Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1868-07-30
MORALITY AND EXTRAvA-
CANOE.

CANOE.
What is extravaganza and what is
economical expenditure for r~eproduc-
ton depends upon the result, aud still
more upon the motives with which the
original outlay is made, or, in other
words, upon the capital invested.
William Pitt ruined himself in order to
be able to govern England u%ndisturbed
BY household cares, and died at forty
seven, personally involved in hopeless
debt, shortly after the surrender Of the
Austrian army at Ulm, before the genius
and combinations of Napoleon. Even
the victory Of Trafalgar only momenta-
rily revived his spirits, and the defeat
at Austerlitz brought..on a relapse from
which he never recovered. The late
| Duke of Buckingham ir like manner re-
duced his family for the time to COM
parative poverty by borrowing vast
sums of money at five per cent, to buy
land only producing three per cent, to
increase his political influence; an eff
fort from which his family is now only
just emerging. Men are frequently con-
sidered e~xtravagant, simply because
their neighbors do not understand the
scale on which they are acting; rs when
q man in business came near being rum
ed by the rumor that he drank wine at
his breakfast, because, having lived
abroad, he had learned to prefer claret
and water, which cost him a shilling o
day, to tea. He could perfectly well
afford the cost to his purse, but not to
his reputation; so be wisely gave up
contes,ing the point with his neighbors,
aud thus recovered his credit and es-
capped failure.
Nothing, perhaps, is more difficult to
define than this particular form of i'm
morality. Often, indeed, it is only
by the long result that it can be
certainly determined whether a man
is wise or foolish, ~eminently sue
cessful or Systematically and alb
surdly imprudeut. For man
married and without property to
postpone a life insurance while he in
dulges in a daily glass of wine, or his
daily supply of cigars, is usually con-
sidered an offense against the highest
law of morals. But yet whatever is
necessary to supply to each man the
health and strength to enable him to
perform his daily duty, is beyond doubt
economy for him, so long rs his time
and powers are thus faithfully and ener-
getically employed. The ready money
expended in travelling, or petty gifts, or
minute purchases, will seem to some
men such utter waste, that no income
can exempt those who practice such
things from the charge Of extravaganza.
Yet men nre not always ruined by these
expenditures, and if they only bring a
suitable return of profit they may prove
wise investments. Even buildings Of
very large cost may, where proportional
to the work done in them, be the most
direct road to fortune, where the expen-
diture is discreet, and especially when
it is largely the result Of profits real
lied, and a means Of saving tn en- still
more in future.
In fact the great wisdom and economy
of each man is to proportion his expen-
ditures to his resources, and to make
the former as reproductive Of the latter
ms possible. A man is not bound to
spend his money in that way most ap-
proved by the community, but in the
way most approved by his own best judy
ment, and his conscience. When he has
done this, no need not fear, and had
best not always stop to consult many OF
his most excellent neighbors and friends
around him /; for these will not often
understand his motives, and will even
make it n point OF conscience to find all
possible fault with his plans, as a means
of showing their own fancied superiori-
ty, both in wisdom and virtue. No
man can be too cautious with himself,
or too much afraid Of real looseness or
negligence in his expenditures and BUSH
ness transactions. Without this he will
o o come to the end Of the longest
purse, and ruin the wisest schemes.
But next to that, it should be earnestly
considered that the most common Of all
forms of so-called extravagance-indif-
ference to petty outlays-is often not
only right, but the best result Of the
most wise and deliberate judgment.
Collectors of rare china and other curl
osities are very seldom ruined nor
those who concentrate their wasteful-
ness in the ready money sins of making
presents and buying and giving away
toys. 1t is true men sometimes get q
reputation for extravaganza by habits
Of this kind ; and where persons 60 in
debt for any Of these things, and beyond
their means, they are at least on the
brink Of a ~precipice that has betrayed
thousands, and will probably draw in
thousands more irredeemably so long as
the world stands.
THE New York World has, with COM
%mendablc zeal, published n number Of
the speeches of General Grant. They
occupy but little space-all being brief
and to the point. Now let the World
give its readers the speeches Of Horatio
Seymour, as this gentleman has done a
great deal Of talking on political sub
jects. Suppose the World were to favor
its anti.Grant readers with the war ora-
tons of Mr.. Seymour his speech on
July 4th, 1868 his defense of his