more efficient agencies. Wealth needs no
class legislation to foster its growth, for It
tends to accumulate by natural and inevlt-
able laws. or course, there are counter
tendencies at work TO limit this accumula-
ton, so that II the attainment OF great
wealth by an individual Is an evil to socie-
ty. society j. never compelled to wait long
10 see 1t dissipated. For il a great fortune
survives the rivalries and uncertainties snd
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 in reality there is nothing in the ns-
ture OF things 10 make the poor poorer be-
cause the rich grow richer, a5y more than
there Is to make the highest intellectual ac-
QUESTION by the few dependent on the den.
sest ignorance of the many Capital Is
nothing but the treasured results of past
labor, and the capitalist is only the man to
whom these treasures grayitate because Of
his peculiar fitness to employ them to the
greatest profit. The whole community eli-
Joys the benefit of his talent and experience,
but the laboring man gains the especial ad-
vantage of securing employment from the
renewed Investment OF these accumulafing
profits. Nothing can be palmer than the
fact that the position which the capitalist
fills In our complex society is essential to
its healthful existence. A community
which saves nothing is sunk in barbarism.
In community which LAYS up something
from the product of its labor the rich will
grow richer. And in the long run that
community will be most prosperous from
:op to bottom which produces men who
possess in the highest degree this faculty of
discovering the controlling needs of the
people and the ability to supply these needs
with the least friction and waste. Most
certainly an ideal society would not be one
in which the rich were restrained from
growing richer by being compelled to d.
vide their savings with Justus Schwab and
The Allen, or to intrust General Cary
with the investment Of their capital.-GN.
Y. Tribune.