The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-03-14
What Is Plutccracy2

IN one OF our Idaho contemporaries over
the word plutocracy, which has been
used a good deal OF late in ref
erence to its connection with poll
tics. A question was sprung in
that paper as to its true Specification,
and a reverend gentleman who discourses
as to the Greek roots of the matter,
gravely informs the unlettered public
that the word is derived from Pluto and
cratein, Pluto meaning ''the god of hell.
death and funerals,'' and cratein signi-s
flying ''to rule, reign, domineer.' Also
that it is only recently that the word
plutocrat has been adopted into the Eng
fish language. but that the French have
used it since the revolution of the last
century to denote men who were leading
a diabolical life.
He goes on to talk further about PLUTO
and his dog CERBERUs. and concludes
that the word plutocrat means ga hard
hearted, inexorable scoundrel, who by
usury. bribery and low tricks accumu-
lates fortune and after having obtained
it uses it in order to down his fellow
man."
The paper that publishes this tells the
public that neither the encyclopedias nor
WEBsTER's dictionary furnish any clue to
the origin OF the word.
Reference to WEBsTER's dictionary will
show that this is a great mistake. Per-
haps the editor has an ancient or abbrevi-
ated copy or failed to look in the right
column for the word WEBSTER gives
plutocracy, plutocrat, pathology, etc. and
also the Greek words from which they are
derived. And thee definitions bear no
such diaboiical Specification as that at
tached to them by the Reverend teacher
and alleged Greek scholar. a plutocrat is
one who rules by the power of wealth, or
plutocracy is a government by the rich.
Riches are not essentially diabolical,
wealth is not wickedness. The love of
money is said to be the root of all evil,
but the evil is not in the money, it is in
the individual who lusts after it. So that
the rule of the rich may not be govern
ment by ''inexorable scoundrels," or
those who have accumulated fortunes by
"usury, bribery or low tricks" and it is
possible that they may use their power in
other ways than to ''doWn their fellow
men,"
The pathological scholar has evidently
made mistake in his Investigations. He
has gone too near the internal regions
for his root word. Hell is familiar
to the ministerial mind because Of the
repeated warnings of its flames to sim
ners. So there is some excuse perhaps
for the error which overlooked PLUTUs,
the god of wealth, in the accustomed
thought of PLUTO, the god of the neither
regions.
Plutocrat comes from PLUTUs instead of
PLUTO, and PLUTUs is described in my
thology as blindly distributing his gifts,
that is without regard to the merits of the
recipients. But there is nothing in his
character to convey the idea Of diabolism
or bribery or any species of 'scoundrel-
ism.''
A plutocracy is not to be desired in any
nation. Ir2 government OF the people
the poor as well as the rich have opportu-
mites for obtaining high official po-
sitions, which should be given on
the score OF fitness and merit. If
wealth gains undue prominence it
is the fault of the people who
have the power in their hands to prevent
it. 1t is true that money buys the way
for its possessor to power in the land too
often for the good of the community. But
the check to plutocracy is the elective
franchise, held by the citizens and exer-
cised in free and secret ballot.