Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1899-04-15
PROSPERITY is PLENTY, FAIRLY
DISTRIBUTED.

II anybody can give Il better truer,
or briefer definition of prosperity, we
shall be happy to see 1t. There may be
other properties; special properties:
and other properties: as we are told
that THE prosperity of fools shall de-
stroy them" but that prosperity, so de-
fined, in the above heading. is the only
prosperity that can be properly predi-
Gated of people, or a nation, or a COM
munity. Have we got such a prosper
ity in the United States? In Virginia?
Or even in Norfolk-where the bounty
OF heaven, in so many ways and things
endows us with perpetual plenty? Here
land. water and air combine to supply
us all. with all necessary food and al
most every luxury of the palate; and
these we feel sure OF so long as our
land. water and air do not fall into the
clutches Of trusts and monopoly
through false pretenses of State, or
other fraudulent practices. But we
have other desires; and we are not
prosperous even in what we have. be-
cause the scarcity of money prevents n
fair distribution. The sine qua non Of
prosperity, as reason shows and expe-
rience tells. is plenty of money; for, as
it is the medium of exchange and cir.
culation, there can be no fair or ade-
quate distribution OF any abundance,
without an abundance OF the medium
Then everything runs on wheels, swims.
scars!
Every day some contemporary cries
aloud prosperity is here. Loci. =" and
he exhibits to us "a beggarly accoun,
of empty boxes" showing how our ex-
porters and transporters have stripped
the land. and made n good thing of it on
foreign shores by underselling foreign
pauper labor! If that be true. what
profited our people. for Mt what beggar-
ly prices they must have been forced to
sell here to enable the spectators to
make SO great a balance Of trade in
their favor. after meeting all the ex-
penses Of export. of foreign tariffs. tare
and tret. commissions. &C.? Is IL not
self-evident on the face of the figures
that they prove how our producers
were oppressed and skinned, no matter
what else they may prove. Another
cry OF Behold Prosperity" backs IL by
n glimpse of Wall street and the Stock
Exchange, with 4 boom on in stocks.
bonds and other insecurities-and every
dollar in the great account is diverted
from the fruitful fields of useful labor.
necessary production and honest COM
merce. to the arid deserts of chance,
trick, job, chicanc and gambling. where
no amount of irrigation can yield
blade of nutrient grass.
Is that prosperity? 1t is the best Of
fered for our inspection, at any rate:
except, perhaps. the Elusive phantas-
magoria of labor, jubilant. receiving an
increase of wages! Ho! we calamity
shriekers! here is an increase of S per
cent. or 10 per cent! and yet We Shrek!
We could laugh. on the contrary. IL It
were not SO serious-a matter. The in
crease to few, comparatively, Is but s
or 10 cents on the dollar. Is not that
munificent and generous, IL prosperity
has really returned Uor everybody has
been obliged to confess that she did
ny the land). when we consider that it
Is in return for n decrease in wages.
averaging from so to so cents in the
dollar, and with the trusts everywhere
closing up factories and workshops and
discharglng hands by the thousand?
But, hold! In the midst OF all the