Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1913-02-05
THE SETTER.
SOMETIMES I SET AND THINK AND SOMETIMES I JES SET.-ABE MARTIN.

He flourishes more comfortably in the smaller cities than in the large, but all cities, towns and villages know the pest. When a city grows progressive and big and beautiful he shrinks back in a nook or subsidies into silence for he knows his day of influence is over. He has had no part in the progress. The bigness he has hindered. The beauty he cannot ap- 1 preciate. He is the rich man with mo- ney not earned by the sweat of his | brow or the bigness of his brain.
 We have him in Hot Springs. When there are meetings to be addressed by prominent citizens he is on the platform. When recruits for the ranks of honorary pallbearers are needed he responds but bless your soul he wouldn't carry his end of the coffin. That is left for some young hustler who is poor hut has good pros- poets. He is seen in the front pews of the church, the parquette of the thea tre and at his desk figuring up in terest that Widow Smith owes and which he's going to get or foreclose, by Heck
 At heart he isn't bad man. On the contrary he never breaks the law nor does he spend his money in riotous living. He gives one dollar a week to the church with religious regular ity and keeps books on his charity for there is nothing like system, even in your aims. by gum. He is pre- eminently respectable and pays taxes on a large amount of property but assesses it as low as possible, which is good business, he says.
 But he isn't a good citizen. NO, not by long shot. Nor by jugfu'.
 Years ago his father bought or ac- 1uired some property. It was then worth, say $1,O0O He fell heir to t. Or possibly in his youth he was good citizen and worked for 1t and earned property. Then along came T railroad, to which other people sub scribed bonuses. Then street cars, gas and electric lights made their ad- vent. They added to the value of hls property and cost him nothing so he made no objection. When his nelgh' bors wanted sewers and pavementi he was the last man to sign the pet!- tion or the first to sign remoh- strance. He never could see beyond the cost. If progress came and in creased values he would be glad bat his plan was to let the other fello" bear the burdens and take the chances. On account of some inn provements which he didn't aid ana others that came despite his opposi- tion hi: property came to be Worlb $50 .ooO, it's present day value.
 Did he earn that $49,000? He dl1 not. Did his intellect. his muscle or his productive ability make the p'oH- erty worth $50,oOo instead of sl,ooo: Did his enterprise or donations to oroeressive movements in the com munity. his hu:tling for the common
 good make the city prosper ana Ills
 nrorerty advance? If it did he is not tho type of man we are talking apott
 The right kind of a rich man IS i' blessing to his community instead oi
 q mil)stone about it's neck. But not
 the setter. When the setter sells lhe
 rroperty he gets cash cold hard cash, sAe o00 more than the property cos'
 him.
 Where did his $4900o come from If came out of the pockets or tue
 workers; that's exactly where It cahlS
 from. It came out of the pockets ol inc laborers, the tills of the merchah's
 and the wallets of the professlohai man It was drained from the com-
 nupity hy it's own momentum haa
 created the value. He got the money by being set fer" He "set" back and watched ms
 money grow" He held on even
 though his property were corhlie''
 or shack in the midst Of a ci's
 hlock. Often the process: of hansihs
 m made him shost of ready money
 but the grocer and the butcher wou'u
 carry his burdens for him because it
 was such a wealthy man, they of'en
 wore out several pairs of shoes ana lost more than they could ever pay
 for out of the profits from his pa'- | ronage to collect from him, but they liked to boast that such prominent