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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d3e4c9f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63001 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63001) diff --git a/old/63001-0.txt b/old/63001-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index cd85ccb..0000000 --- a/old/63001-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3869 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Passing of the Idle Rich, by -Frederick Townsend Martin - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Passing of the Idle Rich - -Author: Frederick Townsend Martin - -Release Date: August 21, 2020 [EBook #63001] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PASSING OF THE IDLE RICH *** - - - - -Produced by Tim Lindell, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - -THE PASSING OF THE IDLE RICH - - - - - THE PASSING - OF THE IDLE RICH - - BY - FREDERICK TOWNSEND MARTIN - - [Illustration] - - - GARDEN CITY NEW YORK - DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY - 1911 - - - - - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION - INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN - - - COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY - - - COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY THE RIDGWAY COMPANY - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. THE KINGDOM OF SOCIETY 3 - - II. THE MADNESS OF EXTRAVAGANCE 23 - - III. THE SUBJUGATION OF AMERICA 61 - - IV. WHO ARE THE SLAVES? 89 - - V. THE AWAKENING OF SOCIETY 109 - - VI. FOR THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER 133 - - VII. THE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE 153 - - VIII. FIGHTING FOR LIFE 169 - - IX. THE SOCIAL NEMESIS 197 - - X. THE DEATH-KNELL OF IDLENESS 219 - - XI. THE END OF THE STORY 243 - - - - - “_The habits of our whole species fall into three great - classes--useful labour, useless labour, and idleness. Of these, the - first only is meritorious, and to it all the products of labour - rightfully belong; but the two latter, while they exist, are heavy - pensioners upon the first, robbing it of a large portion of its - just rights. The only remedy for this is to, so far as possible, - drive useless labour and idleness out of existence...._” - - --ABRAHAM LINCOLN. - - - - -_Chapter One_ - -THE KINGDOM OF SOCIETY - - -I know Society. I was born in it, and have lived in it all my life, -both here and in the capitals of Europe. I believe that I understand as -well as any man what are the true traditions and the true conditions of -American Society; and for comparison, I also know and understand the -conditions and traditions of Society in other lands. My honest opinion -is that American Society, for all its faults, and it has many, and -for all the hideous abnormalities that in these later years have been -grafted upon it, stands to-day a cleaner, saner and more normal Society -than that of any other highly civilized nation in the world. - -In this nation, the very soul of which is the spirit of democracy, we -have evolved a very elaborate and extremely complex society. Like all -such organizations, in all the lands under the sun, it is an oligarchy; -one might almost say a tyranny. Its rulers for the most part inherit -their power and rule by hereditary right. The foundations of this -society and the foundations of the power of its rulers were laid in -generations now dead and gone. Time has crystallized its rules into -laws and formulated its conventions into tenets. - -It is not my desire, in writing about Society, to describe in detail -its practices, to dwell upon its rules and regulations, to dilate upon -its normal condition or its duties. Rather, I intend to dwell upon a -phase of its existence that does not traditionally belong to it, and -that is not normally a part of it. This phase or condition I choose to -describe in the phrase “The Idle Rich.” - -If, in the writer’s license of generality, I seem at times to deal too -harshly with the world of which I am a part, let the reader put himself -for a moment in my place. Let him imagine himself a member of a class -judged and condemned according to a distorted popular conception based -upon a semi-knowledge of the acts, habits, morals and ethics of the -very worst of the class; nay, even of men and women who, while aping -to the best of their poor ability the fashions, the habits, and the -customs of that class, ignore every one of its best traditions, forget -every one of its laws, and break every one of its commandments. - -It is hard for me to write with patience of the small class that has -done so much to disgrace and discredit the spirit of American Society. -For I know that it is true that in the mind of an enormous number of -our people, and of the people of other civilized countries, American -Society is brought to shame and ridicule by the extraordinary excesses -that have been brought within its gates and grafted into its system by -the idle rich. - -Yet there are excuses. This is the most rapid age in history. In the -progress of this nation we have ignored and turned our back upon that -process which Tennyson so well described in the happy phrase, “slow -broadening down from precedent to precedent.” We laugh at precedent. -We choose instead to tumble riotously down from step to step of -progress, marking swift epochs with every bump. - -Naturally I am a conservative, and I deplore the process by which we -sweep away the precedents of the nations. I prefer orderly evolution -to disorderly revolution, either in business, in politics, or in -the making of a social world; but I cannot change the things that I -deplore. The fact, in the face of my protests, is as unblinking as the -Sphinx in the roar of Napoleon’s cannon. And that fact is that in the -making of our social world, as in the making of everything else that -goes to make America, we have ignored the traditions of our fathers. - -Let me put this a little more fully. For this, after all, is the great -cause that explains so much that needs explanation in the structure -of our social world, in the rules that govern it, and in the habits, -deplorable or otherwise, which have fastened themselves upon it. Let -me speak first of banking, for by profession I am a banker. To-day -the English banker and the French banker follow, in the pursuit -of business, paths beaten to smooth running by the feet of their -ancestors. To-day you will find in the banking world of England and of -France the same rules of personal conduct and personal honour, the same -principles of business nursing and business repression that you would -have found a century ago. - -How different it is in this country! Through our early history, if you -care to study it in detail, you would have found us pacing step by step -the progress of England; but more than half a century ago, when this -nation rejected as unsuited to its ideals the notion of a central bank, -our ways divided in the banking world. From that day to this there has -hardly been a single important step--until very recently--that has not -carried us farther from the traditions of our English cousins. In the -matter of currency, we stumbled blindly through a maze of ignorance, -piling error upon error, plunging desperately from the early madness of -wild-cat State currency into the preposterous and abnormal system which -to-day threatens periodically the throttling of our commerce and the -disruption of the business world. - -In the twin worlds of railroads and manufacturing, too, we blazed out -paths entirely our own. Even to this day, in the face of industrial -marvels here and in Germany, England clings desperately to the -conditions that made her what she is. I would not dare generalize and -say that the industrial world of England does not know the idea of -centralization and concentration, but I will say this, that if one seek -at its best the individual factory, the separate plant, the trade-mark -that cannot be bought, the personal name that never can be submerged, -he may go look in England for them now and he will find them, just as -he would have found them a century ago. - -Here a new magic grew. It came not as a heaven-born inspiration to -one man’s mind, but as an evolution born of the land and the air and -the water. I shall dwell upon it more in a later chapter. Here it -is enough merely to indicate it. It was that the individual plant -and the individual name must be submerged in the combine of plants -and individuals. The personal name must vanish in the trust. The -trust in turn must disappear into a greater trust, and yet a greater -trust--and so on until, at last, a dozen mighty combinations were -gathered together into one great trust of trusts, bringing under one -hand the finding, the production, the marketing, and the transportation -of the raw material, and the assembling, manufacture, selling, and -transportation of the finished product. - -So we struck out methods, manners, customs, and traditions all our -own. We did it--this marvellous evolution--in half the lifetime of a -man. In fact, in the industrial world one might almost say it was a -process of twenty years--merely a moment of the nation’s history. Well -may one say it is a rapid age in which we live. Madly we rush at our -great problems. We did not know--we do not know yet--what the result -is to be. There is no precedent to guide us; the road to to-morrow -bears no sign-posts. Not yet has our new system been tried by a panic -that disturbed the depths of the commercial and industrial seas. Only, -we hope for the best, for optimism is the sign-manual of the true-born -American. - -I dwell upon these matters not because I care to pose or dare to pose -as an authority upon them, but because the principles and ideas upon -which they rest underlie also the making of the Kingdom of Society of -which I would write. For social evolution is, after all, but a part -of this same evolution that has given us our own distinctive banking -system--good as it is or bad as it may be--and our own industrial -system--giant or weakling as it may prove to be. - -And if our banking system and our great industrial system were born -in a day and a night, what may one say of the plutocracy that in -this later day has been grafted upon and has grown to be a part of -the American social world? Here, indeed, the traditions of the world -of history flashed past us, in our forward rush, as dead leaves fly -backward from a speeding train. We saw them as they flew--yet we did -not clearly see them. We knew they were, but we could not distinguish -them one from the other; and, after all, little we cared for them, and -little we care now. - -Perhaps, as I write, my mind will carry me back to the days before -these new phenomena transpired; and I shall be moved to write of -social America in the days of its true glory, before the glitter of -tinsel and the tawdry finery of mere wealth overlaid it. For that -is the background against which stand out in all their hideousness -the empty follies of the idle rich and the vapid foolishness of the -ultra-fashionable in America to-day. - -Forty years ago, as a boy, I lived in a true American home. The -atmosphere of that home was still under the vitalizing influence of -the nation’s great struggle for emancipation. Lincoln was a saint. The -writings of Longfellow and Emerson, Hawthorne and Washington Irving, -were constantly read. The traditions of European Society had not -struck their roots deep into the social soil of the United States. -We were provincial, to be sure, but there was bliss in simplicity -and innocence. Morally and intellectually the life of the family and -the life of the State were settled. We knew there was a God. We were -positive as to just what was right and what was wrong. The Bible, the -Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, -the fact of the assured greatness of our country, the power of our -religious, political, and social ideals to save the world--our faith -in these was our Rock of Ages; and to these must be added the absolute -belief in the theory that it was the sacred duty of every human being -to serve his kind. - -Just in how far these fundamentals are now broken and scattered I shall -not here attempt to say. But it is simply true that the Bible is no -longer read, that religion has lost its hold, that the Constitution -and laws are trampled upon by the rich and powerful, and are no longer -held sacred by the poor and weak. Instead of Hawthorne, we read Zola -and Gorky; instead of Longfellow and Bryant, Ibsen and Shaw. Among how -many perfectly respectable, ay, even religious, people is the name of -Nietsche not more familiar than that of Cardinal Newman! I do not know -whither we are going, but I do know that we are going. - -Come search the records of generations long dead for the seeds of our -social system. You will find them planted deep, and long ago. They are -the same seeds of class destruction that lay in darkness through the -early centuries of Rome’s history, to spring to life in the sunshine -of the triumphs of the Republic, and reach their perfect flower in the -era of plethoric wealth that marked the apogee of the Empire--and then -to fall, as full-blown blossoms will. They are the same seeds that for -half a thousand years lay buried in simple England, to come to tardy -life in the afterglow of Elizabeth’s triumphs, and reach their fulness -in the social glory of the mid-Victorian era. - -Less than half a century ago the aristocracy of America worked with -its hands, laboured in its broad fields, ate its bread in the sweat of -its brow. The cities were small and inconsequential, and the laws of -hospitality far overbalanced the traditions of class. Here and there -was wealth--but wealth was shackled to the wheels of Opportunity. - -Often I have pondered over the startling wisdom of that succinct -description of the American ideal written, strange to say, a hundred -and forty years ago, by Adam Smith: - - In our North American colonies, where uncultivated land is still to - be had upon easy terms, no manufactures for distant sale have ever - yet been established in any of their towns. When an artificer has - acquired a little more stock than is necessary for carrying on his - own business and supplying the neighbouring country, he does not, - in North America, attempt to establish with it a manufacture for - more distant sale, but employs it in the purchase and improvement - of uncultivated lands. From artificer, he becomes planter, and - neither the large wages nor the easy subsistence which the country - affords to artificers, can bribe him rather to work for other - people than for himself. He feels that an artificer is the servant - of his customers, from whom he derives his subsistence, but that - a planter who cultivates his own land, and derives his necessary - subsistence from the labour of his own family, is really a master, - and independent of all the world. - -That was the America of 1760--and it was the America that Lincoln knew. -In the region that he knew as a boy and a man, there were neither great -plantations, great factories, nor combines. The bulk of the population -lived on small farms, toiled with their own hands, and remained in -possession of their own products. A few owned and operated small stores -or factories for the making of necessities. These could not grow rich. -Great riches must be derived from the labour of many. The rich of -the Eastern states fifty years ago were the owners of banks, large -importing houses, railroads, and factories. These industries, being -small, gave rise to fortunes that now seem small. They were riches, but -not great riches. - -Think, then, of the transition that I myself have seen! Sometimes, as -I sit alone in my library reading and thinking about these matters, -and reflecting upon the years that make up my brief lifetime, a sort -of terror of to-morrow seizes me. I do not need to guess at the facts -of my own world. I _know_ the facts that such satirists as Mr. Upton -Sinclair vaguely guess, or gather from the gossip of the stables and -the kitchen. The miserable excesses of Society are an open book. I -cannot blind my eyes or deafen my ears or close my nostrils and forget -them. That decay has set in I know; that it has struck deep, as yet I -cannot bring myself to believe. And this book is but my feeble effort -to prevent it striking deeper, if I may. - - - - - “_The wilfully idle man, like the wilfully barren woman, has no - place in a sane, healthy, vigorous community._” - - --THEODORE ROOSEVELT. - - - - -_Chapter Two_ - -THE MADNESS OF EXTRAVAGANCE - - -I remember very well indeed that bitter period of transition when first -the ideal, or lack of ideals, of the newer America began to corrode the -old society. I remember with what intense bitterness and chagrin the -early excesses of the earliest of the idle rich were condoned by the -leaders of society in that day. At first the social world fought hard -for its traditions, and the leaders of American Society of my father’s -day were never reconciled to the changes that came about in the body -social. In Boston and Philadelphia, to this day, society maintains its -battle against the invader. Now, as then, society frowns upon the idle -men. Only recently one of the leaders of Boston society quoted in the -course of a conversation with me that powerful sentence from one of Mr. -Roosevelt’s speeches: - -“The wilfully idle man, like the wilfully barren woman, has no place in -a sane, healthy, vigorous community.” - -That, after all, is as much a tradition of true society as it is of -the plains and the fields. I do not yield to any man or any class in -America in my detestation of idleness in man or woman. And I believe -that the traditions of real American society support me in this -attitude. - -In spite of ourselves, we drifted into a period in which idleness -became the fashion. We did not know just why the thing was true; but -we were forced to recognize its truth. Now, looking back rather than -forward over the past quarter of a century, one may see quite clearly -how it came about. And I purpose, in the course of this book, to write -down, perhaps for the amusement of my own contemporaries, perhaps for -the guidance of those who have not yet begun to think about these -matters, the causes that gave us this plague of idleness. - -First of all, however, I would merely set down in a phrase the -immediate cause of it, and then proceed to sketch the phenomenon -itself, that one may know the things which are right. It was the magic -of gold; it was the poison of idle wealth. It came at first like -a little spot upon the body of a man. Quickly it spread from limb -to limb, and part to part, until, in the fulness of time, it was a -leprosy, following the body of society almost from head to foot. It -was the curse of gold, no more, no less--the same condition that laid -in the dust the glory of Athens, that hurled to ruin the splendour of -Rome, that brought upon Bourbon France the terror of the Revolution. - -Think, if you can, of the swift stages through which we pass. Picture -the solid, conventional, Christian, and cleanly society of New York -immediately after the Civil War. To think of it now, even as I learned -it by hearsay, very likely, brings me a feeling of personal regret, -as though I had lost a fine old friend. Picture, then, the beginning -of a revolution, small, inconsequent--yet, to the most discerning, -portentous of evil and pregnant of disaster. A few young men, sons of -society, set up new idols in the ancient temples. They began to ape the -habits and to imitate the morals of that world which, while possessing -wealth in plenty, had never possessed the refinement or the ethical -standards of true society. - -It is a melancholy fact that the impetus toward extravagance, excess, -debauchery, and shamelessness came to us from the under-world. - -For always, in every country, just outside the gates, there lives a -people peculiar to itself. They have wealth equal, perhaps, to that of -any in the social world. They have education, it may be, of the finest. -They have desires, just as all men have. They have instincts, it may -be, little better or little worse than those of the best in the land. -The gates are shut against them for reasons that, to those inside, seem -quite sufficient. It may be vulgarity; it may be immorality; it may be -mere _gaucherie_ of manners; it may be lack of education; or it may -be any one of a dozen other reasons that puts them beyond the pale. -Whatever may be the reason, the fact remains that they are beyond the -pale. - -In this class of society, always, in all races, morals, and manners -tend to excesses. They are not restrained by sane conventions and laws -that regulate society; nor are they held in the leash of respectability -or in the chains of religion or of honour, as are the sturdy men and -women of the so-called middle class. Constantly they are in rebellion -against these laws and these traditions. Ever they are prone to -substitute license for liberty, to plunge into immorality, to draw upon -the stage in its worst moods for their passions and their pleasures, -and to practise in their lives the vices of the decadent nations. - -In this stage of our social life of which I write, the manners, the -morals, and the practices of this social class crept into even that -small section of society which calls itself “the Upper Class.” The -young men--and unhappily the young women--of the finest families in -our great cities began to copy the vices and to imitate the manners of -this other class, and to plunge into the same excesses that marked its -manner of life. - -There is a vast difference between the healthy, wholesome spending -of money for amusements, pleasures, and recreations and the feverish -searching for some new sensation that can be had only at a tremendous -cost. The simple expenditure of money, even in startling amounts, -eventually fails to produce the thrill that it ought to have, and when -the man or woman of fortune, with little to think of but the constant -hunt for amusement and novelty, begins to suffer from continuous -_ennui_, the result is frequently amazing and sometimes sickening. - -A wearied, bored group of men arranged a dinner. They had been -attending dinners until such functions had lost interest for them. -Similarly their friends were wearied by the conventional dinner of the -time. Why not prepare a meal, the like of which had never been before? -Why not amuse society and astonish the part of the community that is -outside of society? They did so. The dinner was served on horseback -on the upper floor of a fashionable New York resort, the name of -which is known from coast to coast; the guests were attired in riding -habits; the handsomely groomed horses pranced and clattered about the -magnificent dining-room, each bearing, besides its rider, a miniature -table. The hoofs of the animals were covered with soft rubber pads to -save the waxed floor from destruction. At midnight a reporter for an -active and sensational morning newspaper ran across the choice bit of -news. He telephoned the information to his city editor and the reply of -that moulder of opinion was brief and to the point. - -“You’re lying to me,” said the editor. - -The most sensational paper in town refused to believe its reporter, who -attempted later on to reach the scene of the event, but was repulsed -and driven away. - -“How much did it cost?” the public inquired interestedly. The man -who paid the bill knew. The public and its newspapers guessed, their -estimates running from ten thousand to fifty thousand dollars. - -The fond owner of a diminutive black-and-tan dog gave a banquet in -honour of the animal. The dog was worth, perhaps, fifty dollars. The -festivities were very gay. The man’s friends came to his dinner in -droves, the men in evening clothes and the women bedecked in shimmering -silks and flashing jewels. In the midst of the dinner, the man formally -decorated his dog with a diamond collar worth fifteen thousand dollars. -It contained seven hundred small brilliants, varying in weight from one -sixth to one carat. The guests shouted their approval, and the dinner -was regarded as a huge success. - -The leader of a wealthy clique in a Western city was struck with a -unique idea. He was tired of spending money. There was nothing new -for which to spend it. He gave a “poverty social.” The thirty guests -came to his palatial home in rags and tatters. Scraps of food were -served on wooden plates. The diners sat about on broken soap boxes, -buckets, and coal-hods. Newspapers, dust cloths, and old skirts were -used as napkins, and beer was served in a rusty tin can, instead of the -conventional champagne. They played being poor for one night, and not -one of them but joined in ecstatic praise of their host and his unusual -ability to provide a sensation. - -A bored individual with a fondness for gems covered as much of his -person as possible with diamonds. When he walked abroad, he flashed and -sparkled in the sunlight. He, also, became the possessor of a happy -inspiration. He went to his dentist and had little holes bored in his -teeth, into which the tooth expert inserted twin rows of diamonds. He -had found another way of spending money. - -A Southern millionaire purchased an imported motor car. It cost him -twelve thousand dollars when it came off the ship. He looked at it in -scorn and called in decorators. The car was refitted completely. It was -equipped with two diminutive rooms, a living apartment, and a sleeping -room. Hot and cold water fixtures were put in and space was found for a -small bath-tub. A kitchen with a full equipment of cooking utensils was -added, and, when the various tradesmen and mechanics completed their -work, the car resembled a complete and luxuriously furnished home on -wheels. The original cost of twelve thousand dollars had been brought -up to thirty thousand and the owner was temporarily contented. - -Very young and very wealthy was the young man whose attentions to an -embryonic actress amused a community a few years back. It was the young -man’s opinion that he was desperately in love with the lady, who in -later years married a publisher of songs. The millionaire youngster -showered the girl with gifts. He gave her rings, bracelets, necklaces, -and diamond-studded combs for her black tresses until she glistened -from head to foot. The very buttons of her gloves were diamonds and her -shoes were fastened with monster pearls. The question of taste never -entered into the situation. It was simply the spending of money and -the bedecking of a coarse, but crafty, stage girl. In three years, she -succeeded in throwing away almost a million dollars for the deluded -youngster, at the end of which time they parted. - -At the conclusion of an elaborate affair in New York City, the guests -leaned back in their chairs to listen to the singers. The cigarettes -were passed around. Oddly enough, the banquet had not been marked until -that moment, and, as the host was famous for the unusualness of his -dinners, many of the diners were disappointed. Their disappointment -gave way to admiration. Each cigarette was rolled, not in white paper, -but in a one hundred dollar bill and the initials of the host were -engraved in gold letters. This strange conceit was applauded until the -voices of the singers struggled amid the uproar. - -A member of the idle rich rumbled along a Jersey highway in his motor -car. He approached an excavation where workmen were manœuvring cranes -and hoists. At the side of the road lay a dying horse. It had fallen -into a hole and two of its legs were broken. The workmen were waiting -for the arrival of a policeman to put the suffering animal to death. - -“I’ll save that horse,” decided the wealthy motorist. His decision -was simply an idle whim. When the policeman came, the motorist had -already bought the useless horse for a ten dollar bill. He procured an -ambulance and had the animal removed to his own stable. He summoned -the foremost veterinarians in New York and the crippled work horse was -patched up. For weeks it hung suspended in a sling and finally the -broken bones knitted and the horse hobbled about. The veterinarians -demanded five thousand dollars for their work and were paid without -complaint. In his stoutest days, the saved horse was worth no more than -a hundred dollars. - -A well known metropolitan spender has an annual bill of some ten -thousand dollars for shoes alone. His order stands in every manufactory -in America and Europe. Whenever a new style of men’s shoes is designed, -a sample pair is immediately shipped to him. He cannot possibly wear -a tenth of the shoes sent to him, but he has the satisfying knowledge -that he is never behind the style. - -The wife of a Western man owns a pet monkey. The little beast lives in -a private room and is constantly attended by a valet. It rides abroad -behind its private trotter, has its own outfit of clothes, its dining -table, and a bed made of solid ivory, tipped with gold ornaments. -All told, perhaps a dozen human beings minister to the comfort of -the little simian and the mistress cheerfully pays from ten to -fifteen thousand dollars yearly on this one extravagance. She became -dissatisfied with the dining service in the monkey-room of her home, -and her pet now eats its meals off solid silver plates. - -At a dinner party given by a notorious millionaire, each guest -discovered in one of his oysters a magnificent black pearl. It was a -fitting prelude to a sumptuous banquet and it contained an element of -surprise. It was said that the dinner cost the giver twenty thousand -dollars. - -A party of engineers were studying the country in a Southern state -with an eye to a future railroad. Accompanying them was a tired young -man of wealth, who had little interest in what they were doing, and -who had gone with them in search of possible amusement. He found it. -The party discovered an aged family of primitive negroes living in a -wretched hovel on the edge of a swamp. The millionaire was struck by -the utter desolation of the house and its occupants. It occurred to him -that he might find it interesting to aid the darkeys. He parted company -with the engineers, and, with a single friend, he gave himself over to -bettering the condition of the coloured family. Carpenters appeared -from New Orleans. Materials were dragged through the country behind -mules. Decorations were shipped from New York. The tottering shack -came down and a splendid country bungalow was reared in its place. The -interior was furnished with a lavish hand and with a total disregard -for expense. White pillars supported the roof. Old-fashioned fireplaces -were built into the walls and plate-glass windows were set into the -doors. The floors were paved with concrete, and a handsome bath room -was fitted up for the amazed and awe-stricken family. When he had -finished the home, the young man turned his attention to its inmates. -He bought them clothes--such clothes as they had never before dreamed -of. He provided them with toilet articles and trifling luxuries, and, -before he went away, he supplied the larder with enough food to last a -year. That negro family is still the talk of the entire state in which -it lives and its members regard what has happened as a manifestation -from on high. The young man in search of interesting occupation parted -from twenty thousand of his innumerable dollars and probably thinks of -the whole affair with satisfaction. - -An Italian savant and student has visited America. He has set down his -opinions and some of them are interesting. He finds, for instance, -that the wife of one of our foremost millionaires wears a necklace that -cost more than six hundred thousand dollars. The infant son of this -favoured lady reposed, during his tenderer years, in a cradle that was -valued at ten thousand dollars and immediately following the birth of -the boy--an event that was flashed by telegraph to the furthest corners -of the earth--a retinue of servants was formed for the sole benefit of -the infant. This corps of retainers consisted of four nurse ladies, -four high-priced physicians, who examined the child four times a day, -and posted serious bulletins for the information of the clamant press -and public. - -Another child came to another family, and Fifth Avenue trotted past -the birthplace with bated breath and curious eyes. When the boy came -to that stage of his development wherein the salutary bottle could be -dispensed with, he was clothed in dignity and provided with a staff of -personal attendants consisting of two able cooks, six grooms, three -coachmen, two valets, and one governess. He grew in health and strength -and to-day he manages a railway with acumen and success. - -A gentleman of improvident habits and few dollars packed his meagre -belongings in a hand bag and departed for the West. Subsequently, he -achieved fortune and fame and came into possession of a gold mine, the -ledges of which soon placed his name high in the ranks of America’s -millionaires. Overcome by gratitude, he gave a commemorative dinner -party in the sombre depths of the kindly mine. The space devoted -to the festivities was forty feet wide and seventy feet long. One -hundred guests assembled in the bowels of the mine and sat down to a -sumptuous feast. The waiters were clad in imitation of miners. They -hovered about attentively with oil lamps flaring from their foreheads. -Picks and shovels decorated the uneven walls, and the various courses -were lowered from the mouth of the mine in the faithful cage that -had carried up to the grateful millionaire his many dollars. A band -discoursed sweet music and the bill was some fourteen thousand dollars. - -A man of common name, but of uncommon wealth, decided to have a home -in New York City. He purchased the palace of a friend who had died and -paid for it two million dollars, which was popularly supposed to be -one half the original cost of the pile. On his garden, to make space -for which he tore down a building that had cost a hundred thousand, -the new owner spent five hundred thousand dollars. His bedstead is of -carved ivory and ebony, inlaid with gold. It cost two hundred thousand -dollars. The walls are richly carved and decorated with enamel and -gold; they cost sixty-five thousand dollars. On the ceiling, the happy -millionaire expended twenty thousand in carvings, enamels, and gold, -and ten pairs of filmy curtains, costing two thousand a pair, wave in -the morning breeze. The wardrobe in this famous bedroom represents an -outlay of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars and the dressing table -sixty-five thousand. The wash stand cost thirty-eight thousand, and the -bed hangings, fifty dollars a yard. The chimney-piece and overhanging -mantel threw into general circulation eight thousand more, and the -four doors consumed another ten thousand. - -A wealthy lover of music paid the highest price ever recorded for a -piano. It was no ordinary piano. Its price was fifty thousand dollars. -For a single painting a Westerner paid fifty-five thousand dollars. -Another collector, whose name is known in the humblest homes, expended -fifty thousand dollars for a silver trinket only four inches high. - -An enthusiastic American happened to live in London at the time the -North Pole was discovered. For an indefinite period of time the North -Pole was seemingly discovered by two Americans. That controversy is -ended and dead, but the memory of the dinner given in London by the -proud American will live for many years. Thirty guests accepted -the invitations, and, upon entering the home of their host, found -themselves in a barren and icy waste. The prow of an ice-bound ship -protruded from one side of the wall. Pale electric lights flashed -coldly from a score of points. Icebergs towered above the dinner table, -surmounted by polar bears. In the centre of the room was a huge oval -table to represent a solid block of ice and thereon the brilliant feast -was served. The waiters moved about noiselessly in the costumes of -Eskimos, hooded in the skins of animals and clad in the white fur of -polar bears. The dinner was a tremendous success. It cost the American -ten thousand dollars and not one word of criticism was passed, except -by the suffering waiters in their heavy furs on a warm mid-summer day. - -A wealthy mining man wagered upon the outcome of an election and -lost. He proceeded to pay his bet by giving a dinner in his stables. -Thirty-five guests appeared and prepared to enjoy themselves to the -fullest. The table was arranged in the shape of a horseshoe, and the -waiters were jockeys in silken jackets and long peak caps. During the -enthusiastic scenes that followed, the favourite horse of the host was -admitted to the banquet room from his near-by box stall and diverted -the guests by eating the flowers, with which the banquet table was -heavily laden, and by drinking champagne from the punch-bowl. Tiny -Shetland ponies trotted and pranced about the diners and the favourite -steed became mildly intoxicated from the champagne and was ridden about -the room by hilarious men. The entire dinner was the exact opposite of -monotony. It cost the loser of the bet twelve thousand dollars. - -A famous ten thousand dollar dinner was given in the heart of the tired -old metropolis. The table was laid out as an oval and over its smooth -surface costly flowers were spread in deep layers. In the centre was a -lake of limpid water, suspended from the ceiling by gold wire network. -Four white swans swam about during the progress of the banquet. From -various rings in the ceiling hung golden cages containing rare song -birds that twittered incessantly and the guests ate fruit from the -branches of dwarf trees especially provided and at a cost that might -seem staggering to the commonplace man of little wealth. - -In Paris, a voluntarily exiled millionaire provided a dinner for -twenty-two of his intimate friends. For each guest was a private -carriage with a team of splendid horses, and when the fortunate diners -arrived in state, each found before him a whole leg of mutton, a whole -salmon, an entire fowl, a basket of assorted fruits, and several -bottles of wine. A mysterious bag made its appearance toward the close -of the feast and each diner was invited to explore it for a keepsake. -The souvenirs consisted of pearl studs, emerald links, cigarette -cases of solid gold, inlaid with jewels, diamond rings, and other -trifles. Thirty thousand dollars went into the pockets of the Parisian -shopkeepers from this single dinner. - -In searching for an unusual manner to spend a large sum of money upon -a single object, a man of wealth selected a beautiful pair of opera -glasses. They were made of solid gold and the lenses were perfect. The -cost was seventy-five thousand dollars, principally because of a lyre -which surmounted the top, and which was encrusted with diamonds and -sapphires. Without the embellishments, glasses of equal worth may be -purchased in any shop for twenty dollars. - -What was at the time designated as a tame waste of wealth, drunkenness -without conviviality, the amusement of dull and unintelligent society, -was a seventy-five thousand dollar feast given a few years ago. Monkeys -sat between the guests and ducks swam about in pools contained in ivory -fountains. An entire theatrical company journeyed from New York to -provide entertainment for the favoured guests. - -One of the most prominent band-masters in America was summoned by -telegraph to gather an orchestra of forty pieces. The command came -from a woman of vast wealth in whose service the man of music had -often laboured. A child had been born to her. She desired to have the -occasion fittingly celebrated, and the diligent leader hurried home -from the midst of a vacation, selected an orchestra, rehearsed, and -eventually serenaded the new-come bit of humanity. - -The “freak” dinner takes on many forms. One of the most unusual of -this sort was given by a South African millionaire whose wealth had -come from the diamond mines at Kimberly. The dinner was given amidst -scenes of the Kimberly diggings. Beautiful birds flew about, and a -hidden band wafted soft strains upon the assembled guests. Huge quartz -blocks surrounded the table and formed the walls. The floor was inch -deep with sand, and a monster tent raised its head in the centre of -the space. On the wash stand was a rough board on which were scrawled -the words: “Wash your hands before sitting down to eat.” It was all -very amusing and undoubtedly unique. Veldt carts rumbled back and -forth, pickaxes hung suspended from silken cords, and bags of genuine -gold-dust, lay scattered about. Turtle soup was served from a cauldron, -and two armed Boers paced up and down as sentinels. The dinner cost -twenty thousand dollars. - -In Boston a man of gold fell ill. From his waist down, he became -nerveless and helpless. The time hung heavily on his hands as he lay -in a hospital bed, and he determined to provide adequate amusement. -His bed was removed to the largest room in the hospital. An entire -musical comedy company was transported from New York City and a popular -production of the day was performed for the benefit of the invalid. It -cost him three thousand five hundred dollars, and it was probably worth -it. - -In Pittsburg, workmen went about their task mysteriously. They were -constructing a great glass tank. For five days they laboured and -finally the affair was completed. It was taken into the banquet room -of a hotel and filled with water. A dinner was to be given by the -officials of a corporation. As the hours wore on, the diners waxed -enthusiastic and happy. The more important and dignified officials of -the corporation left. They probably knew what was coming and desired to -be absent in view of possible newspaper investigation. Then came the -solution of the mystery. A human gold fish swam about in the tank--a -shapely girl, clad in golden spangles and scales. The dinner was very -expensive. Those who attended the banquet afterward declined to discuss -it with the reporters when questioned about the human gold fish. - -Another celebrated dinner that represented the effort of a wealthy man -to vary the monotony of life and to provide a unique outlet for his -money was the feast that culminated in the appearance of the girl in -the pie. A monster pie was carried before the astounded diners upon -the shoulders of four servants. The top crust was cut open. A slip of -a girl bounded to her feet. A score of birds was released at the same -moment. - -In Los Angeles the son of a millionaire mine owner felt the time -hanging heavily upon his hands. He wandered down to where the trains -rumbled in and out of the station, and an idea possessed him. He -ordered a special train of five coaches and informed his friends. Those -who cared to go accompanied the young squanderer. For fifty thousand -dollars the railway company, which cares little about human emotions or -desires, offered to take the young man to New York. Train despatchers -cleared the rails. Switches were nailed fast. The young man and his -special train were shot across the continent like a flying star. He was -buying a fresh experience at a price that in all probability suited him. - -A Nebraska individual is the proud owner of a hat that is made of -greenbacks. It is rather a costly hat, as twenty thousand dollars -in bills was used in making it. It weighs twenty ounces and it looks -exactly like the white hats worn by gentlemen. A young Crœsus grew fond -of a lady fair and sought to display a mark of his affection in some -extraordinary manner. He commissioned eight of the foremost artists in -America to paint a fan. The cost was one hundred thousand dollars. - -For five years skilled artisans have been carving a tombstone. The man -who ordered the tombstone is still living, but the tombstone is vast in -bulk, and the carvers have plenty of space to display their ingenuity. -It is the order of the patron that work shall not cease until he is -dead, and each year he sends the monument company a check for fifteen -thousand dollars to cover running expenses. If the gentleman lives long -enough, his tombstone will be a spectacle worth seeing when it is -finally bundled into place over his casket. - -One of the most lavish and expensive--probably the most -expensive--dinners ever given in America was a hyphenated feast, the -record of which is writ large upon the annals of metropolitan society. -It endured for six hours and cost fourteen thousand dollars per hour. - -But why enumerate any more of these instances? Our papers are full of -them. My purpose, however, is larger than gossip and I shall mention -other pieces of extravagance wherever they make a point. - - - - - “_No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil - up from poverty--none less inclined to take or touch what they have - not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political - power which they already possess, and which, if surrendered, will - surely be used to close the door of advancement against such as - they, and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them, till all - of liberty shall be lost._” - - --ABRAHAM LINCOLN. - - - - -_Chapter Three_ - -THE SUBJUGATION OF AMERICA - - -In the golden days of American Society, as I have said, great fortunes -were very rare indeed. The few that there were came mostly from -merchandising and trade. The accumulations of John Jacob Astor, John -Hancock, and Stephen Girard, in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, -respectively, had not been dwarfed by the accumulations of a later era. -They remained, up to about 1850, as the typical marvels of the American -world of business. - -The middle of last century was the harvest time of Opportunity in -this land. Agriculture and trade remained the staple occupations -of the race; yet there had grown up throughout the land a wonderful -manufacturing industry. Away back in the days of the embargo, a man -named Samuel Slater had come over from England and built, from memory, -the first American cotton mill. He little knew what seeds he sowed. -That little mill set up in Rhode Island was the mother of American -industry. - -It had grown, this infant, until in every valley of the East there -stood factories and mills uncounted. Turning from the little iron mines -of New Jersey, the pioneers of our greatest industry had begun to open -up the hills of Pennsylvania and even Michigan. In that age, which has -been called the golden age of industry, fortune followed swiftly upon -the heels of honest labour. - -Always, it was free, democratic, independent, this march of the -manufacturers. A hundred men manufactured cotton cloths in one small -area of New England. No one of them would have listened to the call -of combination. They worked out their own destinies, took their own -profits, built up their own plants from very small to very large. -In the twenty years from 1840 to 1860 the independent American -manufacturer became the true American type. In 1850, for the first -time, the products of industry surpassed in value the products of -agriculture. America came into its destiny. - -Often have I heard this tale of the making of America; and I can trace, -by hearsay, the evolution of the mighty industrial enterprises of -to-day from the puny beginnings of the days of Franklin. Then, in our -nation’s youth, manufacturing was carried on in the home, by household -industry. In the homes of New England men spun and wove the cotton; or -beat the stubborn iron implements of agriculture. Long the battle of -industry was fought along these lines. - -Then came the change, when, after the War of 1812, the English -manufacturers, armed with new industrial machinery, flooded the United -States with manufactured goods. In self-defence America took to its -arms the hated factory system, realizing that here and here alone -lay its industrial salvation. Instead of the scattered household -manufacturing, the country developed the gathering and working of all -sorts and conditions of manufacturing under one roof. Instead of piece -work, paid for as delivered, men began to work for wages. - -How strange, in this day, sounds the warning of Franklin in our ears! -At the risk of being tiresome, let me quote a paragraph from his -writings: - - A people spread through the whole tract of country on this side - of the Mississippi, and secured by Canada in our hands, would - probably for some centuries find employment in agriculture, and - thereby free us at home effectually from our fears of American - manufactures. Unprejudiced men well know that all the penal and - prohibitory laws that ever were thought of will not be sufficient - to prevent manufactures in a country whose inhabitants surpass the - number that can subsist by the husbandry of it. That this will be - the case in America soon, if our people remain confined within the - mountains, and almost as soon should it be unsafe for them to live - beyond, though the country be ceded to us, no man acquainted with - political and commercial history can doubt. It is the multitude - of poor without land in a country, and who must work for others - at low wages or starve, that enables undertakers to carry on a - manufacture, and afford it cheap enough to prevent the importation - of its own exportation. - - But no man who can have a piece of land of his own, sufficient by - his labour to subsist his family in plenty, is poor enough to be - a manufacturer, and work for a master. Hence while there is land - enough in America for our people, there can never be manufactures - in any amount or value.--Writings of Benjamin Franklin: Smith Ed. - Vol. IV, pp. 48–49. - -This was written in 1761--just a century before the Civil War! What -a transition to our day--and we have but begun! In the days of -Franklin, according to our best authorities, less than one out of -eight of the population depended for a living on manufacturing, trade, -transportation, and fisheries. As early as 1851, it was one out of -five. The character of the nation had undergone a complete and sweeping -change. - -Yet, let me repeat, the American industrialist of that day was not -the serf he is to-day. In every sense, he was a free and independent -man. True, he had been forced to leave the household plan for the -factory plan; but yet he managed without any trouble to keep the -spirit of individualism and independence thoroughly alive. Industry, -in the middle of the last century, was carried on in this country in -scattered individual plants, each one a little independent republic of -its own. The owners generally worked in the factory and the mill. Half -a dozen partners, perhaps, laboured side by side with the men in their -employ. Men stepped swiftly from the position of wage workers to the -independence of ownership. The doors of individual opportunity stood -wide open. - -I would, if I dared risk tiring the reader with extended comment -upon subject matter that has been handled often much better than I -can handle it, dwell upon this happy phase of the making of America. -For it is germane to my subject. And then, again, it is gone from us -forever--gone with the happy simplicity and innocence of the youth of -our nation. In its stead there has come upon us an age of industrial -terror, of fierce, abnormal struggle for expansion and wealth beyond -the dreams of the fathers. - -Often, as the years have passed, I have heard older men talk with -affection of the “good old days.” I put it down to the failing memory -of man, which forgets all that is ugly and repugnant, and remembers -best the beautiful. When men in society spoke of the past, they seemed -to me to be ignoring the many advantages of the present. As time has -fled, however, I come to realize that they spoke truly. They were -thinking of this “golden age,” this high mid-day of our industrial -history. - -They were thinking of the free American, son of the soil, of the -factory, as you will, yet free, independent, unafraid. They were -thinking of a nation that did not tolerate tyranny, political or -industrial, within its borders. They were thinking of that rich -America where no man dwelt in poverty. They were thinking of the utter -astonishment with which European travellers noted in our cities the -absolute lack of beggars, of want, of hunger, and of cold. They were -thinking of that happy day, now dead and gone, when evenly and justly -the reward of labour fell upon the people, scattered far and wide and -sufficiently, like the dew that falls at night upon the fields. - -Perhaps you think that Society, as such, cares little about these -things. You are eternally wrong. Society is a group of men and women -and children. The best of the men and the best of the women think -deeply, as the best of men and women think deeply everywhere. Because -it is educated, and because it, too, is engaged in an eternal fight for -life, Society, perhaps, studies these matters more zealously and more -accurately than the rest of the world that makes a nation. - -The leaders of the social world in the middle of the last century saw -as clearly as any one the tendencies of the time, and recognized as -fully as any one the bearing of the conditions of labour and capital -upon the purely social problems. They knew that because wealth was -evenly distributed as it flowed from the mine, the forest, and the -field, Society had nothing to fear. They knew, too, that, when the -division of wealth began to be uneven, danger to the social world -began. The lesson of the French Revolution was better understood in -those days than it is to-day in high Society--because high Society in -those days had, at least, read Carlyle or Junius; while to-day it reads -little more than the Sunday editions of the newspapers. - -Very few, in that time, were the new recruits in the army of Society. -The old laws still lived. The ancient families of New York, Boston, -and Philadelphia still held sway. The leader of the social world could -afford to speak of her father and her grandfather and even, in some -cases, of her great-grandfather, without treading on dangerous ground. -The subtle barriers of caste, flimsy as they always are in a new -country, had yet withstood all the puny assaults to which they had been -exposed. - -Happy, indeed, was Society; and happy, too, were the people of the -country. Yet the poison was even then at work within their veins. -Already, here and there, rich men were selling out of industry, taking -their mighty profits, and moving away from the industrial cities and -towns into the great social and business centres. There is no social -index to record the exodus; but one may note, here and there, in -government reports of the time, strange facts that to-day are all too -clear in their meaning. - -In the year 1840, at the beginning of this golden period of national -happiness and prosperity, there were in this country 1,240 cotton -manufacturing plants, with a combined gross output of $46,000,000 -worth of goods. Each plant made $37,000 worth of goods. Twenty years -later, the number of plants was 1,091, and the output was $115,000,000. - -Our fathers saw these figures; but it is not on record that any man, at -that time, saw their true meaning. It was simply, to their minds, the -working out of the factory system to its completion. It meant economy. -It was part of the same system that had reduced the cost of making a -yard of broadcloth from fifty cents in 1823 to fifteen cents in 1840. - -They could not, naturally, see in it, as we can, the seeds of a -revolution that was to make over again the America of that day, to drag -the boasted freedom of America in the mire of poverty, to prostitute -our political system, to tear and wreck and sweep away the sacred -barriers of Society. It was, in truth, the handwriting on the wall, -but America lacked a prophet. If, indeed, there had been such a one, -his warning would have been in vain. For evolution is inexorable; and -the nation, high and low, rich and poor, poverty and Society--all are -but its creatures, brought into life by it, buried at its command. - -Let me hurry on to sketch the progress of this wonderful change that -was to found in America two great new classes, the Idle Rich and the -Slaves of Industry. - -I have compiled a table from the census reports, dealing with textile -industries alone, because that branch of manufacturing was the oldest -and one of the greatest, as it is to-day, and because it illustrates -perhaps better than any other the progress of principles, rather than -the influence of special causes, particularly through this twenty-year -period of which I am writing: - - -TEXTILE INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES - - Average Av. No. of - Year No. Capital Employés Product Average - - 1860 3027 50,000 65 75,500 - 1870 4790 62,500 57 108,600 - 1880 4018 103,000 96 144,000 - -In these few figures all the industrial history of that great period -may be found epitomized. The number of plants, instead of increasing -as the volume of demand for products increased, was contracted. The -leadership of the trade, and, therefore, the making of prices, was -taken by the houses of larger capital. The average capital employed in -the trade doubled in the twenty years. The output also doubled for the -average factory. The number of employés, on the other hand, increased -but half. Better machinery, more efficient control over the workers, -more drastic industrial discipline, fiercer industrial competition for -individual work, did their destiny-appointed task. - -Here one begins to see on this broad canvas, but faint in outline, -the tracing of the picture of America to-day. The chains began to -tighten. Men who had grown to comfortable wealth in the long period of -small factories, scattered industries, and free and easy industrial -democracy, began to gather together into industrial groups. Little -industries were rolled together into big industries. The capital of the -factory expanded, doubling, on an average, in the decade. At the same -time, by more intense methods of carrying on the trades, the number of -employés needed to produce a given value of products was cut down. - -Let me turn, for a moment, to introduce a slight record of that -industry which has done more, perhaps, than any other to bring about -the creation of the class of whom I write--the idle rich. I have not -dwelt upon it in the beginnings of American industry, for it was -scarcely existent. I refer to the iron and steel industry. - -In 1860 there were in this country only 402 plants manufacturing -wrought, forged, and rolled iron. They used an average of $58,000 of -capital apiece, produced products worth $91,000 each, and employed an -average of 55 men. In 1880--twenty years--there were 1,005 such plants, -with an average capital of $23,000, average products of $296,005, and -an average roll of 121 men. Here the evolution of an industry from the -small, scattered plants to the concentrated, efficient, and powerful -“combine” is unmistakable. - -To summarize: In this twenty-year period, the value of products -trebled, while the number of workers doubled. The wealth-producing -capacity of each worker increased from $1,438 to $2,015. - -If the tendency toward monopoly was striking in the twenty years from -1860 to 1880, what may one say of the twenty years that followed? In -the iron and steel trade, the 699 plants of 1880, with an average -production of $419,000 each, became 668 with an average production of -$1,203,500 in 1900. The average number of employés per plant rose from -197 to 333. In the cotton mills, the average number of employés in each -mill rose during the same period from 287 to 1,185. - -Here is the birthplace of the idle rich. Hundreds of men who had owned -small manufacturing plants sold them out at good profits in the first -ten years of this era and retired to live on the proceeds. Men who, -twenty years before, had built their puny mills on river banks and -rapidly developed them into great wealth-producing plants by natural -growth, then turned them over to the trusts and combinations at prices -that would have staggered the imagination of the fathers of the -industry. - -The firm gave way to the corporation. Industries that had been for -generations family affairs were suddenly capitalized in the form of -stocks and bonds, and the owners retired from the active business, -hiring skilled men to carry on the work. They themselves sat down in -comfort and ease and luxury to draw their sustenance from interest and -dividends on the securities that represented the plants. - -Into the mighty cities of the East there moved an ever-growing army of -those who had gathered, from the mines of California, from the forges -of Pittsburg, from the forests of Michigan, from the metalled mountains -of Montana, wealth beyond the dreams of Midas. They had capitalized -the products of their own labour, and brought with them the tangible -evidences of wealth in the shape of stocks and bonds. - -I remember very well the first great march of the suddenly rich upon -the social capitals of the nation. Very distinctly it comes back to me -with what a shock the fact came home to the sons and daughters of what -was pleased to call itself the aristocracy of America that here marched -an army better provisioned, better armed with wealth, than any other -army that had ever assaulted the citadels of Society. - -The effect of these immigrations from the fields of labour to the -cities of capital I shall sketch more fully in another chapter. I -would now, instead, touch upon the conditions that they left behind -them, the conditions that made possible their own retirement from -actual labour to the ease and comfort of luxurious leisure. - -It is not too much to say that they left behind them a people reduced -to industrial slavery. Gone forever was the free America our fathers -knew. Faded into history was the ideal of Washington and Jefferson and -Lincoln. From the year 1890 onward the progress of the United States -has been the fearful march of manufacturing industry. In that year the -products of industry and agricultural wealth were about equal. Ten -years later the products of industry were two to one against the wealth -gathered from the fields. - -Side by side with this conquest of America went the growth of tenant -farming, as against the old free tenure farming that had marched -steadily into the farthest untilled corners of the land so long as -land was free. To-day there is no free land within the borders of the -nation, save for a few small tracts hardly worth mentioning. Here, as -in the industries, capital did not hesitate to claim and capture all -that it dared. Law after law was passed to prevent the centralization -of the power of exploiters over great tracts of the West. Law after law -was broken, evaded, or laughed at. Once the spirit of exploitation on a -large scale was abroad in the land, nothing could stand against it. - -To gain its ends, wealth crept stealthily into every seat of power. -The law stood in its way; therefore, in legislative halls and in -political caucuses, wealth had to have its representatives. The -legislatures, the courts, the press--these were made pawns in the game -of exploitation. Where-ever possible, the army of exploiters laid -profane hands even upon the trusteed funds that guard the poverty of -the spoiled and broken, the funds of the savings-banks, and of the -insurance companies. Nothing was sacred; nothing was secure. - -The raw material of wealth, as I have stated in a previous chapter, -is the labour of men. In the days of individual effort, exploitation -of labour was not possible, for men shied off from the chains of the -exploiter, took to the boundless free fields of the West, and declared -over again that they would dwell and labour in freedom, or they would -die. - -But, in the census of 1900, it is shown clearly that the average -employé in this country produces every year $1,280 of wealth, after -full allowance for the cost of the material he works with and all -possible running expenses that are paid by his employer. Out of this -amount of wealth he gets $437. The remainder, $843, goes into the hands -of other men--the capitalist or the exploiter of labour. - -That money, nearly two thirds of the wealth produced by the men who -labour with their hands and heads, goes to pay interest and dividends -on the securities that represent the increment gathered by those who -sold out in other days, or who capitalized their plants and settled -down to draw their sustenance from the labour of other men. - -Hence the idle rich. I do not mean to say that by any means all of the -dividends and interest are gathered by the idle rich. Such a condition -as that can exist but once in the history of a nation. It came about -in Rome--and it led to the fall. It came about in France--and it led -to the terror. Here, in America, it has gone far to be sure, and the -tendency is still onward; but it has not yet quite reached a point -where one may say: “To-morrow the harvest is ripe!” - - - - - “_As well might the oligarchy attempt to stay the flux and reflux - of the tides as to attempt to stay the progress of freedom in - the South. Approved of God, the edict of the genius of Universal - Emancipation has been proclaimed to the world, and nothing, - save Deity himself, can possibly reverse it. To connive at the - perpetuation of slavery is to disobey the commands of Heaven. Not - to be an abolitionist is to be a wilful and diabolical instrument - of the devil. The South needs to be free, the South wants to be - free, the South SHALL be free!_” - - --HINTON ROWAN HELPER. - - - - -_Chapter Four_ - -WHO ARE THE SLAVES? - - -For thirty years, since 1880, we have been piling up wealth in the -hands of men who do not work. In almost every year there has been -pouring from our mills a steady grist of idlers. It has gone so far -that to-day, in every city of the Union, the class of the idle rich -has reached proportions that to the thoughtful student of events are -alarming. The millionaire habit has spread until to-day men of millions -are far more numerous in our great cities than were men of one tenth -the wealth twenty years ago. - -I do not desire to criticize wealth; for I am not a Socialist, and I -entertain no Utopian dreams concerning the equal distribution of wealth -among the people or the public control of all sources of wealth. I -agree thoroughly with Mr. Carnegie, and with much older economists, in -the opinion that any arbitrary distribution of wealth, or any arbitrary -assignment of the sources of wealth, would be but temporary, and would -be followed by another period of adjustment which would end with the -reappropriation of wealth and the reassignment of the sources of wealth -into the hands best qualified by nature to hold them. I take it to be -proven by the experience of the world that individual exploitation -of the sources of wealth remains as the established basis of the -industrial, commercial, and social development of the world. - -Yet, I confess, the terrific sweep of industrialism across this land -throughout the past century appalls me as I study it from records -written and unwritten. I cannot go down through the crowded tenement -sections of our great cities without having it borne in upon me that -we as a nation pay a fearful price in human blood and tears for our -industrial triumphs. I cannot see the poverty, even the degradation, of -the wives and children of the wage-working class in many cities, and -even in many rural districts, without being visited by the devastating -thought that surely, if the principle of the thing be necessary and -right, there must be fearful errors somewhere in the application of the -principle. - -For the grim fact stands out beyond denial that the men who are the -workers of the nation, and the women and the children dependent upon -them, are not to-day given the opportunities that are their proper -birthright in free America; and that, struggle as they will, save as -they may, lift their voices in protest as they dare, they cannot obtain -from our industrial hierarchy much more than a mere living wage. And, -on the other hand, it is equally true that the wage of capital is high, -that the class of idle rich has grown out of all proportion, and that -it has taken upon itself a power and an arrogance unsurpassed in the -industrial history of the world. - -Somewhere there is something wrong. I speak as a rich man. I speak -as a representative of the class of which I write, and to which in -particular I address myself. We can no longer blind ourselves with -idle phrases or drug our consciences with the outworn boast that the -workingman of America is to-day the highest paid artisan in the world. -We know those lying figures well. Many a time I myself, in personal -argument, have shown that the American workman receives from one and a -half to three times as much as his English cousin at the same trade; -but we know now that it means nothing. We are learning, instead of -envying the American workingman his lot, to pity more deeply that -English cousin. We are learning, too, that what we give our workers -in wages we take back from them in the higher cost of necessities, in -food, in clothing, in medicine, in insurance--in a hundred devious ways -all with one tendency--to keep the living margin down. - -Many centuries ago two great Greek philosophers, Aristotle and -Plato, predicted that the time would come when the tools of wealth -production--machinery--would have reached such an advanced stage of -development that it would become unnecessary to enslave anybody for -the sake of allowing any one class to devote itself to the pursuit -of culture. These great philosophers believed in slavery during that -period of the world’s development in which they lived, on the ground -that only by the exploitation of forced labour could any class be left -free to develop the higher attributes of mankind. Yet both looked -forward to the time when, in the progress of humanity toward the ideal, -the perfection of methods would permit the emancipation of all mankind. - -Aristotle and Plato were no visionaries. Their dreams, so far as the -methods are concerned, are to-day realities; but, alas, how different -the result! Instead of emancipation we have welded about the necks of -the people the chains of industrial slavery. It is true that the form -of slavery, the direct exploitation of the bodies of men, has been -wiped out in every civilized nation; but is it not equally true that -since our own great struggle for freedom from the pollution of chattel -slavery we have but stepped out of a process of direct exploitation of -a few enchained slaves into a process far more expansive and embracing -far more people, namely, the indirect exploitation of wage workers for -the benefit of capital? - -The fruit of the genius of the inventors of the world is plucked not by -the hands of the workers, but by the hands of the comparatively small -and personally insignificant class who, by virtue of the genius of -their fathers, or by virtue of mere chance, administer the tremendous -power of capital. - -The evolution of the ages, then, has brought about this strangely -ironical condition. Humanity is face to face with a God-given -opportunity to acquire and apply knowledge. The wealth producing -machinery of the world has the capacity to give to all men the -opportunity of enjoying leisure. Knowledge and culture are the proper -birthright of humanity to-day. Even in the face of obstacles, knowledge -and culture spread among the people. Only one great obstacle remained -to block the fulfillment of the prophecy of the great philosophers. -That obstacle is the idle rich. It is the leisure class that to-day -destroys the spirit of our dream. - -It cannot be for long. We in America are moving fast toward social -revolution. Conflicts between labour and capital are assuming the -proportions of civil war. The once powerful middle class, which is the -safety of every nation, is to-day weak, and is every day declining. -Soon, politically it will be a memory, and the battle field will be -cleared for conflict. - -It is, I know, a hopeless and a thankless task for any man to raise his -voice in an appeal for peace. The forces which have been set in motion -in the making of America so far must, I suppose, run their allotted -course. To-day the class spirit in America is thoroughly aroused, and -it is almost with terror that I, a representative of one of the two -classes that are to fight this battle, raise my feeble voice in warning -to the other members of my class. - -But lately I have read again a monumental work, written fifty years -ago by a Southerner, in an attempt to turn the minds of his fellow -citizens from the fatal error of chattel slavery. The book is called -“The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It.” Of all the books -that I have ever read upon public problems it has always seemed to me -to be the most sane and factual. Here is a paragraph taken from it -which I marked when first I read the book, and which I have read over -and over again with infinite satisfaction: - - The truth is that slavery destroys or vitiates, or pollutes - whatever it touches. No interest of society escapes the influence - of its clinging curse. It makes Southern religion a stench in the - nostrils of Christendom--it makes Southern politics a libel upon - all the principles of republicanism--it makes Southern literature - a travesty upon the honourable profession of letters.... When will - the South, as a whole, abandoning its present suicidal policy, - enter upon that career of prosperity, greatness, and true renown, - to which God by His word and His providence is calling it? That - voice, by whomsoever spoken, must yet be heard and heeded. The time - hastens--the doom of slavery is written--the redemption of the - South draws nigh. - -To-day the author’s position is similar to that of Helper, who wrote -these words, save that it differs in one important particular. Helper, -though a Southerner, was not a slave-holder. I am in every sense a -member of the class to whom I write. I do not flatter myself that my -words will have any more effect among mine own people than Helper’s had -among the people of the South, but fortunately my voice is but one of a -hundred that are raised to-day to warn the leisure class of the rocks -toward which it is drifting. - -Hinton Rowan Helper died but a little time ago. Four years after the -appearance of his book he saw the outbreak of the Civil War. In the -end of that war he saw the states of his beloved South bent like -reeds in a storm, its armies overthrown, its fields laid waste, its -homes destroyed, its cherished institutions gone forever. I wonder, -as I write, whether it be possible in this age of civilization and -advancement that I, too, am but a voice crying in the wilderness. Will -our capitalist class, like the old French monarchy, “learn nothing and -forget nothing?” - -Many a time, while engaged in the manifold activities of social life, -at a dinner or a ball, or amusing myself in the country, this question -has come to me. I have wondered whether it is all really as it seems. -Here are gay hearts, merry voices, lives all brimming with laughter, -young men and maidens all untouched by the sterner things of life, -boys with their fortunes to inherit and high positions in life secured, -débutantes with every problem solved for them, a formulated education -leading to a formulated social routine, stately matrons born to rule -their little social world, fine men and women of more ripened years, -whose careers have led to what seemed a purposeful goal. It all seems -happy and light-hearted, and yet there _must_ be shadows, if these -men and women are really men and women, and not mere thoughtless, -heartless, brainless creatures. Is it, again, “after us the deluge?” - -Again, I remember very well an occasion this past winter, when the same -thought came to me. I was dining in one of the city hotels. Music and -laughter flooded the place as sunshine floods the fields. Outwardly, -the scene had all the appearance of perfect ease and happiness. Looking -around, I lighted by chance upon a table where a group of elderly -people, all well known to me, were dining. They were people who live -well, and who take a large part in the social world as well as in -the world of business. I watched them as they talked. I noted an air -of gravity, of seriousness, and I wondered what it was all about. A -little later, as their table assumed the normal aspect, I went over and -exchanged greetings with them. Incidentally, I asked them what had made -them so very serious throughout the evening. - -One of them, an old friend of mine, told me. They had been discussing a -statement that had appeared as a news item during the afternoon. It was -part of a speech made in the senate at Washington. It was an attack -upon the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few. It was really -a veiled denunciation of the principle upon which Society is founded. -These men and women, all part and parcel of the social world, had spent -most of their evening discussing that item of news. - -A very few years ago such an episode as this would have been dismissed -by almost any group of men and women who belonged to Society, with -hardly a single thought. Somebody might have introduced the subject; -somebody else would have abusively called the senator a demagogue, or -an agitator, or a Socialist--and the conversation would have drifted -on into the latest sporting news or talk of somebody’s ball a month or -so away. But now, the older men and women of Society know better. They -have learned, in fact, to distinguish real news from mere sensation. -They know a statesman from a demagogue and facts from sensations. - -I do not say that it is general, this tendency to take seriously the -social, industrial, and economic questions of the day. In my own case, -I do know that up to a very few years ago none of these problems -bothered me very much. I know that very rarely did I hear the question -raised as to the permanence of the conditions under which we lived -within our social barriers. Nobody, in my world, considered the problem -of industry his own; and every one drifted onward through the years -secure in the conviction that in the end everything was going to be all -right. - -To-day how different it is! To-day we are studying the sources of our -wealth, finding out for ourselves the real price paid by humanity to -give us the privileges of the social life which we and our fathers have -enjoyed. Excited by curiosity, we go down to inspect the mines our -fathers left to us. We watch the men at work, mere pitiful animals, -risking their lives in terrible endeavour for a meagre wage, that we, -the heirs of time and of eternity, may take our leisure in the palaces -of wealth. In the mills of Pittsburg we watch the workers in iron -and steel, toiling in the white hot blast of the furnaces that we, -who never have toiled, may draw our dividends and spend them on the -luxuries we love. - -All around and about us are millions of active, industrious human -beings. How can we, the rich, longer remain idle? Is it possible -that the heroism of the wealth-producing, life-preserving population -of the world exerts no influence upon those who are not forced by -circumstances to work? I know from my own experience that those who -are worth while in the social and financial world have not only been -influenced by the activity of the world’s workers, but I can positively -state that mere pleasure-seeking idlers are disappearing so fast that -it is a question of but a few years more before their extinction is -complete. - -But a very few years ago we would have visited the mines of Scranton -or the forges of Pittsburg, and we would have looked upon the workers -there with eyes of pity, perhaps, and we might have talked more or less -glibly of the hardships of labour. Yet it would not have been _our_ -problem. To-day we recognize the relationship between the labour that -produces our wealth and the wealth which we enjoy. - - - - - “_It is quite plain that your government will never be able to - restrain a distressed and discontented majority. For with you the - majority is the government, and has the rich, who are always a - minority, absolutely at its mercy. The day will come when in the - State of New York a multitude of people, none of whom have had more - than half a breakfast or expect to have more than half a dinner, - will choose a Legislature. Is it possible to doubt what sort of - Legislature will be chosen? On one side is a statesman preaching - patience, respect for vested rights, strict observance of public - faith. On the other is a demagogue ranting about the tyranny of - capitalists and usurers and asking why anybody should be permitted - ... to ride in a carriage while thousands of honest folks are in - want of necessaries. Which of the two candidates is liable to be - preferred by a workingman who hears his children cry for more - bread?_” - - --LORD MACAULAY, 1857. - - - - -_Chapter Five_ - -THE AWAKENING OF SOCIETY - - -Many are the causes that have led to this great change in the attitude -of the wealthy classes toward the world at large. First and foremost, -in my judgment, is the change in the attitude of the working classes -themselves toward the rich. For, more assiduously than anything else -in this world, we, the wealthy, seek the praise and admiration of the -crowd. It may seem a strange confession from a member of the wealthy -class, but it is true. - -And the attitude of the people at large toward the rich has been -changed indeed. I remember, even in my own lifetime, a period when the -people of this country looked up with admiration and respect to their -wealthy classes. It was in the end of that long period of which I have -spoken, in which the wealth of the nation was well distributed and had -not been gathered together into the hands of the few by means of the -exploitation of the masses. - -To-day how great the change! How wonderful the transformation! At first -a few weak voices told what a few eyes saw. In unheard-of journals of -the labour movement, in certain revelations of high finance, corruption -of politics, dreadful tales were told--stories long since forgotten. -In Henry Demarest Lloyd’s “Wealth vs. Commonwealth” we have a strong -voice describing what keen eyes clearly discerned. Soon were published -several profound historical studies which aroused the more thoughtful. -Then, with drum and trumpet and black banners flying, came the army of -the muck-rakers. And their revelations made the nation heartsick. - -It is but five years since the white light of the noon-day sun beat -down upon the hitherto deeply buried roots of America’s industrial and -social life, and eighty-five millions knew whence the social fruitage -of our age draws its sustenance. Just what, in this connection, has -been the effect of these five years upon American opinion? - -When the nineteenth century closed, America worshipped great wealth. It -sanctified its possessors. It deified the hundred-millionaire. In five -years’ time America has learned to hate great wealth. Plutocracy is -disgorging, but public opinion is relentless. - -Never before in the history of the world has there been anything -analogous to the campaign of the American muck-rakers. The progressive -forces of French society raged at the monarchy and the Church before -the French Revolution. But their propaganda took thirty years to -gain power, and fifty years to accomplish its purpose. The work of -destruction here seemed to be done in a night. The “pillars of Society” -tumbled. From official statements of the President of the United States -down to the output of ten dollar a week hack-writers, our publications -teemed with the products of the popular trade of exposure. Great -commercial and industrial institutions were analyzed. National and -municipal governments were dissected. Universities and churches did -not escape the busy seeker for sin. After submerging itself in the -story of its shames, the nation turned in disgust to more pleasing -visions. But it had answered the question “How?” And the answer is by -no means forgotten. - -Some day, perhaps in the twenty-first century, some Carlyle, sitting -in the shade of elms before an old country house, will head another -chapter, “Printed Paper,” and describe the war made with words upon -the crumbling ideals and ideas of an age. He will tell how a nation -from worshipping wealth on Monday learned to hate it on Saturday. He -will relate how it came that myriads of poor, blessing the alms giver -as they fell asleep in low hovels and crowded tenements, awoke with -their hearts full of bitterness and hatred for those whom they had -worshipped. He will humorously describe how the plutocracy itself, -alarmed beyond power of expression, sought to disgorge its ill-gotten -gains upon the multitude; its primal virtue, acquisition, transformed -to the crime, possession. He will recall for the amusement of students -of history the frantic endeavour of the demagogue to raise himself in -public esteem through decrying the idle rich. - -To us, who, through the heyday of our popularity, simply sat in the -sunshine and throve and grew fat in happiness, it came as a terrible -shock, this change of the popular attitude. At first we laughed at it; -then we preached little sermons about it, half jesting, half serious; -then we began to talk about it among ourselves; and we held indignation -meetings every time we met our friends, and called down the wrath of -heaven on these sharp-eyed and glib-tongued investigators. - -Finally--and here lies the heart of the matter--we began to read these -outpourings of the popular sentiment very seriously indeed. They came, -at last, from sources that we dared not disregard. Instead of mere -muck-raking expeditions they assumed the proportions of crusades. -Instead of the frantic mouthings of mere sensation mongers there -confronted us in the columns of the press and in the more sedate and -orderly pages of the magazines the speeches of a President, or sane, -sober editorials written by men who knew both sides, and who commanded -our respect as well as the respect and admiration of the crowd. We -recognized--those of us who thought, and saw, and felt--that instead -of being a passing phase, as we had dreamed or hoped, this change of -popular sentiment was the beginning of a revolution. - -I hesitate to say how deep this arrow struck. Perhaps I can illustrate -it best by telling a story that came to my ears this past winter. A -lady of the old school was sending her daughter, a young girl, to one -of the preparatory schools here in the East. She went herself to look -at the college and to talk with some of the professors. In conversation -with the principal, she said: - -“I want Estelle, right from the beginning of her course, to get a full -understanding of where wealth comes from. I want her year by year to -learn of the debt and the responsibility that she, personally, owes to -the people that work. Are these things taught in your courses?” - -The principal was astounded. She protested that such education was -entirely out of line with the principles and precepts of that college. -Very delicately and tactfully she intimated that one of the foundations -of a social education was the constant instillation into the minds of -the young of the idea of the superiority of the aristocracy over the -masses. To teach Estelle that she and her class are really dependent -upon the grimy men who labour with their hands would be to turn upside -down the curriculum of that college. - -The upshot of it was that Estelle to-day is enrolled as a student in a -high school in New York City. Her mother believes that the salvation of -the wealthy classes in this country depends upon the coming generation -understanding the true relationship between capital and labour. - -This is, perhaps, an extreme case, for only a very few years ago that -matron herself was absolutely immersed in the whirlpools of the most -frivolous Society which has a real right to use the term in talking -about itself. Always she was a woman of a most active mind, of broad -sympathies, of excellent benevolent character; but her mind found its -full exercise in the pursuit of social fads, her sympathies found -outlet in sporadic raids upon the strongholds of misery and poverty, -and her benevolence satisfied itself with much hidden largess to -various and sundry charities. She did not really understand any of the -problems of the day. - -The first awakening of this one woman came about through chance. Bored -to death at a summer resort, half sick, and therefore restricted in her -activities, a friend who stopped on the piazza to extend her sympathies -happened to leave on the table a book. The lady picked it up and -began, half absently, to turn the pages from back to front, as one -will. A heading caught her eye. Here it is: - - “OUR BARBARIANS FROM ABOVE.” - -She did not understand it; and her habit of mind led her to -investigate. She had lost the page, but she searched until she found -it. Then she read the paragraph: - - If our civilization is destroyed, as Macaulay predicted, it will - not be by his barbarians from below. Our barbarians come from - above. Our great money-makers have sprung in one generation into - seats of power kings do not know. The forces and the wealth are - new, and have been the opportunity of new men. Without restraints - of culture, experience, the pride or even the inherited caution - of class or rank, these intoxicated men think they are the wave - instead of the float. To them, science is but a never-ending - repertoire of investments stored up by nature for the syndicates, - government but a fountain of franchises, the nations but customers - in squads, and the million the unit of a new arithmetic of wealth - written for them. - -She read on and on. She finished the book, and turned back to its -beginning. She could not read it all; but she read enough to realize -her profound ignorance of facts. That night, at dinner, she astounded -her husband in this wise: - -“Who is Henry Demarest Lloyd?” - -“He is a Socialist writer,” was the answer, “who amuses himself -attacking our class.” - -“I wish,” she said, “you would get me all his books.” - -From that time on her mind found new occupations, new interests, new -ideas. A world that she did not know existed came swiftly over her -horizon. She did not rush madly into extremes--she has not to this -day--but her life has changed considerably. We who knew her so little -time ago as one of the typical, clever, brilliant, and flashy purveyors -of cheer and social joy find her to-day no less charming in the matter -of mere entertainment; but we expect, when we meet her, to find in her -mind many other and more serious things. She never appears in print, -she is not a suffragist, she has dropped her little fads. She is not -that strange abnormality of her sex that neglects the old pursuits of -women to follow the strange gods of men; but she is, in every sense, a -student of the true conditions that surround her. The mists of golden -tradition have cleared from her eyes. - -To-day she has plenty of company in her own set. She did not convert -them. She detests the rôle of a propagandist. They simply came of -their own accord to read and learn. And when the educated classes -really become interested, I think they study things more deeply -than any other class. Even the most violent and anarchistic of -the publications that pretend to portray the facts of the class -relationships have thousands of readers among the very wealthy. - -I remember a case in point. Mr. Upton Sinclair, a pronounced Socialist -of the flamboyant type, was invited to lunch one day, by a mutual -acquaintance, with a young man of the most exclusive set in this city. -They met in a private dining-room at the Lawyers’ Club. In the course -of the lunch Mr. Sinclair referred to an article he had published in -_Wilshire’s Magazine_, a Socialist sheet of the noisy class. - -“Yes,” said the other, “I read it.” - -“You read it?” exclaimed Mr. Sinclair, in complete surprise. - -“Oh, yes--I always read it,” said the other, in a matter-of-fact way. - -There are many like him. Five years ago you probably could have counted -on the fingers of two hands the men in the wealthy classes who read the -literature that comes from below. To-day it is a very common occurrence -to hear in the best clubs of New York wealthy men discussing with -intense earnestness and real economic sense articles of which they -never would have heard five years ago. - -It is not that many of us really feel the danger that impends. It is -simply that our armour of complacency and self-satisfaction has been -pierced, and our pride has been wounded. - -“I used to think,” said a clubman to me last winter, “that we were -well beloved; but I guess our class is the best hated class in the -land. I am only beginning to find out why.” - -Of course, I do not want to give the reader the idea that the -muck-raker wrought this change. As a matter of fact, he is but the -skirmish line. The wealthy classes would have weathered his attack -without much trouble and gone upon their all-complacent way if he -had been the culmination, instead of the mere beginning, of the hard -attack. But after him, as I have said, came a great army of sober, -sedate, forceful writers, hurling volleys of stinging facts upon -our careless trenches. We roused ourselves to meet the real attack. -Fiercely it swept upon us. Yet even that we might have met and -gone back in the end into the peace and security of our age-long -self-confidence, no whit the worse for the battle. - -Worse--or better--was to come. When the pulpit and the press had done -their worst--or best--the heavy artillery opened. Senators on the floor -of the senate, governors from the chair of office, mighty lawyers -before the bar, judges from the bench, and, last, a President from the -White House, raked our outworn defences, and even the silliest and most -fatuous of men within the walls knew, at least, that we were under fire. - -To-day there is a lull. Many of those who awakened to the sound of -battle but two or three years ago are slipping back into fancied -security. The older heads know better. We see the forces of labour and -poverty forming new lines upon the plains and hill sides. We see them -lashed to new fury by the whip of rising prices; we hear the stern, -stentorian voices of their tribunes calling them to battle for their -lives and liberties; we smell the reek of them as they crowd from the -dusty mines and sweaty factories. - -We do not flatter ourselves, even those of us most drunk with the -strong liquor of power and the sweet wine of indolence, that the forces -of attack are weakened or weakening. We know full well that this -great lull of renewed national prosperity has been used by the forces -of the men that labour to make themselves stronger, cleaner, better -caparisoned for the long battle of to-morrow. - -In the midst of the peace and calm of high prosperity we hear the -rumble of the thunder of war. We read in the papers that a great -manufacturing city of the Middle West has chosen a Socialist mayor. -Over the wires there comes to us the news that an anti-corporation -campaign in Denver has broken to atoms the organized power of both -the great political parties which, for generations, we have used as -pawns in mightier games than theirs. An able public servant is openly -and publicly branded a thief and a betrayer of trust, because, the -people say, he works with the larger capitalists to help their plans to -completion. Public clamour and disapprobation greet the plan of one of -the richest of men to incorporate his charities in order that they may -be more efficient. The people refuse absolutely to believe that there -is no ulterior project behind the incorporation. - -These are incidents of warfare, not of peace. Here, as in Denver and -Milwaukee, it is an attack upon an outpost, a skirmish in force. -There, as in the case of the Rockefeller Foundation, it is a determined -effort to block what the leaders of popular thought believe to be a -strengthening of the redoubts of wealth. - -Strange, it seems to me, it is that still within the gates of gold -there dwells a great host of people barely roused. For I have failed -of my aim if I have given the impression that Society is to-day wholly -roused, wholly armed, wholly awake to its danger. It is, alas! not -true. It is no more true than it was true before the rebellion that the -people of the South were all in sympathy with Helper. There were a few, -to be sure, but the rank and file of the slave-holders called him a -visionary and an alarmist. - -So to-day, perchance, the vast majority of the men of wealth in this -and other cities will call me a visionary and an alarmist. I wish it -were true. Would that I could bring myself to believe that the things -I see about me are but the passing phases of a natural adjustment. I -have tried for many years to persuade myself that all is well. I have -failed. - - - - - “_Six years ago no proposition to which the great corporation - interests of the country were strongly opposed was looked upon - as having any practical chance of being realized.... The killing - and maiming or stifling of bills of this kind in committee was a - foregone conclusion, and the only answer to protests was Tweed’s - old query: ‘What are you going to do about it?_’” - - --FRANKLIN FABIAN. - - - - -_Chapter Six_ - -FOR THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER - - -I have, in previous chapters, touched very briefly upon some of the -vile excrescences that have found a resting place within the gates -of our once so fair city of Society. Again, I have sketched in the -briefest outline the process by which the idle class was created. I -have shown how the seed was planted in the too fertile soil of American -industry. I have dwelt, but briefly, upon the simple fact that we of -the older orders have come to find out something about that planting -and the manner of the growth. - -I turn with something like dismay from a sketch of the methods of -the culture of this growth. For it is watered with the bloody sweat -of labour and the salt tears of bitter poverty and suffering; and -it is fertilized with the dead bodies of men and women outworn in -the grim battle of life. Tended and watched it is by a foul horde of -underlings, hired judges in the law, panders in politics, prostitutes -in the pulpit, lickspittles in college chancelleries, Judases in the -press, blackmailers in business, and miserable, time-serving parasites -clinging like filthy leeches upon the administrative bodies of the -nation. - -To my mind, as I have studied this question, there has come a sad -conviction: This nation is betrayed. The planting of the seed of our -industrial system, whose fine flower has been reached in our class of -idle rich, was quite possible without any betrayal of the people. Even -its growth for two decades was possible without a conscious effort -on the part of the keepers of the public citadels to throw open the -doors to a public enemy. May a thinking man dare to say that the growth -of this system since 1890 could have been possible without criminal -negligence on the part of those public servants sworn to guard the true -and lawful interests of the people of this nation? - -For it was perfectly evident, years ago, that the industrial evolution -of this country was a process of exploitation. It was the knowledge -of this fact that lay behind the Sherman Law of 1890; and again the -Interstate Commerce Act, which sought to restrain, to a limited extent -at least, the boundless license to plunder which had been taken unto -themselves by the railroads. No broad-minded man can read with an open -mind the facts with regard to the Homestead strike, the Pullman strike, -the war in the Cœur d’Alene, or the coal strike of very recent years, -without coming to the conclusion that no matter who was in the wrong in -the immediate circumstances leading to those national catastrophes, the -real underlying cause was a revolt on the part of a subjugated people -against the hardships of industrial slavery. - -Without going into details, let us examine, in the light of history, -a few of the cardinal facts that have so far made possible a -continuance, indeed, a constant widening and deepening, of this process -of exploitation. Let us remember always, as we face the facts, that -the primary cause of this condition lay in that evolution, which was -probably inevitable, from the household stage of manufacturing in -this country to the stage that is represented by the modern trust. -That evolution stands to-day completed. It was, as a matter of fact, -completed on the day when the American Sugar Refining Company assumed -the dominating position in the sugar trade. Subsequent developments -have been but a repetition, sometimes on a larger scale, sometimes on -a smaller, of that climax. What, then, makes possible the continuance -of this process in the face of the ever-growing public knowledge of its -existence? - -The answer is our public shame. This process, openly recognized by the -public, thoroughly analyzed day by day and year by year by brilliant -writers in press and periodical, exposed again and again in excellently -written books by college economists, has gone on and on through climax -after climax for the simple reason that the one power in the world -that could stop it--the will of the American people--has been turned -from its purpose, defeated in its honest efforts, and betrayed in its -administration, through the fact that in our democratic political world -the power of mobilized wealth has been sufficient to restrain the -hands of our political parties and prevent the striking of the blows -that would have put an end to the process. To-day, in America, the -people elect their statesmen; but the exercise of the people’s power -through these statesmen is curbed, directed, and controlled by groups -of moneyed interests. This is a statement that many will challenge; -it is a statement that cannot be proved or disproved. I give it as my -opinion, based upon long, careful study, and based, too, on personal -knowledge. - -America, then, is a plutocracy. Always politically, the power of -a plutocracy depends upon the maintenance of the _status quo_. It -has come into being through the operation of certain industrial or -commercial conditions. It lives by virtue of the continuance of those -conditions, and by virtue of their freedom from attack by the one power -strong enough to destroy them--namely, the people. - -To maintain this _status quo_ has been the gigantic task successfully -carried out by the financial interests of the United States. It is -not my intention--indeed, it is not within my power--to go into any -complete details of the methods and machinery used for this end. It -has not all been accomplished, by any means, through direct political -corruption, though much of it has been accomplished in that way. The -few scattered and unimportant instances of conviction are enough by -themselves, without going into surmise at all, to establish the fact -that in almost every state of the Union, and at the seat of the central -government itself, there has been for thirty years past widespread -corruption of political parties. - -Deeper than this, more sinister even than the most recent example of an -administrative officer bound like a slave to the wheel of his master’s -chariot, has been the indirect subornation of public opinion through a -subsidized press, subsidized pulpits, and subsidized public speakers. -We have heard a great deal of demagogues and wicked Socialistic leaders -of the mob. We do not hear much of that other phenomenon, the oily -sycophant who talks to the people with words of cheer and paragraphs of -exhortation, having in his mind always the one single idea how best he -may serve the moneyed interests that stand behind him. - -It is strange to me, and it has always been strange to other men who -have studied these things, that the interests of a plutocracy can be so -long maintained; for a plutocracy, of its very nature, is the weakest -possible form of government. It lives either by force or by fraud. It -lived in Rome before the days of Marius by force alone; and the lower -orders of Rome were slaves. It lived in Paris before the Terror, by a -combination of force and fraud; and the lower orders of France became -fiendish brutes. It lives in America by fraud alone; and what may we -say of the people of this nation who permit it to live? - -For, strange and incongruous as it may seem, a plutocracy rarely if -ever develops a real leader save in the crisis of its lifetime. In -Rome, as Ferrero so well points out in his book, “The Greatness and -Decline of Rome,” Sulla came into his leadership of the plutocracy only -after the people in the person of Marius had seized from the hands of -the plutocracy all the power of government. In France, the plutocracy -absolutely failed to develop a leader. In England to-day, almost in the -dawn of a revolution, the propertied classes lack a single person of -commanding power. In America, no single man, no group of men, represent -in their persons the power of the plutocracy. - -It is the tendency of the great and wealthy to divide into rival camps. -For some years past, in the one single subdivision of the world of -wealth that is represented by Wall Street finance, there have been at -least two great leaders of the golden host, bitterly antagonistic, -fiercely at odds, each striving to draw to himself new reinforcements, -not with the idea of strengthening the world of money as a whole, but -rather with the single idea of building up his own power to break down -or destroy the power of other leaders in that world. To-day, in this -single section of the world of business, there seems to be but one man -who stands like a giant among pygmies. Far more nearly than any other -in our history does he, in his magnificent personal power and his -splendid executive wisdom, approach the magnitude of a real leader in a -plutocracy. - -In the political world it is physically next to impossible that any -man can arise in a country where the people vote who will be able -to assume at once political power as a servant of the people and -plutocratic rule as a representative of moneyed interests. In the -never-ceasing conflict between the people and their exploiters no man -by serving two sides can achieve greatness. Therefore, the wealthy -classes of America have never sought, and are not seeking to-day, -leaders from the political arena. In that arena, it is true, they -have chosen to associate themselves, from time to time, with men who, -through their ability or through the public confidence reposed in then, -exercise great political authority. In that way, more than by any -other, the plutocracy of America has maintained the _status quo_; but -every citizen of the United States who in his own mind is persuaded -that this is true of any one man who can be named in the political -world despises that man, contemns his authority, and sets him down in -the list of a nation’s traitors. - -It is a losing fight, this struggle of a plutocracy against a people. -Against organized political opposition in a free country, where -citizens have a right to vote, it must crumble into dust when once the -people seriously begin the organization of political opposition. For -how different is the position of the people from the position of a -plutocracy in the matter of individual leadership! Never in the history -of the world, in any but a nation of slaves, have the people lacked a -leader. Marius in Rome, Danton and Robespierre in Paris, Cromwell in -England, you may multiply the list a hundred fold if you care to study -the pages of history. In all ages, leaders like this, when once they -are fired with enthusiasm for a cause, have been able, when they cared -to do so, to strike out policies direct and strong, and to lead the -minds of the people as they willed. Such lines of political cleavage as -these do not transpire easily. In almost every case in history there -has been transition only through war, riot, and revolution. We need a -leader. He will surely come. - -In this country, already, opposition exists. Labour union parties, -reform parties, Socialistic parties, have come into being, faded -away, and died. To-day, the only independent party working in the -political world of the United States is so inextricably bound up with -and wedded to a host of economic fallacies that the sober common -sense of the American people as a whole, feeling as they do that the -great political parties of the country are hopelessly inefficient and -corrupt, will not endorse it. - -We have not yet in this country marked out clearly the line of -political cleavage along which the mighty rift must be made. Perhaps -one may find the first faint tracings of it in the rise of the -insurgents in the last session of congress. From what I have learned of -the sentiment in the powerful Middle West, which more than any other -part of the Union represents an average of the people of the United -States, I am more than half convinced that this is true. If it be so, -many things may happen within the next few years, and there may be very -good reason indeed for the wide spread of uneasiness in the plutocracy. - -I am not a politician. I look at this matter of political power -much as any other sober American business man looks at it. Among -my own people I seldom hear purely political discussions. When we -are discussing pro and con the relative merits of candidates or the -relative importance of political policies, the discussion almost -invariably comes down to a question of business efficiency. We care -absolutely nothing about statehood bills, pension agitation, waterway -appropriations, “pork barrels,” state rights, or any other political -question, save inasmuch as it threatens or fortifies existing business -conditions. Touch the question of the tariff, touch the issue of the -income tax, touch the problem of railroad regulation, or touch that -most vital of all business matters, the question of general federal -regulation of industrial corporations, and the people amongst whom I -live my life become immediately rabid partisans. - -It matters not one iota what political party is in power, or what -President holds the reins of office. We are not politicians, or public -thinkers; we are the rich; we own America; we got it, God knows how; -but we intend to keep it if we can by throwing all the tremendous -weight of our support, our influence, our money, our political -connection, our purchased senators, our hungry congressmen, and our -public-speaking demagogues into the scale against any legislation, -any political platform, any Presidential campaign, that threatens the -integrity of our estate. - -I have said that the class I represent cares nothing for politics. -In a single season a plutocratic leader hurled his influence and his -money into the scale to elect a Republican governor on the Pacific -coast, and a Democratic governor on the Atlantic. The same moneyed -interest that he represented has held undisputed sway through many -administrations, Republican and Democratic, in a state in which it -had large railroad interests. Judge Lindsey, in his latest book, “The -Beast,” has shown in indisputable detail how the corporation interests -of Denver played with both great political parties. Truly can I say -that wealth has no politics save its own interests. - - - - - “_Poverty is a bitter thing, but it is not as bitter as the - existence of restless vacuity and physical, moral, and intellectual - flabbiness to which those doom themselves who elect to spend all - their years in that vainest of all pursuits, the pursuit of mere - pleasure as a sufficient end in itself._” - - --THEODORE ROOSEVELT. - - - - -_Chapter Seven_ - -THE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE - - -Sometimes an honest man of my class, reading the news of the day, -awakes to a sudden realization of the grim political truth. During -the time of the public discussion over the late tariff readjustment I -remember such an incident. We were three men, sitting together in the -smoking-room of an up-town club. One of us had brought in a copy of a -sane and honest afternoon paper, containing a quiet, dignified, careful -but powerful analysis of the results brought about under the tariff -reform measure. He had been struck by the article. He called it to the -attention of the third member of the group, who sat down to read it. - -He read it through, while my friend and I talked about trivial things. -After quite a long period of silence he handed the paper back to the -giver. - -“What do you think of it?” he was asked. - -His cigar had gone out. He lit it before he replied. Then he said, -gravely: - -“America needs a Marius, a Pitt, and a Peel. Before long it must get -one or all of them, or it will surely breed a Danton and a Robespierre.” - -It may have been mere epigram, but the two of us who heard it were -startled. For the man who said it was a leader of the world of fashion, -powerful in the world of business, and descended from four generations -of the purest-blooded aristocracy this country owns. - -Think, then, of the meaning of this sentiment from such a man at such -a time! Marius, a plebeian, led the slaves of Rome to the seats of -political power, broke down the age-old barriers of an aristocratic -plutocracy, and wrote into the history of the world one of its earliest -chapters on the revolt of a subjugated nation held in chains for the -benefit of a few. Pitt, Lord Chatham, the “Great Commoner,” hurled -from office by the combined power of a king, a plutocratic class, and -a subservient political machine, was forced back into office by the -will of the people, unorganized, in the face of all the banded powers -against him, and in spite of a condition of political corruption that -made his return seem a miracle. Peel gave the people of England free -corn against the banded powers of commercial greed. - -And to-day, in America, an aristocrat and a member of the plutocratic -class, sitting in a great city club of fashion, reading an editorial -from a paper that is published and edited to meet the demands of that -very class, gives it as his opinion that in this country we must -raise a Marius, a Pitt, and a Peel! And the alternative--the days -of the Terror, the bloody hands, the brutish mob, the wild-eyed, -frantic leaders of the hosts that stormed the Bastile, set up the -guillotine--so runs the mind of an aristocrat and a plutocrat, reading -the _Evening Post_ in a rich man’s club on upper Fifth Avenue! - -I believe that he was right. Without referring specifically to -the tariff reform--for this is no political document that I am -writing--I believe that the catalogue of legislative enactments by -our administrative machine over the past twenty years reveals beyond -the shadow of a doubt that the will of the people is subservient to -the will of the plutocracy. How can we further blind ourselves to the -truth? When such a fact is known as gospel to the people, from Maine -to California, published in every section of the press, from the -gutter-snipe class to the scholarly review, how may the best educated -class in the United States go on upon its careless way ignoring the -fact? - -The result is perfectly obvious in the light of history. The -plutocracy, stripped of the artificial screens behind which it grew -to power, stands exposed to-day in the full glare of the search-light -of public knowledge. Under such circumstances, even in slave-holding -nations, there has never lacked a tribune of the people. So sprung the -Gracchi from the dust to lead the first great battle in Rome. So, even -in the dawn of popular liberty, came a Tyler and a Cade, before their -hour had struck, it is true, yet, even so, with power to call to their -backs armies of men willing to die and conquerable only by accident or -guile. So, in the fullness of time, came other greater men, a Marius, a -Pitt, a Peel, who led the people onward and upward against the citadels -of plutocracy. - -To-day we of the class that rules, that draws unearned profits from -the toil of other men, know full well that the time is almost here -when there must be a true accounting. The fortunes that have been made -are made; and that is all of it. The fortunes that are in the making -through misuse of political power, through extortionate exploitation of -the people and the people’s heritage, through industrial oppression -and industrial denial of the rights of man--these must be checked. -To-morrow, in this land, the door of opportunity must be again unsealed. - -We cannot go back and create more free land to take the place of the -millions upon millions of acres thrown away by a lavish, stupid, -careless, traitorous government. We cannot fill again the plundered -mines of Michigan or Montana or Pennsylvania. We cannot clothe the -hills of Maine and Michigan again with pine, or the broad bottoms of -Ohio with walnut. We cannot turn backward the hands of the clock, or -re-create the economic factors that have been eliminated to make of -their fragments the wealth and the social world to-day enjoyed by the -exploiters and their descendants. - -It is not so that evolution works. That rare civilization of the Aztecs -which Cortez crushed can never be restored. Only echoes from the tombs -of Lucumons, after the lapse of twenty centuries, attest the fact that -once, in Etruria, there existed a civilization distinctive, splendid, -brilliant, until the tempest of Sulla’s vengeance blotted it from the -face of the earth. Only the ashes in the urn of history remain of -Pharaoh’s Egypt, Athens, Babylon, Persia. - -So, too, the golden opportunity of yesterday is gone, never to return -within our borders. The lesson of America, however, is burned deep into -the records of time. In Canada, such a man as Laurier reads it clearly. -In the greater of the Latin republics in South America, they strive -to-day to prevent the very condition we now find in free America. In -this matter of the real substance of rulership, the United States is -to-day an example to the nations of a democracy which has deliberately -squandered its birthright. - -Yet, for all our lost opportunities, much remains that can be done -and will be done. It is not my purpose here to sketch the process of -salvation that is yet possible. Only, at this point in my writings, I -would warn the people of my class, those of them who do not yet think -about these things or understand them, that the moment has arrived when -the people demand a Marius--a tribune who shall lead them onward into -freedom, a man who shall stand before the world untrammelled by the -golden chains of wealth, undefiled by the pollution of time-serving -politics, filled with the inspiration of the people’s will, courageous -to battle to the very bitter end for the rights that the people demand. - -Only the morally and intellectually deaf cannot hear the sound of the -call of the people. It sweeps from the plains of Kansas in the breath -of the rustling corn; it swells from the hills of Montana in the thud -of the drill and the rising and falling of picks in the mines; it whirs -from the looms of the South and the North, where child slaves earn the -bread of labour; it moans from the lofts of New York, in the voice of -the slaves of the sweat shop; it shrieks from the forges of Pittsburg, -the charnels of Packingtown, the terrible mines of the mountains of -coal. - -It is a call for a leader to freedom--the freedom we bought with our -blood and signed away in ignorance. I care not where you turn, the -voices of the people crying for their rights rise stronger, fuller, -more threatening, year by year. Day by day they organize. A meeting of -farmers at St. Louis files formal protest against the profits of the -middleman, and forms a committee to investigate and report, and puts -together a League of Reform. A machine-made politician in New York, in -Massachusetts, in Pennsylvania, is crushed by the votes of the people -he fondly had dreamed he owned. A firmly entrenched public officer is -branded a liar and a thief, no matter what committees may whitewash -him. A public document published to clear the skirts of a ruling party -of the charge of being in part responsible for the rising prices is -laughed out of court by the people themselves. - -A daring and preposterous attempt on the part of organized railroad -owners to advance rates to the general public, while holding them -down for the “big interests,” is met by a storm of organized protest. -Chambers of commerce, industrial clubs, manufacturers’ guilds, -consumers’ leagues, spring up all over the country, expostulating, -pleading, threatening, hurling legal thunderbolts. A President yields -to the clamour, and an attorney-general launches the thunder of -Washington against a move that, ten years ago, would have met only the -scattered, sporadic, half-hearted, hopeless invective of the private -citizen. The railroads yield, and begin the revision of rates “at the -top,” by making agreements with the big organized shippers, the trusts. - -The time is ripe, or nearly ripe; the fight begins. The _status quo_ -is to be changed. In the political arena all is confusion. Already, -from the lips of the old, trained leaders, who, through long periods, -have served the interests of the plutocracy while wearing the livery -of the people, come hesitating phrases of fear and confusion. One -announces that he will retire after his present term. Another goes down -to defeat, fighting to the last for his masters. A third, branded a -corruptionist, sees ruin stalking him amid the shadows of the coming -day. Another, reading the papers, dubs them traitors, and madly curses -them before the eyes and in the ears of all the people. - -And, meantime, we need a Marius, a Lincoln, a strong man of the people, -in whose hands will be the threads of political destiny. Events are -opening to this strong man the gates of mighty power. When he comes -(and he is sure to come), he will hear the clear, unmistakable call -of destiny to its chosen. Can he help but heed? History supplies the -answer. Go read it, you who rest secure within your flimsy barriers of -self-interest, self-confidence, and gold. When another Lincoln comes, -we shall know him. - - - - - “_Of all the cankers of human happiness none corrodes with so - silent yet so baneful an influence, as indolence. Body and mind - both unemployed, our being becomes a burthen, and every object - about us loathsome, even the dearest. Idleness begets ennui, ennui - the hypochondriac, and that a diseased body. No laborious person - was ever yet hysterical. Exercise and application produce order in - our affairs, health of body, and cheerfulness of mind; all these - make us precious to our friends. It is while we are young that the - habit of industry is formed. If not then, it never is afterwards. - The fortune of our lives, therefore, depends on employing well the - short period of youth._” - - --THOMAS JEFFERSON. - - - - -_Chapter Eight_ - -FIGHTING FOR LIFE - - -The very first direct result of the growing consciousness of conditions -throughout the country is a sudden growth in the volume of money -devoted to charity, and a sudden and quite extraordinary increase in -the personal interest shown by the wealthy in the matter of reform. - -It is perfectly natural that this should be so. In every nation, in all -periods of history, it has been true. Sometimes this impulse toward -charity and reform, which grows out of real personal study of the -problems of poverty, goes very far toward saving a nation from ruin. -No student of political economy can afford to ignore this impulse -toward charity, and sweep it away as most thoughtless writers to-day -are inclined to sweep it away, as though it were merely a conscious -effort on the part of the rich to buy their way into the kingdom of -heaven, to escape the accusing finger of the poor, and to avoid the -payment of a debt to humanity long overdue. One must recall that, in -the twenty years from 1742 to 1762, an impulse toward charity, based -really on conditions very similar in their nature to our own, went -far toward saving the nation of England from almost certain ruin. The -rich at that time had forsaken religion, had plunged into immorality -far deeper and far more general than the wealthy classes in the United -States to-day, and come to sneer at purity and fidelity to the marriage -vow, and openly boasted of their profligacy. The poor, on the other -hand, had sunk to depths of ignorance and brutality absolutely unknown -in this land of ours. The tremendous growth of manufacturing towns was -the cause that widened the rift between these two classes. It was, in -fact, exactly our phenomenon, differing only in degree. Society had -come to live in deadly fear of the masses, so that the statute books of -the land were filled with laws dealing death upon the poor for the most -trivial of offences. It was a capital crime to cut down a cherry-tree; -it was a capital crime to steal. - -Mark well the sequel: Society was forced in its own defence to begin -the study of the problem of wealth and poverty. Men and women who, -through all their earlier years, had been carefully and sedulously -trained to regard the poor as a different species, and to look with -scorn and indifference upon their suffering, went into the streets of -the industrial cities to learn. Ministers of God who had seen their -churches empty year by year went out into the lanes and alleys of -England to seek their flock. Hence sprung Whitfield and John Wesley, -and hence the Methodist Church, which, whatever any one may think of -its doctrine, could have justified its existence in the world by the -work it did in the first twenty years of its lifetime. - -A very little later, as a result of this same impulse of charity, -growing out of a fight for life on the part of the higher classes, -Mr. Raikes, of Gloucester, founded in England his system of Sunday -schools, the very beginning of popular education. Hannah More, a -noble woman of the time, devoted the better part of her life to -laying bare the horrible conditions of agricultural labour. Out of -the same movement came Clarkson and Wilberforce with their tremendous -anti-slavery campaign that was in the end to lead England to a peaceful -if expensive emancipation. Before that era John Howard was a quiet -country gentleman, wealthy and happy, and blindly ignorant of poverty -and crime. At the end of it he took his place at the top of the list of -the world’s great reformers; and the prisons of England, from that day -to this, have never sunk to the depths of ignominy and shame in which -they lay when John Howard first was moved to study them. Hospitals -sprang up all over the land. Organized charity began in England. The -poor of England, from that day to this, have at least been considered -human beings, instead of mere beasts that perish. - -Therefore, let me repeat, it is fatuous to dismiss the present -tendency toward charity and reform as if it were mere time-serving. -It may be, indeed, that it is one of the greatest economic facts in -America to-day. It may be that, as it spreads and grows and brings -into the battle thousands upon thousands of devoted men and women, -hundreds of millions of dollars of hoarded wealth, social reform upon -social reform, it will act as a check and an offset to the tremendous -industrial discontent that is spreading over the country. It may be -that, as in England, it will bridge the chasm between the rich and the -poor, or, at the worst, prevent its widening to the point of open war. - -I hesitate to undertake any extensive review of the great charities -and reforms that have sprung out of this new impulse that has moved -the rich to study the poor. I hesitate not because there is dearth of -material, but because of my own knowledge. I know that the facts of -record are but a very small part of all the facts in the case. The -tremendous benefactions of a Rockefeller, a Carnegie, a Mrs. Sage, do -not begin to measure the organized and unorganized charities that have -been inaugurated by the wealthy within the past ten years. - -Personally, I do not think very much about the forms of charity that -are to-day most prevalent amongst the wealthy. Millions of dollars -every year are poured indiscriminately into all sorts of hoppers here -in New York, in the vain hope that they will help to bring about -better conditions. Money-charity, if I may call it so, seems to me a -beautiful thing if it is really done in a spirit of helpfulness--but, -alas, how vain it is! I do not know but that, in the case of more -than half the recipients of charity of this indiscriminate sort, it -does more harm than good. This I do know, that, according to the best -estimates obtainable, from eighteen per cent. to twenty-five per cent. -of the people of New York State accept charity every year. This is -a matter of record. How many more are the recipients of unrecorded -charity I do not know, but I should not be surprised if forty per -cent. of the population of the greatest state of the Union are the -beneficiaries of charity, of one sort and another, in such a year as -1908, for instance. - -Professor Bushnell, in an estimate made some years ago, estimated -that nearly two hundred million dollars a year was spent upon the -maintenance of abnormal dependents in the United States. Think, then, -of the amount of money that must be lavished upon the thousand and one -indiscriminate charities extended to people who cannot be classed as -dependents at all. - -Charity, beautiful as it is in many instances, is a hopeless answer to -the questions of the day. The wonderful growth of it in the past three -or four years in the social world to which I belong is hopeful, not -because of the actual good it has accomplished or can accomplish, but -simply because it is another index of the times, another indubitable -sign that the wealthy men and women of Society are really throwing -their hearts and minds into the mighty problem of adjusting the -relationship between the classes which are so rapidly drifting apart. - -Of all the charities I know, I think that the sanest, the most -far-sighted, and the most surely pregnant with good is the Sage -Foundation. Perhaps my opinion is little more than conceit. I myself -have given so much time and effort to studying the causes of the growth -of poverty in this country that perhaps an institution founded with -a tremendous fund of money behind it to carry on an exhaustive and -scientific research into the causes of poverty strikes me as the most -intelligent of all the charities I have ever seen, merely because it -fits in with my own personal ideas, and is the very charity I myself -would have founded had I had the disposition toward charity and the -means to put it into effect. - -I cannot speak with authority of the actual work that the Sage -Foundation is doing; but I fancy, if one could to-day take an inventory -of actual results accomplished, he would find that the foundation has -barely been begun, and that these artisans of the millennium have not -yet even drawn tentative plans for the superstructure. I have, however, -read with extreme interest a report made by the trustees as the result -of an investigation of the living conditions in families in New York -City, and I do not hesitate to say that, in the compilation of that -report alone, the Sage Foundation has accomplished a work of great -practical utility. - -People of my class, when they read a book, seldom write to the author -and give him their impressions. In all human probability the compilers -of this report do not know whether any one in the wealthy class of -New York Society has read the book. I can assure them that it has -been excellently read. One night, in a company of about a dozen, I -mentioned it. All but two in the party had read extracts from it in the -newspapers, two had read it in full for information, and one raised a -laugh by saying that his secretary had tried in vain to buy it at four -book stores. - -This work, in my opinion, will bear a tremendous crop of fruit. We -need facts, and we need them very badly. Frankly, we are afraid of -such estimates as those contained in Mr. Robert Hunter’s “Poverty,” -full as it is of vague, loose, and inaccurate statements, academic -estimates in round millions, and glittering generalities of all -sorts. We cannot find knowledge in the Socialist libraries, for we -distrust the Socialist propaganda intensely. We must have sane, clear, -dispassionate analysis of the situation, or we shall stumble blindly on -as we are stumbling to-day, wasting our millions on foolish charities, -debauching honest men and women by unnecessary gifts, pandering to -laziness, and actually increasing in this land of industry the army -of dependent paupers. I hope that the time will come when the Sage -Foundation will be, as it were, a guiding light upon the sea of charity. - -I can hardly pass from this subject without a word of praise for -the work in behalf of the public health. The active, intelligent -labour of such men as Professor Irving Fisher on the propagandist -side, and Doctor Flexner and Doctor Stiles on the practical side, -cannot be praised too highly. It is made possible by charity. Both -Messrs. Rockefeller and Morgan, admittedly two of the greatest of -our capitalists, have given millions to this work. Every year other -uncounted millions pour into it from men and women in every city in the -land. The work is spreading, growing wider, drawing into itself better -medical talent, greater surgical skill, and deeper and deeper devotion -on the part of its backers. Help of this sort does not debauch the -masses, for it does not lessen the self-respect of its recipients. The -hospitals that are springing up all over the land, built and supported -by private capital, are milestones in the march of progress, and I -would give full honour to the men that plant them. - -In my own circle I know a good many people who think that they are -charitable; and I know a few charitable people. It is a habit of my -mind to ridicule the fads and fancies of my class; and I am sorry to -be obliged to admit that, in the vast majority of cases with which -I come personally in contact, the charity of my class is one of two -things: it is either simply a fad, with little real genuine spirit of -helpfulness behind it, or else it is, as it were, a sop to fear. A -good many people seem to think that it is up to the rich to distribute -largess to the poor, whether the poor want it or not. They ignore the -economics of the matter, if indeed they know them. They have come to -be afraid of the growing pressure from below, and they think that by -indiscriminate charity they can lessen it. - -So they give ships of corn to the masses. You remember, perhaps, that, -in the later plutocracy of Rome, after the triumph of Sulla, it came to -be a regular habit, when frenzied mobs of Romans or would-be Romans -threatened death and ruin to the plutocrats, for various and sundry -men to buy shiploads of corn in Egypt and distribute them gratis to -the Roman _plebs_. It is true that, in all human probability, the -plutocracy of Rome prolonged its life for more than half a century -by just such means. If a mob of slaves is hungry, and you give them -something to eat, they will go home and eat it; and, in the meantime, -if you happen to be a Roman senator with plenty of money, your hired -thugs may be able to find the leaders of the delayed revolution and put -them beyond any possibility of raising further trouble. - -You forget, when you try the process in America, that the _plebs_ of -America are not slaves, and that their leaders, of whom there is a -host, are pretty nearly as well educated, are certainly as shrewd, -and are probably as strong, legally, as you are. I fail to see how in -this land charity of this sort can have any real effect. I am sorry -to say that there is far too much of it. Let me pass on to the second -weapon of defence. High society is becoming a rampant reformer. It will -reform anything on a moment’s notice. When I read in the papers, and -heard in the club, that a dozen women of great wealth were standing -along Broadway handing bills and encouragement to the girl shirt-waist -strikers of last winter, I was not a bit surprised. It is just what you -might have expected. Nowadays I can hardly go to a reception or a ball -without being buttonholed by somebody and led over into a corner to be -told all about some wonderful new reform. It is perfectly amazing, -this plague of reform, in its variety, in its volume, and in the -intensity of earnestness with which it is pushed. - -Not long ago a professor of economics in a great university, lecturing -on “Social Reform,” openly advocated almost every imaginable variety of -labour legislation. I do not believe he understood exactly what he was -saying when he gave as a reason for such advocacy that the support of -such legislation by the wealthy classes would tend to check the spread -of certain vague but dangerous movements amongst the people, which he -did not describe in detail, but which, to any intelligent man, simply -meant the widespread Socialistic movement. I wonder, does that college -professor really think that the enactment of all sorts of legislative -reforms for labour would have any such tendency? - -Give Lazarus crumbs, and he will crawl for them. Give him nothing, -and he will demand bread, and then a steady job. After a time we will -be visited by Mr. Lazarus, walking delegate of the labour union, -requesting an eight-hour day and higher wages for his constituency. -Dives will probably answer by building a church and a museum for -Lazarus, and forcing Mrs. Lazarus to turn over her garbage to the -public scavenger. After that you may be sure of the result. Every -Lazarus in the land will demand to be made a co-partner in the business -of the nation. That college professor may know quite a bit about -economics, but he couldn’t hold a job for a week handling a bunch of -half a dozen railroad navvies on a construction job. - -It is the same old story. There are too many among the idle rich who -jump at the first obvious conclusion. They see the strange phenomenon -that I have noted as arising out of our industrial evolution, and they -say to themselves; “The nation, indeed, faces a crisis. We are in -danger of falling. The world should continue as it is. It is pleasant -to be booted, spurred, and in the saddle. No oats for the horse, and -we shall be thrown down. The mob must be appeased. Feed the hungry and -we shall be saved. Cure Society of its most evident disorders and the -public mind will forget the rest.” - -So said the plutocrats of Rome. So argued the hangers-on of Louis of -France. So Charles the First of England fell. You may find a good -many other illustrations, if you like, in Athens, Italy, and Russia. -I challenge any gentleman to instance a single case in history where -petty reforms and petty charities thrown indiscriminately to the mob -have ever established any permanent betterment of social conditions, or -failed to be followed in the end by a terrific reckoning. - -It is true that, amongst the wealthy, many men to-day are honestly -advocating and honestly working for real, deep-planted, permanent -reform. - -It is almost astounding to read a paragraph like the following signed -with the name of Andrew Carnegie: - - Whatever the future may have in store for labour, the evolutionist, - who sees nothing but certain and steady progress for the race, will - never attempt to set bounds to its triumph, even to its final form - of complete and universal industrial coöperation, which I hope is - some day to be reached. - -By industrial coöperation Mr. Carnegie explains that he means the -slow process of selling or giving actual ownership of manufacturing -industries to the workmen. He claims that they began this experiment in -this country when the Carnegie Steel Company took in from time to time -forty odd young partners, none of whom contributed a penny of money, -the company taking their notes payable only out of profits. - -A dozen other instances could be adduced, beginning with the United -States Steel Corporation itself, the giant among the trusts. There -is no doubt whatever that this reform is spreading. What is more, I -believe it is an honest reform, and that most of the men who have -introduced it into their companies have done it from an honest belief -that it would elevate the workingman and solve in each separate -instance the most dangerous of our industrial problems. - -I am not myself a manufacturer, and I do not feel competent either -to praise or to criticize this particular solution of particular -industrial problems. I know that John Stuart Mill in his “Political -Economy” vaguely hints at some such ultimate evolution of the -wage-worker; and I know also that in many cases the coöperative idea, -in actual practice, has succeeded very well indeed. In my own mind, -knowing the habits of a plutocracy, I cannot help doubting whether -widespread coöperation between wage workers and capital, particularly -between the lower orders of the wage workers and the larger masters -of capital, would not simply afford to dishonest, disreputable, or -unprincipled captains of industry a fuller opportunity than they now -enjoy to hold down the wages and profits of wage workers. - -Yet I would but express this doubt as a personal feeling of my own, -rather than as a conviction founded upon research or upon broad -knowledge of the subject. It is not germane to my theme to enter upon -a detailed discussion either of this possible reform or of any other. -I would simply point out as illustrations two or three of the greater -reforms that I hear month by month discussed more and more among the -people of my class. - -Personally, I am a bit tired of reform; for Society, as I have said, -will plunge _en masse_ through any door that has a reform label -sticking on it anywhere. Often, as I think of the long list of reforms -advocated by distinguished individuals, churches, educators, civic -associations, politicians, and societies, I wonder what would happen if -they all succeeded. I won’t be here to find out; but if, in some future -existence, no matter what my destination, I hear that it has come to -pass, I am quite sure that I shall be glad to be away. - -In passing from this subject I cannot refrain from reiterating the note -of warning contained in an earlier paragraph. To my charitable friends -of the upper classes whose heads are full of reforms and alms-giving I -would say, give not at all if, in giving, or in supporting reforms, you -hope or expect thereby to gain the favour of the mob. Remember that in -Rome the masses were a race of parasites who could be fed or crushed as -the occasion demanded. In America, on the contrary, the masses are the -producing elements of the nation, and you are the parasites. Between -the cry of the Roman multitude for coin and the demand of the working -American for wages there is an intensity and seriousness as much -different as between the humming of the mosquito and the thunder of an -earthquake. - - - - - “_When the public deliberates concerning any regulation of commerce - or police, the proprietors of land never can mislead it, with a - view to promote the interest of their own particular order; at - least, if they have any tolerable knowledge of that interest. They - are, indeed, too often defective in this tolerable knowledge. They - are the only one of the three orders whose revenue costs them - neither labour nor care, but comes to them, as it were, of its own - accord, and independent of any plan or project of their own. That - indolence, the natural effect of the ease and security of their - situation, renders them too often not only ignorant, but incapable - of the application of mind necessary in order to foresee and - understand the consequences of any public regulation._” - - --ADAM SMITH. - - - - -_Chapter Nine_ - -THE SOCIAL NEMESIS - - -I have shown, in the previous chapter, how futile and empty are most -of the struggles toward charity and reform carried on by the wealthy -class. This brings me, in my train of thought, to one of the most -melancholy reflections that can be conceived. It has come to me very -often, under all sorts of circumstances. - -The fact of the matter is that wealthy Society in America, as -everywhere else, is pursued by a demon of futility. It does not matter -what we do, whether we work like any other man or woman, whether we -play like normal men, whether we study, whether we idle, or whether -we work as other men, or fritter away our time in idleness; whether we -spend our money on charity and reforms, or throw it away in the pursuit -of pleasure; whether we study hard and seriously, or merely regale our -minds and appetites with frivolous novels and salacious plays; whether -we play or whether we don’t--nothing seems real, nothing seems earnest, -nothing has any result. Too often our lives are empty of anything -permanent, anything honest, anything simple and human. - -We live in a world of dreams, peopled with passing phantoms--men -and women that come and go and leave in our hearts no trace of real -affection, no honest, sincere, and heart-felt impulse of friendship, no -lasting shadow of reality. It all seems sham and pretence. It cloys in -time, and often in sheer desperation we plunge into extremes for which -we have no genuine taste, no real desire, no inborn impulse at all. - -But of all the futile things in the world none is more futile than -wealth itself. If you rest on the things you have won, and set yourself -down in idleness to enjoy them, they turn to ashes on your lips. They -are flat, tasteless, like fruit picked long ago. I remember an incident -in which I took a part, not very long ago, that showed me the opposite -results in all its horrid semblance. - -I was at a very brilliant social function in the London social world. -I met at that reception a woman whose name I had heard as a household -word in Society for many years. She was esteemed a brilliant woman; -she was reckoned a leader in the most splendid Society of the world. -She was wealthy beyond all human need. She occupied a powerful place -in a political world where everything human had its part. She was a -companion of princes and the equal of peers. We were talking alone, -immediately after our introduction, when she said: - -“Oh, Mr. Martin, you are an American. You are a Wall Street man. You -could help me to get some of your American gold!” - -I was astounded, and I showed it in my answer: - -“Why, my dear lady, surely you have gold enough. If I am not mistaken, -you rank amongst the wealthiest women of the nation. Why should you -want gold? Moreover, you have social standing and are famous throughout -England. Of what possible use could more gold be to you?” - -I can still see the haggard face, the quivering lips, the blazing eyes -of this great Society woman as she answered me. - -“Oh, Mr. Martin, you do not know me--I am almost ashamed to confess the -truth. I dream night and day of gold. I want to have a room at the top -of my house filled with it--filled with gold sovereigns. I would like -to go into that room night after night, when every one else is asleep, -and bury myself in yellow sovereigns up to my neck, and play with them, -toss them about, to hear the jingling music of the thing I love the -best!” - -Think of it! Picture a woman, wife of a man, mother of splendid -children, born with the beautiful instincts innate in her sex, sinking -to such a depth as that! Think of the awful shallow emptiness of a life -and a training that bore such fruit as this! - -Yet, it is all so very natural. Most men and women in this world are -kept clean, sane, and normal in the pursuit of little things. The -trivial household joys that fill so full the happy life of the normal -woman, the little business triumphs that keep alive in the heart of -the normal man the spirit of personal ambition, the human lust for a -fight, the ever-changing, ever-interesting, ever-luring struggle for -advantage--these are at once the burden and the safety of mankind. In -them is true happiness; in them is true humanity. - -The class of which I write has lost them in its very birth. The mother -of a boy in the middle class looks forward with delight to the day when -that boy will go forth into the world to battle against circumstances. -From his earliest childhood onward he learns the necessity of labour, -he comes to regard it as his birthright. With eagerness he prepares for -it. The little triumphs of boyhood, the trivial victories of college -days, are joy unbounded to his mind, because they are but steps in -that long climb toward greatness, renown and wealth, that are his -birthright; and when at last he goes forth from college halls, from -labour on the farm, from some little clerical position that he has -held in his adolescence, to strike out for himself into the great open -world, to blaze out paths of his own choosing, his life is filled in -its every moment with new thrills of excitement, of happiness, of -accomplishment--of life, real life, not imitation. - -Look at the other side. Think of the boy born, as they say, with a -golden spoon in his mouth. Perhaps, in his infancy, he does not know -that he can have everything in the world for which he asks. Perhaps -his parents are humanly wise--for many of the wealthy are; yet, even -in his very tender boyhood, the truth will come home to him. He will -learn before he is ten years old that there is a difference between -him and other boys whom he sees at play in the park. He will discover -that the difference is money. He will discover that his parents can -get whatever they like, spend as much as they please, waste fortunes -on their pleasures, throw gold away as though it were dross. He will -learn, on the other hand, that the children of the poor can have no -expensive toys like his, that they cannot be dressed as he is dressed, -that their parents must win every dollar that they spend by some hard -work, while his own parents, apparently, receive as much as they want -and more without any labour whatever. - -That boy will be more than human if, by the time he is a young man, -he has not passed the entrance to the paths where the true happiness -of life is to be found. Either money will mean nothing to him, and he -will have settled down to be one of the idle rich, simply taking what -the gods send him and doing his best to enjoy it, or else a most unholy -lust for gold will have taken possession of his soul. Eliminate the -necessity for struggle, and you remove from money all its true value. -It becomes either dross, to be thrown away for other things better -worth while, or it becomes an idol, a god, the very sum and substance -of the world’s desire. - -I know, of course, that there are marked exceptions. I have in my mind -as I write a young man of a Western city, born to an enormous fortune, -married to another, and trained and nurtured in the lap of luxury. -Almost everything conspired to make him either an idler or a money -worshipper. He is neither. It is an accident. In his early youth he -became an invalid, and was sent out by his father to live on a ranch. -The ranchman’s wife was a real woman, and instinct taught her how to -handle that boy. He was put to work. At first, when his father learned -through his letters that he was spending his time mending fences, -feeding pigs, watering horses, and milking cows, he objected strongly. -He wrote to the ranchman to this effect. The ranchman rebuked his wife, -and set the boy to work at other gentler things. - -A week later the boy wrote an indignant letter to his father to the -effect that he was coming home if he couldn’t go back to real work. -The father saw a great light; and free permission was given to the -ranchman’s wife to do whatever she liked with the boy. When he went -home a year and a half later he was the makings of a real man. To-day -his father is dead, and he has succeeded to the command of a mighty -estate. He holds his place in the best Society of the land, but he -holds, too, his place amongst the workers. At the age of twenty-eight -he had twice refused political office, and has refused also the -presidency of a bank which he controls and of which he is a director, -on the ground that as a director he will not vote for the appointment -of a dummy officer. He is a deep, clear-headed student of events, and -money, to him, has been but the lever to move the world. - -The same is true to a certain extent of the daughters of the rich. -Some of them, in spite of their wealth, are splendid women, but too -often wealth has destroyed in them the clear and beautiful springs of -life. Either they worship it as a god or they despise it, throwing it -away like water. Of the two vices, I do not know which is the worse. -I do not know, in sane and sober judgment, whether I, as a man of -wealth and fashion (and yet a man of business and of some knowledge), -despise more deeply the outright worshipper of Mammon, or the reckless, -extravagant, and foolish idle rich. Thank God, I am not obliged to -choose my friends from either, for still within the barriers of gold -there lies a little leaven of the old Society. - -And if futility clings very closely to the very gold that is the basis -of our class and our estate, it clings, too, to almost everything else -that we do. Come with me to a fashionable restaurant or the dining-room -of a great hotel. At the dinner hour it is crowded with hundreds of -people. One might think that they are hungry and that they come to -eat. It is hardly so. They come to hear the orchestra, to talk with -their friends, to play with food and drink of a kind and a quantity -far beyond their needs. Dinner is but an excuse. The whole occasion -is a diversion, nothing more. Contrast an occasion like that with the -homely gathering of a few choice spirits out in a simple country home, -or in the middle-class city home if you like, and note the marvellous -difference. It has been my good fortune, on far too few occasions it is -true, to be admitted as a friend into what I might call a middle-class -home--the home of an author, not by any means rich. I will simply say, -without going into details, that every time I went there it made me -homesick, and I stopped it for that reason. I do not think I could say -more if I wrote a book about it. - -Of all the melancholy travesties on fun, I think that the sports and -games of the wealthy young men and women of our day are the finest -parody ever written or acted. Drive through a country district to a -fashionable out-of-town club. At half a dozen places on your way you -will see groups of boys and girls playing ball, flying kites, paddling, -rowing, or doing something else in the natural human way. You will hear -shouts, quarrels perhaps, signs of intense and natural rivalry. When -you come to your journey’s end you will find other groups of pleasure -seekers. Go join the groups of young men and women in beautiful summer -costumes playing golf or tennis; or sit on the piazzas over the sea and -watch a game of bridge. Listen for the shouts of joy such as you heard -down the road, and you will hear the cawing of the crows. Catch the -drift of the conversation. In a very great number of cases the subject -matter of it is that it would be a lot more fun to do something else -at some other time in some other place. The dreary pleasures of the -idle rich, yachting, horseracing, golf, tennis, hunting--these are not -sports; they are schemes devised to keep us from being bored to death -by the mere fact of living. - -I met a man down town the other day who told me he had bought a farm -in Alberta. For a great many years past I have met him at all sorts of -functions in all the big cities of the East, in London, and in Paris. -I asked him what in the world he was going to do with a farm. At first -he wouldn’t reply, afraid that he might hurt my feelings, but finally -he told me. - -“I’m sick. There isn’t much the matter with me, but I have simply got -to have a change. My nerves have gone all to pieces. Playing bridge -gives me the “willies.” I’d sooner pick rags than go to another dance. -Golf--the way we play it in the summer--is worse than ping-pong. -Late suppers have got on my nerves. The races are a horrible bore. -I’d sooner go to Hoboken than Paris. I’ve got to do something or I -will die. Last winter in London I made friends with a young fellow -twenty-one years old who last month got into disgrace and was banished -to Alberta. Last month I heard from him--and that settled me. He -swears he has found the antidote. I’m going out to try it.” - -He went. I don’t suppose he’ll stay there, because he never stayed in -any place in his life for any length of time, and I presume before long -he’ll come back and spend a lot of money on manicures and make his -hands look as if he had never worked before he plunges again into the -same Dead Sea: but, sometimes, I wish I had the nerve to follow him, or -to buy his farm from him when he grows tired of it. - -If our wealth, and our pleasures, turn at last to nothing and weary -us beyond expression, no less in the more sacred things of life--real -life, I mean--does this same miserable demon of futility pursue us. As -the world has read these past two or three years the low, horrible, -depraved story of the marital relationships of scion after scion of -one of our wealthiest families, the world has turned with disgust from -the paltry record of intrigue, vile lust, dishonour, and shame. That -story is but one of many. It is true that in this, the dearest and -tenderest of all the relationships of life, we are haunted by futility. -Our young men and maidens marry in honour and hope in a world of hope, -lighted by the eternal fires of love. Too often, alas! romance becomes -tragedy, or comedy, if you look at it that way. - -It is the same old story. Everything is far too easy. All the comforts, -all the luxuries, all the pleasures for which normal men and women have -to work, drop, like over-ripe fruit, into their waiting hands. There is -no struggle to hold their minds together. There is no common ambition -to fill their hearts and souls with a desire for mutual help. It is -all empty, frivolous, and vain. In time it is easy to slip away from -the paths of convention into habits of looseness and even of vice. The -old-fashioned religion is dead among us, and so one great protector of -the home has passed and gone. - -I cannot find it in my heart to condemn as strongly as I should the -lapses of the idle rich from the paths of virtue; for I know exactly -how it is. It is futile. It is empty. It is a restriction of freedom. -It is a chain about your neck. You try, at first, to loosen it; at last -you determine to break it. Then the patient world is treated to another -tale of infidelity, of misery, of little picayune human weakness--a -tale to laugh at, or to weep over, according as you will. - -I am not going to dwell upon this theme; for it is a beastly thing. I -have only mentioned it because it is a logical climax to this chapter -on FUTILITY. And I regard futility as the real nemesis of Society. It -turns our lives to nothing; it makes of our fairest garden a desert; -it robs us, in our very cradles, of our lives, our liberties, and our -happiness. It leaves us groping about in a world of shadows, longing -for the substance, dreaming of realities we never can know, wishing -always for change, sighing always for worlds that are out of our reach. -Of all the grim jokes that ever were perpetrated, the grimmest of all, -in my estimation, is the time-honoured coupling of the words wealth and -happiness in the formal blessing of a new-made bride. - - - - - “_If the wealthy classes so often come off second best in a - struggle with the democracy, the cause is generally to be found - in their disinclination to submit to leadership. It has always - been a failing of rich and educated men to have too high an - opinion of their own abilities. The prospect which faced the Roman - Conservatives at this moment (88 B. C.), when the Revolution, in - the person of Marius, had made itself complete master of the State, - was indeed dark enough to close up the party ranks. Yet it was only - by accident that they discovered in Sulla a fit champion for their - cause._” - - --FERRERO. - - - - -_Chapter Ten_ - -THE DEATH KNELL OF IDLENESS - - -As I write, I am, myself oppressed by this nemesis of futility. Half -a dozen times while I was writing this book I stopped to reason with -myself to the effect that it wouldn’t do any good, that the rich will -not read it, and that, even if they do, it cannot pierce through the -armour of self-conceit, vanity, and arrogance. Yet I have persevered, -in the hope that perhaps some few will read and understand, and, -instead of setting me down as an alarmist and an agitator, will at -least consider me honest, and perhaps set to work for themselves to -find out the truth about these things. - -That grim truth is that we as a class are condemned to death. We have -outlived our time. It is not necessary, as it was in the earlier -ages of the world’s history, that the mass of the people should be -enslaved to give leisure to an upper class in the pursuit of luxuries, -of refinement, of the factors that go to the making of civilization. -Instead of being the roof and crown of things, the wealthy class in -America to-day has sunk to the level of the parasite. The time has -come when the producing classes are about to bring it to judgment. In -fact, to-day we stand indicted before the court of civilization. We are -charged openly with being parasites; and the mass of evidence against -us is so overwhelming that there is no doubt whatever about the verdict -of history, if indeed it must come to a verdict. - -Idleness is doomed as a vocation. Of that I am perfectly certain. Even -in the social world it is becoming unfashionable. Not so very long ago, -in the fashionable world of New York, it was considered bad taste, in -fact, it was a decided breach of etiquette, to inquire amongst the men -of your acquaintance what anybody did for a living. Within the past -five years there has been a very decided change in this respect, and I -constantly hear that very question asked, without rebuke, in the most -fashionable clubs of the city. - -A man whom I know pretty well, himself a member of the highest social -order, but a man of indefatigable energy, recently put very neatly this -fact that many of the quondam idle class are now engaging themselves in -useful pursuits. On the street one day he met a young man, a confirmed -idler of long standing. He exchanged the time of day with him, and was -told that he was about to go to Europe to join in the social season of -London. He congratulated him and said he thought it was a good thing to -do. - -A few nights later, talking to me about him, he said: - -“I feel sorry for Charlie. He seems so lonely. He can’t find any one to -play with him!” - -In a measure, that is true. The confirmed idler of the social world -is slowly coming to be despised instead of envied. He still infests a -few of the up-town clubs, but even here he is more and more relegated -to the bottom of the social list. It is harder and harder every social -year to fill up the ranks for social entertainment. A dinner or an -early reception can be managed very well, for the young men who work -will go to such functions, perhaps as freely as they ever went. It is -far different with the late dance or the late reception. - -If you could go down into Wall Street and call the roll of the bond -houses, it would astound you to discover how many young men of the -highest social class are working very hard right at the bottom of the -ladder of industry learning the financial business. A friend of mine, -a fairly well-to-do man of a small city in the Middle West, sent his -son to me a year or so ago with a letter asking me to introduce him -in Wall Street with a view to his learning the bond business. He had -chosen that as his vocation in life, and he had taken a special course -in college as a preparation for it. I sent him, with personal letters, -to half a dozen friends of mine, partners in various houses. I told -him simply to look around, at first, and to talk freely and frankly -to these gentlemen about the chances for a young man in that line of -business. - -He came back to me in the course of a week, considerably crestfallen. -He had looked forward to earning his living in an honourable way. He -found the conditions in this labour market most deplorable from his -point of view. According to his story, every one of these big bond -houses announced itself able to get all the apprentice labour that -it needed at from five dollars to ten dollars a week. His report -interested me so much that I went around myself to some of my friends -to learn the causes of this strange condition. - -In the case of one bond house I discovered that it had one very skilful -and very high paid man selling bonds at retail throughout the city. -Working under him were three young men learning the bond business. I -knew them all, personally, socially. They belonged to one of the best -of the younger sets. Two of them went out a good deal, and the third -had a reputation as something of a student. One of them I knew to be -the happy possessor of four automobiles and a small stable of horses. -Both the others owned automobiles, and belonged to some of the most -expensive, as well as the best, of the up-town clubs. - -One of these young men--and none of them was so very young at -that--received the salary of fifteen dollars a week. The other two -were getting ten dollars apiece. All three were college men. My friend -in this bond house told me that two of them were making good; but the -third has the “ten o’clock in the morning habit,” and will not last -very long. Of course, none of them can begin to live on the money he -receives for his work. I do not think that any one of them could pay -his tailor and haberdashery bill with his salary, and even the bond -house clerk has to eat, you know. - -Further investigation showed me that there is a perfect flood of these -young men turned loose each year upon the financial districts of this -country, not only here, but in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and St. -Louis. They go to work for trivial salaries, because they care little -or nothing about the amount that they receive. They are not working for -wages, but they are working for emancipation. They do not want to be -idlers, because they know that in these days idleness is doomed. They -pick out Wall Street, particularly, I think, the bond department of -Wall Street, because that is recognized as a world of real work that -is fitted to the tastes and abilities of a well-educated but not too -rigorously trained young man. - -These young men are by no means effete dilletanti. They are strong, -vigorous young men, and they plunge into what they know to be a -competitive field with a full knowledge that they are not likely to -go very far unless they earn their way. For in these same offices, -and working in the field in hot competition with them, there is still -an army of young men from the provinces, so to speak, who actually do -live upon the proceeds of their work. It gave a real personal joy to -discover that, in several of the banking houses which I looked into, -the poor young man who starts out into the world in competition with -these scions of the wealthy aristocracy is paid a better salary at the -beginning than is his moneyed competitor, and has at least an equal -chance for advancement. Indeed it is recognized that the wealthy young -man has a marked advantage through his personal acquaintance with men -of money, and more is expected of him in return from his training than -is expected of the self-supporting clerk. As a rule, however, the real -workers are given outlying districts of the country to canvass, while -the aristocracy of the profession does its work in the city. - -I sketch this phenomenon in some detail, because I think it is a -very significant thing in its bearing upon the subject of this book. -Perhaps more than any other one outlet it is an avenue leading toward -honourable labour, suited to the capacity and the taste of our wealthy -young men. That the market is crowded to-day, and has been crowded for -five years past, more than it ever was crowded before in the history of -the financial profession, speaks far more eloquently than I can speak -of the change of sentiment amongst the wealthy. - -In the Harvard Club, of a Saturday afternoon in winter, you will find -groups of young men sitting around and talking, just as you would have -found them fifteen years ago. There is one marked difference. Fifteen -years ago they would have been talking about social events, the sports, -and various other trivial things that went in those days to make up the -sum and substance of a fashionable young man’s career. Nowadays many of -these groups are earnestly discussing finance, not in its relation to -their own private fortunes or misfortunes in the stock market, but in -its broader aspect. You hear such phrases as “gold supply,” “premium -bond,” “over-production of securities,” “diversion of money from the -legitimate market,” “intrinsic value,” “investment outlook,” etc. They -are, in fact, talking shop; and I do not think I have ever met any -other class of men more addicted to the habit than these novitiates of -the financial game. - -Even their sisters, nurtured in luxury, and taught, as they still -unhappily are, that elegant idleness is the proper portion of the sex, -are beginning to rebel. They are seeking knowledge eagerly, sometimes -in places and under circumstances that promise not the best of results. -More particularly during the past five or ten years there has been -the really extraordinary propaganda amongst the women of the younger -set in our great cities looking toward the strengthening of the body -and the building up of a vigorous and buoyant health that would have -been considered actually vulgar in the generation that preceded them. -Health, in fact, in many of the younger sets, has become almost a -religion, a sort of fetich. They study hygiene, biology, and the -mystery of life. Perhaps they are coming to know too much at too early -an age, but in excuse let it be said that it is far better to know too -much than to know too little. - -On the other hand, I have already written of the tendency of the -fashionable young women of the day toward charity and reform. They -follow fads madly, working as hard and using up as much nerve force -in this pursuit as any young woman of the middle class gives to her -household work, or even to her bread-winning activities. I could name -a dozen young women of the finest families in New York who within the -past twelve months have actually thrown themselves into this sort of -function with such fiery ardour and zeal that they have either totally -neglected their social activities or broken down completely under the -strain of double labour. Such instances are more numerous year by year. -I do not know that I fully approve it, but I set it down here for the -judgment of the world. - -So, on the one hand, the ranks of the doomed class are being swiftly -depleted by what I must call rank out and out desertion. The idle rich, -particularly the younger set, are depleted year by year by squadrons of -young men and women who go over to the army of workers. I do not know -that there is any one single sign in the world in which I live that -gives me greater hope than this. The dishonour of inactivity, sloth, -and idleness is coming to be widely recognized in the very best classes -of Society. Old prejudices are breaking down under the demands of the -younger men for something to do. Even labour with the hands is not -beneath them. As I pause to think, I could name at least half a dozen -young men of my own set who within the past two or three years have -gone into the railroad business, carried chains with engineering gangs -in the field, or done other real manual labour. To-day the son of one -of the oldest and noblest families in New York is superintending the -laying of sewers in a New England town under a municipal contract. - -If actual desertion is thinning the ranks of the idle rich, there is -another and even greater cause which will tend in the future, as it is -tending to-day, to limit the number of this class. It lies much deeper -than the mere phenomenon of desertion. It is, in fact, nothing more nor -less than the removal of the means of making gigantic fortunes through -the exploitation of men. - -I do not intend to dwell upon this phase of the passing of the idle -rich to any great extent, because its effects are necessarily slow. -Indeed, they will not be felt for many years to come. Yet I would point -out one or two phases of this question that seem to me to be intensely -interesting and vastly important. In the first place, the opportunities -for the making of gigantic fortunes are being limited more and more by -the world-embracing activities of those who already possess gigantic -wealth. - -Let any man discover in the mountains of Mexico, in the forbidding -ridges of Alaska, or on the plains of the Yukon, great new deposits of -iron, or coal, or oil, and immediately, almost before the news of such -discovery has reached the world at large, a dozen secret agents rush to -investigate. They represent the Pearsons, of London; the Guggenheims or -Morgans, of New York; the Rockefellers or the Rothschilds, of New York -or Germany. They are the first in the field; they preëmpt, for fortunes -already far beyond competition, the opportunity of making a tremendous -fortune out of the new discovery. - -Think of the raw materials of commerce--sugar, meat, oil, iron, coal, -copper, cotton, wheat, corn, lumber--is it not absolutely true that -in the manufacture and exploitation of this tremendous mass of the -raw material of wealth the possibility of amassing enormous fortunes -is almost hopelessly limited by the activities and the world-girdling -power of capitalist groups already far beyond the reach of competition? - -The free land of America is gone. All these great staples that have -been in generations past the vehicles in which men have been carried -upon the road to lordly fortunes are already in the hands of a few -hundred families. This fact, sinister as it undoubtedly is in its -broader aspect upon the economic conditions of the country, must -certainly tend to eliminate more and more the possibility for the -creation of additional gigantic industrial fortunes in this country. In -so far as this is true it is a very important item indeed among the -forces that tend toward the elimination of the idle rich. - -More than this, as I have pointed out already in a phrase, the growing -knowledge on the part of the people of the ways and means by which -they have been exploited for the creation of wealth will surely -prevent any further long-continued growth of this same process. Men -are being sent up to congress year by year sworn to break up and -destroy the coördinate political machine that has made possible the -growth of the power of the trusts. Earnest fighters like La Follette -may well be watched, for though no little of his work and his talk -is based on fallacy, yet in this at least he represents the temper -of the whole United States, that he is a bitter and an ardent enemy -of the concentration of wealth. The agitation over the Guggenheim -claims in Alaska, the bursts of popular acclaim over land-fraud -prosecutions in the West, the sardonic joy of the people over the -retrieving of enormous coal land areas stolen by railroads, the warm -enthusiasm of the West for government reclamation, conservation, and -preëmption--these are signs of the times all pointing in the one -direction. - -They do not mark the end of the idle rich, to-day existent. They -do point unmistakably toward the prevention of a new crop of great -American fortunes won through exploitation of government property and -popular rights. If you couple with them the ever-growing movement -toward Socialism, and the hundred and one private propaganda along -strange and often faulty economic lines, you cannot help but feel as -I feel, that even if there were a revolution, in a hundred years, when -the present great fortunes of America are subdivided, split up, and -scattered among a thousand heirs, the wealth of America will certainly -not be held ninety-five per cent. in the hands of five per cent. of the -people and five per cent. in the hands of the rest of the people. And -it is self-evident that since the gathering together of wealth in the -hands of the few gave us the idle rich, the natural scattering of that -wealth into more and more hands as the years go on must tend in the -other direction. - - - - - _The days of the idle rich in America are as a tale that is told. - To-morrow in this land there will be one of two things, either an - evolution or a revolution._ - - _... The class I represent will again be merged into and - assimilated by the body of the nation.... We shall reënact in this - land some of the most terrible tragedies of history._ - - - - -_Chapter Eleven_ - -THE END OF THE STORY - - -We have come to the end of the story. The days of the idle rich in -America are as a tale that is told. To-morrow in this land there will -be one of two things: either an evolution or a revolution. Either by -one of those characteristically swift and marvellous changes for which -the history of our race is noted, the class which I represent will -again be merged into and assimilated by the body of the nation, as it -was half a century ago, or we shall stand face to face with the forces -of anarchy, Socialism, trade unionism, and a hundred other cults that -either do represent or claim to represent the spirit of this mighty -people, and we shall reënact in this land some of the most terrible -tragedies of history. - -I do not believe a middle course is possible. I know, of course, that -the rank and file of the class I represent are blind and careless. I -know that many of them, if they read this book, will lay it aside with -a smile, calling it hysterical, calling it untrue. Wealth never yet in -history has recognized its true position in the world, and I suppose it -never will. Yet I am bound to say the things I think, and I can only -trust that some few at least will be impelled to study facts and come -before the tribunal of public opinion within the next few years armed -and prepared for their own vindication. - -I have written in vain if I have not made it clear that while the -class of the wealthy has been increasing steadily during the past -five years, faster than it ever increased in a similar period before, -that growth in numbers has been accompanied also by an ever-increasing -knowledge on the part of the wiser heads in the social world, by a -serious, sober, and careful analysis of the real conditions among the -wealthy themselves, and by a genuine adaptation of the minds of the -wealthy to these new conditions as they come home to us. This is the -one hope of American Society. It is not conclusive, but at least it -points the way toward the future of America. - -I do not want to be considered an alarmist or to cry panic from the -house tops. Yet, in the light of facts, and in the face of the terrific -changes that must take place within the next decade in our social and -business structure, I cannot see how the business world of America -can long escape a reckoning that has for years been overdue. There -has to be in this country an adjustment that will shake the financial -and business world to its foundations. It is possible, though not -probable, that the necessary social changes of the next decade could -be accomplished without a cataclysm; but with the concurrent business -changes, the necessary shifting of the bases of our industrial system, -the inevitable scaling down of the extravagance to which the nation as -a whole has become accustomed, it is, I should say, utterly impossible -that we can go through without an industrial disturbance that will -strike far deeper than any we have known since 1893. - -For the poison of gold has debauched and corrupted American Society, it -has brought within our gates new armies of parasites, it has led to a -degree of ostentation and of luxury, and even of vice and profligacy, -comparable with that of the Roman Empire under Heliogabalus. I said -in a former chapter that the middle class in America has almost if -not quite lost its power. One of the most vital reasons for this fact -is that much of that middle class has become confused with the lower -fringes of the wealthy class, has learned to ape its habits and its -luxuries, has come to live with ostentation and display, and has -given up its traditional habits of frugality and thrift to waste its -substance on a riotous form of living that is, as it were, but a faint -and unworthy imitation of the habits of life of the wealthy. - -In the process of adjustment that is unavoidable this drunkenness must -pass. The great professional class, which in all ages has produced -so many thinkers, writers, and makers of a nation’s history, must -come back into its own; it must learn again the lesson of thrift -and providence which it has learned so well in France and Germany, -and which, forty years ago, were the most striking features of its -character here in this land. If, as is true, the class I represent has -very much to learn, I take it to be equally true that every other class -in the land also has its lessons to learn. The process of learning is -not to be an easy one. It may be that we as a nation will be tried -in the fiery furnace of adversity, immersed in the gloomy depths of -business depression, and crushed beneath a load of debt and repudiation -before we have learned the first small principles upon which the newer -order of things in America must be founded. - -It is not my business, however, to talk to the people of America at -large. I am addressing this book to Society, to the men and women whom -I know, to the boys and girls who are to take our places in the social -world as years go by. To them, in all sincerity, I am preaching a -sermon of warning. I am calling them to gird themselves for battle--a -battle the like of which has never been fought in this land before--a -battle for life. - -My appeal, if it were merely an appeal to save ourselves, would be -sordid indeed. For it is ours to think of saving others. The bugle of -the assured destiny of our race should quicken us to the service of a -great and holy cause. The call is the call of the future, and the cause -is the cause of humanity. I covet for you, my friends and members of my -class, a higher destiny than the mere panic-stricken flight to safety. -I am aware not only of your views, but of your virtues. Never before -has there been such an opportunity for real service to mankind. You -have the means, you have the power, you have the position, you have -all, save only the will. I feel confident that if you give the matter -study, and do not throw away this book as mere idle talk, the will to -serve will come to you. - -I know that the great bulk of Society can be reconstructed only by one -agency, and that is death. To-day, in the South, there linger here and -there many old men and women who never yet have ceased to call down -curses from heaven upon the head and memory of Lincoln. It is perfectly -self-evident that in this other cause of which I write, and that has -come to be so near to me, the army of the unreconstructed must remain -for many years tremendous. Particularly is this true of the newer -recruits within the golden gates of the city of wealth. You may note -that we are still enjoying the company of the first generation of the -captains of industry. The second generation marches swiftly upon us. It -will not be satisfied, it will not be sated, until it has reached the -mellowness of age. It will follow the will-of-the-wisp of society to -the bitter end. It is more stubborn, I think, than even that ancient -culture of Boston and Philadelphia. Most certainly it is much more -offensive to the public at large. In fact, more than any other specific -subdivision of the army of wealth, it flaunts its glaring banners in -the faces of the people. - -I often think, as I watch the young men and women of my class trying to -enjoy themselves, what a terrible problem we have bequeathed to them. -I am no longer young; even my friends call me middle aged. At any rate, -I have reached a stage in life where I can stop and weigh the facts, -and come to a conclusion unbiased by the mere joy of living. Therefore -I am moved to pity as I watch the very young of my class at play. For -I am positively certain that three out of four of them will face, in -the fulness of their lives, many bitter and heart-searching problems. -Already the shadow of impending events falls heavily upon them. Many of -them, even in their very tender youth, have learned that they belong to -a hated class. How different is their lot from mine! For I, as a boy, -was taught to consider myself the heir of all the ages. I was taught -that I belonged to a class loved and respected for its virtues, envied -and looked up to for its opportunities. I was taught that the women -of my class were models and examplars to all the world. I was taught -that the men were the uncrowned kings of America, leaders of thought, -leaders of action, masters of destiny, masters of business. - -To-day, in New York, the girls of our class cannot read the newspapers -without learning the fearful lesson that their fathers are despised by -the people and their mothers are suspected by the women of the nation. -Ridicule, slander, sarcasm, and obloquy are poured upon us day by -day. I sometimes wonder how the class can survive it. It is a fearful -thing for a young girl to be brought up to womanhood in an atmosphere -like this. It must breed either careless, heartless indifference, or a -spirit of discontent. I hope it is the latter, but, alas! I very much -fear it is more likely to be the former. - -What are we going to do about it? I wish I could answer the question -in one great, sweeping generality. Unfortunately, I do not believe it -can be answered so. I know that the author of “The Trust: Its Book” has -found an answer in a Utopian partnership between capital and labour. -I know that Mr. Carnegie has found the answer in coöperation. I know -that such skilful writers as Lloyd and Wells have solved the riddle by -Socialism. I know that many thousands of the hardest thinking, hardest -working citizens of this country are pledged already to the doctrine -of government ownership of the sources of wealth. I know that Danton -and Robespierre thought that they had found it when they set up the -guillotine in Paris. I know that the Terrorists of Russia have worked -out their own solution. I know that the Rockefeller Foundation, the -Sage Foundation, and a thousand other mighty charities are intended -as an answer. I know that Samuel Gompers and John Mitchell think that -the extension of trade unionism will solve it. Above all, I know that -many of the seasoned leaders of the social world believe that it will -swiftly solve itself. I believe that Mr. Morgan and his wonderful group -of associates thought they had taken a long step toward the solution -when they threw the entire money power of the United States into the -fight against panic in 1907. They believed that they had earned from -the people of this country undying admiration, endless devotion, and -an end of all warfare, because they thought they had stepped between -panic and its victims. - -Yet I cannot believe that any one of these solutions is the right one. -No permanent change in the social structure of this nation can be -accomplished except by a revolution or by the process of evolution, at -which I have vaguely hinted here and there throughout this book. - -Education must go on. The professional reformer, the sycophant who -bows before us, the parasite who eats our bread and dispenses the -wisdom of the ages in return, harp upon this theme. Only, to their -mind, education means simply the training of the lower classes into -a traditional habit of mind that will permit the continuance of the -present conditions. To me education has no such meaning. More than any -other class in the United States, we, the rich, need it. We must get it. - -We must learn the truth about ourselves, our strength, our weakness, -our true position in the world. We must learn the truth about our -nation, our political institutions, our laws, our misuse of special -privilege, our brigandage of the people’s rights at Washington and at -every state capital in the land. We must learn the truth about the -people, their rights, their wrongs, their power, and their weakness. - -And, as we learn, we must act. We must ourselves eradicate the worst of -our faults. We must ourselves condemn to death the idle rich. We must -see to it that as our young men and women grow to maturity they learn -to condemn and to scorn the sort of ostentatious display, the miserable -vices, the degenerate luxuries, and the positive moral crimes that -to-day are so rampant among us. We must, if we are to save ourselves -and the world that we inherited, go back to the traditions of our -fathers. We must reestablish in the social world of America the Spartan -principles that marked that world in the days of Lincoln. - -The age of arrogance is ended. That is a hard lesson. The idle rich of -America, with the bitter voice of poverty and the deep tones of science -alike ringing in their ears challenges of their existence as a class, -may well tremble at the tones of that other voice which, though seeming -silent, yet speaks aloud. The nation’s greatest builder, Lincoln, built -as unto liberty. That temple from which he drove the idle driver of -slaves, for these long years dedicated to the uses of Mammon, yet -looms large in the visions of the disinherited. - -Above all else that we may do on the positive side there remains the -privilege of putting our study to practical work in the amelioration -of the conditions that exist and the prevention of the recurrence of -the phenomena that gave us these conditions. As a class we are, to-day, -obstructionists. It is our class conservatism, you may say, that impels -us to look with suspicion upon the rising of the people against, for -instance, such a political debauch as has ruled Rhode Island for so -long. We, on the contrary, should stand in the front ranks of such a -battle as that. First of all, we, the people of this country, should -detect political corruption, we should recognize the symptoms of the -palsying touch of gold--and we should stand out before the world as -the sworn champions of justice, equality, and honour. - -For I do not believe that the march of progress in this land is to be -turned backward. I cannot believe that the nation as a nation is to -sink into the depths as England sank in the middle of the eighteenth -century. I take it for granted that the wiping out of the idle rich is -to be one of the first steps in a programme of national advancement, -greater, more splendid, and far more universal than any other period -of advancement and progress in the history of the nation. The idle -rich are an obstacle in the way; therefore they must be eliminated or -destroyed. Whether we, all the rich, as a class, are to share with them -in that destruction depends upon whether or not we too set ourselves up -as an obstacle in the path of the nation’s development. - -As I have said, I cannot name a panacea, or dispose in a few rounded -paragraphs of the problems that confront us. Personally I am convinced -that many measures to which my class is to-day unalterably opposed will -within the next few years take their places as laws upon our statute -books. I am persuaded that sooner or later the solid opposition of the -Eastern states to a graduated income tax will be broken down. I fully -expect to see before I die the inauguration of inheritance taxes and -legacy taxes in this country that will tend at least to level in the -course of time the tremendous discrepancies that have grown up under -our present system of taxation. - -I do not expect to see a general triumph of pure Socialism. It may -be that ultimately we shall experiment with government ownership of -railroads and public utilities, but I should look forward with terror -to any such experiment. It may be that in the remedying of the defects -of our civilization we as a nation shall be impelled into excesses of -this sort for at least a brief period of our history. If it be so, the -nation will be quick to remedy its mistakes when once it has tried them -out and found them wanting. - -I do not expect to see the great industrial consolidations destroyed. -I do expect to see in the very near future a period in which the -wholesale exploitation of the raw materials of wealth--both labour -and the products with which it works--will be curtailed. I do expect -to see a very decided limitation placed upon the growth of tremendous -industrial fortunes. - -Granting such limitation, and granting patience upon the part of -the people, I know that many of our defects will cure themselves. It -is an old saying in this land that it is but three generations from -shirt-sleeves to shirt-sleeves. That phrase is no mere generalization. -It is based upon scientific data. Twenty years ago, in the old city -of Worcester, Massachusetts, Mr. Joseph H. Walker carried on an -investigation along this line. He discovered that out of seventy-five -manufacturers in that city in 1850 only thirty died or retired with -property; while of the sons of these manufacturers only six, in 1890, -held any property or had died in the meantime in possession of such. -In 1878 there were one hundred and seventy-six men engaged in the ten -leading manufacturing trades of that city, and of these only fifteen -had inherited the trade that they were carrying on. - -Give us time and we shall solve all the problems of the age. The -makers of America to-day are almost without exception men who have -made themselves. That is an American tradition that we shall carry on -throughout the ages. I cannot help but hope, even against the evidence -of my own eyes and ears, that this plutocracy which to-day threatens -the very life of the nation can be passed into American history without -an epoch-marking revolution. Only, we of the wealthy class have many -things to learn, and we must learn them faithfully, sitting at the feet -of the historians. - - -THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y. - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - - -Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a -predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they -were not changed. - -Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation -marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left -unbalanced. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Passing of the Idle Rich, by -Frederick Townsend Martin - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PASSING OF THE IDLE RICH *** - -***** This file should be named 63001-0.txt or 63001-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/0/0/63001/ - -Produced by Tim Lindell, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Passing of the Idle Rich - -Author: Frederick Townsend Martin - -Release Date: August 21, 2020 [EBook #63001] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PASSING OF THE IDLE RICH *** - - - - -Produced by Tim Lindell, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 35em;" id="cover"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover" /> -</div> - -<h1>THE PASSING OF THE IDLE RICH</h1> - -<hr /> - -<div class="newpage p4 center wspace bbox"> -<p class="xxlarge bold"> -THE PASSING<br /> -OF THE IDLE RICH</p> - -<p class="p2 vspace"> -BY<br /> -<span class="larger">FREDERICK TOWNSEND MARTIN</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 5.5625em;" id="i001"> - <img src="images/i_001.png" alt="anchor (Publisher’s logo)" /> -</div> - -<p> -<span class="smcap">Garden City</span> <span class="smcap in2">New York</span><br /> -<span class="larger">DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY<br /></span> -1911 -</p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="newpage p4 center wspace small"> -<p> -ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION<br /> -INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN</p> - -<p class="p2">COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY</p> - -<p class="p4">COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY THE RIDGWAY COMPANY</p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table id="toc" summary="Contents"> - <tr class="smaller"> - <td class="tdl" colspan="2">CHAPTER</td> - <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">I.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Kingdom of Society</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap1">3</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">II.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Madness of Extravagance</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap2">23</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">III.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Subjugation of America</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap3">61</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">IV.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Who Are the Slaves?</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap4">89</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">V.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Awakening of Society</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap5">109</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">VI.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">For Thirty Pieces of Silver</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap6">133</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">VII.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Tribune of the People</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap7">153</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">VIII.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Fighting for Life</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap8">169</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">IX.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Social Nemesis</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap9">197</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">X.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Death-knell of Idleness</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap10">219</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XI.</td> - <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The End of the Story</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#chap11">243</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div id="chap1" class="blockquot quote"> - -<p>“<i>The habits of our whole species fall into three -great classes—useful labour, useless labour, and idleness. -Of these, the first only is meritorious, and to -it all the products of labour rightfully belong; but the -two latter, while they exist, are heavy pensioners -upon the first, robbing it of a large portion of its -just rights. The only remedy for this is to, so far -as possible, drive useless labour and idleness out of -existence....</i>”</p> - -<p class="attrib">—<span class="smcap">Abraham Lincoln.</span> -</p></div></div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">3</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_One"><i>Chapter One</i><br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE KINGDOM OF SOCIETY</span> -</h2> -</div> - -<p class="in0">I know Society. I was born in it, and have -lived in it all my life, both here and in the -capitals of Europe. I believe that I understand -as well as any man what are the true -traditions and the true conditions of American -Society; and for comparison, I also know -and understand the conditions and traditions -of Society in other lands. My honest -opinion is that American Society, for -all its faults, and it has many, and for -all the hideous abnormalities that in -these later years have been grafted -upon it, stands to-day a cleaner, saner -and more normal Society than that of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">4</span> -any other highly civilized nation in the -world.</p> - -<p>In this nation, the very soul of which is -the spirit of democracy, we have evolved -a very elaborate and extremely complex -society. Like all such organizations, in -all the lands under the sun, it is an oligarchy; -one might almost say a tyranny. -Its rulers for the most part inherit their -power and rule by hereditary right. The -foundations of this society and the foundations -of the power of its rulers were -laid in generations now dead and gone. -Time has crystallized its rules into -laws and formulated its conventions into -tenets.</p> - -<p>It is not my desire, in writing about -Society, to describe in detail its practices, -to dwell upon its rules and regulations, to -dilate upon its normal condition or its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">5</span> -duties. Rather, I intend to dwell upon a -phase of its existence that does not traditionally -belong to it, and that is not -normally a part of it. This phase or condition -I choose to describe in the phrase -“The Idle Rich.”</p> - -<p>If, in the writer’s license of generality, -I seem at times to deal too harshly with -the world of which I am a part, let the -reader put himself for a moment in my -place. Let him imagine himself a member -of a class judged and condemned according -to a distorted popular conception based -upon a semi-knowledge of the acts, habits, -morals and ethics of the very worst of -the class; nay, even of men and women -who, while aping to the best of their poor -ability the fashions, the habits, and the -customs of that class, ignore every one -of its best traditions, forget every one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">6</span> -of its laws, and break every one of its -commandments.</p> - -<p>It is hard for me to write with patience -of the small class that has done so much -to disgrace and discredit the spirit of -American Society. For I know that it is -true that in the mind of an enormous -number of our people, and of the people -of other civilized countries, American Society -is brought to shame and ridicule by -the extraordinary excesses that have been -brought within its gates and grafted into -its system by the idle rich.</p> - -<p>Yet there are excuses. This is the most -rapid age in history. In the progress of -this nation we have ignored and turned -our back upon that process which Tennyson -so well described in the happy phrase, -“slow broadening down from precedent -to precedent.” We laugh at precedent.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">7</span> -We choose instead to tumble riotously -down from step to step of progress, marking -swift epochs with every bump.</p> - -<p>Naturally I am a conservative, and I deplore -the process by which we sweep away -the precedents of the nations. I prefer -orderly evolution to disorderly revolution, -either in business, in politics, or in the -making of a social world; but I cannot -change the things that I deplore. The -fact, in the face of my protests, is as -unblinking as the Sphinx in the roar of -Napoleon’s cannon. And that fact is that -in the making of our social world, as in -the making of everything else that goes -to make America, we have ignored the traditions -of our fathers.</p> - -<p>Let me put this a little more fully. -For this, after all, is the great cause that -explains so much that needs explanation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">8</span> -in the structure of our social world, in the -rules that govern it, and in the habits, deplorable -or otherwise, which have fastened -themselves upon it. Let me speak first -of banking, for by profession I am a banker. -To-day the English banker and the French -banker follow, in the pursuit of business, -paths beaten to smooth running by the -feet of their ancestors. To-day you will -find in the banking world of England and -of France the same rules of personal conduct -and personal honour, the same principles -of business nursing and business -repression that you would have found a -century ago.</p> - -<p>How different it is in this country! -Through our early history, if you care -to study it in detail, you would have found -us pacing step by step the progress of -England; but more than half a century<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">9</span> -ago, when this nation rejected as unsuited -to its ideals the notion of a central bank, -our ways divided in the banking world. -From that day to this there has hardly -been a single important step—until very -recently—that has not carried us farther -from the traditions of our English cousins. -In the matter of currency, we stumbled -blindly through a maze of ignorance, -piling error upon error, plunging desperately -from the early madness of wild-cat -State currency into the preposterous and -abnormal system which to-day threatens -periodically the throttling of our commerce -and the disruption of the business world.</p> - -<p>In the twin worlds of railroads and manufacturing, -too, we blazed out paths entirely -our own. Even to this day, in the face -of industrial marvels here and in Germany, -England clings desperately to the conditions<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">10</span> -that made her what she is. I -would not dare generalize and say that the -industrial world of England does not know -the idea of centralization and concentration, -but I will say this, that if one seek -at its best the individual factory, the separate -plant, the trade-mark that cannot -be bought, the personal name that never -can be submerged, he may go look in England -for them now and he will find them, -just as he would have found them a century -ago.</p> - -<p>Here a new magic grew. It came not -as a heaven-born inspiration to one man’s -mind, but as an evolution born of the land -and the air and the water. I shall dwell -upon it more in a later chapter. Here it -is enough merely to indicate it. It was -that the individual plant and the individual -name must be submerged in the combine<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">11</span> -of plants and individuals. The personal -name must vanish in the trust. The trust -in turn must disappear into a greater trust, -and yet a greater trust—and so on until, -at last, a dozen mighty combinations were -gathered together into one great trust of -trusts, bringing under one hand the finding, -the production, the marketing, and -the transportation of the raw material, -and the assembling, manufacture, selling, -and transportation of the finished product.</p> - -<p>So we struck out methods, manners, -customs, and traditions all our own. We -did it—this marvellous evolution—in half -the lifetime of a man. In fact, in the industrial -world one might almost say it was -a process of twenty years—merely a moment -of the nation’s history. Well may -one say it is a rapid age in which we live. -Madly we rush at our great problems.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">12</span> -We did not know—we do not know yet—what -the result is to be. There is no precedent -to guide us; the road to to-morrow -bears no sign-posts. Not yet has our new -system been tried by a panic that disturbed -the depths of the commercial and industrial -seas. Only, we hope for the best, for -optimism is the sign-manual of the true-born -American.</p> - -<p>I dwell upon these matters not because -I care to pose or dare to pose as an authority -upon them, but because the principles -and ideas upon which they rest underlie -also the making of the Kingdom of Society -of which I would write. For social evolution -is, after all, but a part of this same evolution -that has given us our own distinctive -banking system—good as it is or bad as -it may be—and our own industrial system—giant -or weakling as it may prove to be.</p> - -<p>And if our banking system and our great -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">13</span> -industrial system were born in a day and -a night, what may one say of the plutocracy -that in this later day has been grafted -upon and has grown to be a part of the -American social world? Here, indeed, the -traditions of the world of history flashed -past us, in our forward rush, as dead leaves -fly backward from a speeding train. We -saw them as they flew—yet we did not -clearly see them. We knew they were, -but we could not distinguish them one from -the other; and, after all, little we cared -for them, and little we care now.</p> - -<p>Perhaps, as I write, my mind will carry -me back to the days before these new phenomena -transpired; and I shall be moved -to write of social America in the days of -its true glory, before the glitter of tinsel -and the tawdry finery of mere wealth overlaid<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">14</span> -it. For that is the background against -which stand out in all their hideousness -the empty follies of the idle rich and the -vapid foolishness of the ultra-fashionable -in America to-day.</p> - -<p>Forty years ago, as a boy, I lived in -a true American home. The atmosphere -of that home was still under the vitalizing -influence of the nation’s great struggle -for emancipation. Lincoln was a saint. -The writings of Longfellow and Emerson, -Hawthorne and Washington Irving, were -constantly read. The traditions of European -Society had not struck their roots -deep into the social soil of the United States. -We were provincial, to be sure, but there -was bliss in simplicity and innocence. -Morally and intellectually the life of the -family and the life of the State were settled. -We knew there was a God. We were positive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">15</span> -as to just what was right and what -was wrong. The Bible, the Declaration -of Independence, the Constitution of the -United States, the fact of the assured greatness -of our country, the power of our religious, -political, and social ideals to save -the world—our faith in these was our -Rock of Ages; and to these must be added -the absolute belief in the theory that it -was the sacred duty of every human being -to serve his kind.</p> - -<p>Just in how far these fundamentals are -now broken and scattered I shall not here -attempt to say. But it is simply true that -the Bible is no longer read, that religion -has lost its hold, that the Constitution and -laws are trampled upon by the rich and -powerful, and are no longer held sacred -by the poor and weak. Instead of Hawthorne, -we read Zola and Gorky; instead<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">16</span> -of Longfellow and Bryant, Ibsen and -Shaw. Among how many perfectly respectable, -ay, even religious, people is the -name of Nietsche not more familiar than -that of Cardinal Newman! I do not know -whither we are going, but I do know that -we are going.</p> - -<p>Come search the records of generations -long dead for the seeds of our social system. -You will find them planted deep, and long -ago. They are the same seeds of class -destruction that lay in darkness through -the early centuries of Rome’s history, to -spring to life in the sunshine of the triumphs -of the Republic, and reach their perfect -flower in the era of plethoric wealth that -marked the apogee of the Empire—and -then to fall, as full-blown blossoms will. -They are the same seeds that for half a -thousand years lay buried in simple England,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">17</span> -to come to tardy life in the afterglow -of Elizabeth’s triumphs, and reach -their fulness in the social glory of the -mid-Victorian era.</p> - -<p>Less than half a century ago the aristocracy -of America worked with its hands, -laboured in its broad fields, ate its bread -in the sweat of its brow. The cities were -small and inconsequential, and the laws -of hospitality far overbalanced the traditions -of class. Here and there was -wealth—but wealth was shackled to the -wheels of Opportunity.</p> - -<p>Often I have pondered over the startling -wisdom of that succinct description of -the American ideal written, strange to say, -a hundred and forty years ago, by Adam -Smith:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>In our North American colonies, where -uncultivated land is still to be had upon<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">18</span> -easy terms, no manufactures for distant -sale have ever yet been established in any -of their towns. When an artificer has -acquired a little more stock than is necessary -for carrying on his own business and -supplying the neighbouring country, he does -not, in North America, attempt to establish -with it a manufacture for more distant -sale, but employs it in the purchase -and improvement of uncultivated lands. -From artificer, he becomes planter, and -neither the large wages nor the easy subsistence -which the country affords to artificers, -can bribe him rather to work for -other people than for himself. He feels -that an artificer is the servant of his customers, -from whom he derives his subsistence, -but that a planter who cultivates -his own land, and derives his necessary subsistence -from the labour of his own family, -is really a master, and independent of all -the world.</p></div> - -<p>That was the America of 1760—and it -was the America that Lincoln knew. In the -region that he knew as a boy and a man, -there were neither great plantations, great -factories, nor combines. The bulk of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">19</span> -population lived on small farms, toiled -with their own hands, and remained in -possession of their own products. A few -owned and operated small stores or factories -for the making of necessities. These -could not grow rich. Great riches must -be derived from the labour of many. The -rich of the Eastern states fifty years ago -were the owners of banks, large importing -houses, railroads, and factories. These -industries, being small, gave rise to fortunes -that now seem small. They were -riches, but not great riches.</p> - -<p>Think, then, of the transition that I -myself have seen! Sometimes, as I sit -alone in my library reading and thinking -about these matters, and reflecting upon -the years that make up my brief lifetime, -a sort of terror of to-morrow seizes me. I -do not need to guess at the facts of my own<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">20</span> -world. I <em>know</em> the facts that such satirists -as Mr. Upton Sinclair vaguely guess, -or gather from the gossip of the stables and -the kitchen. The miserable excesses of -Society are an open book. I cannot blind -my eyes or deafen my ears or close my nostrils -and forget them. That decay has -set in I know; that it has struck deep, as -yet I cannot bring myself to believe. And -this book is but my feeble effort to prevent -it striking deeper, if I may.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">21</span></p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div id="chap2" class="blockquot quote"> - -<p>“<i>The wilfully idle man, like the wilfully barren -woman, has no place in a sane, healthy, vigorous -community.</i>”</p> - -<p class="attrib">—<span class="smcap">Theodore Roosevelt.</span> -</p></div></div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a class="hidep" id="Page_22">22</a><a id="Page_23"></a>23</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_Two"><i>Chapter Two</i><br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE MADNESS OF EXTRAVAGANCE</span> -</h2> -</div> - -<p class="in0">I remember very well indeed that bitter -period of transition when first the ideal, -or lack of ideals, of the newer America -began to corrode the old society. I remember -with what intense bitterness and -chagrin the early excesses of the earliest of -the idle rich were condoned by the leaders -of society in that day. At first the social -world fought hard for its traditions, and -the leaders of American Society of my -father’s day were never reconciled to the -changes that came about in the body social. -In Boston and Philadelphia, to this day, -society maintains its battle against the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">24</span> -invader. Now, as then, society frowns -upon the idle men. Only recently one of -the leaders of Boston society quoted in the -course of a conversation with me that -powerful sentence from one of Mr. Roosevelt’s -speeches:</p> - -<p>“The wilfully idle man, like the wilfully -barren woman, has no place in a -sane, healthy, vigorous community.”</p> - -<p>That, after all, is as much a tradition -of true society as it is of the plains and the -fields. I do not yield to any man or any -class in America in my detestation of idleness -in man or woman. And I believe -that the traditions of real American society -support me in this attitude.</p> - -<p>In spite of ourselves, we drifted into a -period in which idleness became the fashion. -We did not know just why the thing was -true; but we were forced to recognize its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">25</span> -truth. Now, looking back rather than forward -over the past quarter of a century, -one may see quite clearly how it came about. -And I purpose, in the course of this book, -to write down, perhaps for the amusement -of my own contemporaries, perhaps for -the guidance of those who have not yet -begun to think about these matters, the -causes that gave us this plague of idleness.</p> - -<p>First of all, however, I would merely -set down in a phrase the immediate cause of -it, and then proceed to sketch the phenomenon -itself, that one may know the things -which are right. It was the magic of -gold; it was the poison of idle wealth. It -came at first like a little spot upon the body -of a man. Quickly it spread from limb -to limb, and part to part, until, in the fulness -of time, it was a leprosy, following -the body of society almost from head to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">26</span> -foot. It was the curse of gold, no more, -no less—the same condition that laid in the -dust the glory of Athens, that hurled to -ruin the splendour of Rome, that brought -upon Bourbon France the terror of the -Revolution.</p> - -<p>Think, if you can, of the swift stages -through which we pass. Picture the solid, -conventional, Christian, and cleanly society -of New York immediately after the Civil -War. To think of it now, even as I learned -it by hearsay, very likely, brings me a -feeling of personal regret, as though I -had lost a fine old friend. Picture, then, -the beginning of a revolution, small, inconsequent—yet, -to the most discerning, -portentous of evil and pregnant of disaster. -A few young men, sons of society, set up -new idols in the ancient temples. They -began to ape the habits and to imitate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">27</span> -the morals of that world which, while -possessing wealth in plenty, had never -possessed the refinement or the ethical -standards of true society.</p> - -<p>It is a melancholy fact that the impetus -toward extravagance, excess, debauchery, -and shamelessness came to us from the -under-world.</p> - -<p>For always, in every country, just outside -the gates, there lives a people peculiar -to itself. They have wealth equal, perhaps, -to that of any in the social world. -They have education, it may be, of the -finest. They have desires, just as all -men have. They have instincts, it may -be, little better or little worse than those -of the best in the land. The gates are -shut against them for reasons that, to those -inside, seem quite sufficient. It may be -vulgarity; it may be immorality; it may be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">28</span> -mere <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">gaucherie</i> of manners; it may be lack of -education; or it may be any one of a dozen -other reasons that puts them beyond the -pale. Whatever may be the reason, the fact -remains that they are beyond the pale.</p> - -<p>In this class of society, always, in all -races, morals, and manners tend to excesses. -They are not restrained by sane conventions -and laws that regulate society; nor -are they held in the leash of respectability -or in the chains of religion or of honour, -as are the sturdy men and women of the -so-called middle class. Constantly they -are in rebellion against these laws and these -traditions. Ever they are prone to substitute -license for liberty, to plunge into -immorality, to draw upon the stage in its -worst moods for their passions and their -pleasures, and to practise in their lives the -vices of the decadent nations.</p> - -<p>In this stage of our social life of which I -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">29</span> -write, the manners, the morals, and the -practices of this social class crept into even -that small section of society which calls -itself “the Upper Class.” The young -men—and unhappily the young women—of -the finest families in our great cities began -to copy the vices and to imitate the manners -of this other class, and to plunge into -the same excesses that marked its manner -of life.</p> - -<p>There is a vast difference between the -healthy, wholesome spending of money -for amusements, pleasures, and recreations -and the feverish searching for some -new sensation that can be had only -at a tremendous cost. The simple expenditure -of money, even in startling -amounts, eventually fails to produce the -thrill that it ought to have, and when the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">30</span> -man or woman of fortune, with little -to think of but the constant hunt for -amusement and novelty, begins to suffer -from continuous <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">ennui</i>, the result is frequently -amazing and sometimes sickening.</p> - -<p>A wearied, bored group of men arranged -a dinner. They had been attending dinners -until such functions had lost interest -for them. Similarly their friends were -wearied by the conventional dinner of the -time. Why not prepare a meal, the like of -which had never been before? Why not -amuse society and astonish the part of the -community that is outside of society? They -did so. The dinner was served on horseback -on the upper floor of a fashionable -New York resort, the name of which is -known from coast to coast; the guests were -attired in riding habits; the handsomely -groomed horses pranced and clattered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">31</span> -about the magnificent dining-room, each -bearing, besides its rider, a miniature table. -The hoofs of the animals were covered with -soft rubber pads to save the waxed floor -from destruction. At midnight a reporter -for an active and sensational morning newspaper -ran across the choice bit of news. -He telephoned the information to his city -editor and the reply of that moulder of -opinion was brief and to the point.</p> - -<p>“You’re lying to me,” said the editor.</p> - -<p>The most sensational paper in town refused -to believe its reporter, who attempted -later on to reach the scene of the event, but -was repulsed and driven away.</p> - -<p>“How much did it cost?” the public -inquired interestedly. The man who paid -the bill knew. The public and its newspapers -guessed, their estimates running -from ten thousand to fifty thousand dollars.</p> - -<p>The fond owner of a diminutive black-and-tan -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">32</span> -dog gave a banquet in honour of -the animal. The dog was worth, perhaps, -fifty dollars. The festivities were very -gay. The man’s friends came to his dinner -in droves, the men in evening clothes -and the women bedecked in shimmering -silks and flashing jewels. In the midst -of the dinner, the man formally decorated -his dog with a diamond collar worth fifteen -thousand dollars. It contained seven hundred -small brilliants, varying in weight from -one sixth to one carat. The guests shouted -their approval, and the dinner was regarded -as a huge success.</p> - -<p>The leader of a wealthy clique in a -Western city was struck with a unique -idea. He was tired of spending money. -There was nothing new for which to spend -it. He gave a “poverty social.” The thirty<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">33</span> -guests came to his palatial home in rags and -tatters. Scraps of food were served on -wooden plates. The diners sat about on -broken soap boxes, buckets, and coal-hods. -Newspapers, dust cloths, and old -skirts were used as napkins, and beer was -served in a rusty tin can, instead of the -conventional champagne. They played -being poor for one night, and not one of -them but joined in ecstatic praise of their -host and his unusual ability to provide -a sensation.</p> - -<p>A bored individual with a fondness for -gems covered as much of his person as -possible with diamonds. When he walked -abroad, he flashed and sparkled in the sunlight. -He, also, became the possessor of -a happy inspiration. He went to his -dentist and had little holes bored in his -teeth, into which the tooth expert inserted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">34</span> -twin rows of diamonds. He had found -another way of spending money.</p> - -<p>A Southern millionaire purchased an -imported motor car. It cost him twelve -thousand dollars when it came off the ship. -He looked at it in scorn and called in -decorators. The car was refitted completely. -It was equipped with two diminutive rooms, -a living apartment, and a sleeping room. -Hot and cold water fixtures were put in -and space was found for a small bath-tub. -A kitchen with a full equipment of cooking -utensils was added, and, when the various -tradesmen and mechanics completed their -work, the car resembled a complete and -luxuriously furnished home on wheels. -The original cost of twelve thousand dollars -had been brought up to thirty thousand -and the owner was temporarily contented.</p> - -<p>Very young and very wealthy was the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">35</span> -young man whose attentions to an embryonic -actress amused a community a few -years back. It was the young man’s opinion -that he was desperately in love with the -lady, who in later years married a publisher -of songs. The millionaire youngster showered -the girl with gifts. He gave her rings, -bracelets, necklaces, and diamond-studded -combs for her black tresses until she -glistened from head to foot. The very -buttons of her gloves were diamonds and -her shoes were fastened with monster -pearls. The question of taste never entered -into the situation. It was simply -the spending of money and the bedecking -of a coarse, but crafty, stage girl. In -three years, she succeeded in throwing -away almost a million dollars for the deluded -youngster, at the end of which time -they parted.</p> - -<p>At the conclusion of an elaborate affair -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">36</span> -in New York City, the guests leaned back -in their chairs to listen to the singers. The -cigarettes were passed around. Oddly -enough, the banquet had not been marked -until that moment, and, as the host was -famous for the unusualness of his dinners, -many of the diners were disappointed. -Their disappointment gave way to admiration. -Each cigarette was rolled, not in white -paper, but in a one hundred dollar bill -and the initials of the host were engraved -in gold letters. This strange conceit was -applauded until the voices of the singers -struggled amid the uproar.</p> - -<p>A member of the idle rich rumbled along -a Jersey highway in his motor car. He -approached an excavation where workmen -were manœuvring cranes and hoists. At -the side of the road lay a dying horse.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">37</span> -It had fallen into a hole and two of its legs -were broken. The workmen were waiting -for the arrival of a policeman to put the -suffering animal to death.</p> - -<p>“I’ll save that horse,” decided the -wealthy motorist. His decision was simply -an idle whim. When the policeman came, -the motorist had already bought the useless -horse for a ten dollar bill. He procured -an ambulance and had the animal -removed to his own stable. He summoned -the foremost veterinarians in New York -and the crippled work horse was patched -up. For weeks it hung suspended in a sling -and finally the broken bones knitted and -the horse hobbled about. The veterinarians -demanded five thousand dollars for their -work and were paid without complaint. -In his stoutest days, the saved horse was -worth no more than a hundred dollars.</p> - -<p>A well known metropolitan spender has -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">38</span> -an annual bill of some ten thousand dollars -for shoes alone. His order stands -in every manufactory in America and -Europe. Whenever a new style of men’s -shoes is designed, a sample pair is immediately -shipped to him. He cannot possibly -wear a tenth of the shoes sent to him, but -he has the satisfying knowledge that he -is never behind the style.</p> - -<p>The wife of a Western man owns a -pet monkey. The little beast lives in a -private room and is constantly attended -by a valet. It rides abroad behind its -private trotter, has its own outfit of clothes, -its dining table, and a bed made of solid -ivory, tipped with gold ornaments. All -told, perhaps a dozen human beings minister -to the comfort of the little simian and -the mistress cheerfully pays from ten to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">39</span> -fifteen thousand dollars yearly on this one -extravagance. She became dissatisfied -with the dining service in the monkey-room -of her home, and her pet now eats -its meals off solid silver plates.</p> - -<p>At a dinner party given by a notorious -millionaire, each guest discovered in one of -his oysters a magnificent black pearl. -It was a fitting prelude to a sumptuous -banquet and it contained an element of -surprise. It was said that the dinner -cost the giver twenty thousand dollars.</p> - -<p>A party of engineers were studying the -country in a Southern state with an eye -to a future railroad. Accompanying them -was a tired young man of wealth, who had -little interest in what they were doing, -and who had gone with them in search -of possible amusement. He found it. The -party discovered an aged family of primitive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">40</span> -negroes living in a wretched hovel -on the edge of a swamp. The millionaire -was struck by the utter desolation of the -house and its occupants. It occurred to -him that he might find it interesting to -aid the darkeys. He parted company -with the engineers, and, with a single -friend, he gave himself over to bettering -the condition of the coloured family. Carpenters -appeared from New Orleans. Materials -were dragged through the country -behind mules. Decorations were shipped -from New York. The tottering shack -came down and a splendid country bungalow -was reared in its place. The interior -was furnished with a lavish hand and with -a total disregard for expense. White pillars -supported the roof. Old-fashioned -fireplaces were built into the walls and plate-glass -windows were set into the doors.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">41</span> -The floors were paved with concrete, and -a handsome bath room was fitted up for -the amazed and awe-stricken family. -When he had finished the home, the young -man turned his attention to its inmates. -He bought them clothes—such clothes -as they had never before dreamed of. He -provided them with toilet articles and trifling -luxuries, and, before he went away, -he supplied the larder with enough food -to last a year. That negro family is still -the talk of the entire state in which it -lives and its members regard what has -happened as a manifestation from on high. -The young man in search of interesting -occupation parted from twenty thousand -of his innumerable dollars and probably -thinks of the whole affair with satisfaction.</p> - -<p>An Italian savant and student has visited -America. He has set down his opinions<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">42</span> -and some of them are interesting. He -finds, for instance, that the wife of one of -our foremost millionaires wears a necklace -that cost more than six hundred thousand -dollars. The infant son of this favoured -lady reposed, during his tenderer years, in -a cradle that was valued at ten thousand -dollars and immediately following the birth -of the boy—an event that was flashed by -telegraph to the furthest corners of the -earth—a retinue of servants was formed -for the sole benefit of the infant. This -corps of retainers consisted of four nurse -ladies, four high-priced physicians, who -examined the child four times a day, -and posted serious bulletins for the information -of the clamant press and public.</p> - -<p>Another child came to another family, -and Fifth Avenue trotted past the birthplace -with bated breath and curious eyes.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">43</span> -When the boy came to that stage of his -development wherein the salutary bottle -could be dispensed with, he was clothed -in dignity and provided with a staff of -personal attendants consisting of two able -cooks, six grooms, three coachmen, two -valets, and one governess. He grew in -health and strength and to-day he manages -a railway with acumen and success.</p> - -<p>A gentleman of improvident habits and -few dollars packed his meagre belongings -in a hand bag and departed for the West. -Subsequently, he achieved fortune and -fame and came into possession of a gold -mine, the ledges of which soon placed his -name high in the ranks of America’s millionaires. -Overcome by gratitude, he gave -a commemorative dinner party in the -sombre depths of the kindly mine. The -space devoted to the festivities was forty<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">44</span> -feet wide and seventy feet long. One -hundred guests assembled in the bowels -of the mine and sat down to a sumptuous -feast. The waiters were clad in imitation -of miners. They hovered about attentively -with oil lamps flaring from their foreheads. -Picks and shovels decorated the uneven -walls, and the various courses were lowered -from the mouth of the mine in the faithful -cage that had carried up to the grateful -millionaire his many dollars. A band -discoursed sweet music and the bill was -some fourteen thousand dollars.</p> - -<p>A man of common name, but of uncommon -wealth, decided to have a home in -New York City. He purchased the palace -of a friend who had died and paid for it -two million dollars, which was popularly -supposed to be one half the original cost -of the pile. On his garden, to make space<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">45</span> -for which he tore down a building that had -cost a hundred thousand, the new owner -spent five hundred thousand dollars. His -bedstead is of carved ivory and ebony, -inlaid with gold. It cost two hundred -thousand dollars. The walls are richly -carved and decorated with enamel and -gold; they cost sixty-five thousand dollars. -On the ceiling, the happy millionaire expended -twenty thousand in carvings, enamels, -and gold, and ten pairs of filmy curtains, -costing two thousand a pair, wave -in the morning breeze. The wardrobe -in this famous bedroom represents an outlay -of one hundred and fifty thousand -dollars and the dressing table sixty-five -thousand. The wash stand cost thirty-eight -thousand, and the bed hangings, -fifty dollars a yard. The chimney-piece -and overhanging mantel threw into general<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">46</span> -circulation eight thousand more, -and the four doors consumed another ten -thousand.</p> - -<p>A wealthy lover of music paid the highest -price ever recorded for a piano. It was -no ordinary piano. Its price was fifty -thousand dollars. For a single painting -a Westerner paid fifty-five thousand dollars. -Another collector, whose name is known -in the humblest homes, expended fifty -thousand dollars for a silver trinket only -four inches high.</p> - -<p>An enthusiastic American happened to -live in London at the time the North Pole -was discovered. For an indefinite period -of time the North Pole was seemingly -discovered by two Americans. That controversy -is ended and dead, but the memory -of the dinner given in London by the proud -American will live for many years. Thirty<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">47</span> -guests accepted the invitations, and, upon -entering the home of their host, found -themselves in a barren and icy waste. -The prow of an ice-bound ship protruded -from one side of the wall. Pale electric -lights flashed coldly from a score of points. -Icebergs towered above the dinner table, -surmounted by polar bears. In the centre -of the room was a huge oval table to represent -a solid block of ice and thereon the -brilliant feast was served. The waiters -moved about noiselessly in the costumes of -Eskimos, hooded in the skins of animals -and clad in the white fur of polar bears. -The dinner was a tremendous success. -It cost the American ten thousand dollars -and not one word of criticism was passed, -except by the suffering waiters in their -heavy furs on a warm mid-summer day.</p> - -<p>A wealthy mining man wagered upon<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">48</span> -the outcome of an election and lost. He -proceeded to pay his bet by giving a dinner -in his stables. Thirty-five guests appeared -and prepared to enjoy themselves -to the fullest. The table was arranged -in the shape of a horseshoe, and the -waiters were jockeys in silken jackets and -long peak caps. During the enthusiastic -scenes that followed, the favourite horse -of the host was admitted to the banquet -room from his near-by box stall and diverted -the guests by eating the flowers, -with which the banquet table was heavily -laden, and by drinking champagne from -the punch-bowl. Tiny Shetland ponies -trotted and pranced about the diners -and the favourite steed became mildly -intoxicated from the champagne and was -ridden about the room by hilarious men. -The entire dinner was the exact opposite<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">49</span> -of monotony. It cost the loser of the bet -twelve thousand dollars.</p> - -<p>A famous ten thousand dollar dinner -was given in the heart of the tired old -metropolis. The table was laid out as -an oval and over its smooth surface costly -flowers were spread in deep layers. In the -centre was a lake of limpid water, suspended -from the ceiling by gold wire network. -Four white swans swam about during -the progress of the banquet. From -various rings in the ceiling hung golden -cages containing rare song birds that twittered -incessantly and the guests ate fruit -from the branches of dwarf trees especially -provided and at a cost that might seem -staggering to the commonplace man of -little wealth.</p> - -<p>In Paris, a voluntarily exiled millionaire -provided a dinner for twenty-two of his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">50</span> -intimate friends. For each guest was a -private carriage with a team of splendid -horses, and when the fortunate diners -arrived in state, each found before him a -whole leg of mutton, a whole salmon, an -entire fowl, a basket of assorted fruits, -and several bottles of wine. A mysterious -bag made its appearance toward the close -of the feast and each diner was invited to -explore it for a keepsake. The souvenirs -consisted of pearl studs, emerald links, -cigarette cases of solid gold, inlaid with -jewels, diamond rings, and other trifles. -Thirty thousand dollars went into the -pockets of the Parisian shopkeepers from -this single dinner.</p> - -<p>In searching for an unusual manner to -spend a large sum of money upon a single object, -a man of wealth selected a beautiful pair -of opera glasses. They were made of solid<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">51</span> -gold and the lenses were perfect. The cost -was seventy-five thousand dollars, principally -because of a lyre which surmounted -the top, and which was encrusted with diamonds -and sapphires. Without the embellishments, -glasses of equal worth may be -purchased in any shop for twenty dollars.</p> - -<p>What was at the time designated as a -tame waste of wealth, drunkenness without -conviviality, the amusement of dull and -unintelligent society, was a seventy-five -thousand dollar feast given a few years -ago. Monkeys sat between the guests -and ducks swam about in pools contained -in ivory fountains. An entire theatrical -company journeyed from New -York to provide entertainment for the -favoured guests.</p> - -<p>One of the most prominent band-masters -in America was summoned by telegraph<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">52</span> -to gather an orchestra of forty pieces. -The command came from a woman of vast -wealth in whose service the man of music -had often laboured. A child had been -born to her. She desired to have the -occasion fittingly celebrated, and the diligent -leader hurried home from the midst of -a vacation, selected an orchestra, rehearsed, -and eventually serenaded the new-come -bit of humanity.</p> - -<p>The “freak” dinner takes on many -forms. One of the most unusual of this -sort was given by a South African millionaire -whose wealth had come from the -diamond mines at Kimberly. The dinner -was given amidst scenes of the Kimberly -diggings. Beautiful birds flew about, and -a hidden band wafted soft strains upon -the assembled guests. Huge quartz blocks -surrounded the table and formed the walls.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">53</span> -The floor was inch deep with sand, and -a monster tent raised its head in the centre -of the space. On the wash stand was a -rough board on which were scrawled the -words: “Wash your hands before sitting -down to eat.” It was all very amusing and -undoubtedly unique. Veldt carts rumbled -back and forth, pickaxes hung suspended -from silken cords, and bags of genuine -gold-dust, lay scattered about. Turtle -soup was served from a cauldron, and -two armed Boers paced up and down -as sentinels. The dinner cost twenty -thousand dollars.</p> - -<p>In Boston a man of gold fell ill. From -his waist down, he became nerveless and -helpless. The time hung heavily on his -hands as he lay in a hospital bed, and he -determined to provide adequate amusement. -His bed was removed to the largest<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">54</span> -room in the hospital. An entire musical -comedy company was transported from -New York City and a popular production -of the day was performed for the benefit -of the invalid. It cost him three thousand -five hundred dollars, and it was probably -worth it.</p> - -<p>In Pittsburg, workmen went about their -task mysteriously. They were constructing -a great glass tank. For five days they -laboured and finally the affair was completed. -It was taken into the banquet room of a -hotel and filled with water. A dinner was -to be given by the officials of a corporation. -As the hours wore on, the diners -waxed enthusiastic and happy. The -more important and dignified officials -of the corporation left. They probably -knew what was coming and desired -to be absent in view of possible newspaper<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">55</span> -investigation. Then came the solution -of the mystery. A human gold fish -swam about in the tank—a shapely girl, -clad in golden spangles and scales. The -dinner was very expensive. Those who -attended the banquet afterward declined -to discuss it with the reporters when questioned -about the human gold fish.</p> - -<p>Another celebrated dinner that represented -the effort of a wealthy man to vary -the monotony of life and to provide a -unique outlet for his money was the feast -that culminated in the appearance of the -girl in the pie. A monster pie was carried -before the astounded diners upon the -shoulders of four servants. The top crust -was cut open. A slip of a girl bounded -to her feet. A score of birds was released -at the same moment.</p> - -<p>In Los Angeles the son of a millionaire<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">56</span> -mine owner felt the time hanging heavily -upon his hands. He wandered down to -where the trains rumbled in and out of the -station, and an idea possessed him. He -ordered a special train of five coaches and -informed his friends. Those who cared to -go accompanied the young squanderer. -For fifty thousand dollars the railway -company, which cares little about human -emotions or desires, offered to take the -young man to New York. Train despatchers -cleared the rails. Switches were nailed -fast. The young man and his special -train were shot across the continent like -a flying star. He was buying a fresh experience -at a price that in all probability -suited him.</p> - -<p>A Nebraska individual is the proud -owner of a hat that is made of greenbacks. -It is rather a costly hat, as twenty thousand<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">57</span> -dollars in bills was used in making it. -It weighs twenty ounces and it looks exactly -like the white hats worn by gentlemen. -A young Crœsus grew fond of a lady -fair and sought to display a mark of his -affection in some extraordinary manner. -He commissioned eight of the foremost -artists in America to paint a fan. The -cost was one hundred thousand dollars.</p> - -<p>For five years skilled artisans have been -carving a tombstone. The man who ordered -the tombstone is still living, but the -tombstone is vast in bulk, and the carvers -have plenty of space to display their -ingenuity. It is the order of the patron -that work shall not cease until he is dead, -and each year he sends the monument -company a check for fifteen thousand -dollars to cover running expenses. If the -gentleman lives long enough, his tombstone<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">58</span> -will be a spectacle worth seeing when it -is finally bundled into place over his casket.</p> - -<p>One of the most lavish and expensive—probably -the most expensive—dinners -ever given in America was a hyphenated -feast, the record of which is writ large -upon the annals of metropolitan society. -It endured for six hours and cost fourteen -thousand dollars per hour.</p> - -<p>But why enumerate any more of these -instances? Our papers are full of them. -My purpose, however, is larger than gossip -and I shall mention other pieces of extravagance -wherever they make a point.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">59</span></p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div id="chap3" class="blockquot quote"> - -<p>“<i>No men living are more worthy to be trusted than -those who toil up from poverty—none less inclined -to take or touch what they have not honestly earned. -Let them beware of surrendering a political power -which they already possess, and which, if surrendered, -will surely be used to close the door of advancement -against such as they, and to fix new disabilities and -burdens upon them, till all of liberty shall be lost.</i>”</p> - -<p class="attrib">—<span class="smcap">Abraham Lincoln.</span> -</p></div></div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a class="hidep" id="Page_60">60</a><a id="Page_61"></a>61</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_Three"><i>Chapter Three</i><br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE SUBJUGATION OF AMERICA</span> -</h2> -</div> - -<p class="in0">In the golden days of American Society, -as I have said, great fortunes were very -rare indeed. The few that there were -came mostly from merchandising and trade. -The accumulations of John Jacob Astor, -John Hancock, and Stephen Girard, in -New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, respectively, -had not been dwarfed by the -accumulations of a later era. They remained, -up to about 1850, as the typical -marvels of the American world of business.</p> - -<p>The middle of last century was the -harvest time of Opportunity in this land. -Agriculture and trade remained the staple<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">62</span> -occupations of the race; yet there had -grown up throughout the land a wonderful -manufacturing industry. Away back in -the days of the embargo, a man named -Samuel Slater had come over from England -and built, from memory, the first American -cotton mill. He little knew what seeds -he sowed. That little mill set up in Rhode -Island was the mother of American -industry.</p> - -<p>It had grown, this infant, until in every -valley of the East there stood factories -and mills uncounted. Turning from the -little iron mines of New Jersey, the pioneers -of our greatest industry had begun to -open up the hills of Pennsylvania and -even Michigan. In that age, which has -been called the golden age of industry, -fortune followed swiftly upon the heels of -honest labour.</p> - -<p>Always, it was free, democratic, independent, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">63</span> -this march of the manufacturers. -A hundred men manufactured cotton cloths -in one small area of New England. No -one of them would have listened to the -call of combination. They worked out -their own destinies, took their own profits, -built up their own plants from very small -to very large. In the twenty years from -1840 to 1860 the independent American -manufacturer became the true American -type. In 1850, for the first time, the products -of industry surpassed in value the -products of agriculture. America came -into its destiny.</p> - -<p>Often have I heard this tale of the -making of America; and I can trace, by -hearsay, the evolution of the mighty industrial -enterprises of to-day from the -puny beginnings of the days of Franklin.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">64</span> -Then, in our nation’s youth, manufacturing -was carried on in the home, by household -industry. In the homes of New England -men spun and wove the cotton; or beat -the stubborn iron implements of agriculture. -Long the battle of industry was -fought along these lines.</p> - -<p>Then came the change, when, after the -War of 1812, the English manufacturers, -armed with new industrial machinery, -flooded the United States with manufactured -goods. In self-defence America -took to its arms the hated factory system, -realizing that here and here alone lay its -industrial salvation. Instead of the scattered -household manufacturing, the country -developed the gathering and working of all -sorts and conditions of manufacturing under -one roof. Instead of piece work, paid for as -delivered, men began to work for wages.</p> - -<p>How strange, in this day, sounds the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">65</span> -warning of Franklin in our ears! At the -risk of being tiresome, let me quote a paragraph -from his writings:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>A people spread through the whole -tract of country on this side of the Mississippi, -and secured by Canada in our hands, -would probably for some centuries find -employment in agriculture, and thereby -free us at home effectually from our fears -of American manufactures. Unprejudiced -men well know that all the penal and -prohibitory laws that ever were thought -of will not be sufficient to prevent manufactures -in a country whose inhabitants -surpass the number that can subsist by -the husbandry of it. That this will be -the case in America soon, if our people -remain confined within the mountains, -and almost as soon should it be unsafe -for them to live beyond, though the country -be ceded to us, no man acquainted -with political and commercial history can -doubt. It is the multitude of poor without -land in a country, and who must work -for others at low wages or starve, that -enables undertakers to carry on a manufacture,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">66</span> -and afford it cheap enough to prevent -the importation of its own exportation.</p> - -<p>But no man who can have a piece of land -of his own, sufficient by his labour to subsist -his family in plenty, is poor enough to -be a manufacturer, and work for a master. -Hence while there is land enough in America -for our people, there can never be -manufactures in any amount or value.—Writings -of Benjamin Franklin: Smith -Ed. Vol. IV, pp. 48–49.</p></div> - -<p>This was written in 1761—just a -century before the Civil War! What a -transition to our day—and we have but -begun! In the days of Franklin, according -to our best authorities, less than one out -of eight of the population depended for -a living on manufacturing, trade, transportation, -and fisheries. As early as 1851, -it was one out of five. The character of -the nation had undergone a complete -and sweeping change.</p> - -<p>Yet, let me repeat, the American industrialist<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">67</span> -of that day was not the serf -he is to-day. In every sense, he was a -free and independent man. True, he had -been forced to leave the household plan -for the factory plan; but yet he managed -without any trouble to keep the spirit -of individualism and independence thoroughly -alive. Industry, in the middle of the -last century, was carried on in this country -in scattered individual plants, each one -a little independent republic of its own. -The owners generally worked in the factory -and the mill. Half a dozen partners, -perhaps, laboured side by side with the -men in their employ. Men stepped swiftly -from the position of wage workers to the -independence of ownership. The doors of -individual opportunity stood wide open.</p> - -<p>I would, if I dared risk tiring the reader -with extended comment upon subject matter<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">68</span> -that has been handled often much -better than I can handle it, dwell upon -this happy phase of the making of America. -For it is germane to my subject. And -then, again, it is gone from us forever—gone -with the happy simplicity and innocence -of the youth of our nation. In -its stead there has come upon us an age -of industrial terror, of fierce, abnormal -struggle for expansion and wealth beyond -the dreams of the fathers.</p> - -<p>Often, as the years have passed, I have -heard older men talk with affection of -the “good old days.” I put it down to -the failing memory of man, which forgets -all that is ugly and repugnant, and remembers -best the beautiful. When men -in society spoke of the past, they seemed -to me to be ignoring the many advantages -of the present. As time has fled, however,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">69</span> -I come to realize that they spoke truly. -They were thinking of this “golden age,” -this high mid-day of our industrial history.</p> - -<p>They were thinking of the free American, -son of the soil, of the factory, as you will, -yet free, independent, unafraid. They -were thinking of a nation that did not -tolerate tyranny, political or industrial, -within its borders. They were thinking -of that rich America where no man dwelt -in poverty. They were thinking of the -utter astonishment with which European -travellers noted in our cities the absolute -lack of beggars, of want, of hunger, and -of cold. They were thinking of that happy -day, now dead and gone, when evenly -and justly the reward of labour fell upon -the people, scattered far and wide and -sufficiently, like the dew that falls at night -upon the fields.</p> - -<p>Perhaps you think that Society, as such, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">70</span> -cares little about these things. You are -eternally wrong. Society is a group of -men and women and children. The best -of the men and the best of the women think -deeply, as the best of men and women think -deeply everywhere. Because it is educated, -and because it, too, is engaged in -an eternal fight for life, Society, perhaps, -studies these matters more zealously and -more accurately than the rest of the world -that makes a nation.</p> - -<p>The leaders of the social world in the -middle of the last century saw as clearly -as any one the tendencies of the time, and -recognized as fully as any one the bearing -of the conditions of labour and capital -upon the purely social problems. They -knew that because wealth was evenly -distributed as it flowed from the mine,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">71</span> -the forest, and the field, Society had nothing -to fear. They knew, too, that, when the -division of wealth began to be uneven, -danger to the social world began. The -lesson of the French Revolution was better -understood in those days than it is to-day -in high Society—because high Society -in those days had, at least, read Carlyle -or Junius; while to-day it reads little more -than the Sunday editions of the newspapers.</p> - -<p>Very few, in that time, were the new -recruits in the army of Society. The old -laws still lived. The ancient families of -New York, Boston, and Philadelphia still -held sway. The leader of the social world -could afford to speak of her father and her -grandfather and even, in some cases, of her -great-grandfather, without treading on dangerous -ground. The subtle barriers of -caste, flimsy as they always are in a new<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">72</span> -country, had yet withstood all the puny -assaults to which they had been exposed.</p> - -<p>Happy, indeed, was Society; and happy, -too, were the people of the country. Yet -the poison was even then at work within -their veins. Already, here and there, rich -men were selling out of industry, taking -their mighty profits, and moving away -from the industrial cities and towns into -the great social and business centres. -There is no social index to record the exodus; -but one may note, here and there, in -government reports of the time, strange -facts that to-day are all too clear in their -meaning.</p> - -<p>In the year 1840, at the beginning of -this golden period of national happiness -and prosperity, there were in this country -1,240 cotton manufacturing plants, with -a combined gross output of $46,000,000<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">73</span> -worth of goods. Each plant made $37,000 -worth of goods. Twenty years later, the -number of plants was 1,091, and the output -was $115,000,000.</p> - -<p>Our fathers saw these figures; but it is -not on record that any man, at that time, -saw their true meaning. It was simply, -to their minds, the working out of the -factory system to its completion. It meant -economy. It was part of the same system -that had reduced the cost of making -a yard of broadcloth from fifty cents in -1823 to fifteen cents in 1840.</p> - -<p>They could not, naturally, see in it, as -we can, the seeds of a revolution that was -to make over again the America of that -day, to drag the boasted freedom of -America in the mire of poverty, to prostitute -our political system, to tear and -wreck and sweep away the sacred barriers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">74</span> -of Society. It was, in truth, the handwriting -on the wall, but America lacked -a prophet. If, indeed, there had been such -a one, his warning would have been in -vain. For evolution is inexorable; and -the nation, high and low, rich and poor, -poverty and Society—all are but its -creatures, brought into life by it, buried -at its command.</p> - -<p>Let me hurry on to sketch the progress -of this wonderful change that was to found -in America two great new classes, the Idle -Rich and the Slaves of Industry.</p> - -<p>I have compiled a table from the census -reports, dealing with textile industries -alone, because that branch of manufacturing -was the oldest and one of the greatest, -as it is to-day, and because it illustrates -perhaps better than any other the progress -of principles, rather than the influence of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">75</span> -special causes, particularly through this -twenty-year period of which I am writing:</p> - -<div class="intact"> -<p class="p1 b0 center smaller noafter">TEXTILE INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES</p> - -<table id="t75" class="nobreak" summary="Textile Industries"> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">Year</td> - <td class="tdc">No.</td> - <td class="tdc">Average<br />Capital</td> - <td class="tdc">Av. No. of<br />Employés</td> - <td class="tdc">Product Average</td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">1860</td> - <td class="tdc">3027</td> - <td class="tdc"> 50,000</td> - <td class="tdc">65</td> - <td class="tdc"> 75,500</td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">1870</td> - <td class="tdc">4790</td> - <td class="tdc"> 62,500</td> - <td class="tdc">57</td> - <td class="tdc">108,600</td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">1880</td> - <td class="tdc">4018</td> - <td class="tdc">103,000</td> - <td class="tdc">96</td> - <td class="tdc">144,000</td></tr> -</table> -</div> - -<p>In these few figures all the industrial -history of that great period may be found -epitomized. The number of plants, instead -of increasing as the volume of demand -for products increased, was contracted. -The leadership of the trade, and, therefore, -the making of prices, was taken by the -houses of larger capital. The average -capital employed in the trade doubled in -the twenty years. The output also doubled -for the average factory. The number of -employés, on the other hand, increased -but half. Better machinery, more efficient -control over the workers, more drastic -industrial discipline, fiercer industrial competition<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">76</span> -for individual work, did their -destiny-appointed task.</p> - -<p>Here one begins to see on this broad -canvas, but faint in outline, the tracing of -the picture of America to-day. The chains -began to tighten. Men who had grown -to comfortable wealth in the long period -of small factories, scattered industries, -and free and easy industrial democracy, -began to gather together into industrial -groups. Little industries were rolled together -into big industries. The capital -of the factory expanded, doubling, on an -average, in the decade. At the same time, -by more intense methods of carrying on the -trades, the number of employés needed -to produce a given value of products was -cut down.</p> - -<p>Let me turn, for a moment, to introduce -a slight record of that industry which has<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">77</span> -done more, perhaps, than any other to -bring about the creation of the class of -whom I write—the idle rich. I have not -dwelt upon it in the beginnings of American -industry, for it was scarcely existent. I -refer to the iron and steel industry.</p> - -<p>In 1860 there were in this country only -402 plants manufacturing wrought, forged, -and rolled iron. They used an average -of $58,000 of capital apiece, produced -products worth $91,000 each, and employed -an average of 55 men. In 1880—twenty -years—there were 1,005 such plants, with -an average capital of $23,000, average -products of $296,005, and an average roll -of 121 men. Here the evolution of an -industry from the small, scattered plants -to the concentrated, efficient, and powerful -“combine” is unmistakable.</p> - -<p>To summarize: In this twenty-year period,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">78</span> -the value of products trebled, while -the number of workers doubled. The -wealth-producing capacity of each worker -increased from $1,438 to $2,015.</p> - -<p>If the tendency toward monopoly was -striking in the twenty years from 1860 to -1880, what may one say of the twenty years -that followed? In the iron and steel trade, -the 699 plants of 1880, with an average -production of $419,000 each, became 668 -with an average production of $1,203,500 -in 1900. The average number of employés -per plant rose from 197 to 333. In the -cotton mills, the average number of employés -in each mill rose during the same -period from 287 to 1,185.</p> - -<p>Here is the birthplace of the idle rich. -Hundreds of men who had owned small -manufacturing plants sold them out at -good profits in the first ten years of this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">79</span> -era and retired to live on the proceeds. -Men who, twenty years before, had built -their puny mills on river banks and rapidly -developed them into great wealth-producing -plants by natural growth, then turned -them over to the trusts and combinations -at prices that would have staggered the -imagination of the fathers of the industry.</p> - -<p>The firm gave way to the corporation. -Industries that had been for generations -family affairs were suddenly capitalized -in the form of stocks and bonds, and the -owners retired from the active business, -hiring skilled men to carry on the work. -They themselves sat down in comfort -and ease and luxury to draw their sustenance -from interest and dividends on -the securities that represented the plants.</p> - -<p>Into the mighty cities of the East there -moved an ever-growing army of those who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">80</span> -had gathered, from the mines of California, -from the forges of Pittsburg, from the -forests of Michigan, from the metalled -mountains of Montana, wealth beyond the -dreams of Midas. They had capitalized -the products of their own labour, and -brought with them the tangible evidences -of wealth in the shape of stocks and bonds.</p> - -<p>I remember very well the first great march -of the suddenly rich upon the social capitals -of the nation. Very distinctly it comes -back to me with what a shock the fact -came home to the sons and daughters -of what was pleased to call itself the aristocracy -of America that here marched an -army better provisioned, better armed -with wealth, than any other army that -had ever assaulted the citadels of Society.</p> - -<p>The effect of these immigrations from -the fields of labour to the cities of capital<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">81</span> -I shall sketch more fully in another chapter. -I would now, instead, touch upon -the conditions that they left behind them, -the conditions that made possible their -own retirement from actual labour to the -ease and comfort of luxurious leisure.</p> - -<p>It is not too much to say that they left -behind them a people reduced to industrial -slavery. Gone forever was the free America -our fathers knew. Faded into history -was the ideal of Washington and Jefferson -and Lincoln. From the year 1890 onward -the progress of the United States has been -the fearful march of manufacturing industry. -In that year the products of -industry and agricultural wealth were -about equal. Ten years later the products -of industry were two to one against the -wealth gathered from the fields.</p> - -<p>Side by side with this conquest of America<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">82</span> -went the growth of tenant farming, -as against the old free tenure farming that -had marched steadily into the farthest -untilled corners of the land so long as land -was free. To-day there is no free land -within the borders of the nation, save for -a few small tracts hardly worth mentioning. -Here, as in the industries, capital did not -hesitate to claim and capture all that -it dared. Law after law was passed to -prevent the centralization of the power of -exploiters over great tracts of the West. -Law after law was broken, evaded, or -laughed at. Once the spirit of exploitation -on a large scale was abroad in the land, -nothing could stand against it.</p> - -<p>To gain its ends, wealth crept stealthily -into every seat of power. The law stood -in its way; therefore, in legislative halls -and in political caucuses, wealth had to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">83</span> -have its representatives. The legislatures, -the courts, the press—these were made -pawns in the game of exploitation. Where-ever -possible, the army of exploiters laid -profane hands even upon the trusteed -funds that guard the poverty of the spoiled -and broken, the funds of the savings-banks, -and of the insurance companies. Nothing -was sacred; nothing was secure.</p> - -<p>The raw material of wealth, as I have -stated in a previous chapter, is the labour -of men. In the days of individual effort, -exploitation of labour was not possible, for -men shied off from the chains of the exploiter, -took to the boundless free fields -of the West, and declared over again that -they would dwell and labour in freedom, -or they would die.</p> - -<p>But, in the census of 1900, it is shown -clearly that the average employé in this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">84</span> -country produces every year $1,280 of -wealth, after full allowance for the cost -of the material he works with and all -possible running expenses that are paid -by his employer. Out of this amount of -wealth he gets $437. The remainder, $843, -goes into the hands of other men—the -capitalist or the exploiter of labour.</p> - -<p>That money, nearly two thirds of the -wealth produced by the men who labour -with their hands and heads, goes to pay -interest and dividends on the securities -that represent the increment gathered by -those who sold out in other days, or who -capitalized their plants and settled down -to draw their sustenance from the labour -of other men.</p> - -<p>Hence the idle rich. I do not mean to -say that by any means all of the dividends -and interest are gathered by the idle rich.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">85</span> -Such a condition as that can exist but once -in the history of a nation. It came about -in Rome—and it led to the fall. It came -about in France—and it led to the terror. -Here, in America, it has gone far to be sure, -and the tendency is still onward; but it -has not yet quite reached a point where -one may say: “To-morrow the harvest is -ripe!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a class="hidep" id="Page_86">86</a><a id="Page_87"></a>87</span></p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div id="chap4" class="blockquot quote"> - -<p>“<i>As well might the oligarchy attempt to stay the -flux and reflux of the tides as to attempt to stay the -progress of freedom in the South. Approved of God, -the edict of the genius of Universal Emancipation -has been proclaimed to the world, and nothing, save -Deity himself, can possibly reverse it. To connive -at the perpetuation of slavery is to disobey the commands -of Heaven. Not to be an abolitionist is to be -a wilful and diabolical instrument of the devil. The -South needs to be free, the South wants to be free, the -South SHALL be free!</i>”</p> - -<p class="attrib">—<span class="smcap">Hinton Rowan Helper.</span> -</p></div></div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a class="hidep" id="Page_88">88</a><a id="Page_89"></a>89</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_Four"><i>Chapter Four</i><br /> - -<span class="subhead">WHO ARE THE SLAVES?</span> -</h2> -</div> - -<p class="in0">For thirty years, since 1880, we have been -piling up wealth in the hands of men who -do not work. In almost every year there -has been pouring from our mills a steady -grist of idlers. It has gone so far that to-day, -in every city of the Union, the class -of the idle rich has reached proportions -that to the thoughtful student of events -are alarming. The millionaire habit has -spread until to-day men of millions are -far more numerous in our great cities than -were men of one tenth the wealth twenty -years ago.</p> - -<p>I do not desire to criticize wealth; for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">90</span> -I am not a Socialist, and I entertain no -Utopian dreams concerning the equal distribution -of wealth among the people or -the public control of all sources of wealth. -I agree thoroughly with Mr. Carnegie, and -with much older economists, in the opinion -that any arbitrary distribution of wealth, -or any arbitrary assignment of the sources -of wealth, would be but temporary, and -would be followed by another period of -adjustment which would end with the -reappropriation of wealth and the reassignment -of the sources of wealth into -the hands best qualified by nature to hold -them. I take it to be proven by the experience -of the world that individual -exploitation of the sources of wealth -remains as the established basis of the -industrial, commercial, and social development -of the world.</p> - -<p>Yet, I confess, the terrific sweep of industrialism -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">91</span> -across this land throughout -the past century appalls me as I study it -from records written and unwritten. I -cannot go down through the crowded tenement -sections of our great cities without -having it borne in upon me that we as -a nation pay a fearful price in human blood -and tears for our industrial triumphs. I cannot -see the poverty, even the degradation, -of the wives and children of the wage-working -class in many cities, and even in -many rural districts, without being visited -by the devastating thought that surely, if -the principle of the thing be necessary and -right, there must be fearful errors somewhere -in the application of the principle.</p> - -<p>For the grim fact stands out beyond -denial that the men who are the workers -of the nation, and the women and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">92</span> -children dependent upon them, are not -to-day given the opportunities that are -their proper birthright in free America; -and that, struggle as they will, save as -they may, lift their voices in protest as -they dare, they cannot obtain from our -industrial hierarchy much more than a -mere living wage. And, on the other hand, -it is equally true that the wage of capital is -high, that the class of idle rich has grown out -of all proportion, and that it has taken upon -itself a power and an arrogance unsurpassed -in the industrial history of the world.</p> - -<p>Somewhere there is something wrong. -I speak as a rich man. I speak as a representative -of the class of which I write, -and to which in particular I address myself. -We can no longer blind ourselves with idle -phrases or drug our consciences with the -outworn boast that the workingman of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">93</span> -America is to-day the highest paid artisan -in the world. We know those lying figures -well. Many a time I myself, in personal -argument, have shown that the American -workman receives from one and a half -to three times as much as his English -cousin at the same trade; but we know -now that it means nothing. We are learning, -instead of envying the American workingman -his lot, to pity more deeply that -English cousin. We are learning, too, -that what we give our workers in wages -we take back from them in the higher -cost of necessities, in food, in clothing, in -medicine, in insurance—in a hundred -devious ways all with one tendency—to -keep the living margin down.</p> - -<p>Many centuries ago two great Greek -philosophers, Aristotle and Plato, predicted -that the time would come when the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">94</span> -tools of wealth production—machinery—would -have reached such an advanced -stage of development that it would become -unnecessary to enslave anybody for the -sake of allowing any one class to devote -itself to the pursuit of culture. These -great philosophers believed in slavery during -that period of the world’s development -in which they lived, on the ground that -only by the exploitation of forced labour -could any class be left free to develop the -higher attributes of mankind. Yet both -looked forward to the time when, in the -progress of humanity toward the ideal, the -perfection of methods would permit the -emancipation of all mankind.</p> - -<p>Aristotle and Plato were no visionaries. -Their dreams, so far as the methods are -concerned, are to-day realities; but, alas, -how different the result! Instead of emancipation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">95</span> -we have welded about the necks of -the people the chains of industrial slavery. -It is true that the form of slavery, the -direct exploitation of the bodies of men, -has been wiped out in every civilized nation; -but is it not equally true that since our own -great struggle for freedom from the pollution -of chattel slavery we have but -stepped out of a process of direct exploitation -of a few enchained slaves into a -process far more expansive and embracing -far more people, namely, the indirect -exploitation of wage workers for the benefit -of capital?</p> - -<p>The fruit of the genius of the inventors of -the world is plucked not by the hands of -the workers, but by the hands of the -comparatively small and personally insignificant -class who, by virtue of the genius -of their fathers, or by virtue of mere<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">96</span> -chance, administer the tremendous power -of capital.</p> - -<p>The evolution of the ages, then, has -brought about this strangely ironical condition. -Humanity is face to face with a -God-given opportunity to acquire and -apply knowledge. The wealth producing -machinery of the world has the capacity -to give to all men the opportunity of enjoying -leisure. Knowledge and culture -are the proper birthright of humanity to-day. -Even in the face of obstacles, knowledge -and culture spread among the people. -Only one great obstacle remained to block -the fulfillment of the prophecy of the great -philosophers. That obstacle is the idle -rich. It is the leisure class that to-day -destroys the spirit of our dream.</p> - -<p>It cannot be for long. We in America -are moving fast toward social revolution.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">97</span> -Conflicts between labour and capital are -assuming the proportions of civil war. -The once powerful middle class, which -is the safety of every nation, is to-day -weak, and is every day declining. Soon, -politically it will be a memory, and the -battle field will be cleared for conflict.</p> - -<p>It is, I know, a hopeless and a thankless -task for any man to raise his voice in an -appeal for peace. The forces which have -been set in motion in the making of America -so far must, I suppose, run their allotted -course. To-day the class spirit in America -is thoroughly aroused, and it is almost -with terror that I, a representative of -one of the two classes that are to fight -this battle, raise my feeble voice in warning -to the other members of my class.</p> - -<p>But lately I have read again a monumental -work, written fifty years ago by a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">98</span> -Southerner, in an attempt to turn the -minds of his fellow citizens from the fatal -error of chattel slavery. The book is -called “The Impending Crisis of the South: -How to Meet It.” Of all the books that -I have ever read upon public problems it -has always seemed to me to be the most -sane and factual. Here is a paragraph -taken from it which I marked when first -I read the book, and which I have read -over and over again with infinite satisfaction:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>The truth is that slavery destroys or -vitiates, or pollutes whatever it touches. -No interest of society escapes the influence -of its clinging curse. It makes Southern -religion a stench in the nostrils of Christendom—it -makes Southern politics a libel -upon all the principles of republicanism—it -makes Southern literature a travesty -upon the honourable profession of letters.... -When will the South, as a whole, -abandoning its present suicidal policy,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">99</span> -enter upon that career of prosperity, greatness, -and true renown, to which God by -His word and His providence is calling -it? That voice, by whomsoever spoken, -must yet be heard and heeded. The time -hastens—the doom of slavery is written—the -redemption of the South draws nigh.</p></div> - -<p>To-day the author’s position is similar -to that of Helper, who wrote these words, -save that it differs in one important -particular. Helper, though a Southerner, -was not a slave-holder. I am in every -sense a member of the class to whom I write. -I do not flatter myself that my words will -have any more effect among mine own -people than Helper’s had among the people -of the South, but fortunately my voice -is but one of a hundred that are raised -to-day to warn the leisure class of the rocks -toward which it is drifting.</p> - -<p>Hinton Rowan Helper died but a little -time ago. Four years after the appearance<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">100</span> -of his book he saw the outbreak of the Civil -War. In the end of that war he saw the -states of his beloved South bent like reeds -in a storm, its armies overthrown, its -fields laid waste, its homes destroyed, its -cherished institutions gone forever. I wonder, -as I write, whether it be possible in -this age of civilization and advancement -that I, too, am but a voice crying in the -wilderness. Will our capitalist class, like -the old French monarchy, “learn nothing -and forget nothing?”</p> - -<p>Many a time, while engaged in the manifold -activities of social life, at a dinner or -a ball, or amusing myself in the country, -this question has come to me. I have -wondered whether it is all really as it -seems. Here are gay hearts, merry voices, -lives all brimming with laughter, young -men and maidens all untouched by the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">101</span> -sterner things of life, boys with their fortunes -to inherit and high positions in life -secured, débutantes with every problem -solved for them, a formulated education -leading to a formulated social routine, -stately matrons born to rule their little -social world, fine men and women of more -ripened years, whose careers have led -to what seemed a purposeful goal. It all -seems happy and light-hearted, and yet -there <em>must</em> be shadows, if these men and -women are really men and women, and -not mere thoughtless, heartless, brainless -creatures. Is it, again, “after us the -deluge?”</p> - -<p>Again, I remember very well an occasion -this past winter, when the same thought -came to me. I was dining in one of the -city hotels. Music and laughter flooded -the place as sunshine floods the fields.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">102</span> -Outwardly, the scene had all the appearance -of perfect ease and happiness. Looking -around, I lighted by chance upon a table -where a group of elderly people, all well -known to me, were dining. They were people -who live well, and who take a large part in -the social world as well as in the world of -business. I watched them as they talked. -I noted an air of gravity, of seriousness, and -I wondered what it was all about. A -little later, as their table assumed the normal -aspect, I went over and exchanged -greetings with them. Incidentally, I asked -them what had made them so very serious -throughout the evening.</p> - -<p>One of them, an old friend of mine, told -me. They had been discussing a statement -that had appeared as a news item during -the afternoon. It was part of a speech -made in the senate at Washington. It was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">103</span> -an attack upon the concentration of wealth -in the hands of the few. It was really a -veiled denunciation of the principle upon -which Society is founded. These men and -women, all part and parcel of the social -world, had spent most of their evening -discussing that item of news.</p> - -<p>A very few years ago such an episode -as this would have been dismissed by almost -any group of men and women who -belonged to Society, with hardly a single -thought. Somebody might have introduced -the subject; somebody else would have -abusively called the senator a demagogue, -or an agitator, or a Socialist—and the conversation -would have drifted on into the -latest sporting news or talk of somebody’s -ball a month or so away. But now, the -older men and women of Society know -better. They have learned, in fact, to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">104</span> -distinguish real news from mere sensation. -They know a statesman from a demagogue -and facts from sensations.</p> - -<p>I do not say that it is general, this tendency -to take seriously the social, industrial, -and economic questions of the day. In -my own case, I do know that up to a -very few years ago none of these problems -bothered me very much. I know that very -rarely did I hear the question raised as -to the permanence of the conditions under -which we lived within our social barriers. -Nobody, in my world, considered the problem -of industry his own; and every one -drifted onward through the years secure -in the conviction that in the end everything -was going to be all right.</p> - -<p>To-day how different it is! To-day -we are studying the sources of our wealth, -finding out for ourselves the real price<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">105</span> -paid by humanity to give us the privileges -of the social life which we and our fathers -have enjoyed. Excited by curiosity, we -go down to inspect the mines our fathers -left to us. We watch the men at work, mere -pitiful animals, risking their lives in terrible -endeavour for a meagre wage, that we, the -heirs of time and of eternity, may take our -leisure in the palaces of wealth. In the -mills of Pittsburg we watch the workers -in iron and steel, toiling in the white hot -blast of the furnaces that we, who never -have toiled, may draw our dividends and -spend them on the luxuries we love.</p> - -<p>All around and about us are millions -of active, industrious human beings. How -can we, the rich, longer remain idle? Is -it possible that the heroism of the wealth-producing, -life-preserving population of the -world exerts no influence upon those who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">106</span> -are not forced by circumstances to work? -I know from my own experience that those -who are worth while in the social and financial -world have not only been influenced -by the activity of the world’s workers, but -I can positively state that mere pleasure-seeking -idlers are disappearing so fast -that it is a question of but a few years -more before their extinction is complete.</p> - -<p>But a very few years ago we would have -visited the mines of Scranton or the forges -of Pittsburg, and we would have looked -upon the workers there with eyes of pity, -perhaps, and we might have talked more -or less glibly of the hardships of labour. -Yet it would not have been <em>our</em> problem. -To-day we recognize the relationship between -the labour that produces our wealth -and the wealth which we enjoy.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">107</span></p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div id="chap5" class="blockquot quote"> - -<p>“<i>It is quite plain that your government will never -be able to restrain a distressed and discontented majority. -For with you the majority is the government, -and has the rich, who are always a minority, absolutely -at its mercy. The day will come when in the -State of New York a multitude of people, none of -whom have had more than half a breakfast or expect -to have more than half a dinner, will choose a Legislature. -Is it possible to doubt what sort of Legislature -will be chosen? On one side is a statesman -preaching patience, respect for vested rights, strict observance -of public faith. On the other is a demagogue -ranting about the tyranny of capitalists and usurers -and asking why anybody should be permitted ... -to ride in a carriage while thousands of honest folks -are in want of necessaries. Which of the two candidates -is liable to be preferred by a workingman who -hears his children cry for more bread?</i>”</p> - -<p class="attrib">—<span class="smcap">Lord Macaulay</span>, 1857. -</p></div></div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a class="hidep" id="Page_108">108</a><a id="Page_109"></a>109</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_Five"><i>Chapter Five</i><br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE AWAKENING OF SOCIETY</span> -</h2> -</div> - -<p class="in0">Many are the causes that have led to this -great change in the attitude of the wealthy -classes toward the world at large. First -and foremost, in my judgment, is the change -in the attitude of the working classes themselves -toward the rich. For, more assiduously -than anything else in this world, -we, the wealthy, seek the praise and admiration -of the crowd. It may seem a -strange confession from a member of the -wealthy class, but it is true.</p> - -<p>And the attitude of the people at large -toward the rich has been changed indeed. -I remember, even in my own lifetime, a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">110</span> -period when the people of this country -looked up with admiration and respect -to their wealthy classes. It was in the -end of that long period of which I have -spoken, in which the wealth of the nation -was well distributed and had not been -gathered together into the hands of the -few by means of the exploitation of the -masses.</p> - -<p>To-day how great the change! How -wonderful the transformation! At first -a few weak voices told what a few eyes -saw. In unheard-of journals of the labour -movement, in certain revelations of high -finance, corruption of politics, dreadful -tales were told—stories long since forgotten. -In Henry Demarest Lloyd’s -“Wealth vs. Commonwealth” we have a -strong voice describing what keen eyes -clearly discerned. Soon were published<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">111</span> -several profound historical studies which -aroused the more thoughtful. Then, with -drum and trumpet and black banners flying, -came the army of the muck-rakers. -And their revelations made the nation -heartsick.</p> - -<p>It is but five years since the white light -of the noon-day sun beat down upon the -hitherto deeply buried roots of America’s -industrial and social life, and eighty-five -millions knew whence the social fruitage -of our age draws its sustenance. Just -what, in this connection, has been the -effect of these five years upon American -opinion?</p> - -<p>When the nineteenth century closed, -America worshipped great wealth. It -sanctified its possessors. It deified the -hundred-millionaire. In five years’ time -America has learned to hate great wealth.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">112</span> -Plutocracy is disgorging, but public opinion -is relentless.</p> - -<p>Never before in the history of the world -has there been anything analogous to the -campaign of the American muck-rakers. -The progressive forces of French society -raged at the monarchy and the Church -before the French Revolution. But their -propaganda took thirty years to gain -power, and fifty years to accomplish its -purpose. The work of destruction here -seemed to be done in a night. The -“pillars of Society” tumbled. From official -statements of the President of the -United States down to the output of ten -dollar a week hack-writers, our publications -teemed with the products of the -popular trade of exposure. Great commercial -and industrial institutions were -analyzed. National and municipal governments<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">113</span> -were dissected. Universities and -churches did not escape the busy seeker for -sin. After submerging itself in the story of -its shames, the nation turned in disgust -to more pleasing visions. But it had answered -the question “How?” And the -answer is by no means forgotten.</p> - -<p>Some day, perhaps in the twenty-first -century, some Carlyle, sitting in the shade -of elms before an old country house, will -head another chapter, “Printed Paper,” -and describe the war made with words upon -the crumbling ideals and ideas of an age. -He will tell how a nation from worshipping -wealth on Monday learned to hate it on -Saturday. He will relate how it came that -myriads of poor, blessing the alms giver -as they fell asleep in low hovels and crowded -tenements, awoke with their hearts full -of bitterness and hatred for those whom<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">114</span> -they had worshipped. He will humorously -describe how the plutocracy itself, alarmed -beyond power of expression, sought to -disgorge its ill-gotten gains upon the multitude; -its primal virtue, acquisition, transformed -to the crime, possession. He will -recall for the amusement of students of -history the frantic endeavour of the demagogue -to raise himself in public esteem -through decrying the idle rich.</p> - -<p>To us, who, through the heyday of our -popularity, simply sat in the sunshine and -throve and grew fat in happiness, it came -as a terrible shock, this change of the popular -attitude. At first we laughed at it; -then we preached little sermons about it, -half jesting, half serious; then we began -to talk about it among ourselves; and we -held indignation meetings every time we -met our friends, and called down the wrath<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">115</span> -of heaven on these sharp-eyed and glib-tongued -investigators.</p> - -<p>Finally—and here lies the heart of the -matter—we began to read these outpourings -of the popular sentiment very -seriously indeed. They came, at last, -from sources that we dared not disregard. -Instead of mere muck-raking expeditions -they assumed the proportions of crusades. -Instead of the frantic mouthings of mere -sensation mongers there confronted us -in the columns of the press and in the more -sedate and orderly pages of the magazines -the speeches of a President, or sane, sober -editorials written by men who knew both -sides, and who commanded our respect as -well as the respect and admiration of the -crowd. We recognized—those of us who -thought, and saw, and felt—that instead of -being a passing phase, as we had dreamed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">116</span> -or hoped, this change of popular sentiment -was the beginning of a revolution.</p> - -<p>I hesitate to say how deep this arrow -struck. Perhaps I can illustrate it best -by telling a story that came to my ears this -past winter. A lady of the old school was -sending her daughter, a young girl, to one -of the preparatory schools here in the East. -She went herself to look at the college and -to talk with some of the professors. In -conversation with the principal, she said:</p> - -<p>“I want Estelle, right from the beginning -of her course, to get a full understanding -of where wealth comes from. I want -her year by year to learn of the debt and -the responsibility that she, personally, -owes to the people that work. Are these -things taught in your courses?”</p> - -<p>The principal was astounded. She protested -that such education was entirely<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">117</span> -out of line with the principles and precepts -of that college. Very delicately and tactfully -she intimated that one of the foundations -of a social education was the constant -instillation into the minds of the young of -the idea of the superiority of the aristocracy -over the masses. To teach Estelle -that she and her class are really dependent -upon the grimy men who labour with their -hands would be to turn upside down the curriculum -of that college.</p> - -<p>The upshot of it was that Estelle to-day -is enrolled as a student in a high school -in New York City. Her mother believes -that the salvation of the wealthy classes -in this country depends upon the coming -generation understanding the true relationship -between capital and labour.</p> - -<p>This is, perhaps, an extreme case, for -only a very few years ago that matron herself<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">118</span> -was absolutely immersed in the whirlpools -of the most frivolous Society which has -a real right to use the term in talking about -itself. Always she was a woman of a -most active mind, of broad sympathies, -of excellent benevolent character; but her -mind found its full exercise in the pursuit -of social fads, her sympathies found outlet -in sporadic raids upon the strongholds of -misery and poverty, and her benevolence -satisfied itself with much hidden largess -to various and sundry charities. She did -not really understand any of the problems -of the day.</p> - -<p>The first awakening of this one woman -came about through chance. Bored to -death at a summer resort, half sick, and -therefore restricted in her activities, a -friend who stopped on the piazza to extend -her sympathies happened to leave on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">119</span> -table a book. The lady picked it up and -began, half absently, to turn the pages -from back to front, as one will. A heading -caught her eye. Here it is:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="center wspace smcap">“OUR BARBARIANS FROM ABOVE.”</p></div> - -<p>She did not understand it; and her habit -of mind led her to investigate. She had -lost the page, but she searched until she -found it. Then she read the paragraph:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>If our civilization is destroyed, as -Macaulay predicted, it will not be by his -barbarians from below. Our barbarians -come from above. Our great money-makers -have sprung in one generation into -seats of power kings do not know. The -forces and the wealth are new, and have -been the opportunity of new men. Without -restraints of culture, experience, the -pride or even the inherited caution of class -or rank, these intoxicated men think they -are the wave instead of the float. To them, -science is but a never-ending repertoire -of investments stored up by nature for -the syndicates, government but a fountain<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">120</span> -of franchises, the nations but customers in -squads, and the million the unit of a new -arithmetic of wealth written for them.</p></div> - -<p>She read on and on. She finished the -book, and turned back to its beginning. -She could not read it all; but she read -enough to realize her profound ignorance -of facts. That night, at dinner, she astounded -her husband in this wise:</p> - -<p>“Who is Henry Demarest Lloyd?”</p> - -<p>“He is a Socialist writer,” was the answer, -“who amuses himself attacking our -class.”</p> - -<p>“I wish,” she said, “you would get me -all his books.”</p> - -<p>From that time on her mind found new -occupations, new interests, new ideas. A -world that she did not know existed came -swiftly over her horizon. She did not rush -madly into extremes—she has not to this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">121</span> -day—but her life has changed considerably. -We who knew her so little time ago -as one of the typical, clever, brilliant, and -flashy purveyors of cheer and social joy -find her to-day no less charming in the -matter of mere entertainment; but we -expect, when we meet her, to find in her -mind many other and more serious things. -She never appears in print, she is not a -suffragist, she has dropped her little fads. -She is not that strange abnormality of her -sex that neglects the old pursuits of -women to follow the strange gods of men; -but she is, in every sense, a student of the -true conditions that surround her. The -mists of golden tradition have cleared from -her eyes.</p> - -<p>To-day she has plenty of company in -her own set. She did not convert them. -She detests the rôle of a propagandist.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">122</span> -They simply came of their own accord to -read and learn. And when the educated -classes really become interested, I think -they study things more deeply than any -other class. Even the most violent and -anarchistic of the publications that pretend -to portray the facts of the class relationships -have thousands of readers among -the very wealthy.</p> - -<p>I remember a case in point. Mr. Upton -Sinclair, a pronounced Socialist of the -flamboyant type, was invited to lunch -one day, by a mutual acquaintance, with -a young man of the most exclusive set in -this city. They met in a private dining-room -at the Lawyers’ Club. In the course -of the lunch Mr. Sinclair referred to an -article he had published in <cite>Wilshire’s -Magazine</cite>, a Socialist sheet of the noisy class.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said the other, “I read it.”</p> - -<p>“You read it?” exclaimed Mr. Sinclair, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">123</span> -in complete surprise.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes—I always read it,” said the -other, in a matter-of-fact way.</p> - -<p>There are many like him. Five years -ago you probably could have counted on -the fingers of two hands the men in the -wealthy classes who read the literature -that comes from below. To-day it is -a very common occurrence to hear in the -best clubs of New York wealthy men -discussing with intense earnestness and -real economic sense articles of which they -never would have heard five years ago.</p> - -<p>It is not that many of us really feel the -danger that impends. It is simply that -our armour of complacency and self-satisfaction -has been pierced, and our pride -has been wounded.</p> - -<p>“I used to think,” said a clubman to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">124</span> -me last winter, “that we were well beloved; -but I guess our class is the best hated class -in the land. I am only beginning to find -out why.”</p> - -<p>Of course, I do not want to give the reader -the idea that the muck-raker wrought -this change. As a matter of fact, he is -but the skirmish line. The wealthy classes -would have weathered his attack without -much trouble and gone upon their all-complacent -way if he had been the culmination, -instead of the mere beginning, of the -hard attack. But after him, as I have -said, came a great army of sober, sedate, -forceful writers, hurling volleys of stinging -facts upon our careless trenches. We -roused ourselves to meet the real attack. -Fiercely it swept upon us. Yet even that -we might have met and gone back in the -end into the peace and security of our age-long<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">125</span> -self-confidence, no whit the worse for -the battle.</p> - -<p>Worse—or better—was to come. -When the pulpit and the press had done -their worst—or best—the heavy artillery -opened. Senators on the floor of the senate, -governors from the chair of office, mighty -lawyers before the bar, judges from the -bench, and, last, a President from the -White House, raked our outworn defences, -and even the silliest and most fatuous of -men within the walls knew, at least, that -we were under fire.</p> - -<p>To-day there is a lull. Many of those -who awakened to the sound of battle -but two or three years ago are slipping back -into fancied security. The older heads -know better. We see the forces of labour -and poverty forming new lines upon the -plains and hill sides. We see them lashed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">126</span> -to new fury by the whip of rising prices; -we hear the stern, stentorian voices of their -tribunes calling them to battle for their -lives and liberties; we smell the reek of them -as they crowd from the dusty mines and -sweaty factories.</p> - -<p>We do not flatter ourselves, even those -of us most drunk with the strong liquor of -power and the sweet wine of indolence, -that the forces of attack are weakened or -weakening. We know full well that this -great lull of renewed national prosperity -has been used by the forces of the men that -labour to make themselves stronger, cleaner, -better caparisoned for the long battle of -to-morrow.</p> - -<p>In the midst of the peace and calm of -high prosperity we hear the rumble of the -thunder of war. We read in the papers -that a great manufacturing city of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">127</span> -Middle West has chosen a Socialist mayor. -Over the wires there comes to us the news -that an anti-corporation campaign in Denver -has broken to atoms the organized -power of both the great political parties -which, for generations, we have used as -pawns in mightier games than theirs. An -able public servant is openly and publicly -branded a thief and a betrayer of trust, -because, the people say, he works with the -larger capitalists to help their plans to -completion. Public clamour and disapprobation -greet the plan of one of the richest -of men to incorporate his charities in order -that they may be more efficient. The -people refuse absolutely to believe that -there is no ulterior project behind the -incorporation.</p> - -<p>These are incidents of warfare, not of -peace. Here, as in Denver and Milwaukee,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">128</span> -it is an attack upon an outpost, -a skirmish in force. There, as in the case -of the Rockefeller Foundation, it is a -determined effort to block what the leaders -of popular thought believe to be a strengthening -of the redoubts of wealth.</p> - -<p>Strange, it seems to me, it is that still -within the gates of gold there dwells a -great host of people barely roused. For I -have failed of my aim if I have given the -impression that Society is to-day wholly -roused, wholly armed, wholly awake to -its danger. It is, alas! not true. It is -no more true than it was true before the -rebellion that the people of the South were -all in sympathy with Helper. There were -a few, to be sure, but the rank and file of -the slave-holders called him a visionary -and an alarmist.</p> - -<p>So to-day, perchance, the vast majority<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">129</span> -of the men of wealth in this and other -cities will call me a visionary and an -alarmist. I wish it were true. Would -that I could bring myself to believe that -the things I see about me are but the -passing phases of a natural adjustment. I -have tried for many years to persuade -myself that all is well. I have failed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a class="hidep" id="Page_130">130</a><a id="Page_131"></a>131</span></p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div id="chap6" class="blockquot quote"> - -<p>“<i>Six years ago no proposition to which the great -corporation interests of the country were strongly -opposed was looked upon as having any practical -chance of being realized.... The killing and -maiming or stifling of bills of this kind in committee -was a foregone conclusion, and the only -answer to protests was Tweed’s old query: ‘What -are you going to do about it?</i>’”</p> - -<p class="attrib">—<span class="smcap">Franklin Fabian</span>. -</p></div></div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a class="hidep" id="Page_132">132</a><a id="Page_133"></a>133</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_Six"><i>Chapter Six</i><br /> - -<span class="subhead">FOR THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER</span> -</h2> -</div> - -<p class="in0">I have, in previous chapters, touched very -briefly upon some of the vile excrescences -that have found a resting place within the -gates of our once so fair city of Society. -Again, I have sketched in the briefest outline -the process by which the idle class was -created. I have shown how the seed was -planted in the too fertile soil of American -industry. I have dwelt, but briefly, upon -the simple fact that we of the older orders -have come to find out something about -that planting and the manner of the growth.</p> - -<p>I turn with something like dismay from -a sketch of the methods of the culture of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">134</span> -this growth. For it is watered with the -bloody sweat of labour and the salt tears -of bitter poverty and suffering; and it is -fertilized with the dead bodies of men and -women outworn in the grim battle of life. -Tended and watched it is by a foul horde -of underlings, hired judges in the law, -panders in politics, prostitutes in the pulpit, -lickspittles in college chancelleries, -Judases in the press, blackmailers in business, -and miserable, time-serving parasites -clinging like filthy leeches upon the administrative -bodies of the nation.</p> - -<p>To my mind, as I have studied this question, -there has come a sad conviction: -This nation is betrayed. The planting -of the seed of our industrial system, whose -fine flower has been reached in our class of -idle rich, was quite possible without any -betrayal of the people. Even its growth<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">135</span> -for two decades was possible without a -conscious effort on the part of the keepers -of the public citadels to throw open the -doors to a public enemy. May a thinking -man dare to say that the growth of this -system since 1890 could have been possible -without criminal negligence on the part of -those public servants sworn to guard the -true and lawful interests of the people -of this nation?</p> - -<p>For it was perfectly evident, years ago, -that the industrial evolution of this country -was a process of exploitation. It was -the knowledge of this fact that lay behind -the Sherman Law of 1890; and again the -Interstate Commerce Act, which sought to -restrain, to a limited extent at least, the -boundless license to plunder which had -been taken unto themselves by the railroads. -No broad-minded man can read<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">136</span> -with an open mind the facts with regard -to the Homestead strike, the Pullman -strike, the war in the Cœur d’Alene, or -the coal strike of very recent years, without -coming to the conclusion that no matter -who was in the wrong in the immediate -circumstances leading to those national -catastrophes, the real underlying cause -was a revolt on the part of a subjugated -people against the hardships of industrial -slavery.</p> - -<p>Without going into details, let us examine, -in the light of history, a few of the -cardinal facts that have so far made possible -a continuance, indeed, a constant widening -and deepening, of this process of -exploitation. Let us remember always, -as we face the facts, that the primary cause -of this condition lay in that evolution, which -was probably inevitable, from the household<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">137</span> -stage of manufacturing in this country -to the stage that is represented by the -modern trust. That evolution stands to-day -completed. It was, as a matter of -fact, completed on the day when the -American Sugar Refining Company assumed -the dominating position in the sugar -trade. Subsequent developments have -been but a repetition, sometimes on a -larger scale, sometimes on a smaller, of -that climax. What, then, makes possible -the continuance of this process in the -face of the ever-growing public knowledge -of its existence?</p> - -<p>The answer is our public shame. This -process, openly recognized by the public, -thoroughly analyzed day by day and year -by year by brilliant writers in press and -periodical, exposed again and again in -excellently written books by college economists,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">138</span> -has gone on and on through climax -after climax for the simple reason that the -one power in the world that could stop it—the -will of the American people—has -been turned from its purpose, defeated -in its honest efforts, and betrayed in its -administration, through the fact that in -our democratic political world the power -of mobilized wealth has been sufficient to -restrain the hands of our political parties -and prevent the striking of the blows that -would have put an end to the process. -To-day, in America, the people elect their -statesmen; but the exercise of the people’s -power through these statesmen is curbed, -directed, and controlled by groups of -moneyed interests. This is a statement -that many will challenge; it is a statement -that cannot be proved or disproved. I -give it as my opinion, based upon long,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">139</span> -careful study, and based, too, on personal -knowledge.</p> - -<p>America, then, is a plutocracy. Always -politically, the power of a plutocracy depends -upon the maintenance of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">status -quo</i>. It has come into being through the -operation of certain industrial or commercial -conditions. It lives by virtue of the -continuance of those conditions, and by -virtue of their freedom from attack by -the one power strong enough to destroy -them—namely, the people.</p> - -<p>To maintain this <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">status quo</i> has been -the gigantic task successfully carried out by -the financial interests of the United States. -It is not my intention—indeed, it is not -within my power—to go into any complete -details of the methods and machinery -used for this end. It has not all been accomplished, -by any means, through direct<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">140</span> -political corruption, though much of it has -been accomplished in that way. The few -scattered and unimportant instances of -conviction are enough by themselves, without -going into surmise at all, to establish -the fact that in almost every state of the -Union, and at the seat of the central -government itself, there has been for thirty -years past widespread corruption of -political parties.</p> - -<p>Deeper than this, more sinister even than -the most recent example of an administrative -officer bound like a slave to the wheel -of his master’s chariot, has been the indirect -subornation of public opinion through -a subsidized press, subsidized pulpits, and -subsidized public speakers. We have heard -a great deal of demagogues and wicked -Socialistic leaders of the mob. We do -not hear much of that other phenomenon,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">141</span> -the oily sycophant who talks to the people -with words of cheer and paragraphs of -exhortation, having in his mind always the -one single idea how best he may serve the -moneyed interests that stand behind him.</p> - -<p>It is strange to me, and it has always -been strange to other men who have studied -these things, that the interests of a plutocracy -can be so long maintained; for -a plutocracy, of its very nature, is the -weakest possible form of government. It -lives either by force or by fraud. It lived -in Rome before the days of Marius by force -alone; and the lower orders of Rome were -slaves. It lived in Paris before the Terror, -by a combination of force and fraud; and -the lower orders of France became fiendish -brutes. It lives in America by fraud alone; -and what may we say of the people of this -nation who permit it to live?</p> - -<p>For, strange and incongruous as it may -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">142</span> -seem, a plutocracy rarely if ever develops -a real leader save in the crisis of its lifetime. -In Rome, as Ferrero so well points out in -his book, “The Greatness and Decline -of Rome,” Sulla came into his leadership -of the plutocracy only after the people -in the person of Marius had seized from -the hands of the plutocracy all the power of -government. In France, the plutocracy -absolutely failed to develop a leader. In -England to-day, almost in the dawn of a -revolution, the propertied classes lack a -single person of commanding power. In -America, no single man, no group of men, -represent in their persons the power of the -plutocracy.</p> - -<p>It is the tendency of the great and wealthy -to divide into rival camps. For some years -past, in the one single subdivision of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">143</span> -world of wealth that is represented by -Wall Street finance, there have been at -least two great leaders of the golden host, -bitterly antagonistic, fiercely at odds, -each striving to draw to himself new reinforcements, -not with the idea of strengthening -the world of money as a whole, but -rather with the single idea of building up -his own power to break down or destroy the -power of other leaders in that world. To-day, -in this single section of the world of -business, there seems to be but one man who -stands like a giant among pygmies. Far -more nearly than any other in our history -does he, in his magnificent personal power -and his splendid executive wisdom, approach -the magnitude of a real leader in -a plutocracy.</p> - -<p>In the political world it is physically -next to impossible that any man can arise<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">144</span> -in a country where the people vote who will -be able to assume at once political power -as a servant of the people and plutocratic -rule as a representative of moneyed interests. -In the never-ceasing conflict between -the people and their exploiters no -man by serving two sides can achieve -greatness. Therefore, the wealthy classes -of America have never sought, and are not -seeking to-day, leaders from the political -arena. In that arena, it is true, they have -chosen to associate themselves, from time -to time, with men who, through their -ability or through the public confidence -reposed in then, exercise great political -authority. In that way, more than by any -other, the plutocracy of America has maintained -the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">status quo</i>; but every citizen of -the United States who in his own mind is -persuaded that this is true of any one man<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">145</span> -who can be named in the political world -despises that man, contemns his authority, -and sets him down in the list of a nation’s -traitors.</p> - -<p>It is a losing fight, this struggle of a plutocracy -against a people. Against organized -political opposition in a free country, -where citizens have a right to vote, -it must crumble into dust when once the -people seriously begin the organization of -political opposition. For how different is -the position of the people from the position -of a plutocracy in the matter of individual -leadership! Never in the history of the -world, in any but a nation of slaves, have the -people lacked a leader. Marius in Rome, -Danton and Robespierre in Paris, Cromwell -in England, you may multiply the list a hundred -fold if you care to study the pages of -history. In all ages, leaders like this, when<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">146</span> -once they are fired with enthusiasm for a -cause, have been able, when they cared -to do so, to strike out policies direct and -strong, and to lead the minds of the people -as they willed. Such lines of political -cleavage as these do not transpire easily. -In almost every case in history there has -been transition only through war, riot, -and revolution. We need a leader. He -will surely come.</p> - -<p>In this country, already, opposition exists. -Labour union parties, reform parties, -Socialistic parties, have come into being, -faded away, and died. To-day, the only -independent party working in the political -world of the United States is so inextricably -bound up with and wedded to a host -of economic fallacies that the sober common -sense of the American people as a -whole, feeling as they do that the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">147</span> -great political parties of the country are -hopelessly inefficient and corrupt, will -not endorse it.</p> - -<p>We have not yet in this country marked -out clearly the line of political cleavage -along which the mighty rift must be made. -Perhaps one may find the first faint tracings -of it in the rise of the insurgents in -the last session of congress. From what I -have learned of the sentiment in the powerful -Middle West, which more than any other -part of the Union represents an average -of the people of the United States, I am -more than half convinced that this is -true. If it be so, many things may -happen within the next few years, and -there may be very good reason indeed -for the wide spread of uneasiness in the -plutocracy.</p> - -<p>I am not a politician. I look at this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">148</span> -matter of political power much as any other -sober American business man looks at it. -Among my own people I seldom hear purely -political discussions. When we are discussing -pro and con the relative merits of candidates -or the relative importance of political -policies, the discussion almost invariably -comes down to a question of business -efficiency. We care absolutely nothing -about statehood bills, pension agitation, -waterway appropriations, “pork barrels,” -state rights, or any other political question, -save inasmuch as it threatens or fortifies -existing business conditions. Touch the -question of the tariff, touch the issue of the -income tax, touch the problem of railroad -regulation, or touch that most vital -of all business matters, the question of -general federal regulation of industrial -corporations, and the people amongst whom<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">149</span> -I live my life become immediately rabid -partisans.</p> - -<p>It matters not one iota what political -party is in power, or what President holds -the reins of office. We are not politicians, -or public thinkers; we are the rich; we own -America; we got it, God knows how; but -we intend to keep it if we can by throwing -all the tremendous weight of our support, -our influence, our money, our political connection, -our purchased senators, our hungry -congressmen, and our public-speaking -demagogues into the scale against any -legislation, any political platform, any -Presidential campaign, that threatens the -integrity of our estate.</p> - -<p>I have said that the class I represent -cares nothing for politics. In a single -season a plutocratic leader hurled his influence -and his money into the scale to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">150</span> -elect a Republican governor on the Pacific -coast, and a Democratic governor on the -Atlantic. The same moneyed interest that -he represented has held undisputed sway -through many administrations, Republican -and Democratic, in a state in which it had -large railroad interests. Judge Lindsey, -in his latest book, “The Beast,” has shown -in indisputable detail how the corporation -interests of Denver played with both great -political parties. Truly can I say that -wealth has no politics save its own -interests.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">151</span></p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div id="chap7" class="blockquot quote"> - -<p>“<i>Poverty is a bitter thing, but it is not as bitter -as the existence of restless vacuity and physical, -moral, and intellectual flabbiness to which those -doom themselves who elect to spend all their years in -that vainest of all pursuits, the pursuit of mere pleasure -as a sufficient end in itself.</i>”</p> - -<p class="attrib">—<span class="smcap">Theodore Roosevelt.</span> -</p></div></div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a class="hidep" id="Page_152">152</a><a id="Page_153"></a>153</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_Seven"><i>Chapter Seven</i><br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE</span> -</h2> -</div> - -<p class="in0">Sometimes an honest man of my class, -reading the news of the day, awakes to a -sudden realization of the grim political -truth. During the time of the public -discussion over the late tariff readjustment -I remember such an incident. We were -three men, sitting together in the smoking-room -of an up-town club. One of us had -brought in a copy of a sane and honest -afternoon paper, containing a quiet, dignified, -careful but powerful analysis of the -results brought about under the tariff reform -measure. He had been struck by -the article. He called it to the attention<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">154</span> -of the third member of the group, who sat -down to read it.</p> - -<p>He read it through, while my friend and -I talked about trivial things. After quite -a long period of silence he handed the paper -back to the giver.</p> - -<p>“What do you think of it?” he was asked.</p> - -<p>His cigar had gone out. He lit it before -he replied. Then he said, gravely:</p> - -<p>“America needs a Marius, a Pitt, and -a Peel. Before long it must get one or -all of them, or it will surely breed a Danton -and a Robespierre.”</p> - -<p>It may have been mere epigram, but the -two of us who heard it were startled. For -the man who said it was a leader of the -world of fashion, powerful in the world of -business, and descended from four generations -of the purest-blooded aristocracy -this country owns.</p> - -<p>Think, then, of the meaning of this -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">155</span> -sentiment from such a man at such a time! -Marius, a plebeian, led the slaves of Rome -to the seats of political power, broke down -the age-old barriers of an aristocratic -plutocracy, and wrote into the history of -the world one of its earliest chapters on the -revolt of a subjugated nation held in -chains for the benefit of a few. Pitt, -Lord Chatham, the “Great Commoner,” -hurled from office by the combined power -of a king, a plutocratic class, and a subservient -political machine, was forced back -into office by the will of the people, unorganized, -in the face of all the banded -powers against him, and in spite of a condition -of political corruption that made his -return seem a miracle. Peel gave the people -of England free corn against the banded -powers of commercial greed.</p> - -<p>And to-day, in America, an aristocrat -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">156</span> -and a member of the plutocratic class, -sitting in a great city club of fashion, -reading an editorial from a paper that is -published and edited to meet the demands -of that very class, gives it as his opinion -that in this country we must raise a Marius, -a Pitt, and a Peel! And the alternative—the -days of the Terror, the bloody hands, -the brutish mob, the wild-eyed, frantic -leaders of the hosts that stormed the -Bastile, set up the guillotine—so runs the -mind of an aristocrat and a plutocrat, -reading the <cite>Evening Post</cite> in a rich man’s -club on upper Fifth Avenue!</p> - -<p>I believe that he was right. Without -referring specifically to the tariff reform—for -this is no political document that -I am writing—I believe that the catalogue -of legislative enactments by our administrative<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">157</span> -machine over the past twenty -years reveals beyond the shadow of a -doubt that the will of the people is subservient -to the will of the plutocracy. How -can we further blind ourselves to the truth? -When such a fact is known as gospel to -the people, from Maine to California, published -in every section of the press, from -the gutter-snipe class to the scholarly -review, how may the best educated class -in the United States go on upon its careless -way ignoring the fact?</p> - -<p>The result is perfectly obvious in the -light of history. The plutocracy, stripped -of the artificial screens behind which it -grew to power, stands exposed to-day in -the full glare of the search-light of public -knowledge. Under such circumstances, -even in slave-holding nations, there has -never lacked a tribune of the people. So<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">158</span> -sprung the Gracchi from the dust to lead -the first great battle in Rome. So, even -in the dawn of popular liberty, came a -Tyler and a Cade, before their hour had -struck, it is true, yet, even so, with power -to call to their backs armies of men willing -to die and conquerable only by accident or -guile. So, in the fullness of time, came -other greater men, a Marius, a Pitt, a -Peel, who led the people onward and upward -against the citadels of plutocracy.</p> - -<p>To-day we of the class that rules, that -draws unearned profits from the toil of -other men, know full well that the time is -almost here when there must be a true accounting. -The fortunes that have been -made are made; and that is all of it. The -fortunes that are in the making through -misuse of political power, through extortionate -exploitation of the people and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">159</span> -the people’s heritage, through industrial -oppression and industrial denial of the -rights of man—these must be checked. -To-morrow, in this land, the door of opportunity -must be again unsealed.</p> - -<p>We cannot go back and create more free -land to take the place of the millions upon -millions of acres thrown away by a lavish, -stupid, careless, traitorous government. -We cannot fill again the plundered mines -of Michigan or Montana or Pennsylvania. -We cannot clothe the hills of Maine -and Michigan again with pine, or the broad -bottoms of Ohio with walnut. We cannot -turn backward the hands of the clock, -or re-create the economic factors that -have been eliminated to make of their fragments -the wealth and the social world -to-day enjoyed by the exploiters and -their descendants.</p> - -<p>It is not so that evolution works. That -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">160</span> -rare civilization of the Aztecs which Cortez -crushed can never be restored. Only echoes -from the tombs of Lucumons, after the -lapse of twenty centuries, attest the fact -that once, in Etruria, there existed a civilization -distinctive, splendid, brilliant, -until the tempest of Sulla’s vengeance -blotted it from the face of the earth. -Only the ashes in the urn of history -remain of Pharaoh’s Egypt, Athens, Babylon, -Persia.</p> - -<p>So, too, the golden opportunity of yesterday -is gone, never to return within our -borders. The lesson of America, however, -is burned deep into the records of time. -In Canada, such a man as Laurier reads -it clearly. In the greater of the Latin republics -in South America, they strive to-day -to prevent the very condition we now<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">161</span> -find in free America. In this matter -of the real substance of rulership, the -United States is to-day an example to the -nations of a democracy which has deliberately -squandered its birthright.</p> - -<p>Yet, for all our lost opportunities, much -remains that can be done and will be done. -It is not my purpose here to sketch the -process of salvation that is yet possible. -Only, at this point in my writings, I would -warn the people of my class, those of them -who do not yet think about these things or -understand them, that the moment has -arrived when the people demand a Marius—a -tribune who shall lead them onward -into freedom, a man who shall stand before -the world untrammelled by the golden -chains of wealth, undefiled by the pollution -of time-serving politics, filled with the inspiration -of the people’s will, courageous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">162</span> -to battle to the very bitter end for the -rights that the people demand.</p> - -<p>Only the morally and intellectually deaf -cannot hear the sound of the call of the -people. It sweeps from the plains of -Kansas in the breath of the rustling corn; it -swells from the hills of Montana in the thud -of the drill and the rising and falling of -picks in the mines; it whirs from the looms -of the South and the North, where child -slaves earn the bread of labour; it moans -from the lofts of New York, in the voice -of the slaves of the sweat shop; it shrieks -from the forges of Pittsburg, the charnels -of Packingtown, the terrible mines of the -mountains of coal.</p> - -<p>It is a call for a leader to freedom—the -freedom we bought with our blood and -signed away in ignorance. I care not where -you turn, the voices of the people crying<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">163</span> -for their rights rise stronger, fuller, more -threatening, year by year. Day by day -they organize. A meeting of farmers at -St. Louis files formal protest against the -profits of the middleman, and forms a -committee to investigate and report, and -puts together a League of Reform. A -machine-made politician in New York, -in Massachusetts, in Pennsylvania, is -crushed by the votes of the people he fondly -had dreamed he owned. A firmly entrenched -public officer is branded a liar and -a thief, no matter what committees may -whitewash him. A public document published -to clear the skirts of a ruling party -of the charge of being in part responsible -for the rising prices is laughed out of court -by the people themselves.</p> - -<p>A daring and preposterous attempt on -the part of organized railroad owners to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">164</span> -advance rates to the general public, while -holding them down for the “big interests,” -is met by a storm of organized protest. -Chambers of commerce, industrial clubs, -manufacturers’ guilds, consumers’ leagues, -spring up all over the country, expostulating, -pleading, threatening, hurling legal -thunderbolts. A President yields to the -clamour, and an attorney-general launches -the thunder of Washington against a move -that, ten years ago, would have met only -the scattered, sporadic, half-hearted, hopeless -invective of the private citizen. The -railroads yield, and begin the revision of -rates “at the top,” by making agreements -with the big organized shippers, the trusts.</p> - -<p>The time is ripe, or nearly ripe; the -fight begins. The <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">status quo</i> is to be changed. -In the political arena all is confusion. -Already, from the lips of the old, trained<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">165</span> -leaders, who, through long periods, have -served the interests of the plutocracy -while wearing the livery of the people, -come hesitating phrases of fear and confusion. -One announces that he will retire -after his present term. Another goes down -to defeat, fighting to the last for his masters. -A third, branded a corruptionist, -sees ruin stalking him amid the shadows -of the coming day. Another, reading the -papers, dubs them traitors, and madly curses -them before the eyes and in the ears of -all the people.</p> - -<p>And, meantime, we need a Marius, a -Lincoln, a strong man of the people, in -whose hands will be the threads of political -destiny. Events are opening to this -strong man the gates of mighty power. -When he comes (and he is sure to come), -he will hear the clear, unmistakable call of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">166</span> -destiny to its chosen. Can he help but -heed? History supplies the answer. Go -read it, you who rest secure within your -flimsy barriers of self-interest, self-confidence, -and gold. When another Lincoln -comes, we shall know him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">167</span></p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div id="chap8" class="blockquot quote"> - -<p>“<i>Of all the cankers of human happiness none -corrodes with so silent yet so baneful an influence, -as indolence. Body and mind both unemployed, -our being becomes a burthen, and every object about -us loathsome, even the dearest. Idleness begets -ennui, ennui the hypochondriac, and that a diseased -body. No laborious person was ever yet hysterical. -Exercise and application produce order in our affairs, -health of body, and cheerfulness of mind; all these -make us precious to our friends. It is while we are -young that the habit of industry is formed. If not -then, it never is afterwards. The fortune of our lives, -therefore, depends on employing well the short period -of youth.</i>”</p> - -<p class="attrib">—<span class="smcap">Thomas Jefferson.</span> -</p></div></div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a class="hidep" id="Page_168">168</a><a id="Page_169"></a>169</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_Eight"><i>Chapter Eight</i><br /> - -<span class="subhead">FIGHTING FOR LIFE</span> -</h2> -</div> - -<p class="in0">The very first direct result of the growing -consciousness of conditions throughout the -country is a sudden growth in the volume -of money devoted to charity, and a sudden -and quite extraordinary increase in the -personal interest shown by the wealthy in -the matter of reform.</p> - -<p>It is perfectly natural that this should -be so. In every nation, in all periods of -history, it has been true. Sometimes this -impulse toward charity and reform, which -grows out of real personal study of the -problems of poverty, goes very far toward -saving a nation from ruin. No student<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">170</span> -of political economy can afford to ignore -this impulse toward charity, and sweep -it away as most thoughtless writers to-day -are inclined to sweep it away, as though it -were merely a conscious effort on the part -of the rich to buy their way into the kingdom -of heaven, to escape the accusing -finger of the poor, and to avoid the payment -of a debt to humanity long overdue. -One must recall that, in the twenty years -from 1742 to 1762, an impulse toward -charity, based really on conditions very -similar in their nature to our own, went far -toward saving the nation of England from -almost certain ruin. The rich at that -time had forsaken religion, had plunged -into immorality far deeper and far more -general than the wealthy classes in the -United States to-day, and come to sneer -at purity and fidelity to the marriage vow,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">171</span> -and openly boasted of their profligacy. The -poor, on the other hand, had sunk to -depths of ignorance and brutality absolutely -unknown in this land of ours. The -tremendous growth of manufacturing towns -was the cause that widened the rift between -these two classes. It was, in fact, exactly -our phenomenon, differing only in degree. -Society had come to live in deadly fear -of the masses, so that the statute books of -the land were filled with laws dealing death -upon the poor for the most trivial of offences. -It was a capital crime to cut down a cherry-tree; -it was a capital crime to steal.</p> - -<p>Mark well the sequel: Society was forced -in its own defence to begin the study of -the problem of wealth and poverty. Men -and women who, through all their earlier -years, had been carefully and sedulously -trained to regard the poor as a different<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">172</span> -species, and to look with scorn and indifference -upon their suffering, went into the -streets of the industrial cities to learn. -Ministers of God who had seen their -churches empty year by year went out into -the lanes and alleys of England to seek -their flock. Hence sprung Whitfield and -John Wesley, and hence the Methodist -Church, which, whatever any one may think -of its doctrine, could have justified its -existence in the world by the work -it did in the first twenty years of its -lifetime.</p> - -<p>A very little later, as a result of this same -impulse of charity, growing out of a fight -for life on the part of the higher classes, -Mr. Raikes, of Gloucester, founded in -England his system of Sunday schools, -the very beginning of popular education. -Hannah More, a noble woman of the time,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">173</span> -devoted the better part of her life to laying -bare the horrible conditions of agricultural -labour. Out of the same movement came -Clarkson and Wilberforce with their tremendous -anti-slavery campaign that was -in the end to lead England to a peaceful -if expensive emancipation. Before that -era John Howard was a quiet country -gentleman, wealthy and happy, and blindly -ignorant of poverty and crime. At the -end of it he took his place at the top of -the list of the world’s great reformers; -and the prisons of England, from that day -to this, have never sunk to the depths of -ignominy and shame in which they lay -when John Howard first was moved to -study them. Hospitals sprang up all over -the land. Organized charity began in -England. The poor of England, from -that day to this, have at least been considered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">174</span> -human beings, instead of mere -beasts that perish.</p> - -<p>Therefore, let me repeat, it is fatuous to -dismiss the present tendency toward charity -and reform as if it were mere time-serving. -It may be, indeed, that it is one -of the greatest economic facts in America -to-day. It may be that, as it spreads and -grows and brings into the battle thousands -upon thousands of devoted men and women, -hundreds of millions of dollars of hoarded -wealth, social reform upon social reform, -it will act as a check and an offset to the -tremendous industrial discontent that is -spreading over the country. It may be -that, as in England, it will bridge the chasm -between the rich and the poor, or, at the -worst, prevent its widening to the point -of open war.</p> - -<p>I hesitate to undertake any extensive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">175</span> -review of the great charities and reforms -that have sprung out of this new impulse -that has moved the rich to study the poor. -I hesitate not because there is dearth of -material, but because of my own knowledge. -I know that the facts of record are but -a very small part of all the facts in the -case. The tremendous benefactions of a -Rockefeller, a Carnegie, a Mrs. Sage, -do not begin to measure the organized -and unorganized charities that have been -inaugurated by the wealthy within the -past ten years.</p> - -<p>Personally, I do not think very much -about the forms of charity that are to-day -most prevalent amongst the wealthy. -Millions of dollars every year are poured -indiscriminately into all sorts of hoppers -here in New York, in the vain hope that -they will help to bring about better conditions.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">176</span> -Money-charity, if I may call it -so, seems to me a beautiful thing if it is -really done in a spirit of helpfulness—but, -alas, how vain it is! I do not know but -that, in the case of more than half the recipients -of charity of this indiscriminate -sort, it does more harm than good. This -I do know, that, according to the best estimates -obtainable, from eighteen per cent. -to twenty-five per cent. of the people of -New York State accept charity every year. -This is a matter of record. How many -more are the recipients of unrecorded charity -I do not know, but I should not be -surprised if forty per cent. of the population -of the greatest state of the Union are -the beneficiaries of charity, of one sort -and another, in such a year as 1908, for -instance.</p> - -<p>Professor Bushnell, in an estimate made<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">177</span> -some years ago, estimated that nearly -two hundred million dollars a year was -spent upon the maintenance of abnormal -dependents in the United States. Think, -then, of the amount of money that must be -lavished upon the thousand and one indiscriminate -charities extended to people who -cannot be classed as dependents at all.</p> - -<p>Charity, beautiful as it is in many instances, -is a hopeless answer to the questions -of the day. The wonderful growth -of it in the past three or four years in the -social world to which I belong is hopeful, -not because of the actual good it has accomplished -or can accomplish, but simply -because it is another index of the times, -another indubitable sign that the wealthy -men and women of Society are really throwing -their hearts and minds into the mighty -problem of adjusting the relationship<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">178</span> -between the classes which are so rapidly -drifting apart.</p> - -<p>Of all the charities I know, I think that -the sanest, the most far-sighted, and the -most surely pregnant with good is the -Sage Foundation. Perhaps my opinion is -little more than conceit. I myself have -given so much time and effort to studying -the causes of the growth of poverty in this -country that perhaps an institution founded -with a tremendous fund of money behind it -to carry on an exhaustive and scientific -research into the causes of poverty strikes -me as the most intelligent of all the charities -I have ever seen, merely because it -fits in with my own personal ideas, and is -the very charity I myself would have -founded had I had the disposition toward -charity and the means to put it into effect.</p> - -<p>I cannot speak with authority of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">179</span> -actual work that the Sage Foundation -is doing; but I fancy, if one could to-day -take an inventory of actual results accomplished, -he would find that the foundation -has barely been begun, and that these -artisans of the millennium have not yet -even drawn tentative plans for the superstructure. -I have, however, read with -extreme interest a report made by the -trustees as the result of an investigation -of the living conditions in families in New -York City, and I do not hesitate to say -that, in the compilation of that report -alone, the Sage Foundation has accomplished -a work of great practical utility.</p> - -<p>People of my class, when they read a -book, seldom write to the author and give -him their impressions. In all human probability -the compilers of this report do not -know whether any one in the wealthy class<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">180</span> -of New York Society has read the book. I -can assure them that it has been excellently -read. One night, in a company of about -a dozen, I mentioned it. All but two in the -party had read extracts from it in the newspapers, -two had read it in full for information, -and one raised a laugh by saying that -his secretary had tried in vain to buy it -at four book stores.</p> - -<p>This work, in my opinion, will bear a -tremendous crop of fruit. We need facts, -and we need them very badly. Frankly, -we are afraid of such estimates as those -contained in Mr. Robert Hunter’s “Poverty,” -full as it is of vague, loose, and inaccurate -statements, academic estimates -in round millions, and glittering generalities -of all sorts. We cannot find knowledge -in the Socialist libraries, for we distrust -the Socialist propaganda intensely. We<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">181</span> -must have sane, clear, dispassionate analysis -of the situation, or we shall stumble -blindly on as we are stumbling to-day, -wasting our millions on foolish charities, -debauching honest men and women by -unnecessary gifts, pandering to laziness, -and actually increasing in this land of -industry the army of dependent paupers. -I hope that the time will come when the -Sage Foundation will be, as it were, a guiding -light upon the sea of charity.</p> - -<p>I can hardly pass from this subject -without a word of praise for the work in -behalf of the public health. The active, -intelligent labour of such men as Professor -Irving Fisher on the propagandist side, and -Doctor Flexner and Doctor Stiles on the -practical side, cannot be praised too highly. -It is made possible by charity. Both -Messrs. Rockefeller and Morgan, admittedly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">182</span> -two of the greatest of our capitalists, -have given millions to this work. -Every year other uncounted millions pour -into it from men and women in every city -in the land. The work is spreading, growing -wider, drawing into itself better medical -talent, greater surgical skill, and deeper -and deeper devotion on the part of its -backers. Help of this sort does not debauch -the masses, for it does not lessen -the self-respect of its recipients. The hospitals -that are springing up all over the land, -built and supported by private capital, -are milestones in the march of progress, -and I would give full honour to the men -that plant them.</p> - -<p>In my own circle I know a good many -people who think that they are charitable; -and I know a few charitable people. It is -a habit of my mind to ridicule the fads<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">183</span> -and fancies of my class; and I am sorry to -be obliged to admit that, in the vast -majority of cases with which I come personally -in contact, the charity of my -class is one of two things: it is either simply -a fad, with little real genuine spirit of -helpfulness behind it, or else it is, as it were, -a sop to fear. A good many people seem -to think that it is up to the rich to distribute -largess to the poor, whether the -poor want it or not. They ignore the -economics of the matter, if indeed they -know them. They have come to be afraid -of the growing pressure from below, and -they think that by indiscriminate charity -they can lessen it.</p> - -<p>So they give ships of corn to the masses. -You remember, perhaps, that, in the later -plutocracy of Rome, after the triumph -of Sulla, it came to be a regular habit,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">184</span> -when frenzied mobs of Romans or would-be -Romans threatened death and ruin -to the plutocrats, for various and sundry -men to buy shiploads of corn in Egypt -and distribute them gratis to the Roman -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">plebs</i>. It is true that, in all human probability, -the plutocracy of Rome prolonged -its life for more than half a century by -just such means. If a mob of slaves is -hungry, and you give them something to -eat, they will go home and eat it; and, in -the meantime, if you happen to be a -Roman senator with plenty of money, -your hired thugs may be able to find the -leaders of the delayed revolution and put -them beyond any possibility of raising -further trouble.</p> - -<p>You forget, when you try the process -in America, that the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">plebs</i> of America are -not slaves, and that their leaders, of whom<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">185</span> -there is a host, are pretty nearly as well -educated, are certainly as shrewd, and are -probably as strong, legally, as you are. I -fail to see how in this land charity of this -sort can have any real effect. I am -sorry to say that there is far too much of it. -Let me pass on to the second weapon of -defence. High society is becoming a rampant -reformer. It will reform anything on -a moment’s notice. When I read in the -papers, and heard in the club, that a dozen -women of great wealth were standing along -Broadway handing bills and encouragement -to the girl shirt-waist strikers of last winter, -I was not a bit surprised. It is just what -you might have expected. Nowadays -I can hardly go to a reception or a ball -without being buttonholed by somebody -and led over into a corner to be told all -about some wonderful new reform. It is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">186</span> -perfectly amazing, this plague of reform, in -its variety, in its volume, and in the intensity -of earnestness with which it is pushed.</p> - -<p>Not long ago a professor of economics -in a great university, lecturing on “Social -Reform,” openly advocated almost every -imaginable variety of labour legislation. -I do not believe he understood exactly -what he was saying when he gave as a -reason for such advocacy that the support -of such legislation by the wealthy classes -would tend to check the spread of certain -vague but dangerous movements amongst -the people, which he did not describe in -detail, but which, to any intelligent man, -simply meant the widespread Socialistic -movement. I wonder, does that college -professor really think that the enactment -of all sorts of legislative reforms for labour -would have any such tendency?</p> - -<p>Give Lazarus crumbs, and he will crawl -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">187</span> -for them. Give him nothing, and he will -demand bread, and then a steady job. -After a time we will be visited by Mr. -Lazarus, walking delegate of the labour -union, requesting an eight-hour day and -higher wages for his constituency. Dives -will probably answer by building a church -and a museum for Lazarus, and forcing -Mrs. Lazarus to turn over her garbage -to the public scavenger. After that -you may be sure of the result. Every -Lazarus in the land will demand to be -made a co-partner in the business of the -nation. That college professor may know -quite a bit about economics, but he -couldn’t hold a job for a week handling -a bunch of half a dozen railroad navvies -on a construction job.</p> - -<p>It is the same old story. There are too<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">188</span> -many among the idle rich who jump at -the first obvious conclusion. They see -the strange phenomenon that I have noted -as arising out of our industrial evolution, -and they say to themselves; “The nation, -indeed, faces a crisis. We are in danger of -falling. The world should continue as -it is. It is pleasant to be booted, spurred, -and in the saddle. No oats for the horse, -and we shall be thrown down. The mob -must be appeased. Feed the hungry and -we shall be saved. Cure Society of its most -evident disorders and the public mind will -forget the rest.”</p> - -<p>So said the plutocrats of Rome. So -argued the hangers-on of Louis of France. -So Charles the First of England fell. You -may find a good many other illustrations, -if you like, in Athens, Italy, and Russia. -I challenge any gentleman to instance a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">189</span> -single case in history where petty reforms -and petty charities thrown indiscriminately -to the mob have ever established any -permanent betterment of social conditions, -or failed to be followed in the end by a -terrific reckoning.</p> - -<p>It is true that, amongst the wealthy, -many men to-day are honestly advocating -and honestly working for real, deep-planted, -permanent reform.</p> - -<p>It is almost astounding to read a paragraph -like the following signed with the -name of Andrew Carnegie:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>Whatever the future may have in store -for labour, the evolutionist, who sees nothing -but certain and steady progress for the -race, will never attempt to set bounds to -its triumph, even to its final form of -complete and universal industrial coöperation, -which I hope is some day to be -reached.</p></div> - -<p>By industrial coöperation Mr. Carnegie<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">190</span> -explains that he means the slow process -of selling or giving actual ownership of -manufacturing industries to the workmen. -He claims that they began this experiment -in this country when the Carnegie Steel -Company took in from time to time forty -odd young partners, none of whom contributed -a penny of money, the company -taking their notes payable only out of -profits.</p> - -<p>A dozen other instances could be adduced, -beginning with the United States -Steel Corporation itself, the giant among -the trusts. There is no doubt whatever -that this reform is spreading. What is -more, I believe it is an honest reform, and -that most of the men who have introduced -it into their companies have done it from -an honest belief that it would elevate the -workingman and solve in each separate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">191</span> -instance the most dangerous of our industrial -problems.</p> - -<p>I am not myself a manufacturer, and I -do not feel competent either to praise or -to criticize this particular solution of particular -industrial problems. I know that -John Stuart Mill in his “Political Economy” -vaguely hints at some such ultimate -evolution of the wage-worker; and I know -also that in many cases the coöperative -idea, in actual practice, has succeeded -very well indeed. In my own mind, knowing -the habits of a plutocracy, I cannot -help doubting whether widespread coöperation -between wage workers and capital, -particularly between the lower orders of -the wage workers and the larger masters -of capital, would not simply afford -to dishonest, disreputable, or unprincipled -captains of industry a fuller<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">192</span> -opportunity than they now enjoy to hold -down the wages and profits of wage -workers.</p> - -<p>Yet I would but express this doubt as -a personal feeling of my own, rather than -as a conviction founded upon research or -upon broad knowledge of the subject. It -is not germane to my theme to enter upon -a detailed discussion either of this possible -reform or of any other. I would simply -point out as illustrations two or three of -the greater reforms that I hear month -by month discussed more and more among -the people of my class.</p> - -<p>Personally, I am a bit tired of reform; -for Society, as I have said, will plunge -<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">en masse</i> through any door that has a reform -label sticking on it anywhere. Often, as I -think of the long list of reforms advocated -by distinguished individuals, churches,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">193</span> -educators, civic associations, politicians, and -societies, I wonder what would happen if -they all succeeded. I won’t be here to -find out; but if, in some future existence, -no matter what my destination, I hear -that it has come to pass, I am quite sure -that I shall be glad to be away.</p> - -<p>In passing from this subject I cannot -refrain from reiterating the note of warning -contained in an earlier paragraph. To -my charitable friends of the upper classes -whose heads are full of reforms and alms-giving -I would say, give not at all if, in -giving, or in supporting reforms, you hope -or expect thereby to gain the favour of the -mob. Remember that in Rome the masses -were a race of parasites who could be -fed or crushed as the occasion demanded. -In America, on the contrary, the masses -are the producing elements of the nation,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">194</span> -and you are the parasites. Between the -cry of the Roman multitude for coin and -the demand of the working American for -wages there is an intensity and seriousness -as much different as between the humming -of the mosquito and the thunder of an -earthquake.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">195</span></p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div id="chap9" class="blockquot quote"> - -<p>“<i>When the public deliberates concerning any -regulation of commerce or police, the proprietors of -land never can mislead it, with a view to promote the -interest of their own particular order; at least, if they -have any tolerable knowledge of that interest. They are, -indeed, too often defective in this tolerable knowledge. -They are the only one of the three orders whose revenue -costs them neither labour nor care, but comes to them, -as it were, of its own accord, and independent of any -plan or project of their own. That indolence, the -natural effect of the ease and security of their situation, -renders them too often not only ignorant, but -incapable of the application of mind necessary in -order to foresee and understand the consequences -of any public regulation.</i>”</p> - -<p class="attrib">—<span class="smcap">Adam Smith.</span> -</p></div></div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a class="hidep" id="Page_196">196</a><a id="Page_197"></a>197</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_Nine"><i>Chapter Nine</i><br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE SOCIAL NEMESIS</span> -</h2> -</div> - -<p class="in0">I have shown, in the previous chapter, -how futile and empty are most of the -struggles toward charity and reform carried -on by the wealthy class. This brings me, -in my train of thought, to one of the most -melancholy reflections that can be conceived. -It has come to me very often, under -all sorts of circumstances.</p> - -<p>The fact of the matter is that wealthy -Society in America, as everywhere else, is -pursued by a demon of futility. It does -not matter what we do, whether we work -like any other man or woman, whether we -play like normal men, whether we study,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">198</span> -whether we idle, or whether we work as -other men, or fritter away our time in -idleness; whether we spend our money -on charity and reforms, or throw it away -in the pursuit of pleasure; whether we study -hard and seriously, or merely regale our -minds and appetites with frivolous novels -and salacious plays; whether we play or -whether we don’t—nothing seems real, -nothing seems earnest, nothing has any -result. Too often our lives are empty of -anything permanent, anything honest, anything -simple and human.</p> - -<p>We live in a world of dreams, peopled -with passing phantoms—men and women -that come and go and leave in our hearts -no trace of real affection, no honest, sincere, -and heart-felt impulse of friendship, -no lasting shadow of reality. It all seems -sham and pretence. It cloys in time, and -often in sheer desperation we plunge into<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">199</span> -extremes for which we have no genuine -taste, no real desire, no inborn impulse -at all.</p> - -<p>But of all the futile things in the world -none is more futile than wealth itself. If -you rest on the things you have won, and -set yourself down in idleness to enjoy them, -they turn to ashes on your lips. They are -flat, tasteless, like fruit picked long ago. -I remember an incident in which I took a -part, not very long ago, that showed me -the opposite results in all its horrid -semblance.</p> - -<p>I was at a very brilliant social function -in the London social world. I met at that -reception a woman whose name I had -heard as a household word in Society for -many years. She was esteemed a brilliant -woman; she was reckoned a leader in the -most splendid Society of the world. She was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">200</span> -wealthy beyond all human need. She -occupied a powerful place in a political -world where everything human had its -part. She was a companion of princes -and the equal of peers. We were talking -alone, immediately after our introduction, -when she said:</p> - -<p>“Oh, Mr. Martin, you are an American. -You are a Wall Street man. You could -help me to get some of your American gold!”</p> - -<p>I was astounded, and I showed it in my -answer:</p> - -<p>“Why, my dear lady, surely you have -gold enough. If I am not mistaken, you -rank amongst the wealthiest women of the -nation. Why should you want gold? -Moreover, you have social standing and -are famous throughout England. Of -what possible use could more gold be -to you?”</p> - -<p>I can still see the haggard face, the quivering -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">201</span> -lips, the blazing eyes of this great -Society woman as she answered me.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Mr. Martin, you do not know me—I -am almost ashamed to confess the -truth. I dream night and day of gold. -I want to have a room at the top of my -house filled with it—filled with gold -sovereigns. I would like to go into that -room night after night, when every one -else is asleep, and bury myself in yellow -sovereigns up to my neck, and play with -them, toss them about, to hear the jingling -music of the thing I love the best!”</p> - -<p>Think of it! Picture a woman, wife of a -man, mother of splendid children, born -with the beautiful instincts innate in her -sex, sinking to such a depth as that! Think -of the awful shallow emptiness of a life and -a training that bore such fruit as this!</p> - -<p>Yet, it is all so very natural. Most -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">202</span> -men and women in this world are kept -clean, sane, and normal in the pursuit of -little things. The trivial household joys -that fill so full the happy life of the normal -woman, the little business triumphs that -keep alive in the heart of the normal man -the spirit of personal ambition, the human -lust for a fight, the ever-changing, ever-interesting, -ever-luring struggle for advantage—these -are at once the burden -and the safety of mankind. In them is -true happiness; in them is true humanity.</p> - -<p>The class of which I write has lost them -in its very birth. The mother of a boy -in the middle class looks forward with delight -to the day when that boy will go -forth into the world to battle against circumstances. -From his earliest childhood -onward he learns the necessity of labour,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">203</span> -he comes to regard it as his birthright. -With eagerness he prepares for it. The -little triumphs of boyhood, the trivial -victories of college days, are joy unbounded -to his mind, because they are but steps in -that long climb toward greatness, renown -and wealth, that are his birthright; and -when at last he goes forth from college -halls, from labour on the farm, from some -little clerical position that he has held in -his adolescence, to strike out for himself -into the great open world, to blaze out -paths of his own choosing, his life is filled -in its every moment with new thrills of -excitement, of happiness, of accomplishment—of -life, real life, not imitation.</p> - -<p>Look at the other side. Think of the -boy born, as they say, with a golden spoon -in his mouth. Perhaps, in his infancy, he -does not know that he can have everything<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">204</span> -in the world for which he asks. Perhaps -his parents are humanly wise—for many -of the wealthy are; yet, even in his very -tender boyhood, the truth will come home -to him. He will learn before he is ten years -old that there is a difference between him -and other boys whom he sees at play in the -park. He will discover that the difference is -money. He will discover that his parents -can get whatever they like, spend as -much as they please, waste fortunes on their -pleasures, throw gold away as though it -were dross. He will learn, on the other -hand, that the children of the poor can -have no expensive toys like his, that they -cannot be dressed as he is dressed, that -their parents must win every dollar that -they spend by some hard work, while his own -parents, apparently, receive as much as they -want and more without any labour whatever.</p> - -<p>That boy will be more than human if, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">205</span> -by the time he is a young man, he has not -passed the entrance to the paths where -the true happiness of life is to be found. -Either money will mean nothing to him, -and he will have settled down to be one of -the idle rich, simply taking what the gods -send him and doing his best to enjoy it, -or else a most unholy lust for gold will have -taken possession of his soul. Eliminate -the necessity for struggle, and you remove -from money all its true value. It -becomes either dross, to be thrown away -for other things better worth while, or -it becomes an idol, a god, the very sum and -substance of the world’s desire.</p> - -<p>I know, of course, that there are marked -exceptions. I have in my mind as I write -a young man of a Western city, born to -an enormous fortune, married to another,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">206</span> -and trained and nurtured in the lap of -luxury. Almost everything conspired to -make him either an idler or a money -worshipper. He is neither. It is an accident. -In his early youth he became an -invalid, and was sent out by his father to -live on a ranch. The ranchman’s wife -was a real woman, and instinct taught -her how to handle that boy. He was put -to work. At first, when his father learned -through his letters that he was spending -his time mending fences, feeding pigs, -watering horses, and milking cows, he -objected strongly. He wrote to the ranchman -to this effect. The ranchman rebuked -his wife, and set the boy to work -at other gentler things.</p> - -<p>A week later the boy wrote an indignant -letter to his father to the effect that he -was coming home if he couldn’t go back<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">207</span> -to real work. The father saw a great light; -and free permission was given to the ranchman’s -wife to do whatever she liked with -the boy. When he went home a year and -a half later he was the makings of a real -man. To-day his father is dead, and he -has succeeded to the command of a mighty -estate. He holds his place in the best -Society of the land, but he holds, too, his -place amongst the workers. At the age of -twenty-eight he had twice refused political -office, and has refused also the presidency -of a bank which he controls and of -which he is a director, on the ground that -as a director he will not vote for the appointment -of a dummy officer. He is a -deep, clear-headed student of events, and -money, to him, has been but the lever to -move the world.</p> - -<p>The same is true to a certain extent of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">208</span> -the daughters of the rich. Some of them, -in spite of their wealth, are splendid women, -but too often wealth has destroyed in them -the clear and beautiful springs of life. -Either they worship it as a god or they -despise it, throwing it away like water. -Of the two vices, I do not know which is -the worse. I do not know, in sane and -sober judgment, whether I, as a man -of wealth and fashion (and yet a man of -business and of some knowledge), despise -more deeply the outright worshipper of -Mammon, or the reckless, extravagant, -and foolish idle rich. Thank God, I am -not obliged to choose my friends from -either, for still within the barriers of gold -there lies a little leaven of the old Society.</p> - -<p>And if futility clings very closely to the -very gold that is the basis of our class and -our estate, it clings, too, to almost everything<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">209</span> -else that we do. Come with me to a -fashionable restaurant or the dining-room -of a great hotel. At the dinner hour it -is crowded with hundreds of people. One -might think that they are hungry and -that they come to eat. It is hardly so. -They come to hear the orchestra, to talk -with their friends, to play with food and -drink of a kind and a quantity far beyond -their needs. Dinner is but an excuse. -The whole occasion is a diversion, nothing -more. Contrast an occasion like that with -the homely gathering of a few choice -spirits out in a simple country home, or -in the middle-class city home if you like, -and note the marvellous difference. It -has been my good fortune, on far too few -occasions it is true, to be admitted as a -friend into what I might call a middle-class -home—the home of an author, not by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">210</span> -any means rich. I will simply say, without -going into details, that every time I went -there it made me homesick, and I stopped -it for that reason. I do not think I could -say more if I wrote a book about it.</p> - -<p>Of all the melancholy travesties on fun, -I think that the sports and games of the -wealthy young men and women of our day -are the finest parody ever written or acted. -Drive through a country district to a -fashionable out-of-town club. At half a -dozen places on your way you will see -groups of boys and girls playing ball, -flying kites, paddling, rowing, or doing -something else in the natural human way. -You will hear shouts, quarrels perhaps, -signs of intense and natural rivalry. When -you come to your journey’s end you will -find other groups of pleasure seekers. Go -join the groups of young men and women<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">211</span> -in beautiful summer costumes playing golf -or tennis; or sit on the piazzas over the sea -and watch a game of bridge. Listen for -the shouts of joy such as you heard down -the road, and you will hear the cawing of -the crows. Catch the drift of the conversation. -In a very great number of cases -the subject matter of it is that it would be -a lot more fun to do something else at some -other time in some other place. The dreary -pleasures of the idle rich, yachting, horseracing, -golf, tennis, hunting—these are -not sports; they are schemes devised to -keep us from being bored to death by -the mere fact of living.</p> - -<p>I met a man down town the other day -who told me he had bought a farm in Alberta. -For a great many years past I have -met him at all sorts of functions in all the -big cities of the East, in London, and in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">212</span> -Paris. I asked him what in the world -he was going to do with a farm. At -first he wouldn’t reply, afraid that he -might hurt my feelings, but finally he -told me.</p> - -<p>“I’m sick. There isn’t much the matter -with me, but I have simply got to have a -change. My nerves have gone all to pieces. -Playing bridge gives me the “willies.” -I’d sooner pick rags than go to another -dance. Golf—the way we play it in the -summer—is worse than ping-pong. Late -suppers have got on my nerves. The races -are a horrible bore. I’d sooner go to -Hoboken than Paris. I’ve got to do something -or I will die. Last winter in London -I made friends with a young fellow twenty-one -years old who last month got into -disgrace and was banished to Alberta. -Last month I heard from him—and that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">213</span> -settled me. He swears he has found the -antidote. I’m going out to try it.”</p> - -<p>He went. I don’t suppose he’ll stay -there, because he never stayed in any place -in his life for any length of time, and I -presume before long he’ll come back and -spend a lot of money on manicures and -make his hands look as if he had never -worked before he plunges again into the -same Dead Sea: but, sometimes, I wish -I had the nerve to follow him, or to buy -his farm from him when he grows tired -of it.</p> - -<p>If our wealth, and our pleasures, turn -at last to nothing and weary us beyond -expression, no less in the more sacred -things of life—real life, I mean—does -this same miserable demon of futility pursue -us. As the world has read these past -two or three years the low, horrible, depraved<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">214</span> -story of the marital relationships -of scion after scion of one of our wealthiest -families, the world has turned with disgust -from the paltry record of intrigue, -vile lust, dishonour, and shame. That -story is but one of many. It is true that -in this, the dearest and tenderest of all -the relationships of life, we are haunted by -futility. Our young men and maidens -marry in honour and hope in a world of -hope, lighted by the eternal fires of love. -Too often, alas! romance becomes tragedy, -or comedy, if you look at it that way.</p> - -<p>It is the same old story. Everything is -far too easy. All the comforts, all the -luxuries, all the pleasures for which normal -men and women have to work, drop, -like over-ripe fruit, into their waiting hands. -There is no struggle to hold their minds -together. There is no common ambition<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">215</span> -to fill their hearts and souls with a desire -for mutual help. It is all empty, frivolous, -and vain. In time it is easy to slip away -from the paths of convention into habits -of looseness and even of vice. The old-fashioned -religion is dead among us, and -so one great protector of the home has -passed and gone.</p> - -<p>I cannot find it in my heart to condemn -as strongly as I should the lapses of the -idle rich from the paths of virtue; for I -know exactly how it is. It is futile. It -is empty. It is a restriction of freedom. -It is a chain about your neck. You try, -at first, to loosen it; at last you determine -to break it. Then the patient world is -treated to another tale of infidelity, of -misery, of little picayune human weakness—a -tale to laugh at, or to weep over, -according as you will.</p> - -<p>I am not going to dwell upon this theme; -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">216</span> -for it is a beastly thing. I have only -mentioned it because it is a logical climax -to this chapter on FUTILITY. And I -regard futility as the real nemesis of Society. -It turns our lives to nothing; it makes of -our fairest garden a desert; it robs us, in -our very cradles, of our lives, our liberties, -and our happiness. It leaves us groping -about in a world of shadows, longing for -the substance, dreaming of realities we -never can know, wishing always for change, -sighing always for worlds that are out of -our reach. Of all the grim jokes that ever -were perpetrated, the grimmest of all, in -my estimation, is the time-honoured coupling -of the words wealth and happiness in -the formal blessing of a new-made bride.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">217</span></p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div id="chap10" class="blockquot quote"> - -<p>“<i>If the wealthy classes so often come off second best -in a struggle with the democracy, the cause is generally -to be found in their disinclination to submit to leadership. -It has always been a failing of rich and educated -men to have too high an opinion of their own -abilities. The prospect which faced the Roman -Conservatives at this moment (88 B. C.), when the -Revolution, in the person of Marius, had made itself -complete master of the State, was indeed dark enough -to close up the party ranks. Yet it was only by -accident that they discovered in Sulla a fit champion -for their cause.</i>”</p> - -<p class="attrib">—<span class="smcap">Ferrero.</span> -</p></div></div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a class="hidep" id="Page_218">218</a><a id="Page_219"></a>219</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_Ten"><i>Chapter Ten</i><br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE DEATH KNELL OF IDLENESS</span> -</h2> -</div> - -<p class="in0">As I write, I am, myself oppressed by this -nemesis of futility. Half a dozen times while -I was writing this book I stopped to reason -with myself to the effect that it wouldn’t -do any good, that the rich will not read it, -and that, even if they do, it cannot pierce -through the armour of self-conceit, vanity, -and arrogance. Yet I have persevered, -in the hope that perhaps some few will -read and understand, and, instead of setting -me down as an alarmist and an agitator, -will at least consider me honest, and -perhaps set to work for themselves to find -out the truth about these things.</p> - -<p>That grim truth is that we as a class are -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">220</span> -condemned to death. We have outlived -our time. It is not necessary, as it was -in the earlier ages of the world’s history, -that the mass of the people should be enslaved -to give leisure to an upper class in -the pursuit of luxuries, of refinement, of -the factors that go to the making of civilization. -Instead of being the roof and -crown of things, the wealthy class in -America to-day has sunk to the level of -the parasite. The time has come when -the producing classes are about to bring it -to judgment. In fact, to-day we stand -indicted before the court of civilization. -We are charged openly with being parasites; -and the mass of evidence against us is so -overwhelming that there is no doubt -whatever about the verdict of history, if -indeed it must come to a verdict.</p> - -<p>Idleness is doomed as a vocation. Of -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">221</span> -that I am perfectly certain. Even in the -social world it is becoming unfashionable. -Not so very long ago, in the fashionable -world of New York, it was considered -bad taste, in fact, it was a decided breach -of etiquette, to inquire amongst the men -of your acquaintance what anybody did -for a living. Within the past five years -there has been a very decided change in -this respect, and I constantly hear that -very question asked, without rebuke, in -the most fashionable clubs of the city.</p> - -<p>A man whom I know pretty well, himself -a member of the highest social order, -but a man of indefatigable energy, recently -put very neatly this fact that many of the -quondam idle class are now engaging themselves -in useful pursuits. On the street one -day he met a young man, a confirmed idler<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">222</span> -of long standing. He exchanged the time -of day with him, and was told that he was -about to go to Europe to join in the social -season of London. He congratulated him -and said he thought it was a good thing -to do.</p> - -<p>A few nights later, talking to me about -him, he said:</p> - -<p>“I feel sorry for Charlie. He seems so -lonely. He can’t find any one to play with -him!”</p> - -<p>In a measure, that is true. The confirmed -idler of the social world is slowly -coming to be despised instead of envied. -He still infests a few of the up-town -clubs, but even here he is more and more -relegated to the bottom of the social list. -It is harder and harder every social year -to fill up the ranks for social entertainment. -A dinner or an early reception can be managed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">223</span> -very well, for the young men who work -will go to such functions, perhaps as freely -as they ever went. It is far different with -the late dance or the late reception.</p> - -<p>If you could go down into Wall Street -and call the roll of the bond houses, it -would astound you to discover how many -young men of the highest social class are -working very hard right at the bottom of -the ladder of industry learning the financial -business. A friend of mine, a fairly well-to-do -man of a small city in the Middle -West, sent his son to me a year or so ago -with a letter asking me to introduce him -in Wall Street with a view to his learning -the bond business. He had chosen that -as his vocation in life, and he had taken a -special course in college as a preparation for -it. I sent him, with personal letters, to -half a dozen friends of mine, partners in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">224</span> -various houses. I told him simply to -look around, at first, and to talk freely and -frankly to these gentlemen about the -chances for a young man in that line of -business.</p> - -<p>He came back to me in the course of a -week, considerably crestfallen. He had -looked forward to earning his living in an -honourable way. He found the conditions -in this labour market most deplorable from -his point of view. According to his story, -every one of these big bond houses announced -itself able to get all the apprentice -labour that it needed at from five dollars to -ten dollars a week. His report interested me -so much that I went around myself to some -of my friends to learn the causes of this -strange condition.</p> - -<p>In the case of one bond house I discovered -that it had one very skilful and very high<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">225</span> -paid man selling bonds at retail throughout -the city. Working under him were -three young men learning the bond business. -I knew them all, personally, socially. -They belonged to one of the best of the -younger sets. Two of them went out a good -deal, and the third had a reputation as -something of a student. One of them I -knew to be the happy possessor of four -automobiles and a small stable of horses. -Both the others owned automobiles, and -belonged to some of the most expensive, -as well as the best, of the up-town clubs.</p> - -<p>One of these young men—and none of -them was so very young at that—received -the salary of fifteen dollars a week. The -other two were getting ten dollars apiece. -All three were college men. My friend in -this bond house told me that two of them -were making good; but the third has the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">226</span> -“ten o’clock in the morning habit,” and will -not last very long. Of course, none of -them can begin to live on the money he -receives for his work. I do not think -that any one of them could pay his tailor -and haberdashery bill with his salary, -and even the bond house clerk has to eat, -you know.</p> - -<p>Further investigation showed me that -there is a perfect flood of these young men -turned loose each year upon the financial -districts of this country, not only here, but -in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and St. -Louis. They go to work for trivial salaries, -because they care little or nothing -about the amount that they receive. They -are not working for wages, but they are -working for emancipation. They do not -want to be idlers, because they know that -in these days idleness is doomed. They<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">227</span> -pick out Wall Street, particularly, I think, -the bond department of Wall Street, because -that is recognized as a world of real -work that is fitted to the tastes and abilities -of a well-educated but not too rigorously -trained young man.</p> - -<p>These young men are by no means effete -dilletanti. They are strong, vigorous young -men, and they plunge into what they know -to be a competitive field with a full knowledge -that they are not likely to go very -far unless they earn their way. For in -these same offices, and working in the field -in hot competition with them, there is -still an army of young men from the provinces, -so to speak, who actually do live -upon the proceeds of their work. It gave -a real personal joy to discover that, in -several of the banking houses which I -looked into, the poor young man who starts<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">228</span> -out into the world in competition with -these scions of the wealthy aristocracy is -paid a better salary at the beginning than -is his moneyed competitor, and has at -least an equal chance for advancement. -Indeed it is recognized that the wealthy -young man has a marked advantage through -his personal acquaintance with men of -money, and more is expected of him in -return from his training than is expected -of the self-supporting clerk. As a rule, -however, the real workers are given outlying -districts of the country to canvass, -while the aristocracy of the profession does -its work in the city.</p> - -<p>I sketch this phenomenon in some detail, -because I think it is a very significant thing -in its bearing upon the subject of this -book. Perhaps more than any other one -outlet it is an avenue leading toward honourable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">229</span> -labour, suited to the capacity and -the taste of our wealthy young men. That -the market is crowded to-day, and has been -crowded for five years past, more than it -ever was crowded before in the history of -the financial profession, speaks far more -eloquently than I can speak of the change -of sentiment amongst the wealthy.</p> - -<p>In the Harvard Club, of a Saturday -afternoon in winter, you will find groups -of young men sitting around and talking, -just as you would have found them fifteen -years ago. There is one marked difference. -Fifteen years ago they would have been -talking about social events, the sports, -and various other trivial things that went -in those days to make up the sum and substance -of a fashionable young man’s career. -Nowadays many of these groups are earnestly -discussing finance, not in its relation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">230</span> -to their own private fortunes or misfortunes -in the stock market, but in its -broader aspect. You hear such phrases -as “gold supply,” “premium bond,” “over-production -of securities,” “diversion of -money from the legitimate market,” “intrinsic -value,” “investment outlook,” etc. -They are, in fact, talking shop; and I do -not think I have ever met any other class -of men more addicted to the habit than -these novitiates of the financial game.</p> - -<p>Even their sisters, nurtured in luxury, -and taught, as they still unhappily are, -that elegant idleness is the proper portion -of the sex, are beginning to rebel. They -are seeking knowledge eagerly, sometimes -in places and under circumstances that -promise not the best of results. More -particularly during the past five or ten -years there has been the really extraordinary<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">231</span> -propaganda amongst the women -of the younger set in our great cities -looking toward the strengthening of the -body and the building up of a vigorous -and buoyant health that would have been -considered actually vulgar in the generation -that preceded them. Health, in fact, in -many of the younger sets, has become almost -a religion, a sort of fetich. They -study hygiene, biology, and the mystery -of life. Perhaps they are coming to know -too much at too early an age, but in excuse -let it be said that it is far better to -know too much than to know too little.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, I have already written -of the tendency of the fashionable young -women of the day toward charity and reform. -They follow fads madly, working -as hard and using up as much nerve force -in this pursuit as any young woman of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">232</span> -middle class gives to her household work, -or even to her bread-winning activities. -I could name a dozen young women of the -finest families in New York who within -the past twelve months have actually -thrown themselves into this sort of function -with such fiery ardour and zeal that they -have either totally neglected their social -activities or broken down completely under -the strain of double labour. Such instances -are more numerous year by year. -I do not know that I fully approve it, -but I set it down here for the judgment -of the world.</p> - -<p>So, on the one hand, the ranks of the -doomed class are being swiftly depleted -by what I must call rank out and out desertion. -The idle rich, particularly the -younger set, are depleted year by year by -squadrons of young men and women who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">233</span> -go over to the army of workers. I do not -know that there is any one single sign in -the world in which I live that gives me -greater hope than this. The dishonour of -inactivity, sloth, and idleness is coming to -be widely recognized in the very best -classes of Society. Old prejudices are -breaking down under the demands of the -younger men for something to do. Even -labour with the hands is not beneath them. -As I pause to think, I could name at least -half a dozen young men of my own set -who within the past two or three years -have gone into the railroad business, carried -chains with engineering gangs in the field, -or done other real manual labour. To-day -the son of one of the oldest and noblest -families in New York is superintending the -laying of sewers in a New England town -under a municipal contract.</p> - -<p>If actual desertion is thinning the ranks -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">234</span> -of the idle rich, there is another and even -greater cause which will tend in the future, -as it is tending to-day, to limit the number -of this class. It lies much deeper than the -mere phenomenon of desertion. It is, -in fact, nothing more nor less than the -removal of the means of making gigantic -fortunes through the exploitation of -men.</p> - -<p>I do not intend to dwell upon this phase -of the passing of the idle rich to any great -extent, because its effects are necessarily -slow. Indeed, they will not be felt for -many years to come. Yet I would point -out one or two phases of this question that -seem to me to be intensely interesting and -vastly important. In the first place, the -opportunities for the making of gigantic -fortunes are being limited more and more by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">235</span> -the world-embracing activities of those who -already possess gigantic wealth.</p> - -<p>Let any man discover in the mountains -of Mexico, in the forbidding ridges of -Alaska, or on the plains of the Yukon, great -new deposits of iron, or coal, or oil, and -immediately, almost before the news of -such discovery has reached the world at -large, a dozen secret agents rush to investigate. -They represent the Pearsons, of -London; the Guggenheims or Morgans, -of New York; the Rockefellers or the Rothschilds, -of New York or Germany. They -are the first in the field; they preëmpt, for -fortunes already far beyond competition, -the opportunity of making a tremendous -fortune out of the new discovery.</p> - -<p>Think of the raw materials of commerce—sugar, -meat, oil, iron, coal, copper, -cotton, wheat, corn, lumber—is it not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">236</span> -absolutely true that in the manufacture -and exploitation of this tremendous mass -of the raw material of wealth the possibility -of amassing enormous fortunes is almost -hopelessly limited by the activities and -the world-girdling power of capitalist -groups already far beyond the reach of -competition?</p> - -<p>The free land of America is gone. All -these great staples that have been in generations -past the vehicles in which men have -been carried upon the road to lordly fortunes -are already in the hands of a few -hundred families. This fact, sinister as -it undoubtedly is in its broader aspect upon -the economic conditions of the country, -must certainly tend to eliminate more and -more the possibility for the creation of -additional gigantic industrial fortunes in -this country. In so far as this is true it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">237</span> -is a very important item indeed among the -forces that tend toward the elimination of -the idle rich.</p> - -<p>More than this, as I have pointed out -already in a phrase, the growing knowledge -on the part of the people of the ways and -means by which they have been exploited -for the creation of wealth will surely prevent -any further long-continued growth of -this same process. Men are being sent up to -congress year by year sworn to break up -and destroy the coördinate political machine -that has made possible the growth -of the power of the trusts. Earnest -fighters like La Follette may well be -watched, for though no little of his -work and his talk is based on fallacy, yet -in this at least he represents the temper -of the whole United States, that he is a -bitter and an ardent enemy of the concentration<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">238</span> -of wealth. The agitation over the -Guggenheim claims in Alaska, the bursts -of popular acclaim over land-fraud prosecutions -in the West, the sardonic joy of -the people over the retrieving of enormous -coal land areas stolen by railroads, the warm -enthusiasm of the West for government -reclamation, conservation, and preëmption—these -are signs of the times all pointing -in the one direction.</p> - -<p>They do not mark the end of the idle -rich, to-day existent. They do point unmistakably -toward the prevention of a -new crop of great American fortunes won -through exploitation of government property -and popular rights. If you couple -with them the ever-growing movement -toward Socialism, and the hundred and one -private propaganda along strange and often -faulty economic lines, you cannot help<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">239</span> -but feel as I feel, that even if there were -a revolution, in a hundred years, when -the present great fortunes of America -are subdivided, split up, and scattered -among a thousand heirs, the wealth of -America will certainly not be held ninety-five -per cent. in the hands of five per -cent. of the people and five per cent. in -the hands of the rest of the people. And -it is self-evident that since the gathering -together of wealth in the hands of the few -gave us the idle rich, the natural scattering -of that wealth into more and more hands -as the years go on must tend in the other -direction.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div id="chap11" class="blockquot quote"> - -<p><i>The days of the idle rich in America are as a tale -that is told. To-morrow in this land there will be -one of two things, either an evolution or a revolution.</i></p> - -<p><i>... The class I represent will again be merged -into and assimilated by the body of the nation.... -We shall reënact in this land some of the most -terrible tragedies of history.</i></p></div></div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a class="hidep" id="Page_242">242</a><a id="Page_243"></a>243</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_Eleven"><i>Chapter Eleven</i><br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE END OF THE STORY</span> -</h2> -</div> - -<p class="in0">We have come to the end of the story. -The days of the idle rich in America are -as a tale that is told. To-morrow in this -land there will be one of two things: either -an evolution or a revolution. Either by one -of those characteristically swift and marvellous -changes for which the history of -our race is noted, the class which I represent -will again be merged into and assimilated -by the body of the nation, as it was -half a century ago, or we shall stand face -to face with the forces of anarchy, Socialism, -trade unionism, and a hundred other cults -that either do represent or claim to represent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">244</span> -the spirit of this mighty people, and we -shall reënact in this land some of the most -terrible tragedies of history.</p> - -<p>I do not believe a middle course is possible. -I know, of course, that the rank and file -of the class I represent are blind and careless. -I know that many of them, if they -read this book, will lay it aside with a -smile, calling it hysterical, calling it untrue. -Wealth never yet in history has -recognized its true position in the world, -and I suppose it never will. Yet I am -bound to say the things I think, and I can -only trust that some few at least will be -impelled to study facts and come before -the tribunal of public opinion within the -next few years armed and prepared for -their own vindication.</p> - -<p>I have written in vain if I have not made -it clear that while the class of the wealthy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">245</span> -has been increasing steadily during the -past five years, faster than it ever increased -in a similar period before, that growth in -numbers has been accompanied also by -an ever-increasing knowledge on the part -of the wiser heads in the social world, by a -serious, sober, and careful analysis of the -real conditions among the wealthy themselves, -and by a genuine adaptation of -the minds of the wealthy to these new -conditions as they come home to us. -This is the one hope of American Society. -It is not conclusive, but at least it points -the way toward the future of America.</p> - -<p>I do not want to be considered an alarmist -or to cry panic from the house tops. -Yet, in the light of facts, and in the face -of the terrific changes that must take place -within the next decade in our social and -business structure, I cannot see how the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">246</span> -business world of America can long escape -a reckoning that has for years been overdue. -There has to be in this country an -adjustment that will shake the financial -and business world to its foundations. It -is possible, though not probable, that the -necessary social changes of the next decade -could be accomplished without a -cataclysm; but with the concurrent business -changes, the necessary shifting of the bases -of our industrial system, the inevitable -scaling down of the extravagance to which -the nation as a whole has become accustomed, -it is, I should say, utterly impossible -that we can go through without an -industrial disturbance that will strike far -deeper than any we have known since 1893.</p> - -<p>For the poison of gold has debauched -and corrupted American Society, it has -brought within our gates new armies of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">247</span> -parasites, it has led to a degree of ostentation -and of luxury, and even of vice and -profligacy, comparable with that of the -Roman Empire under Heliogabalus. I said -in a former chapter that the middle class -in America has almost if not quite lost its -power. One of the most vital reasons for -this fact is that much of that middle class -has become confused with the lower fringes -of the wealthy class, has learned to ape -its habits and its luxuries, has come to -live with ostentation and display, and has -given up its traditional habits of frugality -and thrift to waste its substance on a -riotous form of living that is, as it were, -but a faint and unworthy imitation of the -habits of life of the wealthy.</p> - -<p>In the process of adjustment that is -unavoidable this drunkenness must pass. -The great professional class, which in all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">248</span> -ages has produced so many thinkers, writers, -and makers of a nation’s history, must -come back into its own; it must learn again -the lesson of thrift and providence which it -has learned so well in France and Germany, -and which, forty years ago, were the most -striking features of its character here in -this land. If, as is true, the class I represent -has very much to learn, I take it to -be equally true that every other class in -the land also has its lessons to learn. The -process of learning is not to be an easy one. -It may be that we as a nation will be tried -in the fiery furnace of adversity, immersed -in the gloomy depths of business depression, -and crushed beneath a load of debt and -repudiation before we have learned the -first small principles upon which the newer -order of things in America must be founded.</p> - -<p>It is not my business, however, to talk<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">249</span> -to the people of America at large. I -am addressing this book to Society, to the -men and women whom I know, to the boys -and girls who are to take our places in the -social world as years go by. To them, -in all sincerity, I am preaching a sermon -of warning. I am calling them to gird -themselves for battle—a battle the like -of which has never been fought in this land -before—a battle for life.</p> - -<p>My appeal, if it were merely an appeal -to save ourselves, would be sordid indeed. -For it is ours to think of saving others. -The bugle of the assured destiny of our -race should quicken us to the service of a -great and holy cause. The call is the call -of the future, and the cause is the cause of -humanity. I covet for you, my friends and -members of my class, a higher destiny than -the mere panic-stricken flight to safety. I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">250</span> -am aware not only of your views, but of -your virtues. Never before has there been -such an opportunity for real service to -mankind. You have the means, you have -the power, you have the position, you have -all, save only the will. I feel confident -that if you give the matter study, and do -not throw away this book as mere idle -talk, the will to serve will come to you.</p> - -<p>I know that the great bulk of Society -can be reconstructed only by one agency, -and that is death. To-day, in the South, -there linger here and there many old men -and women who never yet have ceased -to call down curses from heaven upon the -head and memory of Lincoln. It is perfectly -self-evident that in this other cause -of which I write, and that has come to -be so near to me, the army of the unreconstructed -must remain for many years<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">251</span> -tremendous. Particularly is this true of -the newer recruits within the golden gates -of the city of wealth. You may note -that we are still enjoying the company of -the first generation of the captains of industry. -The second generation marches -swiftly upon us. It will not be satisfied, -it will not be sated, until it has reached -the mellowness of age. It will follow the -will-of-the-wisp of society to the bitter -end. It is more stubborn, I think, than -even that ancient culture of Boston and -Philadelphia. Most certainly it is much -more offensive to the public at large. In -fact, more than any other specific subdivision -of the army of wealth, it flaunts -its glaring banners in the faces of the -people.</p> - -<p>I often think, as I watch the young men -and women of my class trying to enjoy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">252</span> -themselves, what a terrible problem we -have bequeathed to them. I am no longer -young; even my friends call me middle -aged. At any rate, I have reached a -stage in life where I can stop and weigh -the facts, and come to a conclusion unbiased -by the mere joy of living. Therefore -I am moved to pity as I watch the -very young of my class at play. For I -am positively certain that three out of -four of them will face, in the fulness of -their lives, many bitter and heart-searching -problems. Already the shadow of -impending events falls heavily upon them. -Many of them, even in their very tender -youth, have learned that they belong to -a hated class. How different is their lot -from mine! For I, as a boy, was taught to -consider myself the heir of all the ages. I -was taught that I belonged to a class loved<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">253</span> -and respected for its virtues, envied and -looked up to for its opportunities. I was -taught that the women of my class were -models and examplars to all the world. -I was taught that the men were the -uncrowned kings of America, leaders of -thought, leaders of action, masters of -destiny, masters of business.</p> - -<p>To-day, in New York, the girls of our -class cannot read the newspapers without -learning the fearful lesson that their fathers -are despised by the people and their mothers -are suspected by the women of the nation. -Ridicule, slander, sarcasm, and obloquy -are poured upon us day by day. I sometimes -wonder how the class can survive it. -It is a fearful thing for a young girl to be -brought up to womanhood in an atmosphere -like this. It must breed either careless, -heartless indifference, or a spirit of discontent.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">254</span> -I hope it is the latter, but, alas! -I very much fear it is more likely to be -the former.</p> - -<p>What are we going to do about it? I -wish I could answer the question in one -great, sweeping generality. Unfortunately, -I do not believe it can be answered so. I -know that the author of “The Trust: Its -Book” has found an answer in a Utopian -partnership between capital and labour. -I know that Mr. Carnegie has found the -answer in coöperation. I know that such -skilful writers as Lloyd and Wells have -solved the riddle by Socialism. I know -that many thousands of the hardest thinking, -hardest working citizens of this country -are pledged already to the doctrine -of government ownership of the sources -of wealth. I know that Danton and Robespierre -thought that they had found it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">255</span> -when they set up the guillotine in Paris. -I know that the Terrorists of Russia have -worked out their own solution. I know -that the Rockefeller Foundation, the -Sage Foundation, and a thousand other -mighty charities are intended as an answer. -I know that Samuel Gompers and -John Mitchell think that the extension of -trade unionism will solve it. Above all, -I know that many of the seasoned leaders -of the social world believe that it will -swiftly solve itself. I believe that Mr. -Morgan and his wonderful group of associates -thought they had taken a long step -toward the solution when they threw the -entire money power of the United States -into the fight against panic in 1907. They -believed that they had earned from the -people of this country undying admiration, -endless devotion, and an end of all warfare,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">256</span> -because they thought they had stepped -between panic and its victims.</p> - -<p>Yet I cannot believe that any one -of these solutions is the right one. No -permanent change in the social structure -of this nation can be accomplished -except by a revolution or by the process -of evolution, at which I have vaguely -hinted here and there throughout this -book.</p> - -<p>Education must go on. The professional -reformer, the sycophant who bows before -us, the parasite who eats our bread and -dispenses the wisdom of the ages in return, -harp upon this theme. Only, to -their mind, education means simply the -training of the lower classes into a traditional -habit of mind that will permit the -continuance of the present conditions. To -me education has no such meaning. More<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">257</span> -than any other class in the United States, -we, the rich, need it. We must get it.</p> - -<p>We must learn the truth about ourselves, -our strength, our weakness, our true position -in the world. We must learn the -truth about our nation, our political institutions, -our laws, our misuse of special -privilege, our brigandage of the people’s -rights at Washington and at every state capital -in the land. We must learn the truth -about the people, their rights, their -wrongs, their power, and their weakness.</p> - -<p>And, as we learn, we must act. We -must ourselves eradicate the worst of our -faults. We must ourselves condemn to -death the idle rich. We must see to it -that as our young men and women grow -to maturity they learn to condemn and to -scorn the sort of ostentatious display, the -miserable vices, the degenerate luxuries,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">258</span> -and the positive moral crimes that to-day -are so rampant among us. We must, -if we are to save ourselves and the world -that we inherited, go back to the traditions -of our fathers. We must reestablish -in the social world of America the Spartan -principles that marked that world in the -days of Lincoln.</p> - -<p>The age of arrogance is ended. That is -a hard lesson. The idle rich of America, -with the bitter voice of poverty and the -deep tones of science alike ringing in their -ears challenges of their existence as a -class, may well tremble at the tones of -that other voice which, though seeming -silent, yet speaks aloud. The nation’s -greatest builder, Lincoln, built as unto -liberty. That temple from which he drove -the idle driver of slaves, for these long -years dedicated to the uses of Mammon,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">259</span> -yet looms large in the visions of the disinherited.</p> - -<p>Above all else that we may do on the -positive side there remains the privilege -of putting our study to practical work in -the amelioration of the conditions that -exist and the prevention of the recurrence -of the phenomena that gave us these conditions. -As a class we are, to-day, obstructionists. -It is our class conservatism, -you may say, that impels us to look with -suspicion upon the rising of the people -against, for instance, such a political debauch -as has ruled Rhode Island for so -long. We, on the contrary, should stand -in the front ranks of such a battle as that. -First of all, we, the people of this country, -should detect political corruption, we should -recognize the symptoms of the palsying -touch of gold—and we should stand out<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">260</span> -before the world as the sworn champions -of justice, equality, and honour.</p> - -<p>For I do not believe that the march of -progress in this land is to be turned backward. -I cannot believe that the nation as -a nation is to sink into the depths as England -sank in the middle of the eighteenth -century. I take it for granted that the -wiping out of the idle rich is to be one of -the first steps in a programme of national -advancement, greater, more splendid, and -far more universal than any other period -of advancement and progress in the history -of the nation. The idle rich are an -obstacle in the way; therefore they must be -eliminated or destroyed. Whether we, all -the rich, as a class, are to share with them in -that destruction depends upon whether or -not we too set ourselves up as an obstacle in -the path of the nation’s development.</p> - -<p>As I have said, I cannot name a panacea, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">261</span> -or dispose in a few rounded paragraphs -of the problems that confront us. Personally -I am convinced that many measures -to which my class is to-day unalterably -opposed will within the next few years -take their places as laws upon our statute -books. I am persuaded that sooner or -later the solid opposition of the Eastern -states to a graduated income tax will be -broken down. I fully expect to see before -I die the inauguration of inheritance taxes -and legacy taxes in this country that will -tend at least to level in the course of time -the tremendous discrepancies that have -grown up under our present system of -taxation.</p> - -<p>I do not expect to see a general triumph -of pure Socialism. It may be that ultimately -we shall experiment with government<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">262</span> -ownership of railroads and public -utilities, but I should look forward with -terror to any such experiment. It may -be that in the remedying of the defects -of our civilization we as a nation shall be -impelled into excesses of this sort for at -least a brief period of our history. If it -be so, the nation will be quick to remedy -its mistakes when once it has tried them -out and found them wanting.</p> - -<p>I do not expect to see the great industrial -consolidations destroyed. I do expect -to see in the very near future a period in -which the wholesale exploitation of the -raw materials of wealth—both labour and -the products with which it works—will be -curtailed. I do expect to see a very decided -limitation placed upon the growth -of tremendous industrial fortunes.</p> - -<p>Granting such limitation, and granting<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">263</span> -patience upon the part of the people, I -know that many of our defects will cure -themselves. It is an old saying in this -land that it is but three generations from -shirt-sleeves to shirt-sleeves. That phrase -is no mere generalization. It is based upon -scientific data. Twenty years ago, in the -old city of Worcester, Massachusetts, Mr. -Joseph H. Walker carried on an investigation -along this line. He discovered that -out of seventy-five manufacturers in that -city in 1850 only thirty died or retired -with property; while of the sons of these -manufacturers only six, in 1890, held any -property or had died in the meantime in -possession of such. In 1878 there were one -hundred and seventy-six men engaged in the -ten leading manufacturing trades of that -city, and of these only fifteen had inherited -the trade that they were carrying on.</p> - -<p>Give us time and we shall solve all the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">264</span> -problems of the age. The makers of America -to-day are almost without exception -men who have made themselves. That -is an American tradition that we shall -carry on throughout the ages. I cannot -help but hope, even against the evidence -of my own eyes and ears, that this plutocracy -which to-day threatens the very life -of the nation can be passed into American -history without an epoch-marking revolution. -Only, we of the wealthy class have -many things to learn, and we must learn -them faithfully, sitting at the feet of the -historians.</p> - -<p class="p4 center small wspace"><span class="bt">THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y.</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"><div class="transnote"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber’s Notes</h2> - -<p>Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made -consistent when a predominant preference was found -in the original book; otherwise they were not changed.</p> - -<p>Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced -quotation marks were remedied when the change was -obvious, and otherwise left unbalanced.</p> - -<p>The Table of Contents links to the quotations preceding the -chapters, rather than to the chapter headings themselves.</p> -</div></div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Passing of the Idle Rich, by -Frederick Townsend Martin - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PASSING OF THE IDLE RICH *** - -***** This file should be named 63001-h.htm or 63001-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/0/0/63001/ - -Produced by Tim Lindell, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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