The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1891-07-23
TIE POWER OF WEALTH.
From the Providence Journal.

ng or declining There is no doubt |
bout it's increasing diffusion, for mil
ionaires are as thick as black berries in
every iiourishipg American community,
These wealthy people are complaining,
aowever, that they are no longer treated
with the profound respect shown the
rich thirty wears ago. When they buy
high political Offices they are laughed
at when they set mp great establish
ments they are sponged upon by the
weak or the vicious, if inclined to be
they are compelled TO hire
TO save them from imposition.
AS result they usually retire into some
kind of seclnsion and show a tendency
to sulll in timid defence They dare not
go boldly into active business, because
them, and they are too encumbered to
take the chances of an open fight
The very rich do not give much thought
to the power OF their wealth because all
their time and attention is devoted to
its defence 1t piles up at even low
rate of interest and every fresh invest
ment opens to the enemy new point OF
attack Science is especially offensive
to them, for it is always shifting values
by making the resources Of nature ac-
cessible to all Unless they can corner
some raw material they can make no
fabulous profits, and no sooner have they
formed gigantic stage coach trust than
some inventor discovers steam and builds
a railroad Then the railroads parallel
each other. enter upon rate wars. default
the interest on their bonds. As if this
were not bad enough, now comes the
threat of the new means of transmission
of power by electricity or easy flight
through the air All the wheat in Chi
cago is carefully cornered, prices run up
to famine figures, when suddenly the
grain bins of Russia or India burst open
and crush the walls of the corner. Every
device to make wealth secure has SO far
been helpless to provide against the con
tingency of higher intelligence. The
price of a cultivated intellect is hard
study and the man who studies hard has
very little use for masses of wealth.
The power Of money lies altogether in
the ability it gives men to employ the
services of others. A slight degree of
carelessness or ignorance makes each
employee {; source of weakness instead of
power. 1t is simple enough to hire men
servants and maid servants to bring su-
perfluous food and clothing at superfiu-
Gus hours but these are forever attended
by the stalking diseases which beset the
generation of the brain. In despair the
rich seek refuge in avariee a vice that
survives all others and can be INDUCED
in without the employment of any intel
Ieetual effort. The avaricious unfortu-
nately arouse the enmity of all whom
they would like to impress; every bright
wit in the community flashes at their
approach, financiers combine against
them, Trustworthy agents seek other EN-
ployment. none are so poor as to do them
reverence. On every side we meet the
limitations of wealth. nowhere do we see
boundless possibilities opening up to its
possessors, and the alteration of it is now
left by universal consent to the very ig-
norapt or the very provincial.
1t would be absurd, however, to sup
pose that money will cease to be power
so long as it can command the services
of the industrious, the competent and
tho iptaIIirapf Tho facnltv of bouJlino
large enterprises dependent on the co
operation of many men, can be expanded
I to a certain degree by the use of money
and is an amusement of the highest Or
der 1t can be made TO cause the growth
of much food, to make possible the rapid
increase of the population, to open UP
new territories to settlement. Bright in
telects are constantly engaged with am
pie capital behind them to reduce the
cost of shirtings and sheetings, to bean
sify the lines of hosiery, to tighten the
toll of the dish-washer No human de-
sire is too humble to support with digni
ty the wealth derived from gratifying it
Great families have risen and fiourished
OH beer, on boot backing, on babies
linen, on plumbers supplies. To drain
city requires more skill than to fortify
it, and to cure dyspepsia demands more
practice and better pay than any chef
can command to cause it.
If wealth cannot bring power, it will
be asked what endowment will accom~
plish~this end? 1t is just possible that
power over others Is a dangerous gift.
which people are inclined to avoid as
they grow wiser, rather than to seek for
it. Very few have the destinies of thou
sands in their hands without making
havoc of their dreams. With all such
power comes proportional responsibility.
the weak throw their arms around the
neclSs of those strong enough to swim
and pull them down beneath the wave
No form of power is SO subject to para>
sites as wealth: they eat into the tissue
of the disappearing tree and sap its
vitality while pretending to adorn it.
The envy which is felt toward wealth is
usually superfiuous and comes from an
exaggerated idea OF its Importance. and
the dread with which SO many agitators
profess to regard great fortunes is not
sincere.
All the gold in the world might be ia
the hands of one man without interior
ing with the growth of grain of wheat
Or a pound OF beef The human race has
too firm a hold on the earth to be dis
lodged by any conspiracy of any mum
Der of monopolies. The best things in
life never can be valued by money, they
are freely given to those able to apprec-
late them. 1t is the men OF small means
who exploit fresh avenues of wealth, and
the power of doing so can safely be left
in their hands.
BIZ Shumate was arrested in Roanoke
on Thursday last, on United States
warrant, charging him with sending
scurrilous matter through the mails to
a man named Ford. Shumate keeps
a boarding house and Ford boarded with
him for awhile. A letter was delivered
to the house addressed to Ford Shu-
rpafa Wrota on If Ia ic not bara pOu