The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-12-04
TIE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR

hausted. There may be various causes for
these disasters, that fall like winter blight
upon the moral atmosphere, but the chief
of them, we apprehend, finds its root
and main stimulus in the grasping
after sudden wealth as means to crafty
ambitious longings for social, political or
financial power and position. In its nature
hat.devilish spirit is akin to the one that
works in the lurid laboratory of the assas-
sins heart when in the whirl-wind play OF
its passions it surveys with envy or distaste
the fame of Garfield, the wealth OF q
Gould, or the power Off Car, or men OF
lesser note and fewer possessions. There
must be something grieyously out
ofjoint in the social structure that tcmpts
men to do such desperate deeds against the
fearful odds of penalty that detection
threatens. 1t is the indiscriminate homage
paid to wealth, purchased, when not genu-
uine, but nevertheless an homage as good
as the best, as public opinion goes. There
is glamour thrown about the rich man
that seems TO invest even his dirty tricks
with dignity, his smutty jokes with respet-
liability and his arbitrary dicta-
with the authority of a judicial decree. To
him, under all circumstances, must he ac-
corded especial regard, at least
in his presence, for whatever he
does and whatever he says. The smooth
broadcloth of the knave commands more
tips of the hat than the threadbare coat of
some worthy but poorer wearer. Even his
Jest at religion as he leaves the church
door has been more than compensated for
by the dollar he left in the platter, while
the nickel dcpositor is laughed at for re-
buking him. The consequence of
all this is too often a desire to
put oneself into such position. The quicker
the attainment, the larger the possession
of the coveted homage. Many soldier on
the CORY field of battle, by one reckless
plunge has been brevetted brigadier; many
an almost penniless adventurer in the bat
tie field of financial speculation, has been
deemed the warrior prince on the field of
the cloth Of gold. What has been,
may be- and every individual that
trusts his honor on the trcacherous
sea of chance perceives in its tides
only the indicating straw that
points TO the harbor that hope conceives.
To him no shipwreck will come. We are all
implicated. The evil finds existence in the
humblest strata of the whole organism, as
well as the highest and middle. Mr. A,
barely able to pay his street-car fare, looks
with enyious eye upon the horse and car
riagc of Mr. b, who in turn, envics the four
INLAND bloods of Mr.. c, or his shop or his
store, Mrs, A, the occupant of AN humber
tenement is jealous of Mrs. b,
the Railway Presidents wife, who
owns the finer mansion across the street.
Mrs, c. the book-keepcrs wife, become.
almost crazed for the silk dress or the dia-
mond brooch of Mrs. d, the bankers wife,
while Mrs, l. must make the usual fashion
able summer tour. And thus we go in the
blind adolatory that worships the symbol
for the thing signifcd, each strninng
point TO reach the goal that false ambi-
ton leads to, not realizing that de-
sire grows by what it feeds on, and
each graduation of progress only whets
its palate for something stronger as it
climbs the hill to be all the more cnticed
by something just again beyond, And as by
constant tasting of strong articles the phys
zeal taste is dulled so is the moral being.
And thus the merchant adulteratcs his
sugars to outstrip his competitors, his
wines, his cloths sells his cottons by false
light, weighs by guilty scales, measures by
the shrunken tape or wrong.bottomed
bushels and pints, until the commercial
system seems to have for its law Cheat
and be cheated; cat and be eaten"
And clerks themselves, by the force ofex-
ample and the cquivocal pressure upon
them to keep their positions as keen sales.
men, must also indulge in that same ethi-
cal code, using in sclEdelence the corrupted
weapons of that same commercial cannibal.
ism that laughs at the slight rapior thrusts
Of honest virtue and fair dealing. Public
opinion thus by degrees becomes as adul-
tCrated as the goods, and the scarlet tic
passes muster as the pink Of perfection
of joke or laudablc shrewdness.
So too, lawyer that mislcads his client
and takes for any easy suit, under false inn
prcssions, and unwarranted fee, is in the
same category with that merchant SO too,
the doctor that misinforms his patient as to
the disease and wrongly terrifes him into
needless medical treatment, through a
course Of quackory and hux Of learned jar
gon, So,too, the press that gives false news
or lies for party or its part2ans, tina. are
unworthy the public favor, All, all
is of piece OF the same deceit
that is aiming for solEaggrandisemcnt
by imposition upon ones conlidng neigh
bors. All is of piece.work with the bank
thief in his mosaic of accounts, the railway
robbcr in the watering of his stock. They
are cases of pocket-picking all, each aud
everyone, Now what is the remedy for this
crying cyi2 Nothing that we can think of
save in purified public opinion; a public
opinion that makes fraud of every kind
odious, that makes wealth illegitimotcly got
ten, halo of shame upon him or her
who ilaunts it before the public gaze. A
purified public opinion that not only digni-
ies true labor, but admits to the most COW
etcd Of positions the humblcst of the land
when capable and honest A purified pub.