The record-union., 1897-01-31
TIE TWO SIDES OF THE BRADLEY
MARTIN BALL.

A protest has gone up against the
lavish expenditure Of money conten-
plated for the Bradley Martin fancy
ball in New York. 1t is held, and with
force, that such an extravagant expen-
diture Of money in amusement and
frivolity, is an Offense in the midst Of
hard times and great suffering among
the poor and the wage earners. It is
added that such display and profuse
outlay of coin upon ball will unneces-
sarily embitter the people against
wealth and hence do injury to the social
fabric Of the country. There is truth
and strength in all that
But there is another side to the ques-
lion as shown by the dispatches of Fri
day. It is set out that every dollar of
the great amount of money to be spent
viii so out into the immediate chan
nels Of trade, and especially among
wage earners. That not a cent of the
money is sequestered by reason of the
expenditure but that it all moves on
10 do good and hence it is a real benef-
cence to have such an affair take place.
One-fifth, it is fair TO assume, will
80 for food and hence directly to The
producers Of and workers in it; one
fifth viii go to workers who make
dresses, costumes and decorative ef-
fects; one-f1fth to Iaborers. artisans.
artists and y.-rvl-o,. =, -1-t11.l -
lions; one-fifth goes to musicians, wait
ers, printers, engravers, shoemakers.
cooks and sewing women, and one-neth
goes to merchants in the several lines
of trade, linen, silk, flowers, porcelain,
feathers, decorative arms, trimmings,
wines, cottons, etc.
The sum expended by the guests il
Is estimated viii very largely exceed
that laid out by the hosts. There are
5000 guests by invitation. At least
1000 viii attend. By the requirements
of the invitation designating tho
periods Of costumery, they must ex-
pend about $3.50 each, in order to out
fit themselves, and this expenditure Will
be distributed among hackmen, hat.ars
mllliners, tailors. glove dealers. linen
drapers, dry goods merchants. boot
makers, hair dressers, florists and cos
tuners. This three hundred thousand
dollars viii all be taken from bank o.
purse and cast directly into the hands
ST traders and workers.
Now, in that light, the bail is seer
10 be a good thing for a great many
II is even to be said that it is a wlss
distribution Of the 100000 by the
guests and Of the $3.50. 900 the hosts
expend, wiser than would be made by
them If they gave the money outright
in charity. Their claim viii probaoly
be that it IS far better to give to those
who need work, and thus not max
taen feel dependence. since they carr
what they win get, than to scatter thC
money in indiscriminate giving. For
instance. It is related that nearly every
person in New York capable of work
upon costumery has been constantIS
employed for weeks. and that there is
an absolute shortage of help for sucf
purpose, all because of the ban. whllt
every unemployed waiter small army
Of cooks, and a host of other people
needing employment will be engage1
two days and a night because of this
affair, and that, too, at specially liberia
rates.
This is a perfectly fair showing or
the other side of the question; it is
worth consideration, and it is not to bt
put aside easily. Some of the greatest
benefactors of the poor have held. and
practiced it, that the right thing fol
ahe rich TO do in hard times is TO spend
their money literally. with extraorii-
mary lavishness indeed, and to expend
1t along lines that viii give employ
ment; that there is really no excuse
for the man whose purse is plethora
economizing when in hard times Others
feel the need to retrench, since that is