The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-02-07
EVIL Turks in LUXURY
RUSKIN WROTE AGAINST SUCH Az
FAIRS AS THE BAL MASQUE.
Great Thinkers show They Are No
Help to the Poor and Were Once
Prohibited by severe Laws.
New York Press.

marks on former occasions, has been used.
1t is declared that such entertainments
benefit the working classes by encouraging
and demanding labor; that money is circu-
lated. and many persons who otherwise
would be idle receive the means for oc-
cupation and support. The argument APP
pears at first irresistible. But it is curious
that students of social economies never
have been able to come to definite de-
cision as to whether it is logical or the re-
verse.
Adam Smith, in his Wealth of Nations"
appears to sanction it. but John Stuart
Mill denies it. while Carlyle and Ruskin
have devoted large portion of their writ
ings to proving that the duty of the rich
especially in times of national need. is not
extravaganza. but thrift Ruskin in par
ticular has repeatedly declared that the
principal object of his letter writings is to
prove the necessity of unselfishness and the
evil of luxury among the wealthy. III Is
curious that the arguments of this phlloso-
pher have not been made use of in the dis
cusson about the forthcoming ball. Many
of his Most famous and eloquent passages
seem peculiarly applicable to the question,
and one can take up hardly one OF his late
works, whether dealing with art or social
questions, without coming across some ref
erence to his favorite argument.
Such q passage occurs in "A JOY For
ever and is calculated to cause reflection
on the part of those who imagine that
their extravaganza is helpful to the poor.
1t says:
You must weigh the value of what you
ask these workers to produce for you in its
own distinct balance; that on its own wor-
thiness or desirableness rests the question
of your kindness, and not merely on the
fact of your having employed people in pro-
ducing =. and / say, further, that as long
as there ere cold and nakedness in the
land around you, so long there can be no
question at all but that splendor of dress
is a crime. In due time, when we have
nothing better to set people to work at, 1T
may be right to let them make lace and
cut jewels but as long as there is any
who have no blankets for their beds and no
making and tailoring We must set people
to work at-not lace.
CONDEMNED BY RUSKIN.
And here is another passage, one of the
most celebrated Ruskin ever penned. which
seems as though written with such ball
as that to be given on Feb. 10 in view:
1T would be strange if at any great as
sembly which, while 1T daZzled the young
and the thoughtless. beguiled the gentler
hearts that beat beneath the embroidery
with placid sensation of luxurious benevo-
lence--as if. by all that they wore in way
wardness of beauty, comfort had been first
given to the distressed, and aid to the in
dgent; it would be strange, L say, if, for
a moment, the spirits of Truth and of Ter
ror which walk invisibly among the
Mosques of the earth, would lift the dim
ness from our erring thoughts, and show us
how-inasmuch as the sums exhausted for
that magnificence would have given back
the failing health to many an unsheltered
outcast on moor and street-they who wear
it have literally entered into partnership
with Death; and dressed themselves in his
spoils.
Yes. if the veil could be lifted not only
from your thoughts, but from your human
sight YOU would See-the angels do See-On
those gay white dresses of yours, strange
dark spots, and crimson patterns that you
knew not of-spots of the neutrality-suspicious.
red that all the seas cannot wash away:
YES. and among the pleasant flowers that
crown your fair heads, and grow on your
wreathed hair, you would see that one
weed was always twisted which no one
thought of-the grass that grows on
graves.
Again in .another passage Ruslxin refers
to the same question in different way:
There was much complaining talk last
week of the vast sum the nation has given
for the best Paul Veronese in Vinice-e14,-
~. L
has given for its ball dresses? j wonder
whether ei4,0OO would cover them?
But the breadths of slip and founces
are by this time as much lost and vanished
as last years snow: only they have done
less good; but the Paul Veronese will last
for centuries, If we take care OF it, and yet
we grumble at the price given for the paint
ing, while no one grumbles at the price of
pride"
REGULATED BY LAW.
That Rusl1in's theories about the proper
employment of wealth are not new, but
have been shared by the ruling powers of
almost every European country in former
time is proved by the sumptuary laws fire.
quently enacted in the past. In England,
France, Germany. the united provinces
and the Italian states, the records of laws
show that luxury was forbidden the rich
whenever retrenchment was necessary, and
moreover, that the amount of display for
each class was most minutely specified.
The records of Venice, the wealthies and
most luxurious city in Europe during GEN.
turtles, show the patriarchal care of the
senate that the rich should not offend by
too much display. In 1851 receptions after
the confinement of women were prohibited
but sixty years before that the love of in
terror decoration had reached such height
that a law was passed forbiddng anyone
single room. which sum must include all
carvings, gildings and paintings used
therein.
The series OF sumptuary laws enacted in
1898 to 1918 which were termed 'Resgi-
menti" make quaint reading nowaGl VS.
when, should any legislative body attempt
similar enactmentS, a howl of Indignation
would certainly be raised.
1t was forbidden to hang a house with
black on the death of a relative. to decorate
with silk the walls of a 'portego.' or hail.
or other rooms in which stamped leather
could be used instead; only one room in a
palace might be hung with tapestry; car
pets table cloths OF cloth of gold were
might be covered with velvet and among
other prohibited articles were door panels
in chased gold. and gold embroidered bed
coverings. Coaches must not be lined in
velvet silk. and the harness must be
without gold ornaments. Besides all this
only fifteen hundred ounces of silver plate
were allowed to each person. This last
rule was afterward modified and six
thousand ounces was given as the limit.
John Stuart Mill refers to these laws in
one of his essays and distinctly states that
the idea that luxury is beneficial 10 the Ia
boring classes is delusion. He proves his
a number OF persons were alone on an ISL
and what kind of labor would be better
for them, making luxurious and beautiful
objects or tilling the ground and building
houses. a nation is, according to Mill. only
a larger instance of this illustrat ton, and if
the efforts OF the workers are directed to
useless purposes the country is bound to
suffer in the end. however great its pros
perity may seem to be for time
From all of which ii is to be judged that
DR.. Rainsford's criticism of the Bradley
Martin bali is not radical. as il has seemed.
More Business for the Barber.
Detroit Free Press.