The Washington herald., 1920-10-20
GREATER THRIFT
AND HUSTLE IN u. S.
SEEN AS NEED
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.


waste Is exceedingly limited.
The bulk of what he has must be
spent and used for productive pur-
poses. Even if we assume-a some
what large assumption-that the
same thing applies to expenditures
by the government, there still re-
mains that weighty difference, that,
generally speaking. the individual
is more painstaking and discrimi-
mating in the use of his funds and
at the same time bolder. more i'm
aginative, more enterprising and
more constructive than the govern
ment, with its necessarily bureau
cratic and routine regime, possibly
could be.
Money and Opportunities.
Money in the hands of the indi-
vidual is continually and feverishly
on the search for opportunities. l. e.,
for creative and productive use. In
the hands of the government it is
apt to lose good deal of it's fructi-
flying energy and ceaseless striving
and to sink instead into placid and
somnolent repose.
1t may be appropriate to mention
in this connection that the fire.
quently heard assertion that the
great bulk of the wealth of the ma
tion goes into the Golfers of a small
number of rich men is wholly false.
The fact is, on the contrary. that
about seven-eighths of our national
income goes to those with incomes
of $1,000 or less. and only about
one-eighth to those having incomes
above $4,000. A carefully compiled
statement issued by the Bankers
Trust Co. of New York, some eigh-
teen months ago, estimates the
total individual incomes of the ma
tion for the fiscal year ending July
30. 1919. at $4,000. 100000 and finds
that families with incomes of $4,000
or less received $4,000, 100000 of
that total.
Figures in 1918.
! A recent compilation concerning
some sixty OF the best industrial
! companies in Germany, over a
/ period of ten years, ending April
l. 1918, showed THAI out of each
$1,000 earned 1857 went to labor
s117 to meet taxes and $116 to pay
! dividends to investors.
| If the entire amount thus paid
! out in dividends on capital had been
/ turned over to the workmen in
stead. i. e. If the compensation to
! capital had been entirely elimin-
| ated, the result would have been
that the average rate of wages
would have been increased by less
| than three cents per hour. which
would have amounted to a wage in
crease of about s65 per year for
each person employed.
/ have not the data available for
similar analysis of the ratio of
distribution of the fruits of indus
| try between capital and labor in
America. but from such cursory in
vestigation as have made. am sat
isfied that the resulting picture here
would not be very different from
that which the investigation in Eu-
rope has disclosed.
1t is not true that under our eco
nomic and social system "the rich
are getting richer and the poor poor
err" On the contrary. the diffusion
of wealth has been going on apace:
the trend of things within the last
twenty years has been greatly to-
ward diminishing the difference in
the standard and general way of
living between the various categor-
les of our population. And our
wealthiest men are not those who
inherited their possessions, but
those who started at the bottom of
the ladder.
In taking leave of this subject
which, to be dealt with adequately
would require. as I have said be-
fore, far more exhaustive treat
ment than I can give it in these
pages. I should like to add this:
The eternal law of compensation
works in mysterious ways. It is
unquestionably a fact that it is not
the children of the rich to whom
life yields the greatest measure Of
joy and satisfaction and reward.