The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1895-08-31
THE DISTRIBUTION or WEALTH.
N o. PIcsyune.l

~ AA8y AAG-I
just at this time, when the financial
question has taken a foremost place in
public attention, and the existence Of
poverty and wealth, as leading factors
10 the problem 10 be solved, come up
Tor consideration, the selfappoinied
doctors OF political economy are never
weary OF proposing remedies, snd,
strange TO say the more crude and un-
reasonable they are the more they are
likely to be received with favor by the
masses Of the people.
As instances Of this are the green.
back and the silver remedies, first pro-
posed BY the populists, and now adopt
cd BY large numbers OF the people Of
oil parties. The advocates Of these
rotten money doctrines base their the
pries on the ground that IL, as is true,
many men are poor, aud many others,
while not suffering from extreme pow
srty, do not receive an adequate re-
turn for their labors, II is because
there 10 not money enough In the coun-
try to enrich everybody, aud the OBJ
vious remedy 10 10 make more money.
"S.art the printing prcsses,s say some,
"and create money wiihou, limit. Print
notes and make them legal tender, un-
III ihere 10 plenty Tor everybody
The silvcrites, very much In the saue
vein, cry out also that "povcrty Is the
result OF too small 4 volume OF money,
and, In order 10 make the people pros
persus an abundance Of money Is ne
cessary." but they do not, like the
greenbacksrs, propose to make some-
thing OUT Of nothing. They are will
Ing to believe that money ought 10
have some actual commercial value
which paper notes have not, and so
they have chosen silver a. their money
medium. They propose tha, the
miuts shall be opened 10 the free and
unlimited coinage ~ the white metal,
which is to be manufactured into dol.
lars, whose commercial value Is worth
only so cents. This Is superior TO the
greenbsck doctrine only because II
proposes to make dollars out of 80
cents worth Of material, instead Of
out Of nothing.
But there 10 no intention here to dis.
cuss the merits Of any scheme to make
the people rich with deprecated money
or 10 consider the value or quality Of
any sort Of money. Tho object cfthcse
observations 10 10 show the uselessness
and hopelessness Of any scheme Of
adding to the stock Of money to bene.
ft the people at large. What 10 the
matter with the people, what Is the
defeat In the financial system Of this
country, what 10 The cause Of all the
trouble about poverty, is not that there
10 not wealth enought, but that the
wealth 10 not fairly divided.
The grand problem, then, Is not TO
create more money, but TO properly
divide that which 10 already In exist
suce. lfsome proper measure can b.
devises 10 accomplish this, II will be
the summit Of human business philan-
thropy. II will bs worth while. then
10 examine the means that are avsila-
bic for . better distribution Of wealth
without wronging anybody and with
cut Offering apremium to idlene@ and
crime.
The ordinary socialistic idea is ths!
the Government shall seize on oil the
wealth Of the country, conhscats II oil
10 the present owners, and make .
division ofi., giving IN equal amount
to each head Of population. In such .
deal tho criminals aud the loafori
vevld be entitled 10 their shares, just
ss much a. wopld the honest and In
dustrious. But since the accumula'
ton OF wealth BY some 10 the result
Of superior intelligence, and Of super
Tor intelligence, and Of superior Gun
ming and rascslity BY Others, and ol
others special causes or qualities ih In
diyidusis, It follows that the same
causes aud qualities, continuing tc
operate, would, soon after an equaI
division of tie property, result In al
UNEQUAL distribution, some by thell
speciol capabilities, getting the share'
OF Others, BY reason Of their profiigacy
and csrelessness, losing oil they had
II would, therefore, be necessary fol
the Government 10 engage In periodl
cal divisions Of wealth In order to keeE
Il fairly distributed.
Then there 10 another plan OF th'
socislists, which is for the Governmen
10 seize on and confiscate oil the prop
: erty; but, instead of distributing II
TO hold and administer II and all III
dustries and commerce for the teneh
. OF the whole population. BY this rul
there would be no private property
all would be held In community; ou
no man could put bis hand at his pleas
|. ure into the general treasury and tax
, out money At his will. Eyeryihin
would bo managed for tho genera
= rood. Under . faithful sdministra
= zion of such ssystem, each individual
A physicsl needs would be looked sfte
and each would receive from the CON
!. mon stock what might be considere
y necessary, but nobody would have, Q
% could accumulate, any surplus, becaui
4 All the industries and commerce woul
). bo carried on by tho public admin