The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-02-17
scCIALIsTTc TENDENCIES
OF GREAT WEALTH

me financial and industrial affairs
Of the world are taking a logical
course The thing about it chiefly re-
markable is that they are taking il
with striking rapidity. The world looks
on with interest, but upon the whole
with equanimity. For Whatever alarm
lists may say, we are tolerably satisfied
that the majority of the citizens of
civilization viii not submit to become
the slaves and pensioners of 1antas-
tic minority. The latter are taking ad-
vantage OF certain existing laws.
passed at a time when the present de-
velopments were not fOreseen, which
appear to safeguard their operations.
But these laWsg being human aDri-
cations, are essentially inpermanent.
/ Nothing can prevent the public, when
1t feels so disposed, from disregarding
/ them. And the moment that the public
realizes that these laws are contrary
to the public veal the laws Will cease
10 be operative. All that is needed to
secure that result is that the situation
shall become acute enough. For there
Is an old law, not on the revised stat
uteS, which declares preservation
10 be the first law Of life. No man will
consent to be a galley slave, or to be
starved with food within reach, pro-
vided he has the physical power to pre-
vent these things. And there is no
doubt that among the "a, 100000 in this
country there are men enough to dis
regard the efforts to harness them on
the part OF Morgan, Rockefeller & Co.
&. q q
Morgan, Rockefeller & Co. are, when
you come down to hardpan, a handful
of persons who lay claim to great pos
sessions. Their sole strength and i'm
| portance consists in the willingness of
the rest of the American nation to ad-
NIT the validity of this claim But this
claim has no basis in natural right.
The gentlemen in question never have
/ done, and, it is needless to add, must
/ forever be incapable of doing any
( thing to entitle them, in equity, to the
/ possession of the valuables they as
! cr1be to themselves. And their tenure
| of the property rests solely on their
demonstrating that they can and win
/ administer them in such a manner as
/ TO insure the greatest good to the
/ greatest number. AS soon as they
! cease to demonstrate this, or as soon
! as anyone else demonstrates that their
/ tenure is hostile to the common inter
/ eStS, they viii be stripped of their hold
ings, and the latter will be admins
tered in such manner as the common
atty may deem most eXpedient
1t would be irrational, meanwhile, to
/ feel any animOsity against Morgan,
/ Rockefeller & Co. Separate from the
/ natural resources with which they deal
anu LiAC I'D VI al AJiVtESo VI INDUSTRIAL
and social evolution which they illus
trate, their own private personal equa-
ton, and you viii surprise yourself in
seeing how almost nothing tthe latter
| appears.
The earth bears iron. coal and oil;
science discovers methods for getting
out these materials and manufacturing
/ them and transporting them TO market;
civilization creates an orderly social
| organism whereby, in return for OBJ
serving certain fOrmalities, a man is
said to own material prOpeTty-and it
is only after these conditions have been
enumerated tat the share in the mat
ter of Morgan, Rockefeller & Co. be-
gins. Obviously, nothing could be more
insignificant. 1t is hardly more than
autOmatism; they are helpless crea-
lures of circumstances and environ
ment, In their place, most men would
have done like them. Neither they nor
any milliOnaires have been persons of
more than average intelligence.
But even SuppCsing them to have
been giants of ability, still their excess
of fortune would be out of all proper
ton with their deserts. An individual
is valuable to the community in SC far
as he can perform some use which no
one else can do so we'll Judged by this
Standard, Morgan, Rockefeller q Co.
> would be dear at, say, $1,000 per an
mum. Here they are, however, and We
have no grounds for assuming that
they are not doing the very best they
know how. 1t would require a man
of more than NapOleOnic genius, indeeo,
to do anything else-tO use their wealth
for vicious ends. The utmost that they
can expend selfshly is a mere drop in
the bucket in comparison with what
they have. They must expeEd the re-
mainder in the conduct and creation Of
more Industrial enterprises.
2 1t is plainly to their interests to do
this work in a manner not to antagon-
ize the community. They may be trust
ed to study their interests in this as
; in other things, and their only weak
: point is that they may lack the ability
to move the big machine wisely. That
is a very weak point, to be sure; but
as we said just now, it would be ir-
; rational and unjust to blame them for
; what they cannot help, owing to their
r human limitations
But though we need not blame them
; we may nevertheless see fit to relieve
f them of their functions. This whole
2 phenomenon of allowing vast indus
tries TO fall into the hands Of individ-
uals is an accident of civilized evOlu-
2 ton, and it is practically certain thai
2 it will turn out to be injudiCiOus. We
permit the experiment to be tried, bu
we are already doubling its expedienCy
and it is dollars to doughnuts that VIZ
shall ere long decide against it.
%
The Objectionable elements are no
so much on the industrial side as on tn,
human side. The coal is mined, the OF
is refined, the iron is manufactured
' but tens of thousands of men ar
placed on the payrolls of certain in
2 dividUals, who, so long as the presen
s laws are enforced. have power of lit
- and death over them. This situation
does not favor the development of in
dependent and self-respecting man
[ hood. The owners may not, probabl,
II Will not Starve their wOrkmen: bu
that they have the power to do SO i
=, distasteful
And again, there can be no guaran
n tee of social stability IT, a communit
e where industrial wars are liable at an,
. moment to take place. If a hundTe
= thousand or a million workmen strike
Il and the public, perceiving that thei
5 cause is just, support them, an econom
- &c loss must enSue, greater or less, &C
| cording to circumstances. Hitherto tn
owners have always yielded when pub
lie opinion was against them. but i
- the possible case of their holding ou'
V to the continued inconvenience of tn
: / public, some ching would be certain [
< occur which would be detrimental [
p all concerned, but to the owner wOul
Il be simply humiliation. Such a posi-
= bility. we say, should be eliminated, an
the only way to eliminate it is to abo
ish private ownership of great indus
e tries Now, this may be done by leg
II islation, but the difficulty there is tia
Faoicro TORS or-a nj n he moody :