Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1871-06-30
Uncertainty OF Riches.

In the money article Of the journal Of Com
sserce, bearing date Of the 18th inst, we find
an intelligent response to an inquiring mind.
The answer is in the main so good that we
reproduce it entire, although we desire only
to ask special consideration to the statements
made relative to failures and ultimate losses,
sustained even by those who gain a fortune.
San odd Subscriber wishes to know what
proportion of those who succeed 10 acquiring
competency in business pursuits ultimately
retain it, This problem has been worked at
by many statstcians with about the same re-
suits. OF those who engage in business on
their own account, only three out Of a hun
dred escape failure, and only five out of
hundred succeed in avoiding an entire collapse
of their first effort. Of those who at some
time or other have in hand reasonable COM
petence and may be said to have succeeded in
business, ninety per cent. are still the subjects
of after reverses Of some sort, so that only ten
per cent of the successful ones keep their for
tune unshaken Two things ought to be
strongly impressed upon the young people of
our country The insecurity of riches even
when acquired, and their unsatisfying charac-
ter. There Is no fallacy so universally cher
shed as the notion that wealth is surely a
means of happiness. The care Of large pro-
perty is one OF theSnost burdensome of earth's
trusts. The only material good which comes
IF any estate is to be matte out of a moderate
income far more easily than from large one,
and with fewer attendant disadvantages. Few
thoughtful men would undertake the entire
Stewardship of large estate on positive
bargain that they should receive no more for
taking care of it than ordinarily falls into the
cup of its owner. The scramble after wealth
is due to wrong estimate of the good to be
acquired from it when it is gained. We speak
not now of the immense sacrifices made in the
pursuit, such as the waste Of health, charac-
ter, peace of mind, and even life itself; but
of the little to come from it in the way Of re-
ward even should the pursuer be successful.
And the corrodipg care which each large adj
diton brings cannot be escaped by the wisest
use of it. The more conscientious the posses
sor may be, the more is be likely to feel the
burden of the stewardship. Thesweetest en-
| juyment in the use of money is in the dispen-
sation of bounty, but this is sadly marred by
the judicious care required in the selection of
recipients. The man who is earning good
| living with something to spare annually for
the sweet uses Of charity is far less tried in
this respect. He relieves as far as he can the
cases of distress that appeal most strongly to
him, or touch his heart most deeply, and is
not overpressed in this direction. But when
once he has the repute of wealth, the applica-
tons come in like a food. There is not a
wealthy man in this city, if he gave judicious-
ly in answer to every honest appeal to his
benevolepce, who would not soon divide his
entire estate among the beuefciares. There
is common misrepresentation on this point
among those whose sympathies are not thus
tested They believe that rich man ought
to answer every legitimate call on his bounty,
and if they know of any genuine case Of suf-
fering brought to bis notice which he has fail
ed to relieve. they lay up the refusal to his
discredit. The truth is, bowever, that the
widest possible channel of benevolence cannot
irrigate all of earh's barren wastes over which
| it might be made to flow. Each steward OF
large propery, however charitably disposed,
can select but a few of the objects presented
to his pity, and if bis large resources are pub
| licly known, must reject large part OF the
applications made to him. The selection OF