New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-01-10
mail bulbs, Seeds rattlesnakes, canary birds
and miscellaneous merchandise in general.
VEALTH AND TIE WANT or IT.

has fallen heir to an annual income of Sl0,OOO,
and when he shall have reached the age OF
forty he is to have full possession OF $4,000
| 600. No doubt many a young fellow in the
college who has had tough work to pay for
his tuition looks at him with envy, and Won
ders why Fate is so unequal in her favors. III
any of us out of the experience of middle age
should try to convince the envi0us boy that
there was another side to the story, that pow
erty had also its advantages, he would doubt
less remind us of the story OF the drowning
man who saw Noah sailing away triumphant
n the ark and cOmfOrted himself with shout
ing go on with your old tub /; ri have
" boat of my own" He pictures the modern
Aladdin always stepped to the eyes in
golden bath, enjoying the exquisite delight OF
simply being rich. Now the fact is, nothing
dulls the sense of pleasure like pos
session. The woman of absolute beauty
is usually less vain than the village belle with
her one good feature; the lad who finds his
name in the papers for the first time carries
the scraps about i'll his pOcketbook, and gloats
over them, while the man whose reputation Is
world wide is only bored by his notOrety. A
great wealth once possessed soon becomes an
fat accompi; necessity. perhaps. but not
delight; the intoxication of mere ownership
could not, except in the mind of miser, last
many weeks. After that, the poor lad who
has been in mortal terror that he could not
meet his quarterly bills, and who finds that
his earnings cover them with margin OF five
dollars of spending money, will have keener
actual pleasure in that five than his lucky
cOmrade in his showers of gold, who by this
time Is thinking of the something he has not
health, perhaps, love. public distinction, the
friend who il dead.
PHILOSOPHY" says tho poor student, is
well enough but / should be willing to ex-
change it for the money" and with the majority
of Americans he nurses the morbid craving for
wealth. and harps on the pleasure, power, and
position it commands. Now he has not the
money; ho has or can have other advantages.
Surely the wisest plan Is to face the facts and
weigh his own good fortune against that OF
the simply rich man; TO overstatc OF understate
neither, and to discover whether Fate be really
as unjust TO him as he thinks. 1t is to be
remembered first that vast fortunes can bilng
in only n certain percentage of personal com
fort or luxury. An AstOr or Rothschd can
live in but one house, eat Il certain amount,
wear prescribed dress, and usually the man
worth half million of capital surrounds himself
with as much personal luxury as the man whose
yearly income equals that amount. The g.eat
mass of "A colossal fortune is usually invested
i'm WAYS which remove il from the daily
handling of its owner. 1t flows in the great
currents of trade; it is regarded by the pos
SCISSOR IA a something apart from hmself-a
weight to be carefully carried and given over
10 his heirs. If he wore it, like an Indian
raiah i'm taras and necklaces, or went about
like Prince Esterhazy sowing pearls from his
coat 1t would seem to pertain to him person
ally and To enter into his daily pleasure.
Another certainty is that, no matter what his
cauital may be, tho demands upon HIM Will
more than double tho interest. His millions
may be tied up so as to yield but small re-
turns in ready money, but the public Will re-
quire of him contributions to city enterprises,
10 charity or religion. commensurate with the
full amount, and dcnOunce him as misery If
he does not pay it.
Putting all this discomfort aside, it would be
folly to deny that money is power. The sim
ply rich man commands n certain kind of
prompt Difference from fashionable society,
from his business colleagues, from his grocer
and his bootblack which will not he paid to
"A shabby coat, no matter what culture or piety
is buttoned up in it. Our poor young fellow,
however. would do well TO look into this def
crcnce and find whether it be the best kind or
not. Ii is prompt. but 1t is not sincere. III
your millionaire is mean or ignorant or dis
honest. fashionable society and grocer and
buotblack know 1t Mt glance and sneer rs
they bow. 1t ia vulgar homage paid by vulgar
minds 10 n common thing. Ii Is noticeable,
too. that it wholly disappears at the mans
death No man of great wealth has been re-
numbered for year in the history of this
country unless like Girard, Aston, or Peabody, !
he took means to keep his memory green by an
act of libcrality. The men who have changed the
dcstinics of the country, who have nodded its
thought. who are held now in the hearts of
the people as finer and higher types of hui
manIty than themselves, were rot IN single
instance men of great wealth nor did they
make the accumulation of money their leading
aim.
"But these" says the poor lad, "were excep-
"tional eases. ] have not tie material IN me To
"make an Emerson, a Jefferson, Lincoln" lie
has material to make at least an intelligent
industrious lawyer, tradesman, or mechanic.
I'm any of these cases. with steady work and
real ability to improve the chances open to
every man, he ought to command in few
years yearly income equal to the interest
on handsome invested fortune. He has
the comfort Of knowing too that no
fall in stocks nor Black Friday
can take his capital away; and while he COM
mands as much actual spending money az
though he had large vested interests, he is less
I;LoIv IN find hi. tpnnnr character, man.