ew moralists have established the doctrine of
unescapable taint--that if a man have and keep he is stewed
in iniquity; that if he does not keep, adding would-be
bribery to his other sins, he scatters his own corruption
among the innocent.

Ground between upper and nether stones, fenced in all
directions, the life of the rich is necessarily an ethical
tragedy. Whatever he does or doesn't do, the rich man is a
traitor to the kingdom, a puller down of the temple.

It is obvious that the only thing feasible is to abolish
wealth and go back to the tree-climbing days, to that period
of primitive apehood when each plucked his own cocoanut and
had no thought of ownership, tainted or untainted.

GREAT SERVICES AND GREAT FORTUNES.

Thomas F. Ryan Contends that Opportunity
to Win Wealth is Necessary
to Stimulate Initiative.

Are the fortunes of to-day too vast? Does the getting of great wealth by
individuals necessarily involve injustice to others? If it does, is it
possible to prevent men from making much money without at the same time
destroying the energy and initiative which spring up in the presence of
opportunity?

These are familiar questions. Thomas F. Ryan has tried to answer them from
the viewpoint of a successful financier, saying, in an article contributed
to the _Independent_:

Fortunes which sometimes look excessive may be the result of
rendering great services to the community. If a man by
intense mental application or natural aptitude can introduce
important economies into railroad management, he is worthy
of a large salary. The salary would not in any case absorb
the entire saving made to the stockholders of the railroad
and to the public by the reforms introduced.

In some cases this claim of the inventor is compensated by
the royalties paid under the patent law; and there are many
services rendered in the matter of organization which are
not patentable, but afford as striking benefits as patents.
Among these, for instance, may be suggested the reduction in
the cost of the manufacture of steel by Mr. Carnegie and
those associated with him in the upbuilding of the
industries now combined in the Steel Corporation.

From such services have come many of our great fortunes. If
their possessors receive what amounts to a commission on the
services they rendered, it is only a small