The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1885-04-09


workman, and had joined the club
readily, as he thought it right to save
something for his wife and children,
and to provide for rainy day, as the
saying is.
I had observed, however, that
Pierre on the last occasion when |
saw him was less frank than he used
to be, and did not hand over his
money with the same cheerful good
will as formerly. What was the
cause | did not know, but he soon
to some plausible people, or reading
some shallow treatises that made him
discontented with his lot.
Il was just saying when you came
in, he began, "a chacun scion son
travaI, To each man according to his
work. Don't you think that good
motto?"
"Well, it sounds good, but it de-
pends how you apply it, and what you
are talking about"
II was talking, I and my mates,
about the great inequality among peo-
pie. Riches are distributed in very
strange and, | say, unjust fashion. Is
it not unjust that, while so many poor
fellows have to work hard to gain a
few pence a day, there are wealthy
Nabobs who haul in gold by shovel
fuls? | read IN a paper the other
day that the English Duke of West
minister had an income of twenty
millions Of francs, which brings him
at least $4,000 francs a day.!
"Quite true, and he is far from be-
ing the most wealthy man you might
name. | believe the Californian
Mackay has about seventy millions of
income. Rothschild, of Frankfort,
left more than millard. Astor and
Vanderbilt, of New York, and other
millionaires on both sides the ocean,
have untold wealth"
"There, you see, said Pierre; land
what appears to me the worst wrong
of all is that these huge incomes be-
long to people who do next to moth
ing, while poverty is oftenest the lot
of those who work and toll the hard
est. I call this downright injustice.
Il chacun scion son tra0aiI. The
riches ought to be with those that
work. That's my way of looking at
it."
"All right, Pierre said I; "there
is good deal of truth in what you
say. 1t is quite true that in regard to
the distribution of wealth, as in regard
to many other things, this world is
far from being perfect. But do you
think that if you had the re-arrange-
ment of society, and the redistribution
of riches, you could proceed on some
other and better plan?"
Certainly. | believe, without any
presumption, that | could, said Pierre.
"What seems to me difficult is not to
make things better, but to make them
any worse than they are now!''
One of the workmen here said that
nothing was simpler than to take the
surplus wealth of these rich men, and
divide it amongst the deserving poor.
''That plan is just little too SIM
ple," l remarked. "All the millions
of Rothschild would go very little
way, if divided among the population
of Paris alone, and we should soon
have to resort to other schemes to re-
dress the ever-renewed inequalities
No; no; what [ want Pierre to show
us is some better system of society
and he thinks he has the key to the
problem in his favorite motto, a
cltacun scion son trdUaiI. But just lei
me remind you that in ancient times
there was a king Of Spain who was &
bit of an astronomer; and looking al
the heavens, and wondering at the
complicated movements of the stars
he said that if he had been consulted
in the matter he could have made {
much better and simpler arrangement
Your purpose is not so ambitious ant
presumptuous as his, for the heavens
are the work Of the Almighty, wht
has imposed upon Nature certain fxe(
laws; whereas the laws of society ar,
the work Of men, and men are liabl'
to err Let US then hear what i'm
provement you can suggest in tn
laws and usages which regulate tn
distribution of wealth"
Pierre was somewhat taken aback
for he felt that the existing arrange
ments of society were very complex
and it was not easy to determine wher
the reform should begin.
"Well, said I, ''let US suppose tina
number of persons were set on shor
upon an island, where none had am
rights or property beyond the others
Let us suppose that there are as ye
no laws, that there is no government
no past history: all are free and equal
and you have full power to organis,
the distribution of wealth in this new
society, and to decide what is to be th'
share of each. Come, now, you have
a carte blanche, let US hear what yor
would do
"Well," said Pierre, II should begin
by deciding that every one was to dc
what he would and what he could, anG
that every one should keep what he
was able by his work and industry tc
obtain. 4 chacun scion SON traUaI
behold my fundamental ruler'
1T is an excellent rule | said
land I do not think any one could
find better. It appears to me to be
just, and also eminently practical, for
it would stimulate every one to pro-
duce by his industry as much as he
could. | see by this that you are no
advocate of Communism"
Certainly not, said Pierre. Com
munism is very good thing in a
family, where every one exerts him
self to work for those he loves, and
accepts without murmur his share of
work, certain that the mother, or
whoever is housekeeper, manages the
common purse with thrift, and in the
interest of all. But in large society,
[ do not think that men are equally
willing to exert themselves for those
whom they have no knowledge of
and no special attachment to. Be-
sides, in Communism under the State,
L i 1 =.