but who have inspired the others to make demand after
demand upon the government for increased pay, knowing
that they held everything in their power. The
Oligarchy has been constrained to yield to these demands,
which have only led, under our inspiration, to still
greater claims; and it is our hope that before long
the rulers will refuse to go farther in that direction;
and then, in the discontent that will inevitably follow,
the men will yield to our approaches. It will
be the old story over again—the army that
was called in to defend effete Rome at last took possession
of the empire and elected the emperors. This
is the fate that cruelty and injustice ultimately
bring upon their own heads—they are devoured
by their instruments. As Manfred says:
“’The spirits
I have raised abandon me;
The spells that I had
recked of torture me.’”
“You are right,” I replied; “there
is nothing that will insure permanent peace but universal
justice: that is the only soil that grows no
poisons. Universal justice means equal opportunities
for all men and a repression by law of those gigantic
abnormal selfishnesses which ruin millions for the
benefit of thousands. In the old days selfishness
took the form of conquest, and the people were reduced
to serfs. Then, in a later age, it assumed the
shape of individual robbery and murder. Laws
were made against these crimes. Then it broke
forth in the shape of subtle combinations, ‘rings,’
or ‘trusts,’ as they called them, corporations,
and all the other cunning devices of the day, some
of which scarcely manifested themselves on the surface,
but which transferred the substance of one man into
the pockets of another, and reduced the people to slavery
as completely and inevitably as ever the robber barons
of old did the original owners of the soil of Europe.”
CHAPTER XII.
GABRIEL’S
UTOPIA
“But what would you do, my good Gabriel,”
said Maximilian, smiling, “if the reformation
of the world were placed in your hands? Every
man has an Utopia in his head. Give me some idea
of yours.”
“First,” I said, “I should do away
with all interest on money. Interest on money
is the root and ground of the world’s troubles.
It puts one man in a position of safety, while another
is in a condition of insecurity, and thereby it at
once creates a radical distinction in human society.”
“How do you make that out?” he asked.
“The lender takes a mortgage on the borrower’s
land or house, or goods, for, we will say, one-half
or one-third their value; the borrower then assumes
all the chances of life in his efforts to repay the
loan. If he is a farmer, he has to run the risk
of the fickle elements. Rains may drown, droughts
may burn up his crops. If a merchant, he encounters
all the hazards of trade; the bankruptcy of other
tradesmen; the hostility of the elements sweeping away
agriculture, and so affecting commerce; the tempests
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Caesar's Column from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
