Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1907-04-11
DID YOU GET YOUR SHARE

In a recent statement issued by
the census bureau the wealth of the
United States is estimated at Sis,
600, 600, 600, or 81, 353 for every
man, woman and child in the
country.
The census of 1870 placed the
wealth of the country at $50, 068, =
519,0 and the per capita wealth
then was $77o.83. In thirty years
the total wealth was almost trebled
and in 1900 was $88, 52S, 34s, 600,
or 81, 160.2 % per capita. Four years
later the total was palced at
$i06, SS1, AIS, 600, with a per capita
about $50 lower than at present.
These figures are amazing. They
tell the story Of the wonderful de-
velopment of the resources of this
land since 1870. 1t has outstripped
every nation on the face of the
globe in this respect.
But while the country now has
four times the wealth it had in
1870, are the mass of the people
any better off now than then
They had prosperity, or good times,
IS il was then called, in 1870.
Then came the Jay Cooke smash
and the panic.
The world has improved greatly
since then and the condition of the
people is vastly better on that ac-
count, but SO far as material pos
sessions go they are no better off
today with four times the wealth
than they we're in 1870. Men who
are fond of the good old days will
probably contend that they are not
as well off, but they are merely
looking back at the time when
life was brighter because they
were younger.
In 1870 a millionaire was a rar-
ity. The man with $50, 600 or
500, 600 was regarded as . wealthy
man then. Little was known of
high finance. Corporations were
not in fashion; that is the corpora
tons that we know today with
their millions of inflated stock.
The per capita wealth was about
half what it is now, but more of
the people had $779 then than
have 1883 nov. None of them
had billion, nor even 500, 600, :
600. 1t is doubtful if any of them
had $40, 600, 600 But we have at
least one Millionaire now, have
many with 500, 600, 600, and more
men have $40, 900, 600 today than
had 500, 600 in 1870
These figures mean that the few
have been allowed to abstract more
than fail share of the wealth
from the common storehouse, even
making liberal allowance for the
reward OF private enterprise and
genius They have been enabled to
do this under the reign of privilege.
In 1870 when the resources of
the country were being developed
by individuals, co-partnerships and
the old-fashioned companies that
we're capitalized at the value of the
property they possessed and nc
higher, there was no monopoly and
the special privileges that one man
had were available to any other
who could meet the obligations
entailed by the grant
This preserved a more equitable
balance in the distribution Of
wealth. Competitions hrottline
trusts were unknown and the com
panies that controlled the highway.
Of the country were seeking bus
mess wherever they could get it
One mans money was as good I,
them as another's. The railroad
were operated for the profit of al
the stockholders. Graft was prac
tically unknown in the transporta
tion business.
Then came the era of the big cor
porations and the trusts. The oil.
relations between man aud man il
business disappeared, and the i'm
personal corporation came forwar,
minus the principle Of common
honesty that was once deemed es
sential to success in business.
The reign of privilege began an
as men came to know the value {
it they bought it by resorting t
bribery of public officers and ha
Lawmakers in one way or another
at times with cash, but oftener b
other means. -Pittsburg Leader.