Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-07-01
THE INEVITABLE POWER OF
WEALTH.

THE INEVITABLE POWER or
WEALTH.
The adulation paid to wealth often
prov okes cynical comment from those
a little removed from the influence
which controls what is denominated
the cringing, sycophantic crowd. This
comment is often misdirected, and
nearly always unjust so far as it pre-
sumes any special abasement of the
walters Oh wealth. Wealth is the sign
of power, and power commands the
obedience and admiration Of men un-
der all circumstances and at all times.
The man who commands men and
yields the fruits Of mems labor has the
ready Difference of those who are mas
tiers of only their own muscle and their
own mental forces. There is something
in the very fact of power which takes
hold on the mind of every being upon
which it does or may operate. The
general who commands an army, and
the officer who commands ship. be-
come persons of interest to all who are
affected by their powers, or are the OBJ
servers Of the effect of their powers on
others. Individuals who were ofsmall
consequence yesterday, and absolutely
uninteresting to all the world, become
to-day, by the acquisition of power, oh.
jects of esteem and attention. In ca
pacity and in moral qualities they ale
the same. In their influence over others
and their ability to direct and COM
mand the efforts Of their fellows, they
are something to-day, whereas they
were nothing yesterday. The man
who has million dollars is able to buy
a million days service of other men.
His wealth represents the services OF
two hundred men through all ordinary
lifetime. He represents the power, not
of himself only, but Of the two hundred
men whose life service he is able to buy,
and whose brain and muscle TO com.
mand. To this power, to this tangible
advantage, men involuntary yield
certain honor and precedence. IL is
manifest, too, that the manner of the
acquisition of wealth, provided it is Sc
cure, is a much less important matter
than it is often represented. The
power of great wealth depends, in a
small degree, upon whether its posses
sor inherits it or acquires it 10y financial
powers keener than those possessed by
his neighbors. Its purchasing power is
not at all dependent upon any fictitious
act of this nature. Those who are to
be influenced by it take notice only of
the tangible facts of the power and its
extent.
wealth are facts as odd Old as the records 81 81
property rights. The old Scriptures are
full of testimony to the value of money
and wealth. We read in Ecclesiastes
that "a feast is made for laughter, aud
wine maketh merry, but money an
swereth all things" and that "the rich
mans wealth is his strong city" and
that "the magistrates shall judge for re-
ward, the priests teach for hire, and the
prophets divine for money BOAz is
spoken of as "mighty man of wealth."
and SOLOMON was promised, as the
browning gift of propitiated GOD,
"riches and wealth such as none of the
kings have had that have been before
thee; neither shall there any after thee
have the like" The proverb was no
more true in the days of the inspired
writer than now, that "wealth maketh
many friends, but the poor is separated
from his neighbors."
1t was the thought of the founders of
American repu' licanism, vain as it now
proves, to limit the accumulation of
vast private fortunes. Recognizing
wealth as power limitations upon power
in our system was the subject treated
with greatest solicitude. Primogeni-
ture and entail, the establishment of
any favored class or rank, were rigidly
prohibited. Grants of corporate privi-
leges were jealousy guarded. The lead
ing thought was to establish here a po-
litical fabric within which there should
be the smallest possible inequalities and
the greatest attainable simplicity. How
impossible the object was of attainment
and signally its pursuers failed, is too
painfully and conspicuously evident on
every hand. We make way for the
lord of millions as promptly as the sub.
jects of other countries do for their
dukes, marquises and barons, and for
the very same reasons-reasons which
are potent, tangible, perhaps Necessary
and inevitable.