Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-10-18
THE DANCE OF WEALTH.
The Rich MOnOpOlists Dragging the
Great Republic to Ruin.

From the Philadelphia Times.
Walk up Fifth avenue and stroll down Madi-
son avenue. What do you see? Houses? Nom
sense-palaces. Unique in design, unlike any,
thing seen or heard of in all the world, are these
huge piles of granite and of brick. Well what
OF it? A great deal! First of all, believe we
are living in an area of exceptional prosperity.
Everybody is making money or losing it. Every
body in trade is doing well. Professional men
are especially fortunate. Stock gamblers and
railroad sharks coin fortunes yearly. The men
we meet in office and park. the men we en-
counter professionally or socially, the men
we see in the theater or church. are easyln their
finances. All things tend upward. And with
this upward tendency go our pecuniary rockets
far up towards the very zenith of prosperity
They touch. handle and retain enormous pos
sessions. They become careless of others
They are selfish incOnsiderate. brutal: To them
the golden dollar is the index of power. Their
fast horses are stabbed in luxury,
and their stables outshne physically the
houses of their fellows. The great
stables of Mr.. Vanderbilt. erected with
marvellous impudence and utter disregard of
neghbOrhOOd's preferences on Madison avenue
are marvels of comfort and pictures of elegance
The cheapest horse owned by the son is better
cared for than his father or his mother were at
his time OF life. The tiat-bOat of the old COM
mOdOre and the bar-rOOm of his faithful help
u
picture of what these stenchful stables on Madi-
son avenue would be the forefront. Little by
little these rich men cOalesce and become cor
porate. Banded together they are akin to ON
impotence.
Meantime while they are becoming akin to
OmnipOtence. what are the other people doing?
What other people? The common people"
Oh. bless'em. they are sinking fast. We are all
so prosperous that when prices go up we don't
care. Our incomes Increase at the same time
nrip IN
the contrary in many cases they are reduced.
Wages don't go up. Neither does the pay for q
days work
Look at our illustrated papers. What subject
so popular as the ridicue of Gould. Vanderbilt
and their co-workers. The daily Graphic has
made Vanderbilts mutton-chOps as familiar to
New York readers as Tweed's were. l remem-
Der Tweed saying once: II don't care what
they say. but | do wish they wouldn't print
those pictures" Everybody sees the pictures
Even the poor devils who can't afford to buy
penny paper can read the eloquent lines in the
Graphic. in Puck and in Judge. Just as certain
as fate these pictures are the signs of the times
There is growing feeling here that under the
present system the rich are getting richer fast
and the poor are getting poorer fast. If our
wealthy men could be induced to do good with
their money this feeling of hostility might be
averted, perhaps. But what do they do? One
spends fortunes in fast horses and cOnsOrts all
his idle time, hours daily, with stable men, host
lers and jockeys. races on the road every after
noon and exhibits every day of his life.
Another emulates his example. Others seek
the dissOlute of both sexes. Not one of them
has done or is doing one dollars worth for the
people of the city. Added to this are the out
| RACES perpetrated daily, some the result of
''criminal negligence" some the normal out
come of disregard of the rights Of others, and
all the natural result of the feeling of security
born in reliance on the potency of wealth.
Will trouble come?
Not to-day. but it will come. This isn't the
first year Of the human race. Men of to-day are
very much like the men of yesterday. FOrtu-
| nately nature has a little something to do
with us yet Death steps in now and then
and removes an irritant. That makes things
easy for awhile, especially in accumulatiOns
divided up and scattered. Wise men note
these signs of the times. They are signili-
cant and should not be dsregarded That
those more interested will care don't be-
lieve. Our California friends found it con-
venient to pack their Lares and Penates and
bring them from San Francisco to New York,
Why? Because they had strained the patience
of their fellows to the very last. We have hosts
OF just such hue. Our cOrOner's iuries are be-
coming holder. Heretofore criminal negli-
gence" was an ''act of Divine Providence"
have no idea that Vanderbilt will be tried for
manslaughter just yet. Nevertheless the YER
dict of the cOroner's jury imputes to the man
agement of his road ''crmna negligence" The
water boy and the telegraph operator expected
| to perform the delicate and OnerOus duties of
four men. are also prosecuted, and l dare say
they will be tried in due course.