The Washington times., 1894-08-27

| Is that ability is entitled to all it can win by
| methods which the law allows. The great
conflict between socialism and its opponents
hinges on the Legitimacy of this contention.
DR.. Kent then cited W. H. Mallock's articles
in the Fortnightly Review on the Fabian
essays, in which that writer contends that any
system of industry which denies to ability
this alleged right OF getting allit can. in COM
petition with weakness and incompetency is
a system that is doomed to failure and sure to
bring social ruin should If be tried.
MALLoCK's CONVENTIONS.
Ability. Mallock claims, is mainly the
product Of the present competitive syste N.
and would die out under cooperation.
Wealth is not product Of labor Ability
creates more than half the wealth produced.
while labor receives more than half as wages;
in fact. 40 per cent. more than it earns.
On the other hand, Bernard G.. Shaw, in re-
viewing MaIIock's article. while he grants
that labor, as defined by Malloek. could sup
port only a fragment Of the earths pOpUla-
tion, says: What on earth use would ability
be to Us If it did not tighten our toll and in
crease our gain! We support and encourage
ability in order that we may get as much as
possible out of it. not that it may ger as much
as possible out of u.s.
This strong but not very lucid answer Mr..
Kent explains thus: Society at large, which
has surely as much right 10 protect and pre-
serve itself as the individual has to preserve
himself. encourages ability in the individual
not merely for the sake OF the individual in
whom developed, but for al other individuals
as we'll
"IfMalloek's statement that labor gets more
than il produces Is true ne continued then
labor, receiving only its just dues, would
gradually die out; and what the world would
do without labor is not worth inOuiring
I haF0ra II yr-O,rld crrfT re
tion. would by force take what it needs.
This is inevitable in a system which gives
ability all that Mallock says it produces.
PAINTER THE FEW. PAUPERIzE THE MANY.
Granting that ability increases the pro-
ductive power of this nation ten-fold, it would
be better if we had less ability, if its growth
means only the pampering of a few and the
pauperizing of the many. We might. there
fore, admit that cooperation would tend 10
discourage ability without conceding the
validity Ofthe argument against cooperation"
Yet Dr. Kent held that genuine ability.
which fits the individual for usefulness in So
ciety. would be fostered in q vastly greater
degree by cooperation than under the present
system.
I'VE deny. too he said. ''that the acquisi-
ton OF wealth is any evidence of ability even
under the present conditions or that the lack
of wealth is any proof that ability is wanting.
Ability is shown in invention. discovery. and
the successful management of great industrial
enterprises in way TO promote the general
prosperity. j. e., in an honest. Legitimate way
but the great mass OF inventors in this
country live and die in poverty. The dis
coyerers OF great scientific truths spend their
lives in their studies or laboratories on in
comes that are exceedingly meager, while
men with no ability of this sort whatever
but with kind Of instinct Tor making money
and low order OF cunning that is keen to
scent opportunity for personal advantage
manage to cheat these really able men out Of
nearly all the fruits OF their labors and ap-
propriate to themselves what, if true ability
has right to its creations, justly belongs to
others
Even the great enterprises Of the country
are not usually managed by men of great
wealth. The ability is almost always hired
The possessors of wealth in nine cases out of
ten are utterly incapable of experimenting
the men or the forces that are making their
fortunes.
1.-The only kind of ability that gets great
fortunes in this country is what is called
financial ability, and even this is becoming
more and more a thing TO be hired. The
great trusts and monopolies of the country
require no ability of this sort even on the
part of the average stockholder. Even the
board of directors employs financial agent
or manager on whose proven ability 1t largely
depends. 1t is the condemnation OF the
present regime that under it real ability does
not have proper recognition, while shreWd-
ness. cunning. and trickery are allowed to
carry off the prizes.
ABILITY THAT GATHERS WEALTH.
'If genuine ability, l. e. producing ability,
could only get what it earns social eondi-
tions would be vastly better. But while this
kind of ability makes wealth for the nation it
is the scheming, exploiting, plundering kind
of ability that gathers the wealth which gen
uine ability produces. A society that per-
mits, much less encourages, ability of this
kind hasn't attained to even horse sense. 1t
may be very wise, very accomplished, but it
doesn't know its own interest in matters
most important to its real prosperity and
permanence. or it would speedily organize in
such way as TO make all this exploiting and
plundering and cheating impossible.
'But would not convey the impression
| that even genuine ability is entitled TO all il
| produces. Ability in the individual is a social
not an individual creation. Its roots run far
| back and reach out in every direction into the
| soil of society. The individual is not only
| what his ancestors have helped to make him;
| he is what the social forces, past and present,
have contributed to produce. Isolate indi-
vidual man completely: cut him off from the
past and present; strip him of all knowledge,
all possessions, all tools. save those Of his
own acquiring, and he ceases to be human.
| He would be the most helpless animal Of crea-
| ton.
1.-The human life is a life of intercourse, Of
| interchange, OF fellowship. A mans powers
are received from society. his services belong
| to society, and his life must be found in So
ciety. His business is not to exploit society
| but to serve II. These laws, written in the
] nature Of man. which bind him to q life OF