ed
in the order of nature and what is legislative error. Think, for
instance, of a journal which makes it its special business to denounce
monopolies, yet favors a protective tariff, and has not a word to say
against trades-unions or patents! Think of public teachers who say that
the farmer is ruined by the cost of transportation, when they mean that
he cannot make any profits because his farm is too far from the market,
and who denounce the railroad because it does not correct for the
farmer, at the expense of its stockholders, the disadvantage which lies
in the physical situation of the farm! Think of that construction of
this situation which attributes all the trouble to the greed of
"moneyed corporations!" Think of the piles of rubbish that one has read
about corners, and watering stocks, and selling futures!

Undoubtedly there are, in connection with each of these things, cases
of fraud, swindling, and other financial crimes; that is to say, the
greed and selfishness of men are perpetual. They put on new phases,
they adjust themselves to new forms of business, and constantly devise
new methods of fraud and robbery, just as burglars devise new artifices
to circumvent every new precaution of the lock-makers. The criminal law
needs to be improved to meet new forms of crime, but to denounce
financial devices which are useful and legitimate because use is made
of them for fraud, is ridiculous and unworthy of the age in which we
live. Fifty years ago good old English Tories used to denounce all
joint-stock companies in the same way, and for similar reasons.

All the denunciations and declamations which have been referred to are
made in the interest of "the poor man." His name never ceases to echo
in the halls of legislation, and he is the excuse and reason for all
the acts which are passed. He is never forgotten in poetry, sermon, or
essay. His interest is invoked to defend every doubtful procedure and
every questionable institution. Yet where is he? Who is he? Who ever
saw him? When did he ever get the benefit of any of the numberless
efforts in his behalf? When, rather, were his name and interest ever
invoked, when, upon examination, it did not plainly appear that
somebody else was to win--somebody who was far too "smart" ever to be
poor, far too lazy ever to be rich by industry and economy?

A great deal is said about the unearned increment from land, especially
with a view to the large gains of landlords in old cou