The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1916-08-03
The Middleman.
BY DR.. FRANK CRANE
Copyright. 1915. by Frank Crane)

]
only the Messenger boy who carries the
products OF men from one To another
he does not Make he Distributes.
In the increasing compleXity of civil
eaton, as society becomes more and more
hlghly organized, the business Of distrib-
uting the products of labor becomes con-
stantiy more important until now at last
the messenger Boy has become Boss, the
waiter gives orders to the Diners. and
the Courers control the Kings.
| III we accept money as the unit of
value, then the most valuable man to
the community is not the man who raises
the wheat nor the one who grinds or
oakes 1t, but the man who carries il from
farmer to miller, parcels it out among
consumers and manipulates the price.
1t is not the tilerS of the soil, nor the
miners of metal, nor the builders of
Things, that are promoted to our Upper
House; 1t is they who form companies
and sell stocks that have to do with
handing what the producers put forth.
1t is not the creator who becomes
Plutocrat or Aristocrat, and never has
been in the history of the world: it is the
man IN the tenth degree removed from
any creation.
1t is not the Players, but the Shutters
and Dealers, who never lose.
so long as you measure success by dol
lars you must realize that success is only
! for the Middleman.
He gets the cream; all political econ
omy and business system has for its sub
conscious aim 70 give the man who makes
things only skim milk and curd enough
/ 10 keep him tit. That is the meaning of
! Efficiency Campaigns.
! No corporation is designed to enrich
the workers. but the directors and pro-
motors. Just as il is never the common
soldier. but the generals, who get the
medals from congress while they live and
monuments when they die All the SOL
! der does Is starve. suffer and get killed:
the general tells him when and how to
| do this.
In spite Of all this the conviction re-
mains in mems breasts that the Middle
man is Second Class; he is and always
| will be a Messenger Boy. whether he gid
| his office by the title Of king or million
laire
The First Class people are they that
create. Theirs is the higher order Of
effort and the nobler kind Of life
And whoever will enter this First
Class. choosing TO make instead of to
manipulate. must, if he hopes for any
permanent satisfaction with his lot and
Joy in his work, put away from himself,
once for ALL the craving to be rich and
he gauds and precedences that rich men
delight in.
No worker can be great unless he loves
| his work. and not the rewards Of il: nor
AN he be happy while he envies the foxy
| 'riumphs Of the Middle nan.
To be a good teacher, preacher, doctor.
scholar, engineer. farmer steamboat
aptain. painter, sculptor, poet writer or
any such thing you cannot at the same
-ime be good Middleman. The two call
ngs require separate orders Of ability.
You must make your choice.
And don't whine You cannot be
great Shakespeare if you envy my lord
| Boingbroke nor a great Goethe if you
| feel hurt because you are not the Duke
of Weimar.
And if you can be a First Classer. why
should you pine 10 be Second Classer,
lust for daintier foods and gayer feath-
lers?
To be Of the First Glass you must be
converted. so that you will be content
with the Treasures Of the Humble; must
Indeed learn the sweet taste Of Humility
and the nauseous tang Of Pride If you
cannot do that. go away and be Mid
ldleman. and If successful become POM
pous and idle, or, if unsuccessful. bitter
and hateful.
Always the Virtues Of mankind flow
from the Creating Glass, its Vices from
the Middleman Class. Every Church,
every Religious oMvement, began among
workers the original Catholics comprised
mot many wise men after the flesh, not
many mighty, not many noble" and the
SAME may be said Of the early Presby-
lterians, Methodists and the rest. What
spiritual impulse ever began in Upper
| Tendon?
So make your choice. There are two
classes, not Good and Bad, not Aristo-
crats and Commons, but a deeper divi-
sion. those who Love Work and are called
If God to it, finding the JOY Of life and
| self-expression through Producing some
thing. and on the other hand those who
| love the Wages Of Work. and find Joy in
obstruction. either in the rot Of Luxury
" the riot Of War.
| Or you mioht say those who want TO
70 great. and those who want to be
allied Great.
| The Middleman has his uses and de-
.erves nay for his services but we Of
| 10 L;rcl C1oeg 1nt him