Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1883-10-27

taught that if wealth. were destroyed,
or rather if wealthy men did not exist,
that every one would go on working
just the same. There would be as
much wealth but it would be more
evenly distributed. The man deprived
of his riches would turn in and work
with the rest, and would therefore be
producer and not solely a consumer.
There would be no extravagantly fine
houses but multitude of comfortable
small ones; no velvet carpets, but an
abundance of ingrains; to express it
financially, there would be no double
eagles but the same value in small
coins. This is the Democratic ide, ]
paradise, in which labor stands up head,
and everything else is subservient to it.
Such condition of society, according
to Mallock, is an absurdity and an i'm
possibility.
But what are the motives by which
men are actuated? The first and the
lowest is that which results from mans
necessities all men will work for food,
clothing and shelter. Above this
there are as many promptings, almost,
as there are individuals, but it is very
rare indeed that any one works merely
for the love of it. AS society is at
present organized the most active form
of ambition is for the accumulation of
wealth; deprive the world of that and
the creation of wealth would cease, for
it is not in harmony with mans inn
pulses to sow,wholly for the benefit of
others. Every man, too, is gifted
differently from his fellows. Mr..
Mallock draws the picture of two
brothers, one having the capacity to
become a chemist, while the other is
satisfied to be cider.sifter. If the
chemist cultivates his talent to the full
est extent he does so for purpose that
hasin view, and he would not work with.
the same energy or success deprived of
that motive. He is type of tens of
thousands who are working out the
great problems of life, actuated by a
hope that constantly impels them on.
ward. The cider.sifter feels this i'm
pulse only in minor degree; he only
recognizes those wants that correspond
with his lower condition. Reduce the
chemist and himself to the same level,
as to wages and everything else in life,
and the chemist would be spoiled with
out the cinder>sifter being improved.
This law of motive is lifting power;
it affects all classes and it benefits all
classes. Wealth, when accumulated,
turns and helps the struggling by con-
stantly holding out new motives, and
by constantly holding out new chan>
nels for the employment of labor.
In another chapter Mr.. Mallock
uses Herbert Spencer's illustration of
the printing press to set forth his theo-
ries-the great Walter press, on which
the London Times is printed. Could
this press have been created except
through great diversity of motives in
the human mind? We must go back
to the beginning of printing for its gene
sis. There were scores of printing
machines that went before it, each the
result of an ambition to excel. In the
end, it took the genius of one man to
combine all the best parts of all the
other presses. and the educated skill
of mechanics who, through their own
individual motives, were led to do the
work faithfully, and in harmony with
another. Is this all? No, for such a
press would have been useless without
the great roll of paper that would be
increasingly devoured by this great
machine. There came into play a
developed geometry, physics and
chemistry then there had to be man
with the means and will to spend thous-
ands Of pounds, taking all the risks in
order to put the press finally in motion.
1t is possible to conceive of a condition
where all men work solely for each
others good, but it can not be found in
this world. All of Mr.. Mallock's theo-
ries are not to be endorsed, but as a
contribution to an extensive and ex.
citing discussion thew are important