Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1905-01-19
CHAPTER VIII.

certain WlueSpredu pItJu-
NN dice which attributes to mon
w ey a magic power Having
| come so near enchanted ground, we
will not retire in awe, but plant
| firm foot here, persuaded of many
| truths that should be spoken. They
are not new, but how they are forgot
] ten!
l see no possible way of doing with
out money. The only thing that theo-
r.-+s or legislators who accuse 1t of all
| our Ills have hitherto achieved has
been to change it's name or form. But
they have never been able to dispense
with a symbol representative of the
commercial value of things. One
might as well wish to do away with
written language as to do away with
money. Nevertheless this question of
a circulating medium is very trouble
some. 1t forms one Of the chief ele-
ments of complication in our life. The
economic difficulties amid which we
still founder, social conventionalities
and the entire organization of modern
life have carried gold to q rank so
eminent that 1t Is not astonishing to
find the imagination Of man attrihut-
ing to it sort of royalty. And 1t Is
on this side that we shall attack the
problem.
The term money has for appendage
that Of merchandise. II there were no
merchandise there would be no money,
but as long as there is merchandise
there will be money, little matter un-
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 1t nor
ought to- The idea of purchase and
sale has invaded ground where It may
justly be considered an enemy and
usurper. 1t ia reasonable that wheat,
potatoes, wine, fabrics, should be
bought and sold, and it is perfectly
natural that 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 -four 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
q 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 Gupes pay ficti-
stious values in veritable coin. So, too,
there are dealers in pleasure. dealers
In love. dealers in miracles, dealers In
natriotism, and the title Of merchant
30 honorable when it represents 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 all 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 Il theory
and. which thus stated seems rather a
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-
airy | do not mean religious things
alone, but whatever mankind holds sa
cred and inviolable. 1t is not gold that
complexities, corrupts and debases life:
1t is our mercenary spirit.
The mercenary spirit resolves every
thing into a single question, How
much is that going to bring me? and
sums up everything In single axiom,
With money you can procure anything.
Following these two principles of con-
duct a society may descend to de-
gree of infamy impossible to describe
or to imagine
How much is it going to bring me?
fhis question, so legitimate while it
tonceruS those precautions which each
ought 10 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 so
true that it vitiates even the toll which
gains our daily bread. | furnish paid
labor; nothing could be better. But If
to inspire me in this labor l have only
the desire to get the pay nothing could
be worse. A man whose only motive
for action is his wages does q bad
piece of work. What interests him is
not the doing, it's the gold, II he can
retreneh In pains without lessening his
gains, be assured that he will do 1t.
Plowman, mason factory laborer, he
who loves not his work puts into 1t
neither interest nor dignity-is, in
short, bad workman. IL Is not well
to confide ones life to doctor who is
wholly engrossed in his fees, for the
spring of his action is the desire to
garnish his purse with the contents of
yours. If 1t Is for his interest that
you should suffer longer, he is capable
of fostering your malady instead of
fortifying your strength. The instruct
or of children who cares for his work
only so far as it brings him profit is
sad teacher, for his pay IN Indifferent
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 elevated
In kind is the object of human labor,
the more the mercenary spirit, II it be
present, makes this labor void and
corrupts it.
There are thousand reasons to say
that all toll merits It's wage. that ev-
cry man who devotes his energies to
providing for his life should have his
place in the sun and that he who does
nothing useful-does not gain his live
lihood, in short-is only a parasite
But there is no greater social error
than to make gain the sole motive of
action. The best we put into our work
be that work done by strength of
muscle, warmth Of heart or eoncen-
tration Of mind--is precisely that for
which no one can pay us. Nothing bet
ter proves that man is not a machine
than this fact: Two men at work with
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-
it, the other has singleness Of pur-
pose Both receive their pay, but the
labor of the one is barren; the other
has put his soul into his work. The