Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-07-24

| ANF9 VIII lAbb NOlld
They sond footmanuod and postillion.
edequipage TO bring her; she will not ride
TO their door. They send princely escort;
she will not take their arm. They make
their gateways triumphal arches; she
will not ride under them. They set a
golden throne before golden plate; she
turns away from the banquet. They call
to her from upholstered balcony; she
will not listen. Mark you, this is the
failure of those who have had large ac-
emulation.
And then you must take into consid-
GRAFTON that the vast majority of those
who make the dominant idea of life
money getting fall far short of affiu-
ence 1t is estimated that only about
two out of a hundred business men have
anything worthy the name of success.
A man who spends his life with the one
dominant idea of financial accumulation
spends life not worth living.
So the idea of worldly approval If
that be dominant in mans life, he is
miserable The two most unfortunate
men in this country for the six months
Of next presidential campaign will be
the two men nominated for the presi-
dency. The reservoirs of abuse and dia-
tribe and malediction will gradually fill
up, gallon above gallon, hogshead above
hogshead and about autumn these two
reservoirs will be brimming full, and
a hose will be attached to each one,
and it will play away on these nomi-
nees, and they will have to stand it and
take the abuse, and the falsehood, and
| the caricature, and the anathema, and
the caterwHuling, and the filth, and they
will be rolled in it and rolled over and
over i'll it until they are choked and
submerged and strangulated, and at
every sign of returning consciousness
they will be barked at by all the hounds
of political parties from ocean to ocean
And yet there are hundred men to-
day struggling for that privilege, and
there are thousands of men who are
helping them in the struggle. Now,
that is not life worth living. You can
get slandered and abused cheaper than
| that! Take it on a smaller scale. Dc
not be so ambitious to have whole res.
ervoir rolled over on you. But what you
see in the matter of high political pref.
erment you see in every community IL
| the struggle for what is called socal po
! sition.
Social Ambitions.
Tens of thousands of people trying tc
get into that realm, and they are under
| terrific tension. What is social positioni
1t is difficult thing TO define, but we
all know what it is Good morals and
| intelligence are not necessary, but
wealth or the show of wealth is abso
lutely indispensable. There are men to-
| day as notorious for their libertinism az
| the night is famous for its darkness whc
move i'll what is called high social posi-
ton There are hundreds Of out and out
rakes in American society whose names
are mentioned among the distinguished
guests at the great levees. They have
annexed all the known vices and are
longing for other worlds of diabolism
to conquer Good morals are not neces-
sary in many of the exalted circles Q.
society.
Neither is intelligence necessary. You
| find in that realm men who would not
| know an adverb from an adjective il
| they met it a hundred times a day and
who could not write letter Of accept
ance or regrets without the aid of q sec.
retary. They buy their libraries by the
square yard. only anxious to have the
binding Russian. Their ignorance is
positively sublime, making English
grammar almost disreputable, and yet
the finest parlors open before them.
Good morals and intelligence are not
necessary, but wealth or q show of
wealth is positively indispensable. 1t
does not make any difference how you
got your wealth if you only get it. The
best way for you to get into social posi-.
tion is for you to buy large amount
on credit, then put yopr property in
your wife's name, have few preferred
creditors and then make an assignment,
Then disappear from the community M
til the breeze is over and then come
back and start i'll the same business. Do
you not see how beautifully that will
put out all the people who are in compe-
tition with you and trying to make an
honest living? How quickly it will get
you into high social position! What ia
the use of 40 or so years of hard work
when you can by two or three bright
strokes make great fortune? Ah, my
friends, when you really lose your mon
ey how quick they will let you drop,
and the higher you get the harder you
will drop.
There are thousands today in that
realm who are anxious to keep in it.
There are thousands in that realm
who are nervous for fear they will
fall out of it, and there are changes 60
ing ON every year and every month and
every hour which involve heartbreaks
that are never reported. High social life
is constantly in fiutter about the deli
cate question as to whom they shall let
in and whom they shall push out, and
the battle is going on--pier mirror
against pier mirror, chandelier against
chandelier, wine cellar against wine
cellar, wardrobe against wardrobe, equi-
page against equipage Uncertainty and
insecurity dominant in that realm,