The morning call., 1894-04-11
AN APOLOGY FOR THE RICH.

Henry Watterson's lecture on money
and Morals" bubbles over with wit and
wisdom. He keeps his audience amused
from beginning to end. 1t is only when
they walk home that they notice how
much they have learned. and how many
solid chunks of truth the lecturer sand
wiched between his flashes of humor. And
vet the coIonel's views on money-getting
may perhaps provoke little criticism.
Referring to the Biblical sentence on
rich men, he playfully observes that it
might not be fatal, if the camel was very
small and the eye of the needle very large
But he adds that many good man has
become bad by the possession of money.
and by SO saying he indorses the popular
prejudice against wealth. 1t might have
been In better taste to have left to envy
the task OF main tanning thai prejudice and
TO have shown, as he was we'll able to do.
that as a rule rich men are not neces-
sarily diabolic and may have some excuse
for living even In an age when most men
are poor.
In the age when wealth was the spoil of
arms and riches were the fruit of the rob-
berry of others rich men did not seem to
possess any redeeming quality. They
were the embodiment of spoliation, and as
such were deservedly odious. But in our
day wealth often comes as the reward of
energy, industry and foresight, and an un-
reserved condemnation of wealth implies
that these qualities are injurious rather
than beneficial which is a reductio ad
absurdum. In countries where there is no
wealth there are no alert minds and no
torpid. and men shrink from physical or
mental exertion. They vegetate from
day to day; when they die they leave the
world where they found it, and cannot
boast that their existence has been the
source OF progress anywhere. No person
of sense can aspire TO belong TO such
community. II the world contained none
but such as these we should still be walk
ing barefoot and grawing the bones of
wild beasts for food.
Human progress mainly proceeds from
the possession or pursuit of wealth. In-
genious minds contrive inventions because
sof the reward which they will bring; in
trepid travellers mark out new channels
for commerce because they hope that the
enterprise will enrich them; discoverers
are encouraged in their experiments by
visions of ultimate profit; every step In
progress by which the world is made better
and wiser and more humane Is undertaken
with reserved purpose of personal gain.
If people believed that wealth cOrrodes
the soul its pursuit would be malefc, and
no one would try to improve anything. 1t
is because they do not believe anything of
the kind. but on the contrary hold that
riches bring not only comforts IN their
train bnt likewise opportunities of useful
ness, that fathers give their sons a b gh
education which may fit them for the
acquisition of money and that young men
of the right sort deny themselves pleasures
to devote themselves 10 business.
There are countries 10 which there Is no
wealth. and practically no money. The
inhabitants of these countries wear NO
clothes aud eat nothing but the rudest
fruits of the earth; they have no wants.
no tastes. no knowledge; they live like
beasts of the field. and when they pass
away their corpses naturally become The
prey of vermn. In those other countries
where the pursuit of wealth is general
knowledge fonrishes, manners are pol
ished, the moral tone is high. The stand
ard of art and letters and science and
humanity is always in proportion to the
volume of acquired wealth. Colonel Wat
terson says the rich man is narrow-mlnded,
small-souled, hard-hearted. Is it really
so? Man for man, is he who by life of
intelligent labor has acquired money less
broad and less warm-hearted than he who
has struggled to make himself independent