The American Millionaire.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 2, 12 January 1907, Page 42

The American Millionaire.

A COMING REVOLUTION. From ’• America Revisited,” by Bart Kennedy. So terrible has the power of money become in the United States that a man of the capitalist class may go so far even as to commit deliberate murder, and not suffer the punishment that society usually exacts for this crime. Deliberate murder is, of all crimes, the crime that most unsettles that sense of general security that makes it possible for human beings to live together in communities. And. therefore, is it that all governing bodies are drastic in their attitude towards the deliberate murderer. He is the one who violates the pact that men shall not slay each other without warning. This pact was made Jong, long ago. when man first realised the advantage of union with his fellows. In the beginning man slew man without warning as a matter of instinct. And the agreeing not to do this was the foundational law that made human society possible—and still makes it possible.* It is not my intention here to deal with the psychology of murder. Every thinker knows that in certain types of men the homicidal instinct is powerful. It is powerful in all men of force. Indeed, this terrible instinct lives in all human beings, more or less. No—l am not here to deal with the genesis of this instinct. My point is simply this: You cannot have a State if you allow •any class of men in it whatsoever to slav others without warning. If you allow this, you are allowing the axe to be la : -l to the root of the tree. Your State will fall, for the keystone security—is being wrenched out of the arch. I am not arguing as to the moral or immoral aspect of wilful murder. 1 am only saying that a State that allows it—for whatever cause —is breaking up. The United States allows a man to commit wilful murder if that man possesses enough money. He is. of course, submitted to a great deal of inconvenience. but he is not dealt with as society must deal with him if society is to exist. 1 well know that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor ail over the world. To deny this would lie to go against the fact. Even England is not an exception to this rule —though I hope I shall not be accused of favouring England if 1 assert that in England, where grave and vital issues are involved, the administering of the law is free from the money influence. Again, if I may. I would like to digress here to say that I do not believe all wealthy men to be scoundrels. I certaiuly huld that the possession of great wealth by an individual is not a good thing for the State, but it is a far cry from the holding of that opinion to thinking that a wealthy man is necessarily a criminal. Indeed, a millionaire who realises that he i* a robber, who give* away part of the plunder, and who po*ses*e* a sense of humour, may be a most charming man. But. joking apart, it i* quite possible for a wealthy man to Im- in every way a good *• rt. ju*t as it is po—ible for a poor man to l»e in every way a bad sort. Be*ide*. there are different methods of acquiring wealth. A man who intents a commodity, ar! who superintend* the producing of that commodity, and who become* a millionaire by so doing, is certainly not lite *ame *ort of person a* the < nemy of the huiiu.n race who becomes a millionaire through the cornering of the food of the people. The fir*t millionaire is. in < ffect, a working man who gets a very fancy price indeed for hi* labour. Such a man helps others in the helping of himself. He i* overpaid: but he is none the-h*** a w<«rker. and is no more to be compared with the scoundrel who cornets food, <r who juggles with values not of his own creating, than light i« to be comparr*! with darkn*>*s. And before 1 leave thi* pait of the subject into which I have branche<l. I must add that it is the millionaire scoundrel who is largely r»-*p.»r*ible for the coming challenging of the jower of money. This concentration of the token* of value whi<-h is vahed •" wealth ” i*. when rightly u*e«l. an instrument of great use to human *«m iety a* it e\i*t* now . But some millionaire* — and it cannot be denied that they are in the main Americans—have so abu*e«] the use of this power that already there are *igns of deep ami in-

ten«r iiritation against it. And as sure a- I write these words the tlays is near at hand when the power of wealth will l>e challenged. There will be a shedding of blood, and. the shedding will not be all on one side. The real enemies of society are nOt •lugger aud ls»nib-UMiig revolutionists. They are men such as these American millionaire--. These men are worse than the worst clique of Grand Dukes that ever crushed Russia. They are largely responsible for the turning of the United States into a place where a may may commit deliberate murder with impunity if he possesses enough money. It is an odd paradox that the real enemies of the power of money should not be thinkers and revolutionists, but the unscrupulous people who wield this power. The wealthy men of the world must fear most of the men of their own class who use the power of money against the welfare of humanity. These men are like the landlords of a certain country, who so oppressed people that in the end landlord i-m was killed in that country. They do not play the game even in the interests of their own class. They close their eyes to the fact that, practically, the rich man is but a steward who is entrusted with the money that actually belongs to the community. Some of the wot Id’s rich mru have this faet well before their eyes, and they act accordingly. In the hands of such stewards money becomes a genie of beneficence. And it is hard to think that these men will have to suffer in common with the foolish and wicked men of wealth who are inevitably bound to bring down to ruin the vastedifiee of Mammon.

To say that the power of money is invincible is to talk without thought, and to ignore the fact that he maker of a power is, in the last analysis, greater than that power. An emperor reigns but by the wi!l of his subjects. And money reigns in the world but by virtue of people being willing to pay interest for its use. Let the power of exacting interest be stopped, and at once the Isick of the money-god is broken. I know- that the saying of this will provoke a smile from the man of finance. But let me ask him this: What would happen did a successful revolution occur in a great State on lines directed solely against capital? Such a reveffution has never occurred in the world’s history. But it will occur. And it will occur in the United States of America.

Hie movement will come from the Western States. Already the idea is growing there that it is time that the power of wealth should be questioned as to the right it arrogates to itself of going against the interests of the American people. The American Government is utterly in the hands of the millionaires. President Roosevelt is no more than a fly on the wheel. He is undoubtedly an honest man. But he is as much in the power of the millionaires as the Senators and Congressmen who take their bribes. No one know this better than he does himself. 1 ask the man of finance what would happen were such a revolution successful? He knows well what would happen. Interest would Le at once repudiated. This is the least that would happen, even if capital itself were not confiscated. And the money power of the world would receive a blow from which it would cot inc ver. f« r the world’s capita! is as a great circling chain—one part depending upon another. It will be asked what wcuid become of the great towns? Tjey would disappear — dissolve. Society would be formed over again. The people would spread out. '•mall communities would lie formed. Men would go baek to the ■and. They would live in a simpler way. It would, be fooli-h. of course, to say that a n< w tyranny would not aiise. But it would net be the money tyranny .