The Portland daily press., 1886-08-18

been furnished to persons Whe wanted to try
a competitive examination and thus put
themselves in condition for appointment for
office, by the appointing power. The result
was, of course, that the appointing power
knew what men were to be examined, and
could easily discover the party to which they
belonged. and if he happened to be strong
partisan he was pretty likely to be influenced
by this knowledge in making selections. The
new rule does away with this danger, or re-
duces it to minimum, by providing that the
blanks shall be provided by the examining
boards, and that the results of the examina-
ton shall be kept secret
The discovery that Treasurer Gray has
Incorporated about half million dollars
belonging to Atlantic and Indian Orchard
mill corporations of Lawrence, Mass, is the
occasion of marvel to the general public, and
of disagreeable surprise in those circles of
Massachusetts society where Cray has been
prominent as man of wealth and position
Perhaps less attention is attached to his case
however, because of the frequency of such
crimes. The embellishments of large sums
of money seem to be growing more common
each year, and the causes usually assigned
lead to some unpleasant reflections. 1t may
be that in proportion to the population no
more cashiers, or treasurers, or trustees are
found dishonest than in times past; but the
greater industry Of the newspapers in chron-
icling all such downfalls, and the almost in
variable disclosure that the erring man has
been ruined through speculation, have pro-
duced wide spread impression that some
perniciouS influences are at work in social
and business life at the present time. Many
who have witnessed perhaps with envious
eyes the rapid accumulation of princely for
tunes by the GouldS and the Vanderbilts,
who have seen the nabobs of Wall street
traversing the. continent'in luxuriously fur
nished cars, or coasting along our shores in
yachts, of which the daily expenses amount
to more than the yearly savings Of many
hard working laborer, are not slow to infer
that such examples have very much to do
with the extravaganza and reckless Specula-
tions which almost every week send some
prominent and trusted man to commit sui
eide, to the penitentiary or to refuge in
Canada. Such differences are confirmed by
cases like the one which just now shocks the
people of Boston The defaulting treasurer
has lived in elegance. Even this summer,
while he was owing the corporations with
which he was connected, upwards of half a
million of dollars, his family were spending
the summer at Old Orchard and he himself,
on the day his dishonesty was disclosed, was
cruising in private yacht, for which a cap
tain and crew were employed, just as in
former times such men might have been hired
by solid man of Boston to take mer-
chant ship on trading voyage to the marts
of India and China. 1t may not be possible
to attribute even single one of the instances
of calamitous extravaganza which con
| tinually come to notice directly to the exam
pies set by people who have made immense
| fortunes without any corresponding labor.
But it is very certain that such examples
| cannot be otherwise than harmful. The
spectacle of affiuence arouses in most men a
| desire for similar good fortune, and suggests
| Immediately the question, How can it be
attained? If the riches have been accumu-
lated by years of wise labor, the rich mans
position is an Indictment to industry for all
his neighbors. If, on the other hand, the COW
| eted riches have been gained by fortunate
| speculation OF series of speculations in
| doubtful stocks or unharvested crops, the
| Indictment is just as strong for him ambi-
| tious of wealth to rely on chance instead OF
industry 1t is unfortunate that at the pre-
sent time the rich men who fill the public eye
are largely of the class who gained their
wealth easily and suddenly.