The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-10-31
American Wealth.

was a temperate and closely compa cted
argument and il gave dignity to the
canvass.
The presentation of the trust question
by Mr. ROor was marked especially by
a luCidlty of argument which must tend
to dispol the cloud of confusion with
which it has been darkened in so many
honest minds by unlntelligent treatment
or by loose thinking. A healthy and
logical step in the process of modern in
dust ria development has been denounced
rs monstrous departure from the natu-
raj order, as a strange. abnormal and
malignant growth fatal TO society. II
makes no difference To the aSsailants of
the trusts that actually there has come
with this development larger and more
widely diiiused prosperity, so that, to Use
Mr. RooT's words, the great body Of the
people in the United States are climbing
up above the hard conditions Of poverty
which have been the rule Of the worlds
life into general comfort and independ-
ence to a degree never before known"
Nor was this "A mere assertion, like the
loose talk against the trust development
which is heard from the stump. |, was
justified and fortified by Mr.. Roof with
statistics which cannot be gainsad.
During the last half century the crea-
tion of wealth has proceeded at a rate
beyond all precedent in human history.
The nineteenth century was separated
from all centuries preceding by a gulf so
broad that with it a new and distinct
era in human history began. Science
and industries made new world and the
modern era was ushered in. But it is
only in the last half century that these
discoveries have been made to Weld for
mankind benefits which will come in even
greater fulness through the very meth
OILS Of industrial development against
which demagogical assault is now so
vainly made.
In 1850 the total number of wage
eaners employed in manufactures in
the United States was $4,000 in 1900
1t was 5,3l6.p0. This vast increase in
the volame of human labor took place
though meanwhile the aggregate horse
power driving the machinery it directed
or supplanted had been multiplied until
il was equivalent in producing capacity
10 the labor Of l13,0OO, 900 men working
every day in the year Moreover, while
the number of workmen increased only
about five times in the fifty years. the
amount paid them in wages increased
about ten times that is, wages doubled
during the period.
How about the capital in m.nufact-
ures. only by the investment and COM
bnation of which could the discoveries
and inventions have been utilized for
the general benefit? Capital received in
1900 less than one-third of the return il
had received in 1850; and this process is
stlll going on Capitals proport ionate
share Of the new wealth is constantly
diminishing, and labors proportionate
share of il Is constantly increasing.
The wages Of one mans labor in manu-
facture is to-day equal to the profit OF
six times as much money employed in
manufacture as it was equal To in 1850.
While the profits Of labor have increased
ing has diminished, as Mr.. Roof proved
specifically by comparisons of price lists
at the two periods.
The rich have been growing richer
and the poor poorer" cry the dema-
gogues Of the stump and the newspaper.
The diffusion of wealth. says MIR. RooT,
Is outstrippng its concentration.
Actually, there has never been time
in human history when the diffusion of
wealth and Of material comfort was so
great as It Is now. Doubtless, the or
ganizcrs Of the Sugar Trust and of the
Standard Oil Company made a great
deal Of money for themselves, but they
also made a great deal of money for the
public generally. As Mr.. Roof put il =.
we are getting sugar now for less than
II cost TO make it before the Sugar Trust
was formed, and the poorest Amer-
can farmer is lighting his little house
tonight, at trfing cost, more brilliantly
than palaces We're lighted century ago. >"
The great profit has gone to the mass of
the people.
In 1901 the separate savings bank ac-
counts IN the United States numbered
635s,723, with an aggregate value of
deposits Of s?,5o7 ,O94 900. In 1901 there
we're a,739,657 separate farms, averaging
over LAG acres To farm, or little more
than one farm to every nine persons of
our rural population, All Of these farms
except about IA per cent were worked
by their owners, and the value Of the
farm property was over twenty billion
dollars. That is, there are owned by
the plain working people almost an
average Of a farm or bank account for
every family in the United States When
and where in the whole history of man
kind has there been the like?
A very strong point was made BY Mr..
ROOT in saying that this steady increase
IA the earnings Of American labor has
gone on in spite Of the drawback of
Il great and continual addition to our
population through immigration. As the
vast volume Of the l7,?49,377 immigrants
since 1850 was Of people from other
countries, poor and, in most part, Of the
lowest earning capacity, their coming
has tended, of course, to keep down the
average IF earnings.