Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-03-24
TIE GROWTH OF VULaAR LUXURY

A-A 1AFNH -Ah ~ hOA-<1-@ LO AOAsA
We observe in some New York papers an
increasing protest against the growth of
vulgar ostentation in that city One jour
nal speaks of "the extreme absurdity
81 that metropolitan parties, receptions and
81 weddings have of late, in many cases,
taken on" and again says that
"the extravaganza pretenses, the car
loads of presents, the utterly inappro.
'priate adjuncts, decorations and general
- details OF social events of the nature
81 thus limited at, are familiar TO the
81 New York public as being fragrant and
g Increasing, and are known TO warrant the
censure we have suggested. It provokes
e the wonder. we fear we must add the
g contempt, of educated foreigners, and it is
80 fast making New York society the
butt and jeer of sensible persons,
whether here on the spot or elsewhere. :"
There is nothing new about this kind OF
complaint When opportunities for the
accumulation OF wealth are great in a
country, it follows that very many persons
will acquire wealth without knowing how
to use it, and these persons viii inevitably
often employ it foolishly. 0stentation is
certainly vulgar, because it is barbarous.
The man who has no better conception of
the uses of money than to make with it
perpetual display of his ability to spend it,
Is necessarily of a very low order of intelli-
gence. The fact, however, is, that in a
free country most men who possess any
ability and perseverance secure the prizes
they seek in life. The man who bends
all his energies TO making money gener-
ally succeeds eventually; but when
he does SO he finds too commonly
that he has spoiled himself for any
other work than accumulation. His
mental habits have been formed,
and they have been nodded on a
narrow model, but it is plate to reorgau-
izs them. 1t is certainly more difficult to
spend riches wisely than to get them, and
the reason of this is that the man who gets
them rarely has had any education in a
higher mode of living. The ability to
make the most of wealth can only come of
experience and extended observation, and
these aids are wanting to the aouuea,n
riches. These moreover are frequently i'm
patient to make the fact known that they
are indeed wealthy, and SO they resort to
that gross and extravasant display which is
so offensive and in such execrable taste.
There would seem, however, to be no help
for this condition of things. The first
generation of newly enriched people
rarely succeeds in enjoying what
it has acquired. 1t requires a
lifelong familiarity with wealth. un-
disturbed by sordid cares of any kind,
to produce that delicacy of perception and
taste which distinguish the best specimens
of the Old World aristocracy. This cur
new rich men cannot hope to acquire, nor
IS it of any consequence save to themselves
that they are wanting in it. There is only
one useful lesson in the present growth of
vulgar ostentation. and that is a lesson
which the world viii never take to heart
probably, Its. that the pursuit Of wealth
to the exclusion of mental cultivation is a
mistake, for that the man who seeks riches
alone can never achieve the ability to en-
ploy them satisfactorily either to himself
or others. aad is tolerably sure to discover.
at the elimination of his career. that
successful life demands the cultivation of
qualities he has neglected. and the possess
sion of knowledge which money cannot
purchase.