The record-union., 1897-02-04
LUXURY AND Discomfort.
Sensible Treatment of Very Inter-
eSting Subject.

eSting Subject.
The rector Of st. Georges Church is
probably considerably astonished at the
excitement which has been stirred up
by his depreciation Of any lavish dis
play of wealth or fashion at this time.
His observations have been supposed
to be occasioned by the announcement
of private masquerade on a scale OF
expense which has not been eQualed for
thirteen or fourteen years. DR.. Rains
ford declines to say whether or not this
particular fashionable event" furnish
ed the text of his protest, but he reiter-
ates his belief that lavish entertain
ments at this time by the rich are pol
itically, socially and officially unWise."
The question thus raised has a va
riety Of aspects, and will provoke
great deal of discussion. Economically,
the effect of a great entertainment or
of a brilliant social season" is to en-
liven business by putting money in cir
culation which would otherwise remain
idle. The money spent in luxury IS nee
essarily spent upon labor Theb ball which
at present holds the record" for eX-
penSiVeness, and which was given four
teen years ago, was estimated to have
cost a quarter of a million. If anybody
will undertake to apportion this sum,
he VIII doubtless find that it has result
cd in giving more profitable employ
ment than would otherwise have been
given to a large number Of persons, and
in employing another large number OF
persons who but for it would have been
unemployed If the coming ball is TO
be the occasion of a still more lavish
expenditure, it Will be by giving en-
ployment Ito a still larger number of
persons. The chief social event OF
New York in which the general public
is admitted to participate is the Horse
Show. The Ostensible object of that
assemblage is to encourage the propa-
CATION of a foolish and useless variety
Of beast, which can lift and lower his
legs in a SNOWY and spectacular man
ner, and which, by reason of his being
50 much more a production of art than
of nature, excites admiration when he
is doing his turn in the show ring or
in Central Park, but which no rational
person who is in need of a horse, as a
horse. would think of acquiring. But
the competitive examination Of this ami
NAL causes the expenditure in New
L VI y Y VI y SC>il VI d sum VI "iiANAi ("
million dollars is a moderate estimate.
1t is easy to ascertain who is benefit
ed by this dissertations display of
wealth. and fashion" Who is wronged
by it? Would not the people who DIR.
Rainsford fears may resent the lavish
expenditure of money have more eX-
cuse for resentment if it were boarded
by its pOssessors or spent elsewhere!
When the income tax was under conSld-
Grafton in Congress, it was a single
citizen of great wealth who furnished
the main moral for the advocates of the
tax When it was maintained that
taxes upon expenditure reached tax
payers presumably according to their
ability, they replied that such taxes
would not reach this citizen, because
he preferred to live abroad and to spend
abroad the money he derived from the
American investments the security OF
which he owed to the Government to
which he rendered a minimum of sup
port This is the old Irish argument
gainst absentee landlords who shut
up their ancestral homes, spent in Lon
don the income Of the rack rents. and
gave the community which contributed
their income no chance of benehting
by their expenditure. Very likely there
is a similar feeling in Chicago and other
outlying capitals against the men who
have made their money out of those
cities respectively and prefer TO spend
ii in New York; and there may even
come to be proposals of inflicting punt
tive taxation upon them for their bad
taste But these considerations GER
tainIy do not apply to the coming ball.
The givers Of it have lived a good deal
abroad and have entertained hand
somely abroad upon their American in
come. Nobody has arraigned them for
spending their American money upon
the nobility and gentry Of the United
Kingdom. But now that they seem to
| have repented in some measure this
| expenditure Of their income, and to
have brought forth fruits meet for re
pentance in the form Of an entertain
ment which will diifuse a large sum Of
money in an American city. ii IS pro-
posed. to speak very metaphOrically, to
| welcome them with bloody hands TO
| hospitable graves"
| As a matter of fact, the proposed
| ball is not an OBSERVATIONS display Of
| wealth and fashion" 1t is private
entertainment in the private apart
ments. for the time being Of the host,
and it is only the public discussion Of
| it. such as we are now engaged in, that
makes 1t a display" For this pub
licity neither the hosts nor the guests
are responsible and 1t is absurd to talk
q bout it as if it were to be what Sem
ator Morgan calls "Saturnalia" in I'm
/ ion Square. without doubt there are
people who will be excited to resan,t-
ment by the reports Of It and who
are already excited by the reports of
| the preparations for 1t. For that mat
| ter there are very likely people who
gnash their teeth when a smart equip
d ge passes them in the street and who
bitterly resent that anybody should
! have a superhuity while they them
selves have an insufficiency. But nobody
can expect to do much toward extin-
gushing the passion Of envy by for
| bearing to give a swell ball. It may
| very we'll be that the hosts and the
| guests could make better use of the
! money they will spend upon this func-
ton. But that is eminently their own
| business. so long as ii is in truth their
own money. That is really the point
when the question is Of allaying popular
| discomfort not how riches are spent
but how they are acquired. 1t is to
| that point that public jealousy and sus-
/ picion are likely to be directed. Money
/ that is honestly come by, without fraud
upon the public may be spent in any
| lawful manner without much fear of
rtyhlic ind OF, al ION -NPw York Times