The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1911-03-17
THE PASSING OF THE IDLE RICH

THE PASSING OF THE IDLE RICH
(From an article by Frederick
| Townsend Martin, in Everybody
MagaZine.)
l remember very Well the first
great march of the suddenly rich up
on the social capitals of the nation
! Of those who had gathered from the
mines of California, from the FORCES
of Pittsburg, from the forests of Mi
chigan, from the metaled mountains
|of Montana, wealth beyond the
dreams of Midas. They had capital
lied the products of their own la
Dor, and brought with them the tan
gible evidencesh Of wealth in the
shape of stocks and bonds
Very distinctly n comes back to
me with what a shock the fact
struck the sons and daughters OF
what was pleased TO call itself the
aristocracy OF America that here
marched an army better provisioned,
other army that had ever assaulted
the citadels of society.
The effect of these migrations
from the fields of labor to the cities
of capital | shall sketch more fully
in another chapter. l would now in
stead touch upon the conditions that
HOY 1nf hAh hnn
that made possible their own retire
ment from actual labor to the ease
and comfort Of luxurious leisure
1t Is not too much to say that they
left behind them a people reduced to
industrial slavery. Gone forever was
the free America our fathers knew.
Faded into history was the ideal OF
Washington and Jefferson and Lin
coin. From the year 1890 onward
the progress of the United States has
been the fearful march of the manu-
featuring industry. In that year the
products Of industry and agricmul-
ture were about equal. Ten years
later the products of industry were
two to one against the wealth gath
cred from the fields.
Side by side with this conquest OF
America went the growth of tenant
farming, and that had marched stead
lily into the farthest untitled corners
of the land SO long as land was free
Todoy there is no more free land
within the borders of the nation,
save fe wsmall tracts hardly worth
mentioning. Here, as in the indus
tries capital did not hesitate to cap
ture all that it dared. Law after
law was passed to prevent the cen
tralization of the power of exploiters
over great tracts of the west. Law
after law was broken, evaded or
laughed at. Once the spirit of ex-
ploitation on a large scale was abroad
in the land. nothing could stand
against It,
In the days of individual effort
exploitation of labor was not pos.
sible, for men SHE'D off from the
chains Of the exploiter, took to the
boundless free fields of the west
and declared that they would dwell
in freedom of they would die. Blu,
in the census of 1900, it is show
clearly that the average employee in
this country produces every year ST.
$50 of wealth, after full allowance
for the cost of material he works
with and all possible running ex
Out of this amount of wealth he gets
s437. The remainder $S43, goes
into the hands of other men-the
capitalist, or the exploiter of labor.
That money, nearly two thirds OF
the wealth produced by the men who
labor with their hands and heads
goes to pay interest and dividends on
the securities that represent the in
crement gathered by those who solo
out, in other days, or who capital
led their plants and settled down TO
draw their sustenance from the labor
Of other men. Hence the idle rich.
Handwriting on the Wall.
Turn hack to the industrial his
tory OF the second half of the nine
teenth century, and you can trace
this development in the very stats.
ties Of industry. For the idle rich
are but the outcome of our indus
trial evolution; and the same mighty
forces that gave US golden age of
American prosperity gave US also the
Idle Rich and the Slaves Of Indus
try.
By the end of that period, the
handwriting on the wall was plainly
visible. For instance, in 1910, there
were in this country 1,240 cotton
manufacturing plants, with a COM
bined groes output of $46,0OO.OOO
worth Of goods. Each plant made
$4,000 worth of goods. Twenty
~ a q -