The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-07-16


at all times the service needed for the
carrying on OF the work of the gov
eminent, but to command the best
service.
The pension system is also based
upon the theory that the government
is paying for service rendered and at
the same time insuring a future SER
vice in case ii needs TO call upon its
citizens to risk their lives in its be-
half.
The patent system rests upon the
same law of rewards. If a person
gives a new idea to the public or
makes new use of one of the forces
of nature, society rewards him for the
service rendered by giving. him tenn
porary monopoly of the use of the
idea. Thus the government in al of
its operations acts upon the law of
equivalents, proportioning the COM
pensation, as nearly as possible. TO the
service rendered. If the law govern
ing inheritances seems to be an ex-
ception, it must be regarded as an
apparent rather than real exception.
In the first place, the right TO give
ones property is really part of the
right to use il. The right of a. man
TO share his food with one whom he
loves is as sacred as his right to eat
1t himself. and the right of man to
share his property with others. pro-
viding he has acquired it justly. is as
sacred as his right TO use ii himself
II, for instance, a man by rendering
an equivalent service secures an in
defeasible title TO a horse, his right
ta give that horse to another is as
important Il right as his right to use
II himself. In so far as a parents
gifts to a child are in the preparation
of the child for service. the parent
IS discharging an obligation incurred
by him when he brought the child
into the world. and in so far as the
parents gifts go beyond that they
may be considered as payment for
service rendered or payment in adj
vance for service that the child is ex-
pected to render to the parent when
the parent becomes infirm. So, gifts
between friends are as rule made in
payment for service rendered or in
anticipation of services TO be render
ed either TO the giver or to others.
1t is safe TO say that no contest over
property rights is likely to arise be.
tween those who feel that they are
giving to society a service commensu-
rate with the compensation which
they are receiving. The controversy
arises now and has always arisen be-
tween those who are conscious of en-,
joying what they have not earned OF
conscious of desiring TO secure that
to which they are not entitled. ana
the masses of the people who feel
that they not only earn all that they
receive, but something more. Those
who are insisting upon legislation
which will protect each citizen in the
enjoyment of life. liberty and the pur-
suit of happiness are the real cham
rions of property rights as well as the
champions or human rights, and those
who talk so loudly Of defending prop
erty rights are. upon investigation,
found to be the ones who are en-
dangering property rights as we'll as
asSailing the natural rights of the in
dividual.
A few concrete cases will illustrate
this proposition. Frequent efforts
have been made to prohibit specula-
ton in grain and in stocks, but those
who attempt to secure such legisla-
ton are denounced as the enemies OF
property. Are they not the friends of
property? What right has any man
to enrich himself by disturbing the
price of another mans property? The
farmer raises grain for sale; he pre-
Iares the ground, sows the seed. tends
the crop, separates the grain from
the stalk or the husk, conveys it to
the market and delivers it to the local
miller or to a railroad for transport
tation to the miller at distance. The
miller grinds the grain into flour Oh
meal and delivers it to the baker or
to the kitchen to be I'm turn con-
verified into food. The farmer has
right to a compensation fixed by the
law of supply and demand, for he not
only bases his effort upon this, but he
finds a protection in the free opera
ton of this law. If the price ~ be-
low the average, the low price. when
the law of supply and demand oper-
ates freely is caused by an increased
supply, and this increased supply at
the lower price yields him an aver
age return. If the increased yield Is
i'm some other section, SO that he does
not receive the benefit OF il In any
particular year. he knows that his turn
will come.
But when the market Spectator
appears upon the scene he enriches
himself by overthrowing the law of
supply and demand and by substi-
tuting the Law of corner and monopo-'
ly He does not add a single bushel
to the grain i'm existence: he does not
facilitate its conveyance from pur-
chaser TO consumer; he does not turn
a wheel; he does not serve a single
useful purpose. He simply feasts
upon those whom he victimizes. and
like the horse leech his cry is always
"Givei Givei"
The same may be said of the bust
ness of dealing In stocks and bonds
There is a legitimate trade in those
securities between those who desire to
invest and those who desire to con.
vert their Investments into money.
but the stock Speculation disturbs the
grain market as the grain Spectator
disturbs the grain market. He de-
stroys all calculations based upon Sc
curity. upon income and upon the
value of money. and plunges stocks up
or plunges them down for his own
profit and TO the great injury of those
who enter the market for honest pur-
poses.
1t is not necessary to add that grain
gambling and stock gambling lead to
embeZZlements and business failures
whereby many lost; it Is not necessa-
ry to enumerate other demoraliZing Of
felcts of market speculation. II Is
not necessary to call attention to the
feet that In most cases ruin finally
comes upon the speculator as we'll as
upon those whom he dupcs and de-
ceives. 1t is sufficient TO say that the
men who engage in such speculation
not only make no contribution to the
welfare of society but constantly sac
rifice the interests of innocent people