Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1905-02-17

rmir"nt HAT ii is not astonishing TO
find the I,na@;n91ion Of man attribut-
ing 20 1t n sort of royalty. And it Is
on this side that we shall attack the
problem.
The term money has for appendage
that of merchandise. If there We're no
merchandise there would be no money.
but as long rs there Is merchandise
there will be money. little matter I'M
der what form. The source of all the
abuses which center around money lies
in a lack of discrimination. People
have confused under the term and Idea
Of merchandise things which have no
relation with one another. They have
attempted to give q venal value to
things which neither could have it nor
ought to. The idea of purchase and
sale has invaded ground where it may
justly be considered an enemy and u
usurper. 1t Is reasonable that wheat,
potatoes, wine, fabrics, should be
bought and sold, and 1t Is perfectly
natural that a mans labor procure
him rights to life and that there be put
into his hands something whose value
represents them, but here already the
analogy ceases to be complete. A mans
labor Is not merchandise In the same
sense as q sack Of flour or ton Of coal.
Into this labor enter elements which
cannot be valued in money. In short,
there are things which can in nowise
be bought-sleep. for instance, knowl-
edge Of the future, talent. He who Of
fers them for sale must be considered
n fool or an impostor, and yet there
are gentlemen who coin money by such
traffic. They sell what does not be-
long to them, and their dupes pay ficti-
tious values in veritable coin. So, too,
there are dealers in pleasure, dealers
in love. dealers in miracles. dealers In
patriotism, and the title Of merchant,
so honorable when it represents a man
selling that which is in truth a COM
modify Of trade, becomes the worst of
stigmas when there Is question Of the
heart. of religion, Of country.
Almost oil men are agreed that to
barter with ones sentiments, his hon
or, his cloth, his pen, or his note, is in
famous. Unfortunately this idea, which
suffers no contradiction as a theory
and which thus stated seems rather q
commonplace than high moral truth,
has infinite trouble to make its way In
practice. Traffic has invaded the world.
The money changers are established
even in the sanctuary, and by sanctu-
ary I do not mean religious things
alone, but whatever mankind holds ga.
cred and inviolable. 1t Is not gold that
complexities, corrupts and debases life;
it is our mercenary spirit.
The mercenary spirit resolves every
thing into single question, How
much Is that going to bring me? and
sums up everything in a single axiom
With money you can procure anything
Following these two principles Of con
duct, a society may descend to a de
gree Of infamy impossible to describe
or to imagine.
How much is it going to bring me-
This question, so legitimate while Il
concerns those precautions which eact
ought to take to assure his subsist
ence by his labor. becomes pernicious
as soon as it passes its limits and
dominates the whole life. This is SC
true that it vitiates even the toll which
gains our daily bread. furnish paid
labor; nothing could be better. But II
to inspire me in this labor I have only
the desire to get the pay nothing could
be worse. A man whose only motive
for action Is his wages does a bad
piece Of work. What interests him IL
not the doing, it's the gold. II he car
retrench in pains without lessening his
gains, be assured that he will do It
Plowman, mason, factory laborer, hi
who loves not his work puts into 1,
neither interest nor dignity-is, II
short, q bad workman. 1t is not vel
to conflde ones life to a doctor who Il
wholly engrossed in his fees, for tn,
spring Of his action is the desire t.
garnish his purse with the contents o.
yours. II 1t Is for his interest tha'
you should suffer longer, he is capabl,
Of fostering your malady instead o
fortifying your strength. The instruct
or of children who cares for his worl
only 50 far as 1t brings him profit is ,
sad teacher. for his pay is indineren
and his teaching more Indifferent still
OF what value Is the mercenary Jour
nalist? The day you write for the dol
lar, your prose is not worth the dol
lar you write for. The more elevatet
IN kind is the object Of human labor
the more the mercenary spirit, II it b.
present, makes this labor void ant
corrupts 1t.
There are a thousand reasons to 50.
that all toll merits its wage, that ev
cry man who devotes his energies t
providing for his life should have hi
place in the sun and that he who doe
nothing useful-does not gain his live
lihood, in SHORTS only a parasite
But there Is no greater social erro
than to make gain the sole motive o
action. The best we put into our worl
-be that work done by strength o
muscle, warmth Of heart or concen
tration Of mind--is precisely that 70
which no one can pay US. Nothing BET
ter proves that man is not a machin
than this fact: Two men at work wit
the same forces and the same move
ments produce totally different results
Where lies the cause of this phenom
enon? In the divergence Of their In
tentions. One has the mercenary spir
1t, the other has singleness Of pur
pose. Both receive their pay, but tn
labor Of the one is barren: the othe
has put his soul into his work. Tn
work Of the first is like a grain o
sand, out Of which nothing comes
through all eternity; the others worl
Is like the living seed thrown into tn
ground. 1t terminates and brings fort
harvests. This Is the secret which ex
plains why 80 many people have faile'
while employing the very processes b,
which others succeed. Artomatons d.
not reproduce their kind, and merce
nary labor yields no fruit
UnQuestionably we must bow befor
economic facts and recognize the diff
culties Of living. From day to day 1
becomes more imperative to combin
well ones forces in order to succee,
in feeding clothing. housing and bring