Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-03-30
CAN A MILLIONAIRE RE HONEST ?

A vast avalanche of sophlstlcal logic
the present generation. One reasoner
annihllates the doctrines of another. in
endless succession. and among the myr-
lads who talk and write as IL they
knew all about the science, not one has
yet succeeded i'm constructing a theory
which his nearest opponent has failed
to shatter to fragments instantly.
Meanwhile the babel OF confused and
vociferous argument grows louder and
louder. and what the end will be no
man can tell unless favored with super
natural foresight.
The good sense of the American peo-
pie Is confidently relied upon to accept
the decree OF the ballot in determining
the merits of the arguments that are
being so lndiscrimlnately and hetero-
generously poured out In showers for
and against the free coinage OF silver:
and no harm seriously endangerlng life
or property threatens to grow out of
the discussion of the question whether
there shall be a single or double mon
etary standard.
But there Is a line OF financial doc
trne which is being much advocated
in this country now-a- days, and whose
results promise to be less pacific. 1t
leads to the dogma that the individual
who possesses great wealth Is a Grim
lnai per Sc; that an honest man cannot
be a millionaire; and that mortgages
and bondholders are thieves and rob-
bers. with this dogma IL usually
coupled the declaration that the law is
powerless to reach this class of male
factors, the implication being that II
justice is ever melted out to them 1t
must be by mobocratic methods. Thus
both the motive and the Justification
for anarchy. arson. rapine and murder,
are complete.
A doctrine may be judged by It's
fruits as q whole better than by Its
structural formation; and the doctrine
that millionaires are criminals per Sc
reduced to practical results. must prove
disastrous beyond measure to the hui
man race. But the arguments that leat
| up to 1t are too shallow and sophisti-
cal TO have any weight at all except
with men whose minds have been bent
In advance in an evil direction. The ia
voritc chain of reasoning by which tbs
conclusion mentioned is sought to b,
established, ia about as follows:
In order to earn a million dollars {
man must earn a thousand dollars I
year for one thousand years; or tel
thousand dollars year for one hun
drcd years. or twenty thousand dollar,
a year for fifty years, etc. Allowing
200 working days to the year a maj
would have to earn Sl33 per day ever!
working day for twenty-five years
which is assumed to be about an aver
age business life. The rcasoner VIII,
lays this foundation, trlumphantly ask
II it Is possible for any man to carr
any such wages, Answering thl'
question in the negative. he proceeds t.
say that any man who acquires mil
lion dollars must have stolen IT. Thii
hoary chestnut is used daily by class
OF speakers ana writers as II It wer'
something fresh and sound
\ prospector goes to Klondike; with
In year he locates and develops
claim and sells II Tor milliol
dollars. He has made a mil
lion in twelve months instea,
of twenty-five years. The per
son to whom he sells 1t takes from /
two million dollars worth OF gold. whor
did the prospector rob? Whom di
the purchaser of his claim rob? A
inventor makes a million dollars out Q
contrivance by which the cost of
necessary commodities is enormousl
reduced. Whom has he robbed? Tn