Year: 1878

Some years ago there dwelt in San Francis
co poor man who managed to keep money
enough together to pay the expenses of run
ming a shop where he sold luncheons and liq-
uors. 1t may be said that he had a reputa-
ton for selling pure rum, whisky and brandy.
His cook was known to be clean and skillful.
The humble proprietor himself would some
times toss up an omelette, or some other
made dish" for a favored customer, and,
what with dealing out 'liquid damnation,"
aud neat breakfasts and luncheons, he did
business which less favored saloon keepers
cnvied. But Smithers (for we will call him
Smthers) was disconnected There daily
passed before his door the manager of the
great banking institution of that country,
man who was supposed to control millions of
dollars, as well rs the greater part Of the bust
ness OF the State. Smithers had hard work
to make both ends meet. He was continual
ly "hard-up," and his soul spurned the mar
row limits of his rum-shop. When business
was light he was wont to pass in behind the
mahogany blinds which screened the few
lunchers in the rear and dilate upon his
wrongs. There is something wrong in the
way society is put up" he would say. why
should this man who has Just gone by roll in
wealth and have millions at his command,
while l am put to it to raise 500 to pay a
note at his internal bank day after to-mor-
row :" Then he would stand gloonily in his
doorway and scowl at the rich man who went
up and down the street, or who paused 70 alb
sorb the "Santa Cruz sours' for which his
house was celebrated.


Smithers was atype Of a great class of men.
He was poor, or. at least, in moderate cir
cumstances and he was confident that there
was something radically defective in a state
Of society which kept Linn poor while others
grew rich. On the sale OF muttou-chops, wet
hashos, onelJttcs, and steaks, he made a net
profit of 10 per cent. His gains on the LID
uid dHmnation" which he sold represented a
profit Of little more thnn 100 per cent
| These are his own figures. Bat when he paid
| his cook, waters, helpers; rent and other in
cdental expenses. his clear income was only
about : 900 gold, per annum. There was
| another cating-house round the corner, and
| there were five other rum-shops in the same
| block. He murmured because he did not net
| $40. 600 year : and even that income could
| not have satisfied a man who coveted bank
with a capital of 50, 600, 600. Good luck came
to Smithers lie did not deserve II, however,
| for it was his cherished theory Of political
| economy that no man should own any more
| property than any other man. He believed
that there should be a system of division by
which the aggregate wealth of the country
should be divided 70 that every man (exclu-
| siye Of Chinese) should have his just proper
| ton. Nevertheless luck came TO Smithers,
| as if he lived in a fairy tale. He gambled a
little in mining stocks, cautiously at first, but
| bolder and boldcr as he succeeded Blind,
tickle fortune favored MIN. Everything he
touched turned into gold. His millions grew
year by year. He could take a candle and go
down into one of his silver mines and see the
precious ore sparkling in the caves about him
| Just as Aladdin saw the riches of the robbers
cave And when, betimes, the rich banker,
crushed beneath load of financial disaster,
| found in the waves of the bay the oblivion he
crayed, Smithers was one of the richest men
of the Republic. He said nothing more
about an equal distribution of the aggregated
| property of the country. The bottom rail
was on top.


This true story finds its counterpart in the
history of thousands of men. There are
men who are born poor, and those who
are born to be poor. But there are also
| those who are born rich, as well as those born
to be rich. Ever since the world began,
wealth has been unequally distributed.
Among those who are poor will be found
many who not only consider their cQndi-
tion a misfortune, but the fault of somebody
else. They work hard, perhaps, or they
spend their time in grumbling and lamenta-
ton. In either case, they regard those who
are better of as being wrongfully in posses
sion of wealth which should be spread over a
large surface of humanity. In times of gen.
eral discomfort, the popular complaint takes
some such form as this 1T is not right that
l should toll all day for as much money as
may suffice to keep me and mine from hun
ger, nakedness, and cold while my neighbor
| across the way rides in a carriage and drinks
champagne. Why shouldn't l drink cham
| pagne and ride in carTiago?' OF course
| the grumbler does not expect to drive to his
bricklaying in coupe, or take his bottle OF
wine with his MONDAY luncheon ON the docks.
He thinks that he ought to be placed above
the necessity of manual labor. II gals him
that he cannot have the luxuries which other
men have. Everybody ought to be above
the necessity of manual labor. And if there


is no other way of reaching that pinnacle of
contentment government ought TO legislate
| wealth TO every man, Just as luck has endow-
cd Smithers with his millions,


1t often happens that men born poor reach
the enyiable place Of Smithers by their own
skill, and others get there by pure good luck,
if We may use that phrase. 1t is hardly fair
to dccry the mental ondowments which ena-
| BILE n poor man to become rich and it is fool
ish to rebel against the ''luck' which over
looks one man and falls upon another For
better or for worse, some are born poor and
will stay poor all their lives, just as others
who are born rich will become poor and nev-
er rise again. And the history of the world
| shows that wealth will accumulate in n few
hands while it flies from the grasp of many.
| If the framework of society We're broken
down, and the accumulatons of centuries
were divided, another century would find
Stewards, Astors, and Nanderbilts, as of yore
and the same uneasy discontentmout would
overspread the world. The Smithers of to-day
ought to understand that no power which he
controls can lift him up and pull his neighboI
down. He may make his own way up to that
empty form of happiness which comes with
material wealth, or he may be, as it We're,
struck by the lightning of luck. No human
power can 'boost" him into prosperity.-N
| J.. Times