Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-10-28
They are prob

nerience has shown us that 1t Is scarcely
oyer the large or rich societies which COM
mence a quarrel, and then it is almost i'm
possible to draw one of them into strike
An would urge is the Trades Unions here
should adapt themselves to the needs ana
circumstances of new country, win
plenty of cheap land for every man VINO
can possibly be brought here. Under sacn
circumstances to enforce rules restricting
the hours of labor, or hindering boys or
men from working at whatever trade, LOT
whatever wages they like TO take, Is 10 De
not only dsloyal to their country, Out laiSe
to their own class.
THE BEST USE OF WEALTH.
But if you here have something TO learn
from ENGLAND as to the best method OF set
tlinp the old dispute between labor and capt.
tai SO as to secure the highest results, am
hound to admit that when those results
have been attained we have more to learn
of YOU. as to the way in which wealth
should be spent--for you seem to me to
have realized, more than any other people
among whom have been, that the pro-
duce Of labor-the wealth which flows IN
upon your citizens in such full measure
should be held and used as trust for the
benefit not of themselves and their families
only. but of the whole commonwealth, ana,
in time, of the whole human family.
have lately been staying with my TREND,
Mr.. Goodwin Smith OF Ithaca. lie, as
YOU all probably well know, is professor
in the Cornell University, and, let me ada,
that England could send you no better
man to help ON the work which he is dong
there. That magnificent establishment was
founded by private citizen, Mr.. Cornell,
who has spent something like million
dollars already upon it; another citizen OF
Ithaca and his daughter have added build
ings and a peal of bells which will cost
another $1,000 In many towns, both
West and East, have found the same
thing. They are full of colleges, hospitals
public gardens, parks, and institutions, the
Gift of private citizens. But we need not
90 further than this great State and city to
prove the fact. Are we not at this moment
met in hall, the free gift to the town and
nation of one who is as well known and as
highly honored as any living American,
and who has spent princely fortune on
this Institute The magnificent institution
known as the Young Mems Christian Asso-
citation is only another remarkable instance
of the same rule, though having many
founders instead of one did it need, l
could name many others. Here your rich
men pour out their millions freely for any
worthy object, while with us it is difficult TO
raise thousands for the same purposes.
One instance in England will be enough to
mark the contrast. In the case OF our
Workingmen's College we have been for
wears unable to build suitable class-rooms
for the want of few hundred pounds.
When an English millionaire gives Il 900
for charitable or patriotic purpose our
press rings with his praise, and yet, 1t IS
not that England in the aggregate gives to
public charities with niggard hand. The
amount raised in small sums is enormous,
in excess even | should think, of that
raised among you. 1t is only when we
come to large sums, to undertakings for
the public good, which require fortune
to be devoted to them, that we break down.
1t is true that we have one Miss Coutts;
but you are finding Peter Coopers and
Ezra Cornells in every State. How comes
this marked contrast? 1t seems to me there
is only one way of accounting for it, and
that is by the difference of our forms OF
society; and, as declared in an recent
address in Boston, that for England pre-
ferred our own, and had no desire for a
change in a democratic sense, such as
many of you seem to think SO imminent in
my country, am bound in honesty to own
up Gas you say when l think yours have
the advantage; and it does seem to me
that in this direction. OF the use made in
the two countries of those vast fortunes,
which must inevitably accumulate in some
few hands in times of immense CONNER
cial enterprise and activity, such as those
we live in, the democratic is beating the
aristocratic society out of sight. An or
dinarily prosperous merchant or pro-
fessional man in England is generallyopen-
handed according TO his means. 1t is only
when he gets clear to the front, and passes
into the first rank that he breaks down.
When large sums accumulate in his hands
in a short time for which he has no need
his first idea is to found a family Gas we
call it,
AMBITION FOR TITLES.
The Peerage, or at any rate the Baronet-
age, begins to look lovely in his eyes, and
he must have "a place" as the first step
on that weary ladder. He buys all the
land he can get hold of in some country.
He builds house little bigger than that
of the nearest duke or earl. He throws
several farms into a park; he pulls down
hOmeSteauS anu Cottages He pIescIN 70 HIS
game in short, as witty divine said of
such men among us, "solitudinem faciunt,
placem appellant" And, after all, the
great majority OF them die without the
coveted title. having made their own lives
thoroughly uncomfortable by IL style. of liv-
ing which no human being who wasn't
born to it can find anything but a burden,
and very often without even getting into
country society, perhaps the most jealous
and conservative of all British institutions.
Among you on the other hand no man
seems to want to found a family, indeed no
American / have ever met thinks it poss-
ible even if he had wish to do it. Ac-
cordingly when your most successful men
have got all in the shape of comfort and
luxury which they desire, and have come
square against the obstinate natural law
that man can only eat one leg of NUT
ton or drive in one carriage at time, their
first idea is, at least if they have any faith
or public spirit which goes down deeper
than their dinner, what can do with all
this lump of money for the good of my
State. or my country. And then-as for
,l,a,. L.,