The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-27
PRODIGALIrY OF AMERICANS.
Engiishmen DfsapprOve Lavish Dis
plays I'm the States.


plays I'm the States.
London Spectator.
The American Millionaire is armored
In friends and dependents. but he does
not, like the Roman noble, delight in
troops of Clients" or like the aris
tocracy Of the middle ages. exult In
regiments of armed followers. or. like
the arfstocrats of Europe, seclude him
self in an ancient park. with a. house
which will hold an army of servants.
and horses that might mount a troop
OF cavalry. 1t is rather the luxury of
the Jew which he Affects city house
filled with rich things, costly furni-
ture, collections of bric-a-brac heaps
or things In gold and silver and en-
broidery. He pours out money on fes-
tai occasions as from a purse Of For
tunatus; he makes feasts as Of the
great King Belshazzar; he clothes his
womankind in glorious raiment and
jewels that expresses might envy.
There Is magnif1cence of a. kind in
1t all. but 1t Is the Oriental magnifi-
cence, and there runs through 1t all.
as Paul Bourget has observed before
US, the Oriental note Of excess, which
Vuigar1zes everything. We have not
the smallest objection to Jewels, which
IN themselves are as beautiful as flow
ers, and which represent wealth as
dnnocently as bank notes or bonds could
90. but we observe in Miss Vanderbilt's
Weodlng trousSeau on her marriage
with the duke Of Marlborough that the
prevailing desire is for quantity, value,
splendor, rather than for anything
which 1t requires intelligence Of any
high order to produce. Her bouquet,
sent over from Blenheim, is five feet
In diameter, its size being carefully
registered, though it was of course split
up on the wedding day. and 1t Is COM
posed mainly Of Orchids which are the
works of man rather than Of nature,
Symbolic nothing, except cost, and
have for essential quality "splendifer-
BUSINESS" alone.
Her brooch Is ruby of twenty
carats, stone too big for beauty-no
stone, If it is to have concentrated
brightness, should exceed six carats-
the ruby is surrounded with diamonds.
the diamonds are surrounded with
pearls, "a trifle larger than the dia-
monds," and the whole is bound to-
gether with a fringe of gold, and must
look like an imitation jewel, worn by
some actress on the stage, and intended
not to beautify the wearer but to
amaze the audience. Her necklace con-
s1sts Of a rope Of graduated pearls Of
extra size, yard long, which belonged
to Catherine III. Of Russia, and must
have looked far too big for the very
opulent charms of that ponderous per-
son. One girdle Is of gold set with
rubies and four inches wide a girdle
which must be fatal to any figure in
the world, and another girdle calls at
tent1on to itself and not it's wearer by
being studded at intervals with flash
ing diamonds.
All that is rather disheartening. Be
1t understood we are not objecting just
now to the expense, though ELS, 900
spent on the horal decorations of q
church for a single day suggests reck-
less extravaganza, nor are we arguing,
with Judas that the whole might have
been sold and given to the poor. There
is no earthly reason why Mr.. Wander
bilt should not invest his spare wealth
In buckets of diamonds and rubies, as
the shah of Persia does, If he thinks
that form of investment convenient or
profitable, and If he likes to shower
likes to cover his bride with them, we
sympathize with the emotion, and only
prefer other methods for its display
We want to see the new millionaries
use their wealth, or exhibit their
wealth If 1t pleases them to exhibit it,
without this defect of eXceSS-With the
restraint, in fact which Is essential to
true magnificence. They are making
the mistake which was made at the
coronation Of the late emperor Of Rus
STA, and without his excuse-namely,
that he, as lord Of Northern Asia,
wanted to show to millions of Asiatics
in way they would understand, that
he could be more splendid than even
the Ideal in their mind. At the corona
ton Of car the single splendor
present should have been the glitter
Of an army ready equipped for battle;
at the wedding of the heiress Of mill
lions, every jewel should have been
valueless, except as a miracle Of
thoughtful art.
We do not exclude waste If waste was
wished for, and the boquet might have
been twenty inches across, composed
of flowers brought at once from Flor
ida and Alaska, the necklace made of
pearls of a hitherto unknown tint, the
girdle have been a work such as Ben
venuto Cellini would have not dis
dained. 1t is not the cost, which is a
mere matter of comparison, but the i'm
portance attached to size, which is so
Oriental and barbaric.
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