The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1873-01-29
The Fascination of Money.
HOW IT Is ENGENDERED BY DIR
MODERN CIVILIZATION.

4 recent English essay on the
subject above noted will be found
applicable, in some ofits particu-
lars, TO the American disposition.
The struggling professional man,
says the writer, looks on quarter
OF i million as Aladdiu's lamp.
but if he had it he would in
ten years, wonder why he could
do so little. His first emotion
would be desire to make bis mo-
ncy quito safe his next, unless he
was abuormally un-Englisb, to
possess a ''place;'' and his next, to
be rid Of the worry Of careful su-
pervision. When he had obcyed
those three. instincts, he would
find that he had invested his money
the purchase Of land included,
at about 81 per cent, that he had
two establishments to keep up,
that he had lost his old scale Of
calculation about all expenses, and
that the $4,000 a year he was re-
celving was very moderate in
come, out Of which he if gave
away a tenth be would be very
liberal indeed. The idea of giving
on great scale would frighten
him, as it frigktens Vice-Chancel-
Tor Mains, who on Tuesday decid-
ed, no doubt wisely in the case
before him that great gifts were
so improper that solicitor who
drew up deeds conveying them
ought to be soundly fined for lend
ing his skill to assist in such de-
pIorable acts Of weakness. Until
be reached . very high figure, in
deed, the sense of wealth would
not come to him, and even when
he had reached that figure there
would remain the reluctance to
part with capital, and q new sense
Of the difficulty Of doing anything
great, that is scenically great,
out Of the surplus income
Two millions will accomplish much
but years surpIus-say 100000
will do but very little. The in
terest Of ordinary life being gone
for after all, it is difficult to work
anything except politics when
the money payment for the work
has lost all meaning-he would
have to discover q new one, and
would 6ndit either inaccumulation,
or in building: or in buying, the
latter taste which can become
sovereign passion. The Medi-
cean habit Of mind would come
upon him like . cloud, and he
would find that Of all Of his dreams
not one could be realized without
immense self-sacrifce, which he
would have rather less energy to
make thar in days when he dream
ed of making. And yet he would
not be changed, but would only
feel the old Fascination Of money
in new and slightly less imagl-
native form.
We are inclined to believe that
this fascination of money, this de-
sire for it as an instrument Of
power, increases immensely with
the spread Of culture and Of what
we call civilizatlon-that so far
from it's being felt mainly by vul-
gar minds, it is affecting powerful
and liberal minds far more deeply.
They realize the might of cash
much more strongly than their in
teriors. You can mark the truth
of that sentence in the writings Of
men like Beckford, of"Anastasius." /"
Hope-of Edgar Poe-a born mil
lionaire who never had a shilling
of Ben Johnson-of the heaps
Of modern writers who use wealth
as the instruments Of bliss. This
spirit is not sordid, it is not even
mean but it is earthly and it be-
gins to be injurious. Tell group
of State servants, all of the higher
| and more intellectual class, that
the modern hanger for salaries is
all wrong, that honorable poverty,
real poverty, is the best condition
for the servants Of the people, and
they look at you and answer you
as if you were teaching that an
officer or an official should be de
barred from all righteous enjoy
ments, are, in fact: not so much
dlsafected to the theory as hurt
and chagrined as its production.
It is then like an insult. Yet
when Gibbon first made the re-
mark, it was welcomed as being
wise and with a ring in it Of true
nobility.