The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1883-06-30

the personal luxury, in the way of fine
! houses and good eating, and purple and
nne linen generally. that he may happen
TO wish for, but in those things there is
Tor him no special satisfaction. ANY
body with, say, 950. 900 a year, or other
bread d-and butter fortune of that kind
can buy all the personal Injuries he can
enjoy, including in some places social
deference; and the mammoth millionaire
| wants something more. He wants 20
feel the value OF the diffe renee between
his resources and those of the merely
rich, to do or enjoy something which
they cannot attempt. Elephantine
amusements may be amusing, but thew
are only elephantine, and he Is mann
moth, wants larger trses to crush
through, bigger forests to browse In. 3
deeper swamp in which to gambol and
roll. In little planet like ours this is
not easy to obtain. He desires, like the
rest of us, to utilize his special ad-
vantage, which is the command of the
modern form of the wishing cap in de.
gree to which no one else can pretend.
and it is difficult to wish for ANYTHING
that nobody with smaller cap can get.
He can travel about If ne likes. travel
very pleasantly; but SO can the ordinary
wealthy man, money beyond certain
amount adding little either to the enjoy.
ment or the conveniences of travel. Tue
present writer was travelling once on the
track of an empress, and was so incon.
venienced by her wealth that he watched
to see what it gave her. 1t was very lit
tie indeed, nothing compared with what
she obtained from her European rank.
When crossing the Alps she swept up
for two days in advance every available
horse, engaging at one point no less than
eighty; but she could only sit in one
place in one barouche, and moved. on
the whole, no quicker than other people.
The huge suite seemed to be merely
burden, choking up the roads, calling
forth tlresome crowds and sometimes
creating wearisome delays. There was
physician, for instance, who actually
fell i'll, to the loss of eleven hours. The
empress upset the travelling arrangements
OF great line for three days by Der re-
qulrements in the way of special train
and extra precautions; but any one rich
enc ugh to hire saloon carriage for him.
self, and pay for pilot engine in front.
matter OF less than q pound mile.
would have travelled with Just as much
personal enjoyment. The empress rank.
no doubt, helped her greatly in opening
inaccessible castles, attracting experts as
ciceroni, and securing her near Naples a
paradise to live In which no money
would have purchased; but the command
of millions of itself produced no more
than thousands would have done.
As to creating grand place-the idea
which Edgar Poe puts into the head of
his imaginary millionaire-it is to be
done, no doubt, with skill and Judgment:
but when the colossal once enters into an
enterprise of that kind, it becomes unen-
joyable. No private man would be hap
pier even in his own thoughts for cre-
ating Versailles, and short of Versailles.
half a million well laid out will do ali
that is required. To ssfound a family in
the English sense, is in America or Aus
tralia impossible; and great estate gives
comparative little influence, and beyond
certain limit quite attainable by any
rich man, no particular pleasure. What
is the use of owning square miles when
nobody will "cap" to you, or vote for
you, or recognize your greatness in any
way that is not half hostile? OF course.
II the mammoth millionaire is collector
he can make mammoth collection: but
when once you have acquired all the
snuff boxes, or jade bowls, or fine cat s
eyes to be procured, thousand more
specimens add very little to your gratifi-
cation. A collection loses it's charms
when once it is magnifed into museum.
Besides, all these things cost compara-
lively little. They can, any one of them,
be done to any reasonable extent by q
man with hundred thousand year
and we are talking of the millionaires, to
whom that income seems respectable
poverty. The true mammoth CrHsus is
forced to accumulate by the difficulty OF
getting rid of his money, and soon finds
that really to use it with visible result,
adequate to the power expended, there
IS no way except to increase his
business operations. That is the rea
son why, in America, he continues hi,
trade; and why his son. with still greater
wealth, will be tempted to continue aftel
him, and to keep on rolling up the snow
ball till smaller men declare as they ar,
declaring now about the railway kings
that it's bulk is becoming dangerous
Spectator.