The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-09-19
WHO is FREE9 Is 1T THE MILLION
AIRE9


he must submit to the constraint of Or
derby and persistent exertion. He must
till the land, or he must shut himself up
in factory for ten hours a day, These
conditions are impossible for him. They
are just the things which he cannot do.
On the other hand, the civilized man, if
he wants the liberty to roam about which
the savage possesses, must live as the
savage lives, by hunting and fishing, and
his demands OH life must be reduced to
the range of those of the savage. If he
chooses this line of policy and effort,
however, he finds that he cannot earn a
living, even such as the savage man gets,
because he has not the necessary knowl
edge and skill for that mode of life.
Hence it appears that the notion of
liberty, as emancipation from irksome
constraint, finds no realization at either
end of the scale, but that men give up
some things to get others; that they sac
ritice one liberty TO get another; that
they change their point of view, and
their notions, and that liberty consists
in better adjustment of their notions
TO their situation at given time. What
we commonly boast of as progress con-
sists in measuring the situation at one
time by the notions of another. II
would be just as impossible for opera
tivps from New England cotton mill tC
live on the plains as for Indians to work
ten hours day in New England cot
ton mill. Whether the historical move
ment by which society has moved from
the life of the Indians to that of the cot
ton operatives has been progress or deg
relation, depends on whether it is viewed
from the standpoint of the Indian or the
white man. We must be convinced that
liberty to do as one pleases is not a gift
or boon of Nature; it is not a natura
and original situation which we have
lost, or which has been taken from US
All that notion vanishes into the realm
of illusions. All our ferocious demands
that our birthright shall be given back
to us, and all our savage threats abou
those who have robbed US, 90 with it.
1t was an easy way to attain the OBJ
jects of our desire to put them into the
list of the rights of man." or to resolve
that "we are and of right ought to be,
as we would like to be. That method
has had great popularity for the las
hundred years and is now extremely
popular; but, if we have any liberty, j
is because our ancestors have won it by
toll and blood. 1t is not boon, it is {
conquest. If we ever get any more, i
will be because we make it or win it
The struggle for il, moreover, must b
aimed, not against each other, bu
against Nature. When men quarre
With each other, they fall back unde
the dominion of Nature, as every wa
shows. 1t IS only when they unite il
cooperative effort against Nature tina
they win triumphs over her and anchor
ate their condition on earth.
1t may be said then that liberty is tt
be found at the summit of civilization
and that those who have the resources
of civilizations at their command are thu
only ones who are free. The resources o
civilization are capital. II follows theI
that the capitalists are free, or to avoiC
antiquities in the word capitalists, tina
the rich are free. Popular language
which speaks of the rich as independent
has long carried an affirmation upon thi
point.
In reality the thirst for wealth ia |
thirst for this independence of the ills o
life, and the interdependence Of wealth
on civilization and civilization on wealth
is the reason why the science of wealth
is concerned with the prime condition
of human welfare, and why all denun
Citations of desire to increase or 10 viii
wealth are worse than childish.
A native African, of the tribes whit
own cattle, may increase his herds to
greater and greater number. He has nj
other conception of wealth. In the alb
sence of commerce wealth admits of NJ
further differentiation for him, He sooI
comes to limit beyond which he canno
watch over his property. If he hire
somebody to take care of it for him he
in effect, shares it with them. Some o
the socialists seem to have in mind SOM
limited right of property, under which
this would be the ideal and only mod
in which property could be held. Tit
native African cannot, of course, us,
more than 80 much of the useful thing
which his herds produce. He and hi
family can, at best, only eat, drink anC
wear 80 much. After that if he want
to own more, it is mere vanity and vexa
J ton, and at last becomes such burden
that 1t defeats itself, and that, in trying
to escape this burden, he really, if no
avowedly, gives the property away tx
those who take care of it. In the mean
time, although his herds have emanci'
pated him from the cares of his mode o.
life, that IS, from hunger and thirst anC
cold, they are very precarious proper
ty; they offer a very vulnerable point o.
attack for an enemy; they awaken Gu
pidity; they cost anxiety; and, If they
are carried off by stronger enemy they
awaken cupidity; they cost anxiety; anC
if they are carried off by stronger enc
my, they leave their former possessor il
deeper misery and helplessness than i
he had never had them.
If any one regards that as paradisai
cal state of things or as a rational limi
of the form and mode of property which
might be wisely allowed, he must, o.
course, condemn trade and money anC
civil government, because these have lee
on to that development of society il
which man can have, hold and enjoy
indefinite wealth. When trade lie intro
duced, it allows the owner of herds Il
part with the surplus of them for othel
things which he is glad to get. Trade
however, is limited until money is pro
vided as a means for carrying it on
Security of property, established by {
firm civil government, makes it possible
to hold property in amount indefinitely
beyond what one can watch and defenC
by ones own vigilance.
Wealth, therefore, in highly organ
lied civilized society, gives an emanci
patton from the ills of cal thly life which
is enormous, when we take as a stand.
ard for it the condition of the poor, u
the uncivilized. 1t completely banishe
the anxiety for food and drink. 1t hal
put millions of the human race in suci
a position that, although they call them
selves poor, nevertheless they never il
their whole lives know what it Is to fee
fear lest they may not have food to eat
an anxiety which, on the other hand, il
the consuming care of uncivilized life il
general, and makes every other though
impossible. Wealth has created for al
civilized men, even the poorest of them
an artificial environment of clothing
shelter artificial heat, pavements, severe
means Of locomotion, education and in
diligence, a vast amOunt of which i
common property, and IS taken and as
sumed without thought,as if it belonged
to the order Of Nature. II all goes int,
the common stock, justly enough, be
cause it is really in large part produc
of the organization in which all bea
parts which cannot be Analysed out an,
maid for nv aunnlv and demand