The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1892-04-30
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT
THE DUTY OF RICH MEN TO
PROVIDE.


In its current issue the New York In
depepdent publishes q collection of ar
ticles on 1.-THE Right Use OF Wealth"
The writers are D. Willis James; Robt
G. Ogden; President Merrill E. Gates.
of Amherst college; Rev. DIR. j. NJ
Buckley, editor of the Christian Advo-
cate: Rev. DR.. Robert s. Macarthur;
Rev. DR.. F. E. Ellinwood, secretary OF
the Presbyterian board of foreign mis-
sions. aud Chas. d. Kellogg, secretary
of the Charity Organization Society.
The spirit of all the contributions Is
expressed by Mr.. James when he says
that "a rich man holds his wealth sim
ply as a trustee between his Maker and
humanity" The mode of enforcing
this trust obligation is described by DR..
Buckley: stewards or agents of m.sn
have fixed salaries, and receive direct
instructions from their principals as 70
the management of the interests CON-
mitted to their care; but stewards OF
Gcd are left to determine by the pre-
cepts which He has given how they
should live, and by the exercise OF their
own Judgment what use they shall!
make of what they do not deem neces-
sary or lawful to expend for their sur-
sistence and comfort" This is a COM
Portable sort Of trusteeship. surely. for
| the trustee; but it leaves what lawyers
call cestui que trust in rather awkward
plight
Observe that the rich man does not
own his wealth 1t is not his to do
| with as he pleases, subject only to the
| universal law of liberty that he shall
not work injury to others with 1t; he is
merely trustee. His wealth belongs
to humanity. Nevertheless he has full
| discretion to fix his own salary; and II
he fixes it at an unreasonable high
figure. even misappropriating the en-
tire trust fund, no power Is anywhere
lodged to enforce the trust The trus-
tee may be punished in a future world,
but in the only world where wealth
can be enjoyed, the defrauding bene'
ficiary is remediless. What concep-
ton of divine justice can these well
meaning men have. What conception
have they of divine intelligence.
The truth is that they do not look be
low the surface of things. They SEE
that some men are rich. while more are
helplessly poor, and instinctively feel
ing that in this there is something
wrong, yet unwilling to believe tina
God is other than good, their first i'm
pulse is to accuse rich men of grinding
the faces of the poor But the impulse
gives way when they consider-as con
slider they must for it is true and plaiI
that rich men do not grind the faces
of the poor. They are in daily contac
with rich men whom they find to b
generous, wcll-disposed to be just ant
altogether incapable of consciously do
ing a personal wrong or giving play t
a mean motive. In this dilemma. tn
preacher, the charity organizers. tn
business man of beneficent instincts
all that class which is so well reprs
sented by the writers who have dis
cussed the Fright Use of Wealth" il
the Independent, seek farther for q
explanation of the phenomenon OF ah
iect poverty in the midst of aboundin
|. wealth. But he does not seek ia
enough. Consequently he constructs
crude theory of divine law calculate
, to reconcile the impartial generosity Q
!, God with the persistence OF poverty.
In doing this he only detracts fror
the Justice and the wisdom of tn
| Creator. NegligentIy assuming ths
|, the wealth of individuals is bestowe
II by God, and seeing that for every on
who has it thousands arc without i
and thousands cling moro desperatel
to the steep sides of poverty's gulf, "
1 believing that God is no respecter
! persons writers like those in The Ind
pendent conclude that the possession {
, wealth implies an affirmative oblig'
ton to use it for the benefit of thos
who need it If they searched deep'
they would find the true law, whic
reconciles divine justice, generosi'
aud wisdom with the persistence I
0 poverty, without holding rich men r
sponsible for deplorable social cond
n tions in any greater degree than
: men are responsible for an ignorant I
S negligent misuse of such influences
e they possess
: This law is involved in the seif-ev
Q dent proposition that God. though
Q gives no wealth to anyone. in trust
!. otherwise, endows men with the me
/ tai and physical power requisite for
i. production, and bestows upon them
e alike the material and forces of Il
universe with which they may produ
Il wealth in all its forms. according
v the common knowledge of the time
+ which they live, and without viii
(, they can not produce it in any form
v follows that the wealth that any mi
/, produces is his to do with as he pleas
q him best, subject to no other obiig
5, ton than that he shall not use it to
E lure others, and to no other dcducti
v than compensation to his fellows
le such advantage regarding his use
A natural material and forces as throu
d the artificial adjustments of society
n may have secured.