The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1922-12-27
PROGRESSIVE
I ROSPERITY
IL Bu
III CHRISTOPHER
l G. HAZARD
70. 1922. Western Newspaper Union,

1 "A there is one figure that we
want TO e upon the field of
history, the figure of prosperity.
1t may be that we think that
we do see 1t while we are really
gazing upon a mirage. Hope al
ways tells a flattering tale and is
ready to be the father of Thoughts.
Imagination is akin to faith, but
requires no real basis. If our OPP
timistic outlook is warranted 1t Is
so because we can believe in a
:. prosperity that is to be real be-
cause 1t will be the product and
the possession of us all.
Civilization is the sum of COOP
Nerative intelligence. All the capital
Ia the world could not n. , coal
without miners, and all the miners
in the world could not do it with
out capital. Idle wealth has proved
no more than accumulated useless
ness in eastern countries; men
have starved to death In the midst
of vast but unappreclated natural
resources. While the employment
of money and the wise direction Of
labor have given to the West its
immense advantages of social and
economic riches and well being.
GRussia Is perishing under the in
cubus of a stagnant communism
that takes away the incentives Of
progress, banishes leadership, lives
upon past accumulations while
they last, and starves afterwards.
The interchange of abilities is cut
off, the social circulation of neces-
sary differences IN people is ar
rested, the rewards of q genius for
affairs are withheld. production Is
ended and prosperity lynched. 1t
Is like a vast body wherein there
Is no circulation of social life
blood.
America has thriven and must
Othrive upon the largest encourage
ment of individualism that n true
collectivism admits of. When the
crew cannot navigate the ship
there Is no advantage in killing
the captain. 1t isn't necessary to
have tyranny in order to have a
captain, but society and business
must have leaders and governors,
and there cannot be two captains
on any ship.
All After all, men hardly expect TO
J pass for more than they are worth.
The real kick in our democracy Is
against false differences. Ours is
the land ofsa fair chance. It Is
the home Of opportunity. No crust
keeps merit down. In an inter-
change of values every one here
has had and must have a chance
to make the most of himself.
GT1n doing this he will need and
Guse his fellows. No one ever sue
ceeded yet in being great or pros,
porous as a hermit. We climb up
upon each other. 1t takes us all to
make and to keep civilization. A
man owes himself and his fortune
TO society in a very large degree.
Are we not all members of q great
and wealthy body polite, wherein
no n can live to himself or die
without loss to the rest?
@H Let a dozen men, each man ow-
ling his neighbor five dollars, sit in
a circle. Let one of these take a
five-dollar bill from his pocket and
pay his debt to the man next to
him. Let this man pay his neigh
Dor and the next man pay his until
the bill shall have gone round the
circle and returned to the mar
who started 1t on its round. This
man may return the bill to his
pocket with the happy conscious
s that he has paid his debt and
also received what was due him,
and that every other man in the
group has the same satisfaction.
But if the first man had not started
the bill going there would have
been no such results. He would
then have illustrated Russia, in
stead of America.
mThe secret of civilization is the
u REGULATION of ability. 1t is the
secret of prosperity. Let every
man circulate his worth to society,"
so shall there be a true commune
ism, also a true capitalism. There
is q conundrum which asks why
one should prefer a dollar bill to
a gold dollar. The answ"r is, "Be-
cause, when you rut 1t into your
pocket you double 1t, and when
you take 1t out you find 1t in
~creases." Prosperity progresses as
we pass on what we are and have.