The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-03-06
THE COSMOS CLUB AGREES
An Enthusiastic Meeting Last
Night at President Flem-
ming's Residence.
The Order Of the Age is That as the
Rich Grow Richer SO Do
the Poor.

WIS nelu ltSt III BuC AZ the EeslueuCe VI Tue
president. Mr.. James Flemming. No. 50
Grand street. The fact that Mr.. Edward
Atkinson. LID. Phi. D., the well-known
political economist, was to lecture on
Collective or Individual Reform, the
Sham VS.. the Real, brought together the
leading literary students of Jersey City.
That they were we'll paid for their attend
ance was manifested by the close atten-
tion they gave the subject under consid-
Grafton, and the expressions Of approval
manifested afterwards.
Mr.. Atkinson was introduced by Presi-
dent Flemming. He said he could ouly
give old things a new dress. He had
little time for books, and his observations
were from life itself Thou shalt serve
thy neighbor as thyself," was the real
text of life,
Cosmos-the universe. nature, life
We receive but what we give
And in our life aloae with nature live.
''What is the object of getting living,
its intent, its purpose?" he said. SIS 1t not
70 develop lifet The life that is in us, by
which we live and move and have our
being is something very distinct and
separate from these bodies In which
living for these bodies in
order TO develop the life that is
In us. That living consists in the con-
sumption of food, fuel. clothing aud shell
ter, no more, no less. Society exists as
means to that end. True, the life Is more
but so long as man dwells upon this
planet even the soul cannot exist or
manifest itself except through the de-
velopment of the human body. Life Is a
development OF him who can say l. The
objective point OF society is the hignest
nf nj
cooperation. mutual service, commerce
and trade are means leading in the end 10
the development of the individual. If
the society is So organized as to take from
the individual the responsibility for his
own material elevation, then society be-
comes harmful, obstructive. Living is
o conversion OF force, adding nothing to
and taking nothing from the potential
eneF that is in the world. Land, labor,
capiIe all are subordinate to the mental
factor. shall deal tonight with food,
clothing and shelter, all one; merely
forms Of getting a living in order
that each one Eay live. A man
may be immensely rich, may control
an immense income, but what does he
cost the community Only what his
family consumes. The rich man and his
family consumes only their part of every
thing. On the other hand the poor man
will require rather more food than the
rich man because he works harder He
gets il because II he did not he did not,
he could not do his work etfectually He
gets as many clothes, but he wears the m
out faster; perhaps not as good a shelter,
yet a shelter he must have.
'.In these modern times almost all men
and women get their living out of some
other PERSONS income. not out of their
own. We use the terms of money really
10 define relative proportions. Our
national income is what we derive from
the soil. the sea, the forest and the mine.
The food. the fuel. the ibres and the
fabrics are the true income OF the
whole people of coucrete Uncle Sam
Those who say that ali products
are derived from labor, using tnat
word in its narrow sense are IN error. Ad-
equate production depends upon the
power of some individual to organize, TO
guide, TO quiet and to control the labor
and the capital. Otherwise the many
might starve in order that the few might
be nourished.
sit may be intended" said the speaker
'.that the rich man may divert this money
to some object which NAV not prove re-
productive. He may build better house
than is necessary. The mechanics get the
benefit of this. He may buy piano. The
workman here too is benefited. But. sup
pose we take away the income, and the
rich man is forced TO live in cabin, to do
without piano, what is the result? Then
the men in the building trades aud the
piano makers stop work.
"They can no longer buy food from the
farmers or cloth from the factory. They
have to resort to land and raise their own
crops and weave their own cloth. Then
what will be done with the extra crops?
sIJ is by the raising of the standard of
living, by the creation of new wants cor
responding to more abundant supplies,
that makes life worth living. and the
waste of the ignorant rich Is nothing COM
parad m fha WaatQ of the IGNORANT DOOr
This power of direction and control there
fore rests upon appropriation, or in other
words upon individual ownership, and
that separate possession must be sus-
tanned and inforced BY society, that is by
the State, in order that production may
continue and increase. The theory of the
single tax therefore rests absolutely upon
the possession or ownership of land. IL is
therefore a mere change in the details of
taxation" The speaker said that the i'm
preston at first made by Henry Georges
Progress aud Poverty" was now dying
out rs it was founded upon the fallacy that
the rich is growing richer and the poor
poorer.
society is great cooperative body,
each member re ndering a service to
others for which he receives compensation
In an equivalent service.
''Iu this regard it Is necessary to bear in
mind the fact that production and work
are synonymous terms. Rent is syno-
nym for work. Taxation likewise. All
other parts OF product, by whatever
name they are called, imply the necessity
that work, mental, manual or mechani-
cal, must be done in order that there
may De anything to share. Among the
sham panaceas for poverty which nave
attracted attention in recent DAYS time
will permit me to deal with only two.
Il. The proposition for converting rent
into taxation at the cost of the landlord
by so taxing land valuation as to destroy
its market value.
80. The proposition for increasing the
real income on which we live by increas-
ing the quantity OF money by means of
which these things are exchanged.
sThis sham reform formerly TOOK on the
phase of fiat monev made of paper and
has lately reappearsd in the proposal to
make fiat money ont of silver"
The speaker cited many cases here of
the different values of land and property
and contended that work was the main
factor.
1T follows. therefore, that IL economic
reus cannot be measured. defined aud put
dowu IN dollars and cents. 1t cannot bs
made the basis for single tax or for any