The San Francisco call., 1898-01-30
WILLIAM H. MILLS, LAND AGENT.

adequate presentation of the problems involved without reference to the en- tire question of production and distri- button, with some thoughts on cooper ative profit-sharing as a remedy which will finally be brought about as a re- action from trusts.
 It may be said that wealth is dis tributed when it Is created, and that the tendency in this country and age is for the instrumentalities of accumula- tion to go into the hands of fewer and fewer persons. There are relatively fewer employers than there were in the old days As a result We have pam pered arrogance on the one side and pauperiZed subserviency on the other This becomes bad for the independence of the American citizen, who is warped from his independent sovereignty by reason of the struggle for a livelihood desiring to favor the capital, corpora tions and trusts for which he labors As the trust restricts profits to the few so it has bad influence over the many. As the tendency is toward the aggregation of wealth in relatively few hands. it stands to reason that the boy starting out in the world has a smaller chance to become an employer and original tradesman. Whereas he once had something like one chance in three, l doubt whether he now has one chance in twenty to become an em- ployer of other men. It is by specula- ting in and controlling other mems labor that wealth is produced for few
 It is well to note that the silent ag- gressions of the trust and the wild cry of the anarchist lead practically to the same ultimate misfortune-the inse- curity of property, and, as a corollary, to the insecurity of human life and the destruction of the general welfare. While 1t is true that the general con- dition of labor has been vastly i'm proved and that there was never time when the successful man had so much to make life comfortable. it is also true that there is more produced than can be consumed under present conditions. This leads to the growth of an unnecessary class of men out of employment Let me illustrate: One man has forty thousand acres and lives on it with his family It is un- necessary to say that there is but one woman on that tract who can buy a piano and the general accompaniments of culture. But if you were to divide that land among two hundred thrifty people behold how enormously you would multiply the power of consump- ton, how you would extend the call for labor, and how the blessings of wealth would be distributed over a wider area of country and to a larger proportion or the population.
 general and thorough education is in way a remedy, but when it comes 10 solving the direct question, What shall I do with my boy?" 1t becomes a knotty problem, for his chances are not what they were before the present sys- tenn. There is no reason for a pessi- mistic outlook, but there will be suffer ing during the working out of the remedy by readjustments and co-op- eration on some equitable basis Co., operation is the goal of labor.
 Trusts engender other trusts and the tendency of all trusts is to minimize the number Of employers and augment the number of employees. How far the tendency in this direction can go with out creating such estrangement be- tween the classes as to produce the danger of collision 1 am not prepared to say.
 Great wealth as an incident to pros perity is tolerable; but great wealth superVening upon a general condition Of adVersity and the impoverishment of the masses, or the common life of the country, is dangerous in the ex- treme. It is menace to the repose of free institutions.
 But the reactionary point from the condition of trust relation of all la Dor and the tendency which such trusts have is to cooperation of labor Cooperation would minimize the num- Der of employed and augment the number Of profit sharers or employers
 It is hard to say what will be the nf