The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-08-21
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,
INTEREST OR USURy. {:
The Enormous Drain Upon the
People from This Source.

To the Editor OF The Post.

|
ing at is not SO abstruse or deepseated b,i
what any thinking mind can understan,
IL. IL Is only that mind which imapine
that the science Of government. somehow
transcends common sense. that become
involved and discouraged One has onl,
to Keep In mind that natural law can no
De ignored; that natural law is the basi
Oh everything in both the material worl,
and the world of mentality; that natura
law, in its last analysis, is but the law n
cause and effect, without which as
foundation no intelligent analysis can pro
coed.
Apologists of present day conditions fol,
us the great disparity of wealth among tn,
people is due to difference in the capacities
OF men,. From this we are given to mn
uerstand that the man who acctImulates !,
hundred thousand has ten times the
.apaoity vi announcer who accumuates ten
thousand; that man who accumulates !,
million has one hundred times his c,nar-
NY; while the multi milllonare's capacity
increases by the hundred times for each
aadltlonal million in the upward scalr.
out do the capacities of men differ thus
greatly? Certainly not. We know that
the man who accumulates $4,000 is a
lar average business man: a man who
uouotiess mas worked his way up through
various avocations that tried his abilities
III many lines; yet, measured by his ac
c,uliluiatlons, other men surpass his abil-
Tues 10000 times. Think of a horse that
can pun two tons, and then of another.
no larger. that can pull 10000 tons MS
nothlng short of miracle, isn't it?-But
lhese are the Kind of miracles We dignity
Win the stamp of economic approval un.
der our industrial system and under A
constitution proclaiming the principles of
justice and equality" to all, but which
instead grant equal privileges to all to rob
ana plunder each other. 1t simply per-
mits the confiscatlon of wealth by the
keener and shrewder classes of the less
keen and shrewd.
1t doesn't take great disparity of ability
to bring about, this condition when the
law permits it. 1t doesn't take ten. nor
10000 times the ability upon the part of
the shrewder over the less, shrewd to put
into motion the economic machinery that
VIII bring about this result Just a little
superior ability is all that is necessary;
Just as two men or two animals engaged in
mortal combat in the end the stronger
barring accident, will survive So lust
a little superior ability in the industrial
struggle of one man over his fellows gives
him foothold, under our economic law,
which allows him ever thereafter to en-
rich himself by robbing his felowman.
OF course we don't permit highway rob-
berry by force. That is too brutal Our
economic principles permits 1t, however.
in much more refined manner, and with
results in the end that are 10000 times
more disastrous because the robber for
the most part, is unconscious that he is a
robber, while the robbed although daily
plundered. can not realize that he is
plundered; in fact he himself could Just
as well be on the robber side and have
the applause of his fellowman But in
the very nature of the case it is plain that
all could not be robbers. hence the less
keen are plundered by their shrewder fell
lows under economic principles that not
only permit the robbery but applaud the
act by pointing out the perpetrators as
men worthy of emulation" who have
attained success"
This is an indictment against our in
dustrial system which no writer who val
ues his reputation would dare make unless
backed by unanswerable argument based
upon indisputable facts. Now, for the
argument and the facts According 10 the
theory that the capacities of men differ
in proportion to their ability to accumulate
wealth. we are to assume that among the
thousands of men seemingly equally en-
downed both mentally and physically,
there is in fact a difference; a difference
so great according to this test that, while,
a." expressing it in figures, would rep
resent the ability of many 10000" or
even 100000 would have to be used 10
designate the stupendous capacity of 9TH
ers. Thas such difference in the intel
lectual and physical voltage of man really
exists Is too absurd to discuss. All the
that are necessary for the sup
port and happiness of the human race
must be considered in determining the ca
pacities of men. While one mans capacity
might be great in one field of labor, ne
might be wholly deficient in another field
that was even more essential. His general
average in them all would be the only
true measure of his ability; and when
thus measured it will be found tia the
capacities of men differ in small degree
The man OF executive ability has his place,
His ability to plan and systematic is
economy in the whole industrial field.
but he is no more capable in the great
ninutae of details, in the industrial
fabric, equally essential, than thousands
Of his fellows. So the man who combines
with this faculty the faculty of managing
men, now regarded so essential, stripped
Of the conditions that makes him valuable,
and thrown upon his own resources MS
for existence might be even
harder than those of his fellows. Thus ]
SAYS III is the TPidliNe BcutIdl hS4i
make in all the industries that marks
heir respective capacities. Then, If men
accumulated according to their abilities,
thus measured. there could be. no such
disparity of wealth as we see To-Day. In |
,ther words, the wealth today is in the
lands of people who would by no possible |
means ever have earned 1t. How then /
lid they get 1t? Have they violated the law |
md taken it by force? No; for the most
part they have obeyed the law The law
simply permits the robbery, while ighor-
lnce tolerates it.
The false economic principle responsible |
or this condition is the false belief That
wealth creates wealth." that mans
have the power to accumu-
ate; that the money he lays up has the
lower to multiply; and that when GER
ain sum is reached the increase will then
equal the product of his own
abor, giving him an invisible partner,
hereby enabling him to accumulate at a
wofold ratio. Soon, under this principle,
has increased until another
Invisible partner takes the field. and then
here are three of them and their united
forts accumulate at a threefold ratio.
md so on. under this false principle. as
increases faster and faster,
INVISIBLE partners take the field, and there
; no telling the number OF such partners
a the field today for the millionalres and
multi millionaires, who, rolling in an IN
reased accumulation, they could not STOP
they would, are very properly the siren
ous advocates that wealth creates
,ealth." The income OF this class OF peo-
Ia ;s "a Jr,ost wholly derived from interest