The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1897-01-07
ADVERTISING RATES:
The Official Paper of San Juan County.
THURSDAY, JANUARY It'll, 1897.
Is TIA CRIME TO BE RICH?

Methodist Episcopal church, under
the above caption has contributed
notable article to a number of religious
papers in the United States. His views
are thus expressed.
"Is it crime to be rich? Against
whom is the offense committed ?
Against God? Against man ? Against
society? Underlying the amplest for
tunes are infiexible truth, incorrupti-
BILE honesty, Incompatible honor. In
dustry, frugality, economy are the
laws of wealth, and in keeping thereof
many have risen from Indulgence to
affiuence. Lazarus was not more vir-
tuous than Abraham; the former a
pauper, the latter millionaire.
Poverty, competence and affiuence
are the three financial conditions of
men-in each of which there may be
sainthood. Poverty may be as vi
cious upon the morals of character and
life as wealth. The rich ale not the
criminal classes of society; they repre-
sent the average virtue of Christian
lands. The reign of terror against
wealth is itself a crime. 1t is without
reason, without justifi cation, without
excuse, and those who aid and abet it
are chief offenders.
"Is it misanthropic to be rich? Do
large possessions in land and money
sour the milk of human kindness that
flows through the veins of humanity?
To whom are we indebted for those
houses of charity whose gates of mercy
stand open night and day? Who are
the founders of those libraries which
spread their ample feast before man
kind? Who opened to the INDECENT
student Of our land those scientific and
professional schools whereby the hum
blest may rise to the highest? The
universities and colleges of our country
are the monuments of the rich. The
most popular institute in New York,
where any woman can learn to be an
artist, and any man an artisan, whose
very name has filled Christendom with
delight, is the honorable work of a
man who left two millions to his two
children. All hail to Peter Cooper!
'Is it unpatriotic to be rich? Then
Mount Vernon and Monticello would
not be shrines of American patriotism,
to which we hasten with delight to
revere the memory of deathless names.
In the three great wars for the Union
the rich poured forth their wealth as
the rain descends, upon the just and
the unjust.
''Is it tyranny to be rich ? Do wealth
and oppression go hand-in-hand? Are
slavery and opulence born of the same
parentage? Wherefore was rich, yet
foremost in the abolition of slavery in
the British colonies. Gerrit Smith
died worth his millions; yet he was the
most eloquent, most ardent. most be-
nevolent of abolitionists. Who, today,
are the public enemies of those oppres-
sions in the social world which grind
the face of the poor? Are they not the
Christian capitalists of our land? Who
are the foremost patrons of those phil
anthropic organizations whose merci-
full mission is to give dignity to labor,
education to the working classes
time for mental and moral improve
ment to the sons of manual toll? Are
they not those whose industry and en-
terprise have raised them to affiuence i?
SIS it impiety to be rich? Is poverty
essential to goodness? Are beggars
the only saints? Is heaven poor
house? What then shall we do with
Abraham, who was very rich in cattle,
in silver and in gold? What then
shall we do with Job, who had 1900
sheep, 5000 camels, 1900 oxen, 500
asses; who had $4,000 acres and 5000
household servants :.
"The acquisition of wealth is divine
gift. Industry and frugality are the
laws of thrift. To amass great fortunes
is special endowment. AS poets,
philosophers, and orators are born such,
so the financier has genius for wealth.
By intuition he is familiar with the
laws of supply and demand. He seems
gifted with the vision of a seer of
the coming changes in the market; he
knows when to buy and when to sell.
and when to hold fast. He anticipates
the flow of population and its effect
upon real estate. AS the poet must
sing because the muse Is in him, so the
financier must make money. He can
not help it. The endowment of this
gift is announced in Scripture: THE
Lord thy God giveth thee power to get
wealth. (Deut. viii, 1S). And all these
promises are illustrated in the present
financial conditions of Christian ma
tions, who control the finances of the
world.
Against these natural and and law
full rights to the possession of property
Is the clamor for the distribution of
property among those who have not
acquired it either by inheritance or
skill or industry. 1t is a communism
that has no foundation either in the
constitution of nature or in the social
order of mankind. 1t is the wild IRA
tional cry OF labor against capital, be-
tween which, in the economy of nature
and in political economy, there should
be no common antagonism."