A Simple Game.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVI, Issue 22, 22 November 1911, Page 9

A Simple Game.

Let us consider wealth for a moment, Man cuts down a tree and makes a house of it. Thus Nature has been arrested—dammed up, so to speak—and man has created wealth. Thus we have the thing we term wealth —houses, palaces, hovels, cities, railroads, steamships—all of the wonderful structures that man has built, which has been created by him through bis energy, by arresting Nature. But something else has happened meanwhile. It is about like this: In every 100 men, say, there will be one who has something else besides energy. He has brains. He is naturally superior to the rest. At first h>is superiority may be only the breadth of a hair. It is just enough for him to differentiate himself from the ninety and nine. Afterwards this difference may grow, as he has opportunity to cultivate it; but at first it Js slight! What has this man discovered? Merely that he is capable of playing a trick upon the rest. He says: “You are doing it this way; this is a pretty good way, of course, but I think 1 know a better. At present each one of you is working on his own hook, and sometimes you work against each other—without meaning to, of "course. Now if you will let me direct your movements a little I can produce twice as much wealth as you are producing at present.”

So the inan, who really makes a barpaiit with each one of the ninety and nine, naturally gets his profit from each one. The rest don’t realise tibia. Each one thinks he is the only one concerned. In a short time the man with brains owns about nine-tenths of all the wealth that the energy of the ninety and nine men has created. This gives him more leisure to think an I to develop other plans. He then creates, ftnm the resources of his own mind, titre.* things, namely, Religion, Law and Government, \\ ith Religion he sol.ires the ninety and nine poor devils who hive never learned to think; ami if anyone argues with him about it he says: ‘Sh! would you deprive them of their greatest con solation ? Apostate!” With Law he arranges a process of selection so that the wealth which is constantly being created by the ninety' and nine will go to his own heirs and assigns. lie fortifies himself thus against his own indiscretions, so that his children, who may not, and probably will not, have any brains at all, will be able to float along on the tide of ■wealth the ninety and nine are constantly renewing for them. With Government he clinches the whole matter and makes respectable his process of robbing the ninety and nine. Thus we have that degenerate thing called Society, a mass of retrograde brains, spouting culture, literature, art and honesty ,all blindly supported by tho ninety and nine, who in the first place didn’t want to think, because it was too much trouble.