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

Inc Mluuleman does not produce; he Is
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 civili-
cation, as society becomes more and more
highly organized, the business of distrib-
uting the products of labor becomes con-
stantly more important; until now at last
the Messenger Boy has become Boss, the
Waiter gives orders to the Diners, and
the Couriers control the Kings.
II 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 it from
farmer to miller. parcels it out among
consumers and manipulates the price.
1t is not the tillers Of the SOIL nor the
miners of metal, nor the builders of
things, that are promoted TO our Upper
House; il is they who form companies
and sell stocks that have To do with
handling 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 TO give the man who makes
things only skim milk and curd enough
to keep him fit 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 Messenger Boy. whether he gild
his office by the title Of king or million
aire.
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 10 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
the gauds and precedences that rich men
delight in.
No worker can be great unless he loves
his work. and not the rewards Of it; nor
can he be happy while he envies the foxy
trumphs Of the Middleman.
To be a good teacher, preacher, doctor.
scholar, engineer, farmer. steamboat
captain, painter, sculptor, poet, writer or
any such thing. you cannot at the same
time be good Middleman. The two call
ings require separate orders Of ability.
You must make your choice.
And don't whine. You cannot be q
great Shakespeare il you envy my lord
Bolingbroke. nor great Goethe If you
feel hurt because you are not the Duke
of Weimar.
And If you can be First Classer, why
should you pine to be a Second Classer,
just for daintier foods and gayer feath-
ers?
To be Of the First Class you must be
converted. 80 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. IL you
dleman, 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-
terians, 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-
tcrats and Commons, but a deeper divi-
sion. those who Love Work and are called
lof 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
Destruction. either in the rot Of Luxury
Ior the riot Of War.
Or. YOU mioht say. those who want TO
Rc great. and those who want to be
~alled Great
The Mi1dlcman has his uses and de-
'erves pay for his services, but we OF