The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-12-18
A spEOImEN or cnANK,sm.

ing communication appeared Ill tne new
York Advertiser over the signature OF
George Smith:
A system of graduated taxation should
prevent any man from becoming more
than a millionaire. When he has
aborbed that amount he should retire
and give the people chance. In the
old DAYS before the war, when man got
together 100000 he retired, and the
clerks came into the concern, and they
in their turn retired, giving every honest
boy certainty of success i'll life. How
is It now? A clerk is mere vassal
When 81 ,000,0 is got, the getter wants
$4,000, coo - $50, 10000 = 100000 600.
There are ten men in this country worth
81 600 00,0 600. The next twenty years
they will absorb everything worth alb
sorbing in this country, unless they are
stopped. They own both parties, are
more powerful than the Government,
and only one thing is more powerful
than they are-the people. The burning
question in politics will be, is this a
government of the people, by the people
and for the people, or is it government
of milliOnaires for the benefit of milliOn7
aires. and has multi-milliOnalre any
place in the government of the people?
ally themselves by marriage with titles
and an aristOcracy founded upon the
wretchedness and misery of tOilers, who
offer up their eyesight, their backs, their
hearts, and finally their lives, that these
wretches may cultivate an aristocracy
based upon such villainy.
To the superficial mind there is GER
tain plausibility in this presentation, but
tho more it is examined, the more it
bears the impress of demagogery 1t
aims to make poor people think they
are misused because number of men in
the country have accumulated fortunes
running up into the millions. 1t tends
to cultivate spirit of envy and unrest,
and to hold the very rich responsible for
the wretchedness of the very poor. 1t is
the style of literature that increases the
unhappincss of the poor without ac-
complishing any worthy object. To
make a tortunc-limiting law, such as is
suggested by Smith, would be pure and
unadulterated crankism.
In the days before the war working
men realized much smaller compensation
than they do now, and dollar did not
go so far in providing home comforts.
In the matter of dress and living, there
is no comparison. Thousands of me-
chanics cannot be distinguished by their
attire from men of fortune, and no stlan-
ger in the city could tell our industrious
and intelligent factory girls from the
daughters of rich or wel-tO-do families
by their dress. Factory girls in ante-bel-
lum times dressed and lived very poorly.
As population increases, so does ex-
IRENE poverty. This has been the uni
form experience of all countries, and the
United States is no exception to the
rule. To hold the millionaires response
BILE for this state of affairs, for the desti-
tuition that accomp lnies numerical den
sity, is absurd. 1t is doctrines prOmul-
gated by the Smith type of cranks that
make cranks of the bomb throwing or
der. Agitators who rail against the rich
are usually of the lazy pattern, who try
to make living out of the poor by TO-
menting dIscord. They are in truth the
enemies Of the poor man, especially if he
lends an ear to their harrangues.
The three great sources of poverty and
wretchedness in this country are idle
ness, intemperauce and improvdcnce.
There will he millionaires 50 long as
millions are notorionsly guilty in these
particulars. The sOcialistic Smith
speaks of a clerk as "a mere vaStal, land
yet the average clerk to-day has prom
Using outlook of becoming millionaire
as either Rockefeller, Sage or Gould did
when he was young man. The fact
that even the greatest Of milionarcs
were penniless boys and the architects
of their own fortune is the most elo-
qucnt proof that can be offered of the
splendid financial opportunities which
the humblest have i'll this land of liberty.
If the poor desire to conduct the gov
ermment, they can do so. Were every
man worth less than $4,000 to vote only
for candidates worth no more than the
amount, every Office in the State and
Nation from the President down could
be filed by poor man. If the rich
have things their own way, it is only
through the Temisshes of the poor. A
complete revolution could be wrought in
this respect without shedding a drop of
blood. We do not for moment believe
however, that such course would be of
advantage to the masses. They could
best advance their interests, AMI those
of all others, by voting for honest candi-
dates only, whether milionaires or me-
clanics.
Graduated taxation of the sort recon-
mended by Smith simply means tile
robbery of the rich, and society cannot
be improved by organized theft. The
bOmb-thrOwer's attempt to get what he
thought his share of another mans
wealth was disastrous failure, and so
will every other attempt be which con-
templates uplifting the poor by wrong
ing the wealthy.
Happily, the American wOrkingman
is too intelligent to be much disturbed
by the dwelling diatlibes of such as
Smith, who does little credit to the no.
BILE and time. hOnored name he so UNI
worthily wears.--TrOy Press
safe Investment.
Is one which is guaranteed to bring |
you satisfactory results. or in case of |
failure a return of purchase price. On |
oaf. p1at, uott oan has, f,.o,,, 49,,