Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1882-12-10
EFT STR.EET,

which involves large purchases of land and
| comparative 0bsCurity-or take TO art or
culture; or, ike Sir T. BrasSy, range them.
selves into the system by accepting office.
We cannot recall man who makes him
self very visible by his use of money alone,
and still less one who makes himself OBJ
noxiOus Baron Grant wanted TO do the
fermer, but did not succeed, and' now is
only remembered by Emma shareholders
and the cOsmopolitanS in rusty coats who
sit Goout on his seats and enjoy the dreary
liveineSS of Leicester square. In Ameri-
"a, however, the millionaire is what a. king
is in European object always of perpetu-
al notice, and often of sanatical deteStStion.
Owing partly to the immense spaces, partly
to the diffusion of wealth. and partly to
hatit, almost all great undertakings in the
Union, and more especially undertakings
in the interest OF communication, are car
ried on nOminally by corporations, and
these corporations tend TO fall under indi-
vidual control.
The Americans, to begin with, prefer the
presidential system to the parliamentary
in all thinEs and leave to individuals whom
we should call chairman far more direct
power than Englishmen usually do. They
do not use, moreover, the checks by which
we habitually prevent single men from
monOpoliZing stock in any concern, and
then govern ing il at their own discretion.
The notion OF one man owning all the
shares III tnS RAM uf Fh1land aud ar
pointing all the directors womb hOrrl1y
EnglShmeDS An American with great
fortune can buy joint stock bank, or a
railway lire; or telegraph system, and
govern il as he pleases; and he has many
temptations to do it. He wants occupation,
he wants power and he wants status; and
the ContrCL say, OF railway, with its
stocks, its contracts, its patronage, and its
importance to state governments, gives
him all he wishes for, Des deS prospect If
he manages we'll, OF indefinitely increasing
his pile
What Americans want With colossal for
tunes We can hardly imagine, for they get
little that Englishmen think pleasant out
of them; but they 10 want them, and set
before themselves peCun:ary ideals which
to EngliShmen seem fabulous. Capitalists
who should know tell us that Mr.. Stewart,
with nineteen millions, was not the richest
American alive one MAJ, at least, possess
ing much heavier inpediment to carry
on his road to heaven. With million
and a lew sixpence an Englishman is in
cined to retire, and pursue his tastes in
quiet but an American is just beginning
10 operate" on the grand scale, and With
sense of power and freedom. WITH that
| money he begins TO Cse his brains.
An American millionaire, Therefore,
| often makes himself master of soma grand
concern, or group of concerns, and istbence-
| forward a sort of king, governing as he
phases, pushing 1as policy as against
other policies" sighting huge corpora
lions, defyiug the public, with which he is
sure, sooner or laier, to come into collision,
Gorrupting state governments, and even in
iuenCing the government of the republic.
He occupies the position at once of a great
company and great aristocrat, and as he
has usually as lew bowels as q company
and is self-centered as the great sristocrat
| he is hated as neither is hated in this
country had there is often cause for
! hate.