The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1896-03-20
"M0NEY AND MORALS"
Henry Watterson Delights a Large
Audience With His Great Lecture.
Declares the "r1oney Devil' and
Party Spirit to be Our Greatest
National Dangers.

Inefe was fair sized audience out
Tuesday to greet Henry Waiter
son on the occasion of his first appear
ance in this city, and to say that those
present were highly entertained is
drawing it mild. Mr.. Watterson is
delightful speaker. Quaint in some
of his ways, with manner peculiarly
his own, quiet and unassuming in his
style, he captures his audience at the
outset. While not gifted with great
oratorial powers which holds one in
breathless rapture, his address is a
most polished one, and is filled with
gems of thought from first to last.
There is most reserved power in the
man, and he captures and holds his
audience without any seeming exer-
tiOn upon his part.
He prefaced his lecture with a few
remarks regarding ST. Patrick's day,
though he said he did not see just
what connection they had with his
subject for che evening. He highly
commended the Irish in their great
struggles, and related several stories
in connection Herewith, and passed
to his subject He said that he did
| wish to speak as a" partisan but as
patriot, not as a sectionalist but from
the view of nationalist. He then in
dulged in a most fine prelude to his
subject proper, stating that people
were most generally wrong when most
positive that they were right, conse
quently they often found it very hard
to give in, and felt that it was the
other side which ought to do the
backing down. He then followed
with most brilliant description of
the American continent which would
be hard to excel, and said that the
only things there were to obstruct the
march of progress here, were Canada
an Mexico, those conve lient places
for people of this country to reside
who have not kept their accounts
straight here, and felt obliged to take
sudden leave.
But no brief synopsis of his lecture
would do it justice, and we have
neither time nor space for and extend
ed write-up of it. But he followed
up in a philosophical way the matter
of money, the dreams that all people
have that they will some day possess
plenty of it, and their plans as to
what they will do with it, and the
discomfort and unhappiness which
otter possesses them when once they
obtain it, True success, he said, was
happiness. The man who is happy
and contented with his surroundings
though they may be very ordinary has
attained greater success than the
man who has climbed high in the
service of the state, yet was unhappy
because he had not reached the goal
of his ambition, the presidency. He
spoke to considerable extent of the
good that money can do, and of the
evils that come from its possession.
Where once it helps make man bet
ter, in a dozen instances it serves to
make him worse. He referred to the
dangers which threatened the nation
from the money power, and said they
were greater than from any other
source, except that of party spirit.
The great trouble he said was that as
nation we were too willing to
smooth over a low state of morals
with money; we always stand ready
to forgive the rich, no matter how
great their crime against society,
simply because of their money. We
have no titled aristocracy here, and
money is all too often the standard by
which the worth of men are gagged.
But he also found much, he said, to
be gratified over in this country, and
he turned to the brighter side and
spoke of the many good qualities