The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-01-09

the preiud;ces and deteroratinc Influences OF his
order. ''scorns delights and lives laboriors days
animated by the highest motives then republic
ans, who know no test but merit, should hold
that man good. and douby great, and doubly to
be honored. Lord Isosebery, the British peer
best known and most admired in America, may
be noted as the representative man of this class.
but he is not alone; there are Others who combine
brains and BIRTH and live highly useful lives. AS
we grasp their hands the artificial rank sinks out
of sight in the man. The man is greater than
the cumbersome title, which always invests the
unhappy wearer with an air of unreaty
As to the danger of an aristocracy of the dol
lar. must dissent in toto OF all the phantoms
which disturb the brain of literary refuses in
their studies. as sources of possible danger to
society, consider this most obviously the harm
less white sheet swaying with the wind, out of
which ghosts are made by disordered magma
tons Great fortunes are very rare in any conn
try, and come not by lucky strokes upon the Ex-
change. They are built up by lifelong devotion
to that end by the exercise of many qualities;
prudence forethought energy. and not least, by
resolute self-denial. Aud, if these be the condi-
tons of success in money making, none the less
are fortunes maintined by the exercise of facui-
ties scarcely less remarkable. The ability to
keep is second only to the ability to
acquire Your own experience proves to you at
every step how rapidly the most profitable man.
ufactories commercial and banking houses glide
to ruin, when the skilful hand of the founder
has ceased to direct them, and less competent
hands assume control. My friends, it's much
with the dollar as with religion ANY fellow
can get religion says our greatest humorist;
but TO hold on to her. that's what bothers fell
Iowa good grip is here worth more than ru-
bies."
The arstocracy of the dollar dangerous9
Consider events in this city during the year.
was in London when news came of seven fail
ures in one day, each involving millions This
is dudes panic" said to friend. IA whatl'
asked he "A dudes panic" 'Oh! Washers
panicl" Eyes, said /, "a Washers panic" Out
of the seven failures was able to count five
which, from my own knowledge, were of this
character. Young men are allowed to run
through the pleasures of society, and long for a
new sensation. They decide to be men of af-
fairs, and the fond father seeing in this the sure
indication Of hereditary genius buys the toy de-
sired-one railroad, another factory, third
a bank, and these spoiled children, not knowing
what makes the wheels go round in this delicate
and involved machinery. and wanting to know,
naturally find out by breaking the bank These
young men are not proper objects of public
censure. They were ignorant of affairs, and as
competent to manage millions for others as they
to fill Colonel Higgson's place, and write such
delightful essay as he has delivered this even
ing; or DR.. Hammonds, who sits at my left, and
prescribe for brain fever You might as we'll set
these young to write companion classic
idyl to our vice-president's exquisite Golden
Rod or poem e after Miss Lazarns s
that of our friend Nine. Botta, who
sits yonder. The result. though much
more ridiculous no doubt, would not be quite SO
disastrous. The particles in the kaleidoscope, as
you turn it, do not com bine. separate and recon-
bine with greater rapidity than wealth does when
the laws of dispersion are perfectly free to act,
| as with us. Every day the dollar passes from
the hands of the idle and luxurious into the
hands of the Industrious and frugal. The
dudes do their appointed work we'll / recog-
niZe in this class the guardian angels of society,
who should protect the sumbers of my sociastc
and reverend friends from their feverish dreams
| of the dangers of the aristocracy of wealth.
Think of this: there Is not to-day fortune in
the whole of America which has passed
whole beyond the second generation. except one,
founded upon the fortunate purchase of the farm
under our feet; and even that cannot reach the
next generation without being broken into frag
ments. He would be bold operator who would
discount the obligations of the richest man in
America, payable by his heirs one generation
| hence. 1t could not he sold upon the Exchange.
The most intrepid purchaser would follow the
course which Falstaf thought 50 unreasonable in
his tailor-"To bear a gentleman in hand. and
then stand upon him in security" The million
aire might fume as Falstaff did, but all the same
the banker would be unreasonable He would
want collateral-government bonds-or some
thing to make the transaction secure.
am just now reminded OF the story of Brown
and Smith The latter could not sleep. owing
to Browns walking the floor overhead; so he
finally rose and knocking at Browns door. asked
what was the matter. OH replied Brown,
tearing his hair, II am a ruined man, Smith, |
-am-a-ruined-ma / owe Palmer $40, 600.
The udte comes due to morrow and / can't pay
it," ''Oh," said Smith, you owe Palmer Well,
Brown, don't be fool. You go to bed, and let
Palmer walk while" Now venture to sug-
gest to former speakers that it is wholly unuec-
essary for them to walk the floor devising means
to lessen the undue accumulation of wealth.
The milliOnareS are on the walk. and most of
them have had such training during the present
year that in any walking match which may be
| forthcoming their chances OF success would be
good. if they are found not to be impaired by
entertaining In America there are but three
generations, from shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves
The recent convention of cattle dealers in the
West alarms Mr. Swinton unduly. He secs in
their ownership of millions Of acres of land the
incipient stage of territorial class, such as
curses Britain to day These cattle com
pan!es are joint stock affairs, and their
shares held by thousands in small
amounts and pass every day from hand to
hand. 1t is impossible that stationary
class can ever be produced from property so free
and 80 generally dispersed He speaks of men
owning many millions of dollars already-but
he is mistaken in this. Let me assure him there
is not cattle dealer in America worth one solid
million of dolla1s nor is there likely to be.
When man makes money at the business he
removes himself from the stick em" class, and
becomes of the ''have stuck ein"--which
our Boston friend found to be the dividing lire
in Cincinnati society. Aristocracy there was
founded upon pork but it made all the difference
in the world whether a man was one of those
who still stuck pigs whether his father had
stuck en-" Long before the first million comes,
MIR. Stick en- becomes Mr. Stuck EN-
You cannot make an arlstocracy of the dollar
where the laws OF entail and prinogeuiture are
not tolerated. 1t is too volatile when under
free conditions. The dollar is just like the one
pig Paddy could not count because it would not
stand still long enough to be counted. The
arstocracy of the dollar can't count l have no
time to quote statistics upon this point. but it is
proved that 50 far from wealth accommodating in
the hands Of the few, the reverse is true; wealth
is more and more equally distributed each year
The ghost is really. after all, merely harmless
white sheet.
The third and last indictment is that arstoc-
raey of the dollar is not self specting, and imi
tates the follies it affects and despises
Nothing is truer than that. Every word of it
is gospel. and l should like to suggest to Col
Higginson that if this be true. we can have no
aristocracy of the dollar in any true sense. An
aristocraev is necessarily COMPOSED of that