Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1897-09-23
THE RICH AMERICAN.
Points About the Man Who Has a
Large Fortune.
He Becomes the Mark OF Malice and
Envy and Has His Troubles
in Life with All His
Money.


Envy and Has His Troubles
in Life with All His
Money.
In the popular Imagination the very
rich man occupies a peculiar position.
Everyone would like to be very rich,
for the possession of a million, or, not
to be too primitive. let us say two mil
lions, represents independence, free
dom from toll, life of ease. if not
pleasure, opportunities for making
ones self felt, or for benefting ones
fellows. OF carrying out long-cherished
schemes of some sort. Yet the very peo-
| pie who long for wealth picture those
who possess it in very different light.
| In proportion to their distance from
the world of the very rich is their ig-
norance of it; and much as the man in
moderate circumstances may long for
wealth he never fails to misrepresent
to himself the result of possessing it.
while among the poor the very rich
man is gradually coming to be looked
upon as a sort of public enemy who
becomes richer and richer, while the
rest of the world grows poorer and
poorer. Explain to them as much as
you will that this is not fact; that
the very rich are so few in number that
their wealth divided among their fell
lows would make no one appreciably
very soon broken up, or that the poor
are improving their condition quite as
steadily and surely as the rich, what
you say makes no impression. To be
rich is every mans dream. To be poor
is to suffer that others may wax fat and
kick.
The very rich man of real life is, for
variety of reasons. difficult to describe.
SO that the picture will seem fair. His
peculiarly is that he has so few typical
peculiarities. He is neither necessarily
lavish. nor loud, nor noisy. nor fond of
self-assertion. Though he may, of
course, be one,- or all. of these, he is
| just as apt to be rather quiet man,
whom you would pass in crowd with
out thinking twice about him. Inex-
| perienced persons. sometimes, hearing
that one of the very rich is near them,
| try to pick him out-aImost always un-
successfully, because they inevitably
! think he must be a noticeable person.
Their mistake comes from their not
knowing that the effect of wealth, after
the first froth is off. is often to sober
and chasten. Even noisy. boastful
braggarts, suddenly overtaken with
raaIt r..
their quiet, retiring manners. multi
millionaire may spend whole evening
without letting the cat out of the bag.
On the other hand, he may make the
room echo with his boasts; but in this
case it almost always turns out that he
is something else besides very rich
mana philanthropist. or a corrup-
zionist, or a journalist, perhaps. Our
remarks are intend be confined
to those who are merely very rich.
Their aim seems to be as often as not
to render themselves in dress and man
ners and speech indistinguishable.
The law is not made any easier for
them on account of their wealth. The
taxes fall upon them with equal weight.
SO far as houses and lands are con-
cerned. and though they may be ''let
off" little as to their stocks and bonds
this is not owing to the law. but
through the cleverness of some attor-
ney whom they must quietly retain and
pay for the work. The law is always
on the alert. The wealthiest may any
day be confronted by decision of the
court of last resort that the right to
glass of sherry and bitters at his
club has been taken from him; if he
keeps any considerable amount of val
uables on his premises. he must have
private detectives to guard them: if he
gives a ball, he is loudly criticised for
his extravaganza, and his wife is Carl
catured; if he does not subscribe lib
orally to public objects. he is held up to
public reprobation as a miser; if he is
SO unlucky as not to get into club
the fact is advertised as if he had been
defeated in an election to congress.
and any objections to his life and con-
versation, or to his personal appearance
which may have affected the result, are
bawled out under the head of ''club |
news"
The result of the dangers which
threaten, and the jealousy and sus-
picion which surround him, is that in
the end he is very far from daring to be
the arrogant, purse-proud creature he
is painted by popular imagination. So
far from being naughty, he has seldom
even the high spirits and power of en-
joyment that ought to go with wealth.
The very rich American, in short, is
apt to be embarrassed. His tastes are
still more or less those of primitive,
semi-rural community, founded upon
equality, managed under democratic
forms, in which rank and title and
etiquette do not exist, yet this social
organization. which was in it's full
flower a generation ago, is submerged
by new civilization, of which he is the
head, which is not arranged for him or
prepared to receive him, and of which |
he is at once the boast and the butt.
He is the victim of a social order which
he represents but does not understand.
He knows that he is one of the great
of the earth, but does not know how to
manage it all. 1t has to be managed
for him by private secretaries, and
major domos," and above all by his |
wife and children, who make him build |
house as big as hospital on two
acre lot, and entertain .house parties
of young people whose names he does
not know. Quiet is the role of such a
man, and quiet he generally is. In his
own set he may find relief and mo-
mentary solace in boasting about his
liquors and cigars, or stocks, but when
he goes abroad among those who would
give their eyes to change places with
him, his one idea is often to escape no.
tice.-N. Y. Post.