The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-02-10
MUCH TRUrH IN THIS.
Americans Arc Making Too Great Hast,
to he Rich

to he Rich
From Town Topics.
The forgery of young Quigley, that came
10 light last week, may have been the re-
suit of an innate and ineradical dishonest
streak in the mans nature, or il may have
been the result of the prevailing insane
system of American business education.
Forgery is a crime of such positive char
acter that ! should say a man must be by
nature thief to be guilty of it. At the
same time am sure that nearly every
species of dishonesty is encouraged in
America by the false and horrible advice
that it received from our various educa-
tional sources by the youth of the country,
and there are plenty of men in state
prison to-day, and more that ought to be
there, that would have remained decent
and respected citizens had they been born
and bred in other communities. As a
people we teach our boys to fight like
madmen for wealth. Nothing else must
be seriously thought of. Instead of warn
ing young men against the dangers of
speculation. as we warn them against
wine and bad women, we urge them to
plunge headlong into that more fearful
flood, and then wonder why they should
lose their heads, be swept away and lost.
As spectator, l simply marvel at the
prepos,erous war for wealth that is
going on here. l assure you, that if you
can step aside and view il at close range,
1t is like hideous tempest i'm mad
house. You SEQ the eyes of your friend
blazing with greed, their fingers twitching
10 grasp more money, their faces white
with the vilest passion possible to man.
You see men that are otherwise sane and
sympathetic turned into vultures by the
prospect of financial gain. You see them
maddened TO the point of murder when
their mercenary plans fail. Day in and
day out they scheme, squirm, wrestle and
rage, all to one desperate end. And they
do IT proudly, as though there were no
other worthy employment in life. They
were taught to do it by their mothers, and
ii is for the applause of their mothers.
wives and friends that they keep the game
up. Is it any wonder that the weak and
bad minds get on fire and burn up the
consciences of their possessors? Not in
the least. 1t is the most natural thing in
the world. With bad sewerage city
would be likely to have n good many peo-
pie with diseased bodies. And with
maniacal system of business education
you may rely upon it that city will pro-
duce regular procession of criminal
financiers.
You can trace all these misfortunes of
an imperfect civilization TO one source.
The criminals themselves are nero in
cidents and not important. 1t is the gem
eral ignorance of the whole people that is
to blame for their abundance. From that
ignorance spring mental excitabIlity.
false standards of merit and disastrous
code of business ethics. And the dread of
Imprisonment does not to any appreciable
degree prevent financial Irregularities. 1t
will only be by unearthing the rotten
foundation of our whole social fabric that
we shall be able to purify the minds and
modify the fatal passions of our people.
We are at present afiame with the desire
to get wealth in order that we may crafty
our love of luxury and vulgar display.
America is in the hands of a horde of un-
schemers, all of them intoxicated
with greed. The poetry. the pride, the
pure beauty of noble, self-respecting man.
hood are so rare among us that they are
scarcely noticeable. On every side are the
spoilsmen, sneaking about like famished
ours, ready to spring at your throat if
there is dollar to be dragged away from
you. And American fathers and mothers
go on teaching their sons that money is
the one talisman of happiness and power,
and not a word is ever breathed in our
schools and colleges of the poison of il.
If that is not ignorance, | do not know
what ignorance is. If il is not the chief
menace of our institutions. of our govern
ment and our souls, then j am blind. The
forger Quigley is the latest mailman to
reach the law court. How many thousand
similar fools will follow INN?