New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-10-22
STIRRING GLASS HATRED.
DIR. HILLS CALLS IT A CRIAIE-IMPoR-
TANT PART PLAYED BY ABILITY
IN CREATING WEALTH.

.Abuitv the source OF wealth" was the keynote or
a sermon preached at Plymouth Church last hlsht
by the Rev. DR.. Newell Dwight Hills. HIS supJeo'
was 1.-THE Crime Of Stirring Up Hatred Between
the Rich and Poor" Here in America, where there
is no artificial aristocracy, attempt to sur up
prejudice and hatred, he said was un-American ana
vicious. In part he said;
the Of property means the oI ecf tbee
country and their kind will view with appretherslon
an nas: the rich the farmers against the bankers
e aganst the ase and ma
ton has been cursed by the demegogue who 9rac-
tlses as fine art the stirring up OF class hareu.
DR.. Hills outlined the history leading up to the
French Revolution which resulted. he said in the
loss of Frances position among the nations Con-
tinuing, he said:
Now the hatred that prevailed IN those
no excuse in this free land In our country there
is no position SO high that the BOY from snT tne 5oP p
aoRieTs it. II the monarches have an ARTIFICIAL
93 the nob PPy0G Re eod IS an
fixed and S All eHeence or no mor
culture. Standing above the ma mass Of men and
e9ms %een US and yo@ there great
gulf fixed 70 not pass over 70 yo s nor can
natural aristocracy that includes the best and the
chooses to become 9 worthy and wise Amid insl
buttons Ike ours therefore, the attempi 70 sur
american and vicious
soCIETY'S DEBT TO RICH MEN OF ABILITY.
But II the rich do well to remember society's in
Consider that much of the wealth Of field and fac
tory has been produced, not by land, not by labor
Among many men the impression prevails that
labor alone has produced the wealth of store and
factory and warehouse; that the large fortunes or
the rich have been created by and belong to the
poor that he who has amassed large fortune has
done so by holding back the wage that belongs to
his workman, or by corruption and the purchase OF
special privileges. An age fruitful in foolish and
false ideas has produced none more erroneous IMAM
the idea that labor has produced all wealth.
men have begun to call attention to the fact that
to the power of land and labor and capital must be
added fourth factor called ability. In his Work
and Wages" Thorold Rogers tells us that in 1850
the average weight of fatted bullock in England
was four hundred pounds. But Robert Blackwell
discovered a method of improving cattle and sheep
fifty years the average weight of fatted bullock
went from 400 200 pounds. Labor had toiled for
centuries and the utmost it could do was to pro
duce a small, thin bullock But ability came In
and enabled labor. with the same exertion, to add
eight hundred extra pounds.
A still more remarkable instance of the fact that
it is ability that has increased the worlds store or
reaper In 1880 farmers toiIed sixteen hours day
with the scythe and sickle But the newly in
vented reaper saved the average farmer the LABOR
of six men through period OF ten days IN each
eS IN the So Sa ene annually al SIS In 1880 the
annual saving in labor was 100000, and the ag-
81 Cos 600 900 The ability of that inventor repre-
sents through natural law free gift of $50 each
year to the average farmer.
FORTUNES MADE THROUGH ABILITY.
A recent writer declares that of the great labor
saving inventions the people have received over "
whose ability created these devices have received
from one-thusandth of per cent to one-tenth OF
! per cent of the gain. Now and then indeed,
men make fortunes by expressing the poor, by eX-
tortng unjust prices or through bribery gain
special privileges But these fortunes are the ex.
ceptions The great majority of the fortunes OF
this country have been made not through fraud or
oppression, but through ability that has done far
more for the poor than for the possessors
thereof A recent work contains a study OF a
hundred millionaires in New-York City. These are
some OF the foundations OF wealth. Oil lamps, wall
paper clothespns hooks and eyes, buttons, spices.
wire thread for sewing shoes, hemlock tar altar Of
roses backing, glue, cocoa yeast, dyes, TO Wnlch
must be added some eighty articles that have
made their manufacturers mihonaireS. THESE rlch
men discovered certain wastes that were going on
in the factory and the workshop, and the saving
Of the remnants that others had thrown away
made them rich and society far richer. That these
rich men became rich by making poor men poorer
is falsehood so colossal as to seem almost Alpine
in its vastness. All that they have was gained
through saving what had been previously thrown
away, and where they made one dollar out or thelr
invention society has received ninety-nine.
To-day the wastes in the field, the remnants In
the factory and the shop and the dirt under man
feet represent untold wealth But the young men
of the next generation will save these wastes ana
their future savings will amass large fortunes
Anarchy and socialism propose to run moving
machine the top of society and cut or the TAN
mems heads until all equal. The common school
levels by lowering the rich, but by hItlng the
poor.