PLUTOPHOBIA AND EGALOMANIA.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 750, 24 February 1910, Page 6

PLUTOPHOBIA AND EGALOMANIA.

As might bo suspected from their clearness ' and; precision, the two words in tllC of this article are the . creation .of a French 1 ecpnomist, ..- Tliey,,are. the names -of' the great: forces - beneath that move; rnent which,, in most pivilised: counr; tries, 'has for its object the disestablishment of the natural laws' of, society as a whole and of economics and "industry i in particular. In France, where it j is/still/customary to discuss political and , social cjues-, tions"on the platform 'of logic; economists are able to secure' a wide audience and a candid hearing for their, discussions of the' '(hatred" of "capital'', and,the "equality mania." In three, recent and 'very - valuable: boolfs, discussed in a recent .issue of' the Spectator, two French writers, MM: dJAvenel and Gustaye Le Bon, dea,Lmost',effectively: with' these modern phenomena, which are anything •but; unknown in New Zealand. JUL d'Avenei. says, that "one - often hears. it said that the power of Wealth has 'increased in 'our time, and/ that ,wc are menaced, by ph^ocracy.., T/may, then appear to be uttering a paradox - when I ■ affirm. that.: rather -.. the' opposite has ' happened; vplutpcracy docs. not seem to, me. a' thing really to he feared, what we "are inclined: to is rather Vplutophobia,',." The question arises,, Is ■ society •' adopting tho. best -means /.of .meeting' those . dangers which; may reside m '.the capitalistic system" and which are certainly sufficiently feared by/-some minds/to. inspire the Socialists with .great;'zeal .and ism a remedy? .'M: Lk Box in his books on ,the.'' . "psychology '.; ,'of Crowds," and the of Socialism," sets' forth against the hojj'es of,' Oollectivism' a theory of "the unconscious conservatism, of the human' mind.'" The; foundations of civilised; society,; to;uso; the Spectator's'sum- ■ mary; of his arguments,. rest' oh 'mo-' tives. lying beyond the influence of the ,neurotic / philanthropy' and demagogy of the hour. The hereditary, instincts of mankind form an impervious bar-, rier to...the transient suggestion - and ; passion of the day. Tins, as M. d'Avenel also points out.in his book on ,"Seven Centuries'! of :AVealth," is the explanation: of -the ." fact that ' political revolution has never for long altered the character of the distribution of.,wealth." . Riches/never have . been,, and. never, can be, dis-; tributed equally, so long as . men have desires and are ..unequally framed to acquire them. ; / v The real but uhavowed .Socialists .who, ;in,;New Zealand as elsewhere, seek-'to produce equality all rourid—they will only admit that they desire of • opportunity," forgetting ' that Mr.' Miixar's, /Mr.iSEnDON'S, Sir - Joseph Ward's, and a hundred other well-known men's success shows that that .equality, already oxistjirT-never tire of telling'us that great wealth. ca.uses great misery- The same; idea appears in Mr. Arthur Possoxby's new' book, "The Camel and the Needle's Eye,'' in. which he says that the miserable poor are'Y'the counterpart of /'the' .millionaire, .necessary ; . cpncomr itant to balance and complete the picture," But are great fortunes really a scourge'? In older days, "when the main .source of;' wealth was tie displacement ■•. and appropriatiqn. of ; riches' already, created arid realised," a bloated baron did balance a host of miserable ' serfs. But ."the riches, of the modern' era are for the most part new. riches": ;

The wealth gained by the few must, as condition of.jts existence,,percolate'far ,and wide in the service of the many:-The poor man profits' by the. increased 1 cheapness of living, by the .extensiqn of jiidus--try,- and by the competition : of'. richer men for/his labour; The' great fortunes of Jo-day. "may •bo (enfold as largo as those of feudal' times, and reliatiyely they may .be further. removed'.than, ever from tjie modest .of the '. professional and labouring class, but' it sti|l remains, that the rate of "salaries and wages, alsp has. at least quadrupled in compuratiycly .recent years. '■•" i

The millionaire is wealthy only in the sense that he can . order ithe manner of a certain large amount of tho world's energy. Ho has no sovcr-: eigns in his cellar;"he consumes no more than does the ordinary man? If his "wealth" could be distributed ; t}iere would be. no betterment of the nation's lotjfbr the nation qp.ii 'pnly enjoy what it consumes, and it cannot consume more than it, produces; whatever form its - production may take. To' try and "redistribute" the nation's wealth will simply be to lessen the total wealth, and so leave everybody worse off than before, For "accumulation, notwithstanding the protests of the '(Sgalomancs, 1 must go on by its own laws or not at all. Capitalists can only be held accountable for a part of the wretchedness inevitable in almost any country if, as the of human energy, they direct that energy badly;- The real cure for poverty does not lie in the direction' of Socialism. "Rather," as the Spectator points 1 out, "each class [capitalists as well as others] must practise the I arts"of wise husbandry and. consolit date the advantages which the everflowing, ever-increasing stream . of wealth puts within its reach." It ■is to free exchange, therefore—to the system' that allows industry and lab-

our to take their natural course— that the world must look for that increase of production which alone can'mitigate the misfortunes of mankind. By the average "Reformer" the writings of Oarlyle are frequently quoted in support of interference with the fundamental'laws of nature. But Carlyle : himself has summed up the folly of the doctrinaires and the , egalomaniacs' in his Past and Present. "Man," he says, "is forever the .'born thrall' of 'certain men,' born master of 'certain other men, born equal of certain others, let him acknowledge the fact or not." Plutophobia and ' egalomania rely upon legislation to produce universal happiness by destroying the institution of : Capital through what are called laws "penalising the wealthy. But, as Garlyle pointed out, there is"no -Morrison's ' Pill for curing the maladies or society:"' His conclusion, odd as such a conjunction may appear, is the same in principle as'that of the Spectator, which we have quoted above. .' .

: It were infinitely handier (wrote Carlyie) if wo had a Morrism's Pill, Act of Parliament,' or remedial measure,-which men could .shallow,. one good; tune,'and then go on in their old courses, cleared from all' miseries 'and; mischiefs. ' : Unluckily we have nqne such';, unluckily the Heavens themselves, in their rich pharmacopoeia, contain, none ; such. . There will no -'thing* be ;done, that. will cure you. : There will be a', radical', universal > alteration of .your regimen and ,way of life take place; there will almost agonising divorce ' tetween ; you' : and ' your, chimefas, : luxuries, and; falsities, 'takeplacej; a most toilsome, ail-but. impossible return to Mature, and Her veracities and her integrities'; take'place. '

Sooner or' later those who " think that by ."penalising" .Capital they are helping the poor, and, i?at merely •varying, on'the whole for. the;.worse, the direction of industry, will, learn that their doctrines, if put well into :practic6, : ;will wreck, the. world's 'efficiency only in order,; to redistribute the world's discontent. "■ ' 1