St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-04-12
A VULGAR DISPLAY.

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rule. it is nObody's business how he
spends it. There are eX captions, how
ever, when profigate waste of private
means Is public calamity, and then
the expenditure becomes the subject
of legitimate criticism. We are led to
these remarks by reading IN the New
York papers description of the more
than royal outfit DR.. WEBB has pre-
pared for his summers jaunt across the
the continent. DR.. WEBB is son-in-
law in the VANDERBILT family, and
consequently has more money at his
disposal than is required fer the ordi-
nary expenses of living. He has laid
out a summer trip for himself, his
family and few particular friends
which will include about 10000 miles of
travel, extending from New York to
Alaska, and will take St. Paul in the
circuit. The best equipments the great
transcontinental railway lines could
furnish were not good enough for our
American nabob, so he has had train
of four palatial cars built at his own eX-
pense, and they have been furnished in
a style of magnifcence surprising
everything known in the way of car
equipments. They are yeritable palaces
on wheels, riyaling in gorgeousness of
decoration those mythical structures
we read of in Arabian literature. They
are stocked with wines of the choicest
flavor and cigars Of the coStliest brand,
in addition to all the other luXuries.
The conductor and ear hands have been
appareled in spank new uniforms of
unique design and costly material, and
everything is to be Oh scale of mag
nificence away beyond what kings and
emperorS are accustomed to enjoy
in their travels. A steamer has been
chartered to take the party from Vic
toria to Sitka and return at an expense
of 1920 day, and it is estimated that
the expense of this summer jaunt will
be in the neighborhood of quarter of
a million of dollars.
AS we said in the beginning, a man
has the right to spend his own money in
the way that suits his Individual fancy,
so long as he does not work a public in
jury by his extravaganza. In this in
stance we are persuaded that the effect
VI III. " EDb . Will DC
baneful. 1t has the appearance of a
vulgar display of wealth. which will
only serve to intensity the popular pref
udice against the money power. He
will go all over the country max
ing this display, and wherever he
goes the question will spring up in
the public mind, Why is it that it is in
this typical republic, where all are sup
posed to be on an equality, one man can
parade III state of more than royal
grandeur, while so many thousands are
suffering from lack of the necessaries
of life? The public exhibition of so
gross and so unnatural inequality in
our social conditions will have an un-
| doubted tendency to increase the feel
ing of discomfort that now prevails
among the poorer classes. 1t was just
such vulgar exhibitions of luxurious in
diligence il the time OF LOUIS XVI. that
provoked the French revolution and in
augurated the reign of terror. So we
| take it that the display that is now to
be made by this engrafted branch of
the VANDERBILT family will have a
| prejudicial effect and will be the means
| of stirring up the soil of socialism to an
| extent that the seeds of anarchiSm will
| sprout; whereas, if they had been left
undisturbed, the germ would have died.