Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-07
WOES OF RICH MEN.
inconvenience Attached to Accumu-
latiOnS of Great Wealth.
LESSON IN THE SAGE EXPLOSION.
Matthew Marshall Thinks Many Would Still
Run Al! Such Risks
FOR THE SAKE OF HAVING MILLIONS
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE pIsPAroH.l

fSPECfAI TO THE DlSPATGh.l
NEW YORK, Dec. 6.-Writing for to-
morrows Sstr under the head of "The In
convenience OF Being Rich" Mathew Mar
shall saws:
Providence seems, at times, to take special
care OF the newspapers On Saturday morn.
ing they were enabled, in addition to their
usual assortment of murders, suicides, de-
falcations, elopements and divorces, to
chronicle the sinking of feet of canal
boats in the Hudson and the drowning OF
their crews a terrible collision on the New
York and New England Railroad, horrible
eccident in st. Paul, by which Is men were
crushed under a falling wall, and. as grand
climax, the dynamite explosion in Russell
Sages Office. l have the most interest in the
dynamite affair, both because 1t happened
50 near Wall street and because it came op-
portunely TO furnish me with the topic OF
my present discourse.
The week, financially, had been so dull
and uneventful that was quite at a loss for
subject to write about. There had been
no new fraud discovered, no important
failure. no panic, and not even did the Rich
mond Terminal troubles present any speci-
ally notable features. The attempt TO
assassinate Russell Sage started in my mind
a train of thought which / will lay before
nv readers.
The Wrong Man Not Killed.
The insanity of the wretch who attempted
to assassinate Mr.. Sage and who succeeded
both in killing his secretary, and in seriously
injuring several other men, is con-
clusively proved by the recklessness
with which he sacrificed his own life.
lie probably had provided himself with
the bomb with which he effected
the mischief, more as a means of inttmida-
tion than with the matured intention of
using 1t as he did, and he exploded it upon
sudden mad impulse, without calculating
the results of the act. In some respects it is
s matter OF congTatulation that he was
killed The country is spared the expense
OF his trial and the public an inevitable dis
satisfaction at being obliged, as it would
have been, to let him go unpunished because
he was morally irresponsible. That he met
the fate he designed for his victim is felt to
be a just retribution.
But though the would-be assassin in this
case has been righteously punished, and his
intended victim has escaped, the uncom-
Portable fact remains that the attempt was
made, and may be repeated, both against
Mr.. sage and against all other men who
like him, enjoy the reputation of being rich.
1t is well understood that the possession of
wealth Is perilous to the soul, but if in addi-
ton, It Is to involve danger to life and limb
the inconvenience of it is greatly increased.
Forward Step in Brigandage.
We read in history how, during the dark
ages, rich Hebrews were tortured by feudal
barons-as Isaac of York WAS tortured by
Front-de- -Boeuf-to make them pay ransom,
and Greek and Sicilian banditti sometimes
practice similar outrages upon modern |
milliOnaires: but in this country, as yet, the |
crime has not gone beyond the stage OF \
threats. The attack upon Mr.. Sage marksa a |
forward step in its development, and the in
sanity of his assailant does not take from /
the assault its weighty significance.
The operations of an insane mind, no mat
ter how apparently capricious and purpose
less they may be, are none the less a con-
nected chain of causes and effects, and, like
the symptoms I o'her diseases, are only |
OF healthy processes To com
prehend this, we n sed but to consider our
dreams. While we are dreaming everything
that happens to Us seems natural and proper,
and II is only wnen we awake and think |
over so much O. our imaginary adventures |
as we can rem ember that we perceive their |
absurQity. Tine difference between mental |
life in dreS ming and in waking is that in
Cpeau!CG Dur thoughts run on uncontrolled |
Ey reason, whereas when we are awake we |
think logically, and correct our errors of
impression by what we have learned from
Another illustration may be drawn from
the progress of the child's mind. The child
learns 10 think, no less than to walk and to
talk. To him, at first, the moon and the
stars are within easy reach, hre is only
until he has learned the contrary, are |
good for food and drink. In the
same way, he has to be taught morals, and
TO control his impulses to self-gratiflcation |
by respectful rights of others.
Madmen's Ideas Not Utterly Unreal.
In insanity, as in dreams, these artificial
checks upon the minds activity are absent
and it roams from one idea to another un-
controlled. still, in themselves, the mad
mans ideas are the same as those of a per- !
son Of a sound mind, and he is insane only
because he does not combine them properly.
They are, as l have said, distorted and
but they are not utterly unreal
w a Ny |
had fer his underlying impulse purpose of
robbery similar to that of a highwayman or
u a railroad train wrecker. His insanity
in his not being able to overcome
his wicked impulse by the consideration of
his own safety, and of the utter uselessness
II exploding his bomb before he had secured
the plunder he sought In a certain sense, |
indeed, all criminals are insane. Reason, no |
less than religion and morality, teaches us
that the qualification of our desires at the
expense OF our fellowmen is as foolish as il |
is wicked. The proverb, that ill-gotten
gains never prosper, is confirmed by
r 4bundant experience. Still. so long as a |
rascal goes about his business with a due re-
zard to prudence, it is not customary to say
he is mad. 1t is only when like Mr.. Edward
& ield, he is extraordinarily reckless, or, like
Mr.. Sage,s assassin, he kills himself, that he
5 treated as irresponsible.
That robbery and fraud are thus com
monty regarded as no evidence of insanity |
@ long as they are perpetrated with a
atlonal provision for the criminals per- |
onal safety and his immunity from punish
nent, is rather a peril to the possessor of |
wealth than a safeguard
Limits to Rich Mans Safety.
The rich man is protected in the enjov-
uent OF his riches against violence and |
gainst subtlety only to a limited extent. II
e can be despoiled by methods which the |
aw does not reach, or if the despoiler is
Wiling to endure the legal penalty, he is de-
enseless. More than this the conviction is
,revalent that any man who has accumu-
ated very considerably more wealth than |
he average must himself have robbed |
,thers, and that when he is deprived of his
ccumulatlons, whether by fair means or |
uul. he suffers no wrong He is regarded as |
fair object of plunder by numbers of |
,eoDle who would resent Indignantly the
nputation either of dishonesty or of insane
cquisitiNeness.
Nor l. exposure to fraud and violence the ,
My form OF inconvenience from which the |
,ossessors of great riches suffer A milder |
nut almost as disagreeable species of attack
: solicitation for donations, both to general
harities and for special personal relief. The |
tories told OF the persecution to which men /
rich are thus subjected are most | :