The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-11-28
Orererown Fortunes-Finance.

| mcDt amongst men. Wherever such for
tunes exist, there is always the opposite ex-
IRENE of sGualid poverty. Indeed, thousand
evils flow from the concentration Of great
wealth in the Golfers Of individuals.
But this country suffers from great evil
which has not existed to so great an extent
anywhere else. This is the ambition of the
milionaires to multiply their wealth by tricks
and contrvanccS, morally disreputable and
in great degree entitled to the credit of
originality in this country. These devices
never fail to bear upon the general Pc
cuniary order of the country, and often dis
turb the circulating medium to that degree
that brings absolute distress upon trade and
labor. These tricks are those Of the gold
and stock gamblers of Wall street, who have
their millions to operate with, and who will
select as their means Of producing pres
sure and rcyulsion nything-stock, gold, or
paper money, many millions Of the latter
having been OH one occasion carried by one
man and thus kept out Of circulation.
What is the remedy? When the country
returns to specie payments the means Of pro-
ducing money pressure by what they term
" corner will be diminished, but not cured
altogether. a more powerful remedy is in
that adversely which will assurcdly overtakc
the gamblers. They are faithful to none
not even to one another. Anecdotes are told
in the New York Tribune which illustrate
this fact. Mr.. JAY GOULD persuaded the
venerable DANIEL DREW to join him in con-
spirlcy to lock up Erie. The partners
bought largely, and when the quotations had
| gone up five and six per cent, GOULD quietly
,nloadcd ill his own purchases upon his
partner. On another occasion DREW was
the chief manipulation Of II pool in Erie.
| The price had risen considerably, when one
OF tie ring, surprised at the apparently in
cxlaustihlc supply Of shares, found, upon
examination, that Nj. DREW had been feed
ing himself and associates out Of the pool,
and had cleared Il pretty penny by the
operation! And yet Mr. DREW is leader
in the Methodist Church North, aud has
built a theological seminary which bears his
name.
Such tricks arc considered smart, and are
rctorted by one upon another who has played
it upon him. Fortunes based upon such
gambling, imperilIcd by such trcachcry, CAN
not be very substantial. DREW and SMITH
are said to have been heavy sufferers by
| GouLD's cornerin Chicago and Northwestern
stock last Friday.
We may therefore hope that while the
public of this country is often made TO feel
the memorable heel of pressure from the ope.
ratons of these unprincipled gamblers,
GOULD, DREW, Vanderbilt, CLARK, SMITH,
and others, it may rest assured that men so
dishonest, so avaririous, will one day meet
their deserts. and their immense accumula.
| tons dissolve like the baseless fabric Of a
vision.
Another way by which immense fortunes
have been amassed in this country is by the
enhancement of the value of land, Of which
| WILLIAM b. Aston and 4. T. STEWART, Of
New York, are the most brilliant examples
of large community. The means Of this
kind of accrcton will diminish as time goes
on and values become more settled.
| Overgrown fortunes, we repeat, are a pub
lie curse unless they are used with that lib
crafty and public spirit which can alone
make them useful. But rarely is this the
case. And yet if men who depreate the
| parsimony of milIonaires have yindictiye
spirit towards them, they ought to be fully
gratifed; for there is little or no happiness for
the man who has built pyramid of wealth
for himself and whose whole care is to keep
it together and prevent all Others from de-
| irving any benefit from its wise employment.
Such men have none of that cheerful light
which would beam upon them from their
grateful neighbors' eyes were they to make a
proper Use of their vast wealth, and there is
no event in their career so gratifying to the
public and their immediate friends as their
death. ..... F..
! Great fortunes are like the pinnacles Of a
high range of mountaineering are the
points upon which the elements direct their
continued assault and even when they defy
their ASSISTANTS they but maintain cherries
and frigid existence.
AGAR's prayer-Give me neither poverty
nor riches-was wise. In this golden mean
lies human happiness. Riches rightly under
stood are capital loaned to men by Provi-
dence. If they be rightly used, they are
blessing to those who possess them. If not,
Providence has provided thousand means
to make them curses instead of blessings.
However, as we drift further from the
troubles growing out OF civil war, the public
debt, &c, the evils to which we have re-
ferred will be diminished. Stock and gold
gambling will be greatly curtailed by the
establishment Of good order in trade and
finance, together with the resumption of spe.
Gle payments, and the opportunity for in
crease by enhancement Of the value Of lands
will in time be restrained by better settle.
ment of the value of lands in city and coun.
try. But until this better order is estab
/ lished our advice to tradesmen and others il
to keep prudently out of large obligations
or indebtedness. The money market, under
present circumstances, is too liable to con
1 traction and expansion for unguarded trans.
actions amongst those who depend on Dor.
rewingto meet their engagements. Keep
| well out of debt, or lot Jour Indebtedness be
moderate. Many honest and reliable ninn
have been bfoilsat 70 ruin BY heius pate'