Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-10-09
WAGE-SCALE INEQUALITIES
PLAY SOME QUEER FRANKS
Reflections on a Physicians 5ew'der-
ment Over the Contrasting Bank
Accounts Of Philosophers
and Hodc arrIero

ana 1odcarriers
| THE difficulty Of standardizing the unit Of
| human deserts has always given phioso-
pliers lot of trouble and cynics dspro-
portionatr amount Of sour satisfaction.
Into the hands Of the latter class DR.. J.
| Chalmers Da Costa played directly the other
day when Mt thr dedication Of n memorial
! tablet TO the war heroes of jefferson Medical
! College. he dcnlorcd conditions under which
drivers Of milk wagons arc paid more than
doctors Of philosophy and hodcarricrs re-
cciv" more than psychiatriSts.
Expressed thus vvdlr. the truth un-
| doubtedly has its unpalatahlc qualities. II
would seem. save to some who materially
profit thereby. that the scale Of prices for
achievement is in q state Of considerable CON
fusion. The passion for reforming It is
easily aroused and has ever been SO. Just
now in Russia a particularly grandiose at
tempt is being made. That II is failing is
one proof of the folly of seeking too swiftly
TO reduce subjects inherently complex to
sweopingly simple terms.
Where permissible by the nature of the
case, the process cannot. of course. be too
rapidly worked out. But the Russian Com
munists were enmeshed in a problem which
has bafled mankind for ages. Naturally. the
alleged panacca has not been convincing.
The theory of the Third Tnternationale
involves the premise that material gain Is
the summation of reward for labor Upon
this basis system Of graded recomDcnsc was
evolved to the complete elimination Of spir-
itunl considerations. Assuming even that
all the intricate economic factors had func-
toned efficiently. the result would still have
been questionable.
8
nnf ,ptt ,,.I; Oh lab
short. in which living is made easy. in which
comfort is scientifically" apportoned may
present a superfcial!y pleasing picture, but
it by no means represents the end of the
pursuit Of happiness. ~ could be bounded
in n nutshell" said Hamlet. "and count
myself king OF infinite space were it not
that I have bad Dreams
In what are called worldly goods. the
prince of Elsinore. ms is well known. was
comfortably fixed. II was deficiency of serv-
ice. not insuffciency Of material reward.
which distressed him. His poverty. whether
hyperSensitivcly or not, was measured in
spiritual terms.
1tis fashionable in a good many quarters
to reject these just now: in other words. to
take leaf from the BolShcvist Doomsday
Book. II not for its principles of commu-
niSm. at least for its glorifration Of the
matPrialistic code Interpreting that strictly
it can be proved that the milk wagon driver
is indeed superior to some physicians. skilled
in their profession though they may be. The
former is richer in a peculiarly elusive me-
dium of exchange.
Money. declared nineteenth century phi
losonhNr tho stores of whose mind were ever
in inverse ratio to those Of his purse, is the
most desirable thing in life
The delicious Inconsistency of Samuel
Butler whose masterpiece. "The Way of
All FLESH was not even printed until after
his death, here reaches the climax. Butler
II over n man did. invited his soul. and the
paths through which it led him are among
the most luxuriant in English lett"rs.
Was his material poverty justified? Em.
phatically no. 1t is a shame not that milk
wagon drivers, hodcarriers, workers in what
are called necessities. should be well paid
but that intellectual service should be con-
Quoted so precariously. The gifted philoso-
piers. statesmen, scientists who may not
happen to have amassed fortunes. cannot
however, warrantably be called poor. In
their cases the unit of wealth has altered.
Failure TO recognize this is at the root of
Buffers error.
Is tho name Of Anton Fuggrr familiar?
In Gprmary-thc prime example Of ma
terialism carried to the ultimate ucrhaps
I iS But elsewhere few ncrsuns would think
Of ranking it with Calico. with Newton,
with Harvey, with Iarosipr. with Socrates,
with Pasteur, with William James Yet
Herr Fugger. of a family of Augsburg mil.
lionaires, once staggered the Emperor
Charles V by burning in his presence an i'm
pcral bond for money due that powerful
= IL IL
dent is depicted by Carl Becker in the Berlin
National Gallery. Such immortality of fame
as It possesses is here
That Croesus is better known than the
shrewd traders and fnancicrs Of the Fuggcr
family is probably the result more of the
which overwhelmed him than Of
the material prosperity which was tran
silently his.
IIerodotus reads the moral--a bit cruel
perhaps, for the enormously wealthy king
Of Lydia seems on the whole to have been a
good sort-but none the less It Is significant
to note how philosophy rather than pecu-
MARY ACKNOWLEDGMENT is the heart of the
tale 1t was Solon, the intellectual, the
Athenian lawgiver, who told the opulent
monarch Of the workings of divine nemesis.
From the ethical viewpoint it is not clear
just why the imperially acquistivc Cyrus
SllOulu nave DttH Tue luhtTNlHtHI OF tilp
Iydian downfall, but the fact remains that
Croesus is one of the few extremely wealthy
men whose names are inscribed in history
Ruskin, it is true. might pedantically be
cited, but certainly his affluence is quite the
least Of his Inheritance of fame. Persons
who may recall that he was well to do are
doubtless also acquainted with the more in.
teresting fact that nearly all Of his fortune
was expended on plans for the welfare and
artistically and socially, OF
his fellow countrymen.
Anecdotal instances of the obscurity of
wealth could be multiplied. 1t must be con
fessed that in u civilization in which the
struggle is severe and the rewards puzzlng
they might make veSatious reading. Doctor
Da Costas pertinent reflections inspire pro.
yoking queries. Workers in every field of
human endeavor, from quartcrnions to
quicklime, can prove Voluminously that the
wage scale is out Of joint.
The chaos is partly the consequence of a
..,,oI,,tioo IN tha ua vment RcheduIa that