“Isn’t that socialism?� asked the smiling Stimson of his brother of the Bar.
“I believe that there is something vitally wrong,� replied Sturgis, “in a system which permits the employer to pile up millions, tens of millions, and even hundreds of millions of dollars, while the workman, who is making these millions for him, often receives only a bare living, and frequently has nothing left for old age. With apologies to Patrick Henry, if this be socialism, make the most of it. Let me remind you of a very prominent illustration of our present system. Our government framed its tariff laws for the special benefit of the iron and steel industry, it being claimed that such laws would especially benefit the workingmen in that industry. Who received the benefit? More than two hundred millions of dollars were piled up in the hands of one man, who is now trying to unload these millions upon the public libraries of the country. Without denying the benefit of public libraries, that two hundred millions should most of it have gone to the workingmen who created that wealth. Give the workingmen of America their just dues, and there will be no need of private gifts to libraries. Every community will be abundantly able to build its own library, and that will be better than accepting gifts from men whose wealth rightly belongs to the people.�
“Would you deny the right of private property?� asked Stimson.
“The right of private property, when grossly abused, must give way to something higher,—the public good.�
“If I stay longer I shall miss another appointment,� said Stimson. “Your client will probably receive a check soon.� And Stimson withdrew.
CHAPTER XV.
JOHN WYCLIFF had made his plans for remaining in Papyrus. Zechariah Baldwin had paid the full amount of John Wycliff’s legal demands. The latter, through the agency of his friend, Ford Hulbert, had purchased the Van Alstyne estate, comprising the old Van Alstyne homestead, numerous tenements located in different parts of the town, and several hundred acres of land on the outskirts of the town. It was the largest piece of real estate in Papyrus, except the Wesson Mills, which the all-devouring Baldwins had not secured.
Scarcely had Wycliff moved his family into the old Van Alstyne homestead, when all his plans were upset by a letter from Colonel Lathrop, proposing that he remove to Emerald Valley, and giving very substantial reasons for such proposal. The Colonel wrote in part:—
“Senator Smith recently died, and Governor Brown offers me the appointment to the U. S. Senate until the Legislature meets, when it is reasonably sure that it will elect me for the remainder of Senator Smith’s unexpired term. Of course you will see the wisdom of having one of the owners of the Rattlesnake Mine resident here. I am not a statesman. I am not much of a politician, except that, in a large measure, I have footed the bills of my party here. My claims upon the people are two: First, as the father of irrigation in this region. Second, in partnership with yourself, as one of the owners of the leading gold mine in this section.
“I should like to spend a year in the Millionaires’ Club, at Washington, and obtain the title of U. S. Senator for my old age. The Rattlesnake Mine, which now includes the Dead Open and Shut, is forging rapidly to the front of all gold-mining properties in the West, and there is scarcely a doubt that after I have completed the late Senator Smith’s term, you could be elected to succeed me. Money makes senators, and this is as true of the East as of the West in these days.