A cityless and countryless world : $b An outline of practical cooperative individualismOlerich, Henry
Science
A cityless and countryless world : $b An outline of practical cooperative individualism
Olerich, Henry
Cooperation; Social problems -- Miscellanea
“You say that he had $20 when he landed. That he secured a position as
section hand, earning $1.25 a day, and during the winter he accepted
other labor at from 50 to 75 cents per day. You say that it took him
about three years to save the first hundred dollars with which he
bought his little house. Just think of it, three years of toil and
saving for a little house which was hardly fit for a human family of
four and five to live in!
“You say further that Mr. Bremmer, as he gradually acquired more and
more wealth, successively changed his occupation from section hand to
gardener, from gardener to merchant, from merchant to manufacturer,
then to land speculator, and from that to banker. Of course, we all
know why Mr. Bremmer did not at first engage in manufacturing and
banking: Simply because they require a large amount of money which
Mr. Bremmer did not have. We also all know why he quit the section
business: there was too much work and too little pay. Once more, we
also all know that a section hand, _as such_, can never become rich.
You say that Mr. Bremmer saved a hundred dollars the first three
years. At this rate a section hand, as such, by his labor can never
lay up as much as $2,000. His life is too short even if he spends the
whole of it in toil and saving. Mr. Bremmer saw this and changed his
occupation as soon as possible.
“After three years of toil and saving he had saved enough to buy
a one-hundred-dollar house; after three more years, in the same
occupation, he had enough laid up to buy a two-hundred-dollar garden
spot.
“Now do you not see the inequality and injustice in your money system?
How slow and hard the section-hand acquires it, and how easy and
abundantly some manufacturers, land speculators and bankers acquire it?
What vast advantages they have?”
“But,” said Rev. Dudley, “has not every sound person an equal
opportunity for acquiring money, and then engage in those advantageous
occupations of which you speak? You see the United States is a free
country. No one is forbidden to engage in any business.”
At this Mr. Midith smiled and said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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