The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-02-17
A WEIGHTY FEATHER.
EiItor Tucker "On the Issue" Of
Honesty In Late Campaign.
lie Tells sf . simple Question That
Was Propounded to Him.


fusion when called upon TO answer ques-
tion OF so simple character as to surprise
one out of his wits. Such was my sorry
plight one evening two or three weeks ago
at n meeting Of the Sunrise club, and
shall'tell the painful story now, partly as
IA sort of penance for my own stupidity,
partly In the hope that IL will be read by
some members OF the club who supposed
me TO have been the victim Of keen and
searching questioncr rather than of my
absence of mind, and partly as bit OF
economic elucidation that may prevent 9TH
ers from being puzzled as was.
The Sunrise club, then, be ii known, Is
New York dining club of about 100
members of all shades Of opinion, who dine
together on the dutch treat" plan every
second Monday evening throughout the
winter season and then spend an hour or
two in discussion, the opener thereof and
the subject being selected in advance.
At the particular dinner now in question
the opener was Mr.. Ernest II. Crosby, who
had chosen as his topic, 1.-The Issue Of
Honesty In the Late Campaign" shall
report here only so much of his brief dis
course as relates to the point of my subse-
quent criticism. After declaring his intel
lectual conviction that the Republicans
had the right side Of the money question
In the campaign, he admitted that his
sympathies had been with their opponents,
and, inquiring what could be the cause OF
this strange discrepancy between his
thought and his feeling, he concluded that
the campaign must have involved ques-
ton of deeper honesty than the mere hon
esty CT dishonesty of the currency. The
claim of the holder OF money upon the la
Dor or service of others Is, he said, or seemed
to say, at any rate--I canpot give his exact
words-inferior in point of honesty TO the
obligation of every man TO work for his liv-
ing and he found the cause of his sym
| pathies with Mr.. Bryan and his followers
In the campaign in the fact that they rep
resented the Ixen who work for their living
as against the men who buy their living
with money. Then, to make plain the in
feriority of the merely monetary obliga-
ton, he supposed the case Of shipwrecked
party cast upon desert island, some Of
the party being millionaires, some being
moderately well 70 do professional men,
and some being penniless laborers. There
being no means of shelter, and shelter be-
ing necessity TO all, IL would become
necessary to build a shelter, in which case,
Mr. Crosby claimed, II manifestly would
be less honest for one of the millionaires to
take a s1o bill from his pocket and hire
one of the laborcrs TO do, In addition to his
own share of the work Of building, the
share of the millionaire also, than to take
off hisAeoat and engage with the laborers
In the task ut hand.
Toward the close Of the discussion that
followed the openers address was called
on for q few remarks, and, responding, l
directed my criticism at the position out
lined above Putting aside oil question of
the manner In which the castaway mil
lionaires originally got their money and
assuming that their money represented
actually what paper money always repre-
sents in theory-service previously per-
formed and as yet unpaid for excepo by
paper titlo--I took the ground that the
millionaire who should pay so bill to a
laborer to put a roof over his head would
be quite as honest In his conduct as though,
instead, he should build his house himself.
held that tho presence of $40 bill in the
millionaires pocket was evidence (assum
ing il TO have bccn obtained under free
conditions and by neither dishonesty nor
tyranny that he had already done his part
toward the building of the shelter by rem
dering an equivalent service previously and
again--that is, bear a double burden--in
order that the laborers might escape with
the performance of less than their proper
tionate share of work would be dishonest
in the extreme The infcriority of one OBJ
legation to the other denied, maintaining
that the obligation of the individual to
work for bis living can never exceed the
always exactly equivalent obligation to
| furnish him his living which falls upon
those for whom he has worked.
At this point the opener asked permis-
sion TO put question, request which l
| indiscreetly granted. "Will you tell us, y
| then asked Mr. Crosby, "what would hap
| pen on the desert island IL each member OF
the shipwreeked party were the pessesser
| of IA $40 billY' Now, incredible as it may
| seem, this question, which the merest tyro
| In economies should be able to answer
| without moments thought, floored me
| completely. The words had hardly fallen
| from Mr.. Crosby's lips before the audience
laughed as though triumphant point had
| been scored against the terrible Tucker,
| and am bound TO confess that the sheep
| ish attitude of the aforesaid terror went far
to justify their glee
After a moments s embarrassment man
| aged to stammer out that III that case II
would be necessary for all the shipwrecked
persons To 60 to work together, each doing
his share toward the building of the shel.
ter, which answer, of course, was true,
but unfortunately, on its face, seemed 70
bear out Mr.. Crosby in his original con
tention rather than sustain my criticism
thereof. Then Mr.. Starr Hoyt Nichols
suggested that in the case supposed those
| who had tho least money would work for
those who had the most-a suggestion
which I, regardless of the fact TINT 1t in
volved an assumption violently at odds
with the case supposed-that hypothetical
case hoing now one of equality in monetary
wealth, frs:ntically clutched at as a drown
ing man clutches mt straw. Then Mr.
John II. Edclman, n communist, perceiv
ing, presume. that my situation was be
coming more and moro hopeless, inquired
why IL would not be advisable 90 com,
down 20 natural basis and assume that
all men would desire 10 work In the pres
ence n such conditions, truth which
should have characterized as irrelevant
had not been "rattlcd," but to which, al