The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-04-23

s.xu-day Morning, April p, 1893.
me important Girard = Ill case was decided
:, The b. s. District Court at Philsdelph's
10y ~ an The decision was adverse TO the
CIV Of Philadelphia, and 10 favor OF the neirs
~ the late Stephen Girard. The Bulletin
s,s,es that this decision involves eleven large
coal tracts in the county Of Schuyikiii, !he
,sIue of which is set down at over one million
of dollars.
We are glad OF this. There have been sew
er.l cases, in,recent years, of mllionaires ieav'
ing their property TO cities and literary and
x.Gr;ous ;nst;tu,ions--while the ties Of rela.
,iopshp to poor persons, whose condition in
lie would have been greatly improved by a
moderate legacy, were utterly disregarded -
Those nillionaires, il would seem, had amass.
ed fortunes by miserable parsimoniousness,
and the exceeding jealousy with which they
regarded their gains, and their predominating
fear that some man or woman might be beue.
flied by what they had amassed, controlled
the disposition Of their property in their wills.
To them il appeared great outrage that any
individual should be enabled to take little
rest from hard work, or 10 have little more
meat on his table by the money they had
made. |, mettered not that such an individual
might be near and blood connection to one
Of them. Indeed, we conjecture that it is all
the more Objectionable that such benefit
should enure to him. The nalrow.hsarted and
extremely penurious among millIonaires con.
eide. il a criminal offence not to be ndepen.
dent OF the world-a great outrage upon socie.
~ for man not to lay up something for ext.
gencies besides being able to take care of him.
self and family ; and if such a man wear his
name and is his kinsman, he is all the more
more hard in his judgment upon him, and the
less disposed to extend to him helping hand.
Therefore, to avoid being party to this kind
of social crime and outrage by assisting any
body who is guilty of it, as they cannot en-
,rely destroy their property, they leave it to
municipalities and corporations, so that if Sc.
ciety gets any benefit from their probry and
industry, it shall be enjoyed in homeopathic
doses. In this way they certainly avoid what
they regard with great horror-the making
any body "lazy" or comfortable" by their
means.
Men do not generally act without motive /;
and here we have the motive that actuates the
class OF millionaires Of which we speak. They
live with the single object of amassing money.
1t is their only source Of pleasure-the main.
spring OF their hope and happiness on earth
To desire TO make money is, in their mind, the
greatest Of yirtues-to make it, the greatest of
earthly successes. With them, stinginess is
most beautiful feature of the human charac.
rer-saving money the greatest merit. On the
other hand, extravaganza is as an unpardona-
Ole sin and every man who does not save
money is sinner who stands no chance of
knowing the millionaire s heaven on earth, and
Of seeing heaven hereafter-if our millionaire
ever thinks of that. ''Poor relations, indeed
Why should they be poor! Is there not work
tor them, and can't they get money for thsir
work, and save it, too -! I'll see them hanged
before will encourage them in their laziness
and wastefulness. Was not poor once and
didn't go to work and make my money by
hard ticks, and save it by judicous economy?
And am l to give what / have thus made to
good-for-nothng lazy vagabonds What if
they are my kin-people?- s all the worse.
should be thus more to blame TO encourage
such vices in them. No, I'll give it to the
corporation-to the institute-to the church
and thus make my name world.renowned and
cheat all the vagabonds !" This was the rea-
soning OF several that died of late, we have no
doubt. They violate all the natural ties of
life TO crafty a vaiu and foolish ambition, and
they die unregreued by any one and execrated
by all.
When any of these kind of legacies are up
Set, and the next of kin get the property, we
are delighted to hear it. Society ought to be
aole, by its common contributions to malnte IN
all their public Institutions, and these iega-
cies TO them, in opposition to man 8 natural
ties and obligations, we Should be glad to- see
prohibited altogether, if they could be. We
do not believe they turn out OF much value af-
ter all; for they are generally squandered in
wasteful extravaganza, or so diminished by the
mal.adminstration of public trustees, that they
do comparatively little good. A few smart
men of prominence in communities get hold OF
the trust funds-shape the mode of carrying
oft the objects of the testator--cut out de.
lightful sincures-eomtortable offices for them.
selves-and sit down without care for the future
while there may be amongst the surviving re-.
latives of the deceased, afflicted beings, who,
from misfortune and disease, are doomed to
finger out miserable lives of squald poverty.
Ia such cases, were we possessed of the pow,
ers OF Gear for short time, we would dis.
miss these sleek and complaisant officers, sell
out the entire concerns, and give the proceeds
to the aforesaid ielatives.
II The New York Tribune, year or two
since, made considerable noise about effor,S
that were making to substitute fax and hem
for cotton-which, by the way, had itself be.
come substitute for fax and hemp. The
Tribune, in its Jealous opposition to slavery
imagined that slave-labor would receive . I;cL
back by the success of this experiment and
favored it with evident satisfaction. We b,vs
not heard of this experiment for some ,;ms
SuDnneR hat - L..