Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-11-19
AMERICAN w-AsTEFULNEss.

| luuu
| aaiueuce to inherit or assume habits OF
reckless expenditure and careless waste.
He knows not the virtue of economy,
even though sometimes he may perhaps
imagine he does. The son of u miser is
proverbially a natural sp%endthrift. The
narrow minded, grasping avericc which
so eugulphed and absorbed tho soul of
the parent, reacts in the sou, and thus
the close-fsted corner grocer, after
years of sharp calculation and practice,
short weights and measures, sticking
for the half cent in making change, and
q general course which has obtained for
him the name of a mighty mean man
to deal with, will die at last unable to
take a penny Of his carefully boarded
gains along with him, and his olsen
thralled spirit, if allowed to liuger,
will, perhaps before the mean old carcass
has become fairly cold, see the hopeful
son and heir already seeking to finger
the coveted coin and INDUCING in golden
dreams of the pleasures and u%ncontrol-
led qualifications which are SO soon to
be his portion. Spiritualists might per,
haps tell US that this was all in accord
ance with the natural principles govern,
ing mans being, and that the spirit Of
the old miser, rendered %repentant by
the great broad light of truth and com,
~prehensive purity in which it absorbedly
floats, now endeavors to recompense for
its sordid while in the flesh
by influencing to an opposite extent the
spirit of his son..
This phase of wastefulness holds good
the world over, and the people of every
land have their own peculiar develop
ments of needless extravaganza, yet we
claim that, for real whole-soulcd waste,
recklessness as to cost, and general dis
regard of economy, the American nation
takes the lead. 1t is n national charac-
teristic, and can be traced through
State, county, city and town govern
meut. Dwellers in q land blessed by
nature with inexhaustible resources, q
land filed with the atiuence of plenty,
where man may with but ordinary exer-
ton surround himself with all the COM
forts and even the Injuries of life, we
become liberalized in soul and have not
the heed for the minor details Of eco
nomical expenditure characterizing the
people of older nations. Wherever we
may be, we naturally are inclined to
supply our wants and requirements, il
within the reasonable bounds of posi-.
bility, cconomizing to q certain degree
if necessary, yet not particular in that
respect, unless impelled by circum'
stances.
This natural characteristic is well
illustrated, for instance, in the reckless
slaughter of the wild buffaloes Of the
prairie. From the first visit of the
white man to the great continental in.
terror down to the present time, these
valuable animals have been victims
more to e%xtravagant waste than to real
necessity. Many of their old haunts
know them no longer; but thinned in
numbers they are driven to seek safer
pastures, more remote from the advance
of civilization. As the OK is food to the
white man, so is the buffalo to the In.
dian with what feelings then must
they look on and constantly see this, to
them, indispensable article of subsist-
ence recklessly slaughtered and waste.
fully disposed of without reason or ne
cessity. How often emigrants or sol.
diers on the Plains have shot down
| scores of these animals, and simply cut.
ting out some choice portions Of the
flesh, or even the tongues alone, have
left the balance Of the carcases food fol
wolves. 1t was this wanton waste, SC
extensively practiced by United States
troops during their recent march to the
Grand Council with the savagcs at
Medicine Lodge creek, which called
forth the we'll merited and pertinent re-
buke by Satanta, the principal chief,
who, in the course of one of his char
acteristic speeches, said with flashing
eyes and scorn curled lip elias the
white man become a child, that he
recklessly kill and not eat? When the
red men Stay game they do so that they
may live, and not s~tarve." These SEN
sible words had their due effect, for an
order was at once issued which effec-
tually put a stop to all further abuse in
that respect. Even nearer home-in
our very midst, lavish waste is appa
rent to the observation of all. We need
not even consider the waste in ell the
departments connected with the work
ing of the Comstock, from mining and
milling, to the great volume of rich
tailings flowing wastcfully down the
canons into Carson river. Reckless,
lavish waste is but too apparent every
where.
The American machinery at the Paris
Exno sit;on has attracted n great deal OF