Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-10-26

unequal, unjust and dangerous dlstri-
button of wealth. The theme is a
hackneyed one among socialists and
would-be reformers, and is n chief jus
tihcation urged by anarchists in favor
| OF their doctrines and measures. But
1t is question that has more than
one phase. each Of which ought to be
considered II just and well-balanced
| judgment Is to be formed.
Statements frequently appear in the
newspapers and magazines to the
effect that a few men control n large
part Of the aggregate wealth of this
country, and the refrain of such as
sertions is usually; "The rich are
growing richer and the poor poorer"
~ short time ago, on the occasion of
the dedication of the Bradley Poly
technic Institute at Chicago, Hon.
| Lyman j. Gage, secretary of. the United
| States treasury. and a man of great
wealth, delivered an address in which
he treated some phases of the sub
ject of the distribution of wealth not
often considered by popular writer's
ana speakers In reply to a statement
by Kansas orator that mo man can
acquire 100000 in a long life time. un-
less he does 1t by robbery" Mr.. Gage
reasoned as follows:
About the year ITO Arkwright and
| Hargreaves invented machinery for
! spinning cotton. Within period of 20
! years the product of the spindle in
| Great Britain had increased from
| about i,500,000 pounds year to 81 000,-
| 0OOpounds. The number of persons en-
gagged in that occupation had doubled
the annual output had been multiplied
| by eight, the cost of spinning per
pound had diminished more than four
iifths, while the earnings of operators
for the same number of hours had sub
stantially increased. 1t Is impossible
| to measure the value TO society of
these men, nor can any money reward
be named which would have been an
over payment for their services
In the last century a Mr.. Blackwell
discovered method of improving the
breeds of sheep and cattle which so i'm
proved the culture of these animals
that in a period of fifty years the
weight of the fatted OK was raised
from 400 pounds to 1900 pounds, while
the fleece of the sheep was increased
fourfold.
within the personal recollection of
many here present Bessemer intro
duced process of making steel which
$500 a ton to $50 per ton in n brief
period of time. Bessemer received S.
00O 900 in royalties. but 1T is estimated
that within a period of fifty years he
saved the world the enormous sum of
thousand millions. Vanderbilt rose
from poverty and died leaving to his
heirs railroad securities and other
property to the value of a hundred
millions He drew it not from the
previously accumulated product Of toll
and industry then resting in the hands
of the people. It was his well-earned
portion of economical savings In trans
portation inaugurated by his superior
genius, energy and courage the much
larger share of which Injured to the
people. Consider this: By improve
ments In construction and management
the freight rates OF the New York Cen
trail railroad have declined within n
period OF thirty years from an aver
: age of 3Is cents per ton per mile to an
average OF less than three-fourths OF
one cent per mile. II has been esti-
mated that If the freight rates Of
thirty years ago We're now current the
) producers and consumers of the United
States would be obliged to pay one
thousand millions more per annum for
the transportation of their goods and
wares than they now pay.
In his youth Edison discovered a
method by which two telegraph mes
sages could be sent in opposite direc-
lions over the same wire at the same
time. Tine value Of his method was
equal to the cost OF one-half of all the
telegraph wires thereafter to be used
in the United States, since he made
one wire as effective as two would
otherwise be. Hence the value of his
, device must be measured by hundreds
of thousands, II not millions.
Surely. the men, or group OF men,
, who can by their ability bring In these
la n
a good portion of what they thus Sc
cure to the general good. They are
cheap at any price, and society needs
more of them.
"Bessemer, Vanderbilt and Edison
may stand as representatives for a long
line of men who, like them, have
brought in and sold to society, on
terms most advantageous to both, the
materalized product of their genius
or their enterprise. Notice this That
1t was all a matter of free exchange
Of perfect liberty. There was no com
pulslon. while these men successfully
tolled and reached large rewards by
producing things of incompatible value
which the markets would buy, others
like them struggled vainly to reach
the same result. They also brought
forward, after years OF thought and
labor, devices and inventions. many
Of which the market would not buy.
This also was q liberty which society
with due regard to its own interest
had the free right to exercise"
To show that the poor are not grow
ing poorer, Mr., Gage quoted from Car
roll d, Wright, chief of the Federal
bureau OF labor statistics, and an ec-
/ lknowledred authority among labor
organizations, TO prove that the mum
Der of persons engaged in the lower
~ t.l.. 10 4.