Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1888-05-22
CRIME IN HIGH LIFE.

| greatly SnOckeu tne pUDuc mlHu, put
they have aroused great deal of re-
Election upon the probable causes OF
such conduct in such men. Many
crimes of the worst kind are at least
Ineligible. Eugene Aram murders
Clarke for money. Old Mr.. White, in
Salem, was murdered by men who
would gain by his death. There are
also crimes of passion. of anger, OF
jealousy, of revenge, which are all
comprehensive in a certain sense
| Then there are crimes which are no
crimes. as when a starving boy steals a
leg of mutton. in which case the moral
guilt disappears.
But when n man is not only of COM
Portable pecuniary condition, but is
rich; when he is Tapped in luxury and
ease; carefully educated and trained in
the most refined and exemplary society,
| in which the mere suspicion of dishon-
esty is fatal; when neither circum-
| stance nor health nor temperament
soicits him to dishonor, and he is per-
fectly conscious of the unspeakable
| consequences of his conduct to those
whom he loves tenderly; when there is
no conceivable temptation or reason or
excuse, within or without, no apparent
| weakness of the moral sense, no
| hereditary tendency. and the man sud
| denly proves to be thief and a
swindler, and is so overwhelmed with
| the discovery of his dishonesty that he
kills hmself-what is the explanation
| 1t Is mystery, and all the pro-
| founder because Of the meanness of the
| obvious motive.
| When the starving boy steals food,
we say the moral guilt vanishes, al
though the English law used to hang
him for it. but bad no penalty for Col
onel Charters, OF for the Duke of
| Quecnsbury, who was q hereditary
| law-maker. In the case we are con-
sidering, however, the only motive is
inexpressibly contemplate. 1t is the
wish to paint the lily. to gid the gold.
The man who has one yacht would have
| two yachts. His dinner service is of
Sevres, but he would have another of
| Dresden. His horse is the fleetest of
horses, but he would have pair. He
has fresh figs daily from his green
|
| beautiful, but he would rival the AL
hambra His wifc's diamond tiara
dazzles every beholder, but SHE must
add to it necklace of black pearls.
These are his aims, and for these he
dishonors his name, blows out his
brains. and wounds irremediably the
hearts that fondly love him.
His crime is the result of an undue
| exaltation of wealth, and such exalta-
ton is the bane and peril of American
society. TO penetrate the charmed
| pale of Society is the instinct of
wealth, and in a country where there is
no social hierarchy, wealth can have
and does have its way. 1t is one adj
vantage of society of class that wealth
can not buy its way beyond its caste.
II. X. H., indeed. may condescend to
eat your exquisite dinners and ad-
mire your precious collection. but you
are not therefore admitted dd
euadem The blue blood, whatever
that sacred fluid may be, flows in the
veins of yonder beldam, shriveled in
body and purse, and she instinctively
takes naughty precedence of the gem
crusted beauty who flashes with new
splendor upon the court. But the
beauty knows and the husband knows.
and they both know that every body
else knows, that all the gems of Col
conda can not be transmitted into one
drop of that mystic blood.
But in a country where you can break
into the sacred pale with u bar of gold,
every body knows that the pit out OF
which social distinction is digged is q
gold mine. To scale society is only to
climb golden stair. The more gold
the more distinction. Not rank for
public service. coronet or Westmin.
ster Abbey, not the noble tradition OF
a long line OF ancestors whispering
sternly nobiesSe obltqe, but mere pro
fuse and splendid expenditure, will
open the awful gates and seat you a
the highest table. And it is the plain
moral of all the recent betrayal OF
trust. the meme. meme. flashing upon
the wall of the banqueting chamber
that while we accept money as the
credential and passport, instead Of
actual service. actual accomplishment
} and distinction, we put premium
upon dishonesty and robbery.
, This tendency is encouraged by moth
ing more than by the reports in tn,
! | newspapers Vi lnt lTlNiAi uelhllS OI INT
, lives of rich people. The dinners ant
, the drives of Midas are Of as much in
trinsic public interest when he earn
ten dollars a week rs when his incom,
is ten thousand dollars a day. Tn,
!. only reason that they are recorded il
the latter event is that his income is i'm
mense. This casts a prodigious CLAM
our upon the mere fact of wealth, an1
greatly strengthens the temptation t
obtain it at any cost. The daily an
nouncement that Mr.. and Mrs. Bonan
| IN yesterday entertained Mr.. and Mrs
Gulch at dinner is not merely a ludic
rous imitation of the foreign gazette o
: a recognized social hierarchy. but it il
: n stiInulant to get within the circle Tx
incidents of whose social intercourse
are recorded like those of royalty or o
aristocracy The key to that circle il
Il key of gold, and the stimulant incite
the legion who crave that notoriety
more than any other prize to get tn,
gold key honestly If they can. bu
quickly at all events. - George WtliiaR
Curtis, in Harper's Magazine,