NEW YORK CITY is pre-eminently the home of the enormously rich; it is also the abode of the desperately poor. Both classes, the two extremes of human life as measured by money, here meet and mingle together. The contrast is already a marked sign of the times, and it seems destined in the near future to be a still more serious menace to society.
Facts bearing on this matter are so openly manifested, and so generally recognized, that arguments to prove the proposition are superfluous.
Wise, conservative men in every department of our complexed modern, civic, and economic structure are crying out in alarm against the conditions which perpetuate and also augment the danger; but notwithstanding this, the chasm which separates the very rich and the very poor is daily becoming wider and deeper.
From statements and statistics frequently appearing in current periodicals and confirmed by general, personal observation, it is evident that almost fabulous wealth in the possession of a few persons, and corresponding poverty among the masses of our population, are increasing at a tremendously-swift pace and reaching gigantic proportions. Of all the nations of the world, the United States leads in the list of colossal wealth, and of all the cities of the world, New York is far in the lead for magnitude and number of individual fortunes; therefore the reading public of New York City are especially invited to consider this matter.
A well-known English writer, Mr. James Bryce, observes that sixty years ago there were no great fortunes, and no general poverty in the United States; twenty years ago there were relatively many persons of enormous wealth, and also a large increase of those absolutely destitute. Now it can be said that marvelous riches in the hands of comparatively few is beyond any comparison with former days, while official figures place the number of national paupers at three million persons, and one-tenth of all who die in New York City fill paupers' graves. Who dares to think what is sure to transpire in the next score of years if the present tide continues its onward sweep and rush!
Fifty years ago, New York City boasted of twenty-eight millionaires; now it is the home of over two thousand. But "millionaire" no longer expresses the riches gathered in single fortunes; "multimillionaire" is a word coined in recent years to describe the possessors of such vast amounts, and "billionaire" is the term already applied to one or more who now surpass all others in the race for money.
The mind is staggered by such stupendous figures, and when it is observed that approximately a dozen men by their united capital can control the entire business of the country, the outlook for the future is truly appalling. When a few persons obtain the power to still tax the masses, the burdens of the poor will become unbearable. No song of "prosperity" can then drown the cry of distress already sounding throughout the land.
In this connection it is certainly important that we note some predictions of the Bible pertaining to the matter.
Here we get history in advance, a glimpse of the future as revealed to the apostles and prophets of the Lord. He who "knoweth the end from the beginning," and who "declares from ancient times the things not yet done," as proof of His own sovereign wisdom, has told us of a time when men will have literally "heaped treasure together."
IN THE HANDS OF THE MONSTER "GRAFT."
Notice the expression quoted—"heaped treasure together"—heaps of money, piles of gold, such an abundance of riches that it is actually "heaped" together. Surely this is a true picture of present-day fortunes; no scattering coins, no moderately-filled purses, but treasure "heaped" up, and "heaped together" in mounds fast growing into hills and mountains.
Such a startling description in Bible language of what is going on to-day, leads one to inquire further of the same inspired oracle as to the source of this abnormal wealth. "Behold, the hire [wages] of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth." How familiar some of these words sound in our ears!
The Bible is really telling how "laborers" have been deprived of their just "hire" or wages, by "fraud" on the part of those who have "heaped treasure together." One can almost imagine he is hearing the bitter complaints of the workingmen as they recite the reasons for their discontent. Fraud in the matter of hire of laborers is the Lord's prophecy; every labor organization in the country bears witness that the charge is true.
Current articles and comments in the public press emphasize the fact that "frenzied finance" is responsible for much of this trouble, and that at least part of this enormous treasure is "tainted money," or money gathered by tainted men. In view of recent disclosures, in this city especially, there is no need to say again that our extremely rich men have not hesitated to plunder the public.
Lavish extravagance is the usual result of such heaped-up treasure obtained by fraud; therefore the apostle adds, "Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter." Think of the costly banquets spread by these lords of finance, or their sons and daughters; think of the ostentatious display in dress, equipage, and amusements daily flaunted in the pinched face of Poverty. Every dweller in New York, and every visitor in our midst, must be impressed with the "wanton," reckless, useless, foolish, wicked ways in which the ill-gotten wealth is consumed. A terrible harvest must surely be reaped from this sowing.
Bitterness is filling the hearts of the poor, while pride spurs on the rich. A violent clash must inevitably come, or else all previous human history is written in vain, and even the Word of God will be proved untrue, which in the same connection says, "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire." If "like causes produce like effects," then we are not far from a repetition of the French Revolution a century ago. Matters as now progressing can not go on forever. Indeed, the scripture under consideration declares that these conditions mark the "last days." The very end of the world is foretold in these rapidly-moving events. Men are hastily heaping together treasure for the "last days;" the piteous moan of the depressed laborer tells that the "last days" are now passing; the wanton pleasure-seeker proclaims the "day of slaughter" near at hand, while the Lord's own Word declares "the coming of the Lord draweth nigh," and exhorts those who know the meaning of these things to "be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord."
Rich and poor alike are pointed to the only way of escape; character alone is the test in that day. Millionaires or billionaires will then stand on exact9equality with laborers and paupers. And that time is near.
Who is ready for the issue? Let rich and poor heed the signs of the times, and escape the perils set forth in the scripture examined, James 5:1-7.
