Page:The fallacy of danger from great wealth.djvu/15

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FROM GREAT WEALTH
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when these are built up, they belong by an inexorable law to the workmen, though the legal title be in the owner. To decrease them is to decrease the fund for wages.

For the good of workmen no one ought to wish that a great captain of industry retire from business or have his fortune diminished. Workmen are interested to have him stay in the harness as long as possible and have a big fortune to invest and pay out in wages. Work is good for men. So is making wealth. To give permanent work and good wages is one of the finest achievements of our modern industrial system. To honor those who do this is wise for workmen and society. In our own country such men have been honored except by the demagogue and his followers. In England they have received titles. May the day be long distant when public opinion and public policy or any act of the government shall discourage the saving and investing of money by either rich or poor! May the day also be far distant when we have in this country (as a result of any such discouragement of industry) a rich, do-nothing, and money-spending class, instead of a saving and