The Topeka state journal., 1899-10-13

that there is just so much wealth in
the world; that life is a struggle to see
who shall grab the most, and that the
man who acquires a fortune has OBJ
tained by crime what belongs to some
one else.
No mistake could be greater. The ac-
QUESTION of a million by invention; by
mfnistering to new wants; by novel ap-
pIications in science and art to the
needs of daily life; by enterprise and
skill in mining, agriculture and manu-
features is practically the creation of
wealth-the development of value that
but for the exertions of its possessors
would have had no existence.
The prosperous do not complain. The
strong can take care of themselves. 1t
is the feeble who must be lifted up and
supported after, and to them the state
owes its obligations. 1t must protect
the weak from oppression, the poor
from extortion, the humble from injus-
tees 1t must secure universal diffu-
sion of civil and political rights, with
vigorous guarantees for the security OF
life, liberty and property. 1t must pro-
vide education for the ignorant, refuge
for the defective, asylum for the help
less, and give every man an equal
chance to get there if he can. If he
gets left his name is Dennis
Pompey buys brush, whitewasheS
fence and earns so cents.
NIiIIet with the same outlay, paints
the ''Angelus,' which sells for $150,O00
So long as Pompey has the right to
raint the 'AngeluS'' and Millet the
right to whitewash the fence, neither
has lust ground of complaint They
have equal opportunity and must be
But if a number of gentlemen COM
bine and buy up all the brushes, and
the lime, and the pigments,
so that Pomeroy cannot white
wash nor Millet paint without their
consent, both may justly claim that
thev have been deprived of their BIRTH
right and are subject to degrading
bondage and servitude.
It seems inequitab1e that Patti should
receive 81, 500 for a song while the
seamstress earns Is cents for a day s
work making shirts in a sweat shop.
But if every woman had the voice of
the prima donna, and only one woman
in the world could make shirts, the sit
uation would be reversed. The condi-
ton of the shirt maker cannot be amel-
iorated by changing political institu-
tions, or methods of taxation, or by ma
tionalizing manufacturers. If wages
are to be increased the number of
seamstresses must be diminished or
people must wear more shirts.
The argument of Henry George for
the abolition of private ownership of
land is that value is given to land by
the landless. The same is true of every
thing else. The value of all property
comes from those who want it and do
not have it. The value of shirts is CIV
en- to them by the shirtless; the value of
diamonds by the diamondIess; the val
ue of railroads by those who want to
travel.
The difference between men is not so
much in want of opportunity as in want
of capacity to discern opportunity. The
future viii be richer than the past.
Vast as has been the progress of the
race, there are greater triumphs to be
won by those that have eyes to see and
ears to hear.
The medicine for the ills of society
must be found therefore in individual
cultivation and development, and the
ultimate appeal must be to conscience
and intelligence to protect liberty from
the folly of it's friends and the fury of
it's foes.