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world to-day, is the laborer receiving his fair share? There are not
wanting men of judgment and ability who answer this question with a
decided No. And the greater share of the blame for this injustice they
lay upon the monopolies which we have been discussing. They charge, and
they verify their charge with ample and sound testimony, that of the
wealth which the united brains, and strength, and skill of the world
daily produces, the lion's share is taken by men who render the world no
proportionate service. This is partly due to existing laws, which the
public is not yet wise enough to better; partly to the inertia of public
opinion, which is still prone to cling in many points to the idea of
past generations that the workman was necessarily a slave; and partly to
the narrow selfishness and grasping ambition of many men in the business
world. This is not arguing for the reduction of all to a dead level, as
is so often absurdly claimed. It is arguing that the inequalities which
exist at the present day are not held securely in place by agreement
with the inflexible laws of justice and right. Instead they are abrupt
and uneven, and contrary to these laws; and there is great danger that
the readjustment, which must inevitably take place to bring them in
accord with these laws, will come, not as a gradual change, but as a
series of terrible social catastrophes, involving us in a wreck which
will require a century of civilization to repair.

Only fanatics preach absolute equality. As men differ in their ability
and their power to serve the world, so is it just that the reward which
the world metes out to them should differ in like proportion. But if we
stretch to the utmost the benefit which we conceive the world to derive
from the life of many of its men who reap the richest harvest from its
production, we cannot in any way make out that their services are so
valuable as to deserve such munificent reward. Indeed, it is not very
far from the truth to say of some of our most wealthy men that their
wealth was won instead of earned; and many place a much worse term in
the place of "won."

The workman sums up his case with the argument that as he is confessedly
not getting his just share of the results of his work, he is only
getting his due, or part of it, if by combination with his fellows to
crush out competition, he is able to put up the price of his labor above
the natural rate. Finally, as a last defence for the labor