The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-01-09
The Sorrows OF Rich Men.

Rich men are having hard time OF II
tust now. Wealth is always source OF
more or less anxiety TO its possessors. but
NJ present 1t must give them peculiar an
noyance. Mortgagors are not paying their
Interest, real estate is unrentable and
heavily taxed, railroads are bankrupt by
the score and their bonds selling almost
FOR the price Of wastepaper, manufactures
are running at n loss, steamships ditto, aud
oven hard cash cannot he lent readily on
good security nj legal rates Wall street is
fun of capitalists with long faces asking
ndly of one another: What shall we do
with our money to make IT both safe and
productivei
The truth is that we 10 not at any time
sufficiently pity the sorrows of rich mon.
We bcstow our sympathy literally on the
poor because their sufferings are visible
md palpable; but the corrodlpg cares of
their so-callcd more fortunate brethren
escape our observation. Hard as it Is to
hack money, il must be quite a. hard to
lose it, and the paug which accompanies
the wrenchng away Of dollars from even
m overlooking purse, probably equals the
lching void of an empty one. The poor
man knows very well what it is not to have
enough; but the rich man knows it too
and in addition, has the fear of being de-
prived of what he has. The song says:
ats better To- have loved and lost
Than never TO have loved At all"
But in the ease of riches, perhaps IL is
better never to have possessed them, than
10 possess them and then see them take
wings and fly away.
Daily events show what good cause rich
men have for experimenting this last pain
ful trial Now, II is "a bookkecpor or cash
her who runs away with their cash, or "a
porter or clerk who robs their warehouse.
Next, it Is wholesale embezzlcmont of
The funds OF bank or other corporation
h which they have shares. Then II is
ZONE promising speculation in which they
have largely invested, which utterly col
hpses and leaves barely enough to pay for
HI inquest on the remains. Railroad bonds
are bought on the faith Of n guarantee, and
the guarantor suddenly repudiates his OBJ
bgation. A great fire, like that at Chicago
OF Boston, burns up the entire capital of
iavorite insurance companies. Freshets
destroy mills storms sink ships. Not only
Abe cunning OF dishonest men, but the
bilhu luI y VI lHc elelntnls, ma keS war upon
accumulated property, and, towering be-
hind ALL stalks the grim giant, Death, who
comes at some unexpected moment and
matches away Its owner, 30 that the
bank parlor aud the counting room which
knew him, know him no more. When
now TO these ordinary and permanent
perils IL added the prevailing excep-
tional state of affairs in which money is
wasting away between the fingers which
clutch ii, for want OF a safe place of invest
nent, the misery Of the situation must be-
come almost intolerable.
We can, however, offer this consolation
60 our suffering rich brethren-their chas-
tisement is for their good. The remark is
trte but true, only its truth is probably
more evident to us when applied to them,
than it would be if applied to us, Let
them be resigned and patient and things
will come right again one Of these days
There Is silver lining TO every cloud
even II the silver cannot DO coined into
dollars. All is not lost, for hope Is not lost.
Three per cent. per aDnnm is better than
nothing, now, and you still have The chance
Hgettine back 20 six, seven, and ten by