The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1891-07-18
INGALLS, ASKS A QUESTION.

Ex-senator Ingalls, asked and an.
swered a question in a recent lecture be.
fore a literary society which may well
attract the attention of thoughtful men.
Can a man honestly earn a million dol
lars:" In his reply Mr.. ingalls, said:
George Washington. in addition to his
other virtues. was IA prudent and thrifty
and forehanded man. He knew a good
thing when he saw it. and he knew it a
good ways off. When a youth on survey
ing expeditions he made valuable loca-
tons that did not diminish in value
afterward. The location of the capital"
and here Mr.. ingalls, smiled in a sort of
a quizzical way. 'within fifteen miles Of
his farm. did not impair the value of that
estate. He was an honest debtor, but
an exact, if not exacting, creditor. re-
peat that at the time of his death he was
the richest man in the country, How
much was he worth: Between 100000
and 100000. Today there are scores of
men in this country whose annual in
come exceeds the entire value of all the
property held by the richest man in the
country l0 years ago. There is one
mantle large private holder of govern
ment bonds-who has a larger income
from the coupons of those bonds than
the entire estate of George Washington.
| don't think that is right.
The problem that we are to consider
is. how we are to pevcnt it. Fifty of the
great articles of life are now controlled
by syndicates, trusts and corporations.
so that a poor man has little chance to
90 into business. One of the questions
that are to be decided at the next presi-
dental election is whether under a gov
erement of the people and for the people
and by the people. where all men are
equal before the law. any man has a
right to obtain absolute control OF $780,
100000 when the per capita distribution
would be less than $1,000. l have heard
men with temerity enouga 70 question
whether a citizen had a right to $780,
100000. In the strictest confidence be-
tween myself and you, | seriously ques-
ton whether. in the sense of giving com
pensation or equivalent, any man ever
honestly earned even $l.O00.000."
Mr.. ingalls, is not the first man who
has asked his question, nor is he the first
person who has questioned the PROPOSE
ton that a nan (outside of mining) can
honestly Earn a million dollars. But the
ex-senator knows how men in these lat
ter days accumulate-not earn their
millions. They do not do it in the sweat
of their brow by physical labor. They
do not get it by knocking down the
passers-by and robbing them. They do
not accumulate it from the legitimate
profits OF a legitimate business. Mill
ionaires are not thus made. They are
made by combinations of capital in one
form or another. called corporations. mo-
nopolies. syndicates. pools, or trusts.
These corporations or trusts control
large amounts of money. who fish for
money with money, and as money loves
a warm nest they catch it,"
Is their money honestly made? Ac-
cording to the worlds measurement of
honesty. it is, but judged by blind JUS
tice it is not. In the making of one
a thousand men are made
paupers; that is, the fruits of their labor
are turned from their own pockets to
of a single man. This is not right
but it is the result of the laws of trade
the enacting of which the laboring
man is but a passive instrument. Mr..
ingalls, did no mention this fact but he
it. There is another thing that
gentleman could have mentioned. and
hat is the policy of his own party
during the past quarter of a century has
made hundreds of millionaires and mil
lions of paupers. Through its high pro
.tective policy millionaires upon the one
hand and paupers upon the other are
bred like maggots in otfal. One hun
lred years ago there was not a million
in the country. Less than fifty
ears ago there were less than a score.
they are as 'thick as autumnal
caves that strew the brooks in Vallom-
while paupers are numbered
)y the millions. This unequal distribu-
ion of wealth is the outgrowth of an un-
.qual administration of a law which pro-
one class of men at the expense of
another. In view of this fact Mr.. In
rails question may be readily answered.