The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-10

the most beuntiful supply OF all our wants. The
powers of production day are far in advance
of all the demands made upon them. If distri
button was fair the everyday laborer might
enjoy, not merely all the necessities of life, but
the luxuries as we'll. There is an absurdity in
preaching thrift and economy n social remedy
for want to beings TO whom the command of
nature and of her limitless forces have been
given. And that this is no remedy may be seen
in another way One workingman may get
ahead of his fellows by being more pinching in
his expenditures, but, If the general body of
Worklngmen were to reduce their scale of living,
it is certain that wages would correSpondingly
decrease. In the present state of things, if
American workingmen were to consent to live as
Cinnamon. they would soon be working for
Chinese wages"
What do you think of Mr. Beecher's belief
that IL is a law of nature that the weak must 60
under and the strong prevail, and that poverty
and suffering are the results of this law7'
Il think il is only the law of that part of ma
ture that lies below man There is something
in man that revots against the idea that might
makes right Social disease does not come from
the interference of beLevolence with the law of
the survival of the fittest, but from the inter
ference Of greed with those perceptions of jus
tice which his Creator has implanted in man.
The monstrous inequalities in the distribution of
wealth in civilized society to day does not result
from the fact that some men produce more
wealth than others, but from the fact that some
men seize upon the products Of others. Some
lnuS UeCOlne abnOfmaliy rlcn, WH1le OtHerS Ue-
come abnormally poor. In all our great fortunes
there is an element of spoliation and robbery.
How many men are there who can honestly
earn million dollars? And that there
exist many fortunes not merely of millions,
but of scores of millions, involves, on the other
side, the failure of labor to get its fair reward.
Mr. Beecher is right in thinking that the man
who works best should get the largest reward,
but tits not the best work, whether with the
hand or the head, that secures the largest re-
ward in society to-day. The men who grow
richest are not those VINO use their brains for
the purpose of producing more wealth, but those
who use their brains to get into positions which
enable them to appropriate the labor of others.
Take the enormous incomes now drawn from
the ownership of land. The ownership of land
involves no productive power, physical or mental.
1t is a mere appropriation The income which
the land owner gets does not represent
anything that he has done to add to the
wealth of the community, but merely toll
which he is enabled to levy upon the rest of the
community by claiming as his own property
those natural materials which existed before
man was. In the natural progress of society the
wages of the lowest physical laborer ought to
steadily advance with the increase of productive
power. Discovery and invention directly add to
the power Of labor, and should increase the
wards OF the very lowest forms of labor. That
they do not do so is simply because of the mo-
nopolizatlOn of natural elements that are indis-
pensable to labor and to ife."
'Mr. Beecher seems to think that the tendency
OF our government is toward the paternal form,
and the socialistic idea is, believe, as often
pressed by the Socialists themselves, that the
government should carry on private business,
just the same as it carries on the posto1ice
What do you think of these suggestionsp
II do not believe in the paternal idea of gov
ernment L do not believe that government
should ever attempt to do what can be done as
we'll by individual enterprise. But the progress
of society is-and evidently by virtue of the fun
IaW-tOWarES a closer and inter
dependence; and TO secure equal freedom to each,
which Is the true end of government, it has al
ready become-and with the progress Of civlliza-
ton must, in greater degree, become-necessary
for society. as a whole To take upon itself func-
lions which in Il ruder stage may be left to indi-
vldualS The railway, for instance, has now
taken the place, to great extent, of the public
highways, and to leave the railways in
the absolute possession and management
of individuals and of corporations is TO put in the
hands OF some individuals the power of oppres-
sing and plundering others. Businesses that are
In their nature monopolies are in my opinion
proper functions of government the natural de-
velopment of which is to pass from mere organi-
cation for the preservation of order into that of
a great co operative society. The ideal of the
Socialist Is the Christian ideal, but neither the
Socialist nor the Christian can bring about that
state Of things in which each should produce
according 10 his powers, and each share accord
ing to his needs, save by his conforming to that
law of natural justice which gives to each what
he earns. Seek first the kingdom of Heaven
and its righteousness and all these things shall
be added unto you"