The herald., 1897-01-24

. ilAlHES DeiOuSlits " llC 6ooS.
How this truth has been acted or
in the past and how it is observed II
the present we may learn. How /,
may be followed in the future, we car
only guess. The knowledge which We
gain from the history of centuries lone
gone by will, if the cause of humanity
be our guiding star, free the future
from many errors, and much waste arc
misery can be avoided.
The path of mankin6s progress uI
from the most remote period of which
we have any knowledge TO its presen'
plane, has been an uncompromising one
1t has been like that of one trying to
reach the mountain heights in straight
course When the ascent of rugged
slope is ma de, the uncompromising course
leads down into the deep ravine, with
its darkness and dangers, and torrents
to cross, before the upward journey be-
gins again Under the same law cycles
of progression have been followed by
cycles of retrogression; periods of pro-
ductiveness and alternated with pc
rods of destructiveness; license has fol-
lowed repression
Through each laborious ascent,
through each succeeding conflict man
kind has reached q higher plane. From
the newly acquired heights a wider view
is obtained, and man may see how
much easier the ascent could have been
made had reason been employed as en-
gineer and guide. The summit of the
mountain is still afar and high above
us, and mankind is triving to reach it.
If mans highest and noblest aspra-
tiors are for securing-not to individual
man, but to mankind-all the possible
elements of human happiness. then all
mans efforts of whatever kind, should
be directed that this may be attained
There are many elements combined in or
81. ,,.I y tc 1anl INT Of
human happiness. The present consd-
Grafton OF the question is confined to
one of them-the greatest enjoyment
by the greatest number of the material
good things of earth. and the influences
which an unequal division of these exert
on the onward march OF human pro-
gress.
A mans private fortune or wealth
is measured by the proportion of these
material good things he holds, as COM
pared to another, or to all of his fellow
men. This comparison may not reveal
the line that divides riches from pow
erty. The line that divides them is mar
row. In looking off on either side we
see the contented domain of a harm
less competency; but as the vision is
extended we see that on the one hand
it merses into the realms of luxury
ostentation and surfeit. The back
ground OF the other side reveals scenes
of want, wretchedness and starvation
One OF the common or natural ten
denotes of mankind is to acquire the
use and possession of worldly goods.
Industry. energy and toll have opened
the hant. of nature and revealed that
there is enough for all. and that by the
continued application of these forces
there may for all time be enough for
all.
That some men acquire wealth while
others grow poor or remain so, is not
alone question of individual will or
energy OF of their faculty of earning or
preserving. Mans social environment,
in other words society which mankind
has created, is a contributing if not the
controlling factor. AS society created the
opportunity for accumulating wealth
its duties lead to the further upbuilding
and upholding of society ard not
towards its destruction.
The begetting of wealth is not wrong
in itself, though the process of getting
it may be harmful in the extreme. Thus
also the possession of wealth is no
menace to society, though the fruits of
an enormously unequal distribution of
1t, has been in past ages. and is at the
present time, alarmingly dangerous.
The manufacture of whisky does not
necessarily assail the rights of anyone.
The harm in its existence depends upon
the use it is put to. In the hands of one
it may be used to intoxicate and to de-
bauch to the point of melting crime
even murder In the hands of another it
may be used a s a resuscitant or in re-
storing the sick to health. The menace
to society from an indiscriminate use of
1t has resulted in the enactment of laws
placing penalties in the way of taxes on
its manufacture and restrictions on its
sale
The results arising from inequality of
wealth have been the most potent factor
in fact, more potent than all other fac =
tors combined, in dividing the people
into classes. When society is thus di-
Nided, common sympathy is banished
and the oppressive influences of the
power of the rich over the poor engender
class hatred. The logical step in social
evolution from the strife caused by bit
ter and prolonged class animositis is
despotism or a many-fold worse alter
native-anarchy.
A review of history reveals to US that
the problem of regulating inequalities of
private wealth is not modern one. The
problem has been presented many times,
and various have been the efforts to
solve it, The three historical facts
which | shall submit to you do not deal
directly with the question in it's broadest
sense-its influence on the uplifting of
mankind in general-but in a restricted
sense. the influence for good or for evil
which the applied remedies produced in
individual communities and nations and
through these on the progress of man.
kind.
First-The Sabbatical year of the
ancient Hebrews was applied as pre-
Ventive rather than as cure. The law
decreed that: AT the end of every seven
years thou shalt make a release And
this is the manner of the release: Every
creditor that lendeth aught to his neigh
Dor shall release it, he shall not exact it
of his neighbor or his brother save when
there shall be no poor among you"
My record does not show when or by
what influence this law was repealed
though it is clear that it is not strictly
observed.
Second-In the sixth Century before
the Christian era the social condition of
the Athenians was such as to cause
great anxiety for the welfare If not for
the very existence, of Athens itself
Through TIE counsel Of Solon and the
Jaws which he enacted, the threatened
dangers We're aVerted Plutarch de-
scribes the social conditions existing at
that time as follows: "And the dispar-
ity OF fortune between Sich and poor, at
that time, also reached its height: SO
that the city seemed to be in q truly dan
gerouS condition, and no other means of
freeing it from disturbances and set
Ting it to be possible but a despotic
power All the people We're indebted to
the rich; and either they titled their
land for their creditors, paying them u
sixth of the increase, or else they EN-
. t,x.;,. I, q. H., -.