Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-07-20
THE mIsEKr OF mILLroSArRIsm

Now and hen we meet with a newspaper
that indulgssin unbridled gloriicatiou about
our prosperous land, and tells how cities
have increased and in the country 6eld won
from savage nature has been added to field,
and not a few of them fod their principal
boast 10 the number Of rich men we have in
the country to-day. They reckon up how
many men owning over 8 100000 there were
thirty years ago, and contrast the paucity
with the display Of miillonsires we can
make to-day, and as they proclaim the
hssped-up millions that the stock-jobber,
the contractor, the speculator and the mo-
nopolizsrs have grssped and boarded and
amassed, they exclaim-what a prosperous
country this conntry of ours Is! Thank
heaven it is prosperous, but not on account
of that unhealthy product, the millionaire.
He has made none of this wealth. He is
the rat in the barn, and gathers from the
slores that others sweat and toll produced.
The millionaire who has made his wealth in
the way millionaires usually do, accumulates
only, he has not added a dollar to the coun-
trs's wealth. The toilers made the wealth,
the hard working men that pillow and SOW,
and 6le and spin, and fsg at the counter and
the desk, trade from land to land, and roam
over sea and mountain; the millionaire has
got what they produced out of their hands
into his own, and accumulated the already
existing wealth into a heap, but the country
is no richer, no more prosperous because it
has 100 millionaires where it had one. l.
has orly had more Of its wealth badly dis
tributed, wealth in one pair of hands that q
more sane and more healthy arrangement oil
things would have put inlo fifty. A country
Is rich according TO the amount oil
wealth there ia in il, lis people are
rich, not in proportion to the number oil
men who have raked a great deal of the
wealth into heaps for their own use, but &C.
cording To- the number Of people who receive
enough Of the whole amount of wealth there
is in the country TO supply them individually
with the neceessries and comforts Of life.
The miIlionalre is an execresence 10 be dread
cd, not . healthiul product to be proud o..
If men starting with little have managed
amid the confusion Of war and the exuber-
ance of bountifuI hsrvests and good trade to
pick up the millions they hold to-day, what
will their SONS, starting with capital and
every facility and ~favoriug influence, and
marrying the daughters Of other millionaires
dor "AH the trouble in becoming rich
10 in making the first Million" and
"money makes money" With the first
million ready made, where is the
son of the millionaire who inherits his
fathers propensity to get and keep. to stop1
Every million accumulated is taken out
owns, 90 hat the richer the millionaire gets
the poorer the macs OF the people are left.
When the farmer, the blacksmith, or the
dry goods dealer takea money he gives Ser
vice or merchandise in exchange for it, and
the country is the richer FOR what he hal
produced. But the stock-jobber and the rest
of them have given no equivalent for what
they take Of the country's wealth. VIVA
they gain somebody else has lost; but tn,
man that buys a horseshoe from the black
smith is as much benefited by the shoe al
the smith is by the money. The money hal
changed hands, but each party to the bar.
gain is a gamer. When we trade 10 stock
aud futures what one has gained the other
has los. A portion of wealth has changes
its owner, no new wealth has been made
From all of which it follows that a people i
we'll of only as its wealth is wisely distribu
ted. The more the millionaire m~onopolize
the worse of the people are.