WAGUS, CAPITAL AND RICH MEN, 795 



But this is largely incidental, and is an illustration of the discord- 

 ances which attend on the operation of general laws in the constitution 

 of things. There is no getting rid of such discordances ; they are an 

 inevitable part of the system, and bound fast to the good. If we are 

 blessed with the rain, we should not repine at the disorder in the ele- 

 ments which sometimes accompanies it. 



But, while we are compelled to take this view of the economical 

 function of wealth, let us not do it the injustice of drawing unwar- 

 ranted inferences from it I do not lose sight of the fact that the ad- 

 vantages of the moneyed classes are not wholly those which accrue 

 from the legitimate action of economical principles. These classes 

 have always seen to it that the laws were made in their favor, thus 

 securing for wealth and position additional leverage to make the rich 

 richer and the poor poorer. The natural advantages which wealth 

 gives them is not enough ; they secure arbitrary privileges by legal 

 enactment, and with these increase the distance between themselves 

 and the masses of the people. And this is true, whether the people 

 are the reputed rulers or not ; only too often the innocent voter is 

 unconsciously doing the political work which has been prepared for 

 him by a dexterous hand which he does not see. I yield to none in 

 utter execration of the unscrupulous devices whereby monopoly is 

 " lawfully " armed to take from the substance of the people for its 

 own aggrandizement. 



In consequence of this very tendency to make a selfish and unjust 

 use of power in government and society do the strong classes only 

 too generally succeed in putting off labor with inadequate compensa- 

 tion. There is something else in life than mere money and the exu- 

 berant development of material prosperity. We could afford a little 

 less of these, in order that the working-people might be richer in the 

 substance of every-day life. But, when even liberal wages are not 

 only consumed, but too often consumed in a way to injure the laborer, 

 we see how difficult it is to hit upon the best practical thing to do. 

 Too low wages is bad ; and wages arbitrarily made extremely high 

 would soon prove to be bad by cutting off the source from which 

 wages are derived. I but state economical difficulties, and protest that 

 they should not be made the occasion of unwarranted inferences. 



Another point which, in this connection, I do not forget, concerns 

 the shadows of wealth. There are certain forms of good which can 

 not be had without wealth ; but, when such wealth is secured, it brings 

 with it certain forms of evil which have never yet been separated 

 from the possession of wealth. But, if I attempt to show that the 

 dreams of labor-reformers are impracticable in that they would soon 

 reduce all to the same level of poverty, that attempt, in recognizing 

 the economical conditions of plenty, is certainly not to be construed 

 in support of the evils of wealth ; for wealth is the very thing, what- 

 ever its drawbacks, without which civilization can not exist. 



