The Mineral argus. [volume] (Maiden, Mont.) 1883-1886, 1885-07-16
Health and Wealth.

ipaltu anu Wcditu nave many DOlutS
in common; first Of all in their very
names. To have health is to be we'll;
to have wealth is also to be well-well
oil.
Wealth is for the most part got in
three ways-by Inheritance: by self
denial; BY care. labor and attention;
often by some combination Of these
three. Wealth is lost by extravagant
expenditure or by carelessness and
neglect.
Health NAV also be got in these
three ways. A man may inherit It
from his ancestors: he may gain or
keep it by denying his appetites for
luxurious food and drink. and for en-
cesscs of all kinds; he may besides
have to work for it. by pains-taking
exercise, and a constant supervision
over his habits. In brief. unless
man has inherited large and vigOr.
Gus stock of health, he must do as he
has to do when he does not inherit
wealth-earn it.
He may also lose health by extrav.
agant demands upon it, by reckless
expenditure or by carelessness in
nurturing and preserving it.
Moreover. the connection between
health and wealth is SO close that ii he
spends his wealth lavishly and reck-
les,ly On luxurious living and dissipa-
ton at the gaming table or other inn
proper places tar into the night, his
health will go with his wealth. So
again it often happens that he cannot
have both an excess Of health and an
excess of wealth at the same time. He
often loses his health acquiring his
wealth. and il he has to care anxiOusly
for his health he is not likely to accu-
mulate wealth.
Again health is like wealth in that
man may accumulate health not only
without wrOnging anybody. but in do
ing SO actually benefits the world. A
man who gathers health and vigor
from the air and the water. from prop.
er exercise and correct life. does not
take one particle of health from any.
body. There still remain in the earth
and atmosphere plenty Of the elements
Of health for all the rest Of the world.
He. moreover. provides in himself and
his offspring certain number OF per.
sons who will not burden the cOmmu-
nifty with sick and feeble members.
So. too. a man by his labor and his
self-denial may, without injuring any
person whatsoever. gather wealth
from the soil, from the manufacturing
forces of nature and art or from his
capacity TO organize business enter
prises and so reduce the friction
Of commerce. The wealth thus
created is besides a positive addition
to the comfort and the prosperity of
mankind.
A man cannot voluntarily be de.
prived of his health. He may sacri.
nee it himself. just rs he may sacrifice
his wealth. for the benefit of his fel-
lOw-men. But no one can take 1t from
him. II there were any way Of do
ing so there would be but one result.
No man would deny himself " take
any pains whatever to acquire or pre-.
serve this health, only for the sake of
being obliged to give it up to some
person, too luxurious or too lazy to
acquire 1t for himself.
The same Is true of wealth. No
man would accumulate wealth IL he
knew it would be cOntiscated by
the self indHlgent or the lazy the
moment he had got enough Of 1t to
tempt them to take it from him. This
is the fatal defect of all socialist and
communist schemes. II put in prac-
tice, men would cease to acquire
wealth and the civilization would de.
generate into savagery.
In some conditions men are forced
to give up their wealth to other peo-
pie. Slaves have to do it. Heavily
taxed people have to do it. What Is
the result? Slaves and the heavily
taxed cease to produce much more
than enough to keep themselves alive,
and the races or nations which long
suffer such a state of things become
impoverished and 60 to decay.
There is one particular. however, in
which health seems to, but really does
not, differ from wealth. II it were
possible for q shrewd and cunning
man to obtain health from other peO-
pie, leaving them sick and feeble, he
would then be like the Spectator or
gambler who obtains property from
others without productive labor. But
a man who should get health in this
way would add nothing to the com.
mon stock of health. He would
merely transfer it from other people to
himself. This. however, would DO an
unequal distribution, not an accumu-
lation Of health. So the gains OF .
gambler or Spectator are not an &C.
emulation Of wealth but an unequal
distribution Of property.
Such transfers add no moro to the
general wealth Of the country than
transfers of health would add to Its
general health. But any man who by
self-denial or labor accumulates either
health or wealth is not only entitled to
what he acquires, but his acquisition
is a positive addition to both the