The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-10-04
The movement Forward.

llGuStrldlSTu IS not towards making tue
rich richer and the poor poorer, and
crushing out the middle class; and those
I who strive to overthrow the existing sys-
I TEN are laboring TO the end Of destroying
their main practical chance Of becoming,
as a class, more prosperous. These are
/ the conclusions reached by MIR. w. II.
Mauock, after studying modern indus
triaIism, and set forth in an article in
the North American Review for Septem-
Der under the title, The Significance Of
Modern Poverty"
Henry George and the socialists-and,
it may be added, the populists Judge the
relation Of poverty to progress by the alb
solute amount Of poverty and not the
relative amount of it. They see a village
Of 500 people containing twenty-five pau
pers grow 70 be a city of $4,000 contain
ing 600 paupers, and they cry out that
the modern system of iHdustrialism has
made 900 paupers where only twenty
five existed before. They look only at
the fact that the aggregate number of
paupers has Increased forty fold, and
lose sight altogether of the fact that the
proportionate amount of pauperism has
decreased one half.
So far from the tendency of the times
being towards the Capitalization of
wealth in the hands of few, the tendency
is actually in the opposite direction. In
England the fortunes of the rich are dis
tinctly, if not greatly, decreasing; per-
sons with incomes of ESQ to $1,000 a
year are increasing faster than any other
class, while, so far as concerns the in
crease of the individual income, the aver
age increase has been greatest among the
wage earning masses. That this is true
of England is proved by cold statistics
compiled by Mr.. Giffen, statistical secre-
tary Of the British board of trade, whose
figures are accepted as authority by the
socialists themselves.
Mr.. Giffen is quoted as saying, in con-
nectiOn with the statistics: 1T would not
be far short of the mark to say that the
whole of the material improvement of the
past fifty years has gone TO the masses. p"
The masses not only receive as whole
larger incomes, but their incomes procure
them more comforts and luxuries; they
inha0it better houses, wear better
clothes, consume per head an increasing
quantity of butter, tea, sugar, etc. And
they spend more and more money for
amusements. In the last ten years the
number of public performers who cater
to the amusement of the poorer classes in
Europe increased as much as 50 per cent.
lnasmuch as the systems of industrial
ism in England and America are virtual y
is true of the situation in that country is
true OF the situation in this country also.
The Improvement in the wages of work.
ers has been continuous. The progress .
however, is not like the flowing of a river,
steadily and in one direction, but rather
like the incoming of the tide-continuous
in its general direction but varied by tenn
ing one period of ten years may have ad-
vanced 40 per cent, may at the beginning
Of the next decade decline 20 per cent. ,
and several years elapse before they rise
above or even reach their former level
and the discomfort and even suffering
caused by such decline are sure to be
more apparent than the satisfaction that
was caused by the increase. Thus the
delusion that growing poverty is a result I
of modern progress is produced not only
by the fact that poverty still exists
among a small minority of the popu-
lation, but also by many incidents in
the history of the majority themselves,
who are reaping the benefits of progress.
Mr.. Mallock calculates that eleven
twelfths of the population share in what
ever progress is made and prosperity en-
joyed, and that about one-half of the re-
naming twelfth remain destitute amid
riches. This residuum of unfortu-
mates should be the subjects of our So
licitude and the recipients of our
largess But it is manifestly fool
ish to talk about upsetting the
basis of the prosperity of the over
whelming majority in order to make an
experiment towards lettering the con-
dition of the comparatively few unfortu-
mates.