New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-05-07
LUXURY IN AMERICA.
SOME REFLECTIONS BY AN ENdLis1
WRITER. ..f
From The London Spectator.

very costly article simply for the costllness OF
It, or the millionaires 81 the world would NOT ior
the last two thousand years have accumuiatsu
such articles. The great Roman hopies' "no
sometimes POSSESSED millions ana VINO couio
invest their wealth at 10 per cent ouiit .ne'i,.
selves magnificent urban mansions as We" aS
naIafial VILLAS" and filled them with the COST
Hest articles they could hear of-statues rom
Greece great pieces" In gold ana si'sfi,
"murrhine vases"-possibly porceiaihL,n,22ss go
Of elaborate design and workmanship, rich .u,a,
silks worth their weight in gold, then iar apove
its present value, and curios In the way OIL 1'ha
mental furniture. SO did the barbarian eheis
who at last stole these things from the I.oii ,.
palaces and so did the mobiles OF tne Dli s,.
Acc -,pbo even carried their treasures about
with them TO war-witness the Burgundlan pun
der carried off by the Swiss-an osten.a a 49,
and one would think inconvenient' ptaou.e', -
which however, they were Initiated Wy "
Turks Oriental mobiles heap together the Gust
lest goods often in places where they never -
them and there other princes III ASIA ~
sides the Shah who could, II they Wooiu, u,s
play buckets of jewels" such as our min mf,es
once saw in Teheran. and bedsteads anu 80
of solid gold or silver the present w. 20,
himself seen emeralds as large as p,seVps s U.s.,
which we're hung on the horses or the las. s r
neror of Delhi the Nizam Of Hyderapad oheleu
f35O 600 for one diamond-the hgures WI WI
sworn to at a triai-and it Is believed on So
evidence that the plumber OF tne ~, Lii
Citv" in Peking would yield millions me mn
ionaires of to-day do just the same Ihey oai ,.
unusually large houses ornamehteo W." .roos-
costlest marbles and they MI tnei,i MI nrT
ures OF which some are artistic nut a., a. -
ohasod AZ great prices. The rich America"
many of whom are getting per cent Ior sn..
money from undertakings Whlch tneS .n
selves control have actuany al,e s.aIo edorn their
nrces of all the more valuable Jewels ao ,oit
pp,iveo and daughters with furs ana suns a, 81
as costly as those of the holhan . Sron, all
quite for the expenses OF uahSp - hava
g,oos havond the Roman "worldf mus. nc
baer, enormous-and appear to seek occas,oIi, He
sinking money in great pieces OF e9,u 81 E,ir
Ar the recent wedding or MISS II nf ,bem
and Mr. w X. Vanderbilt. jr, eao ~ 6rst
anu . W., a millionaire family OF the MS
-. their relatives and friends appear - M
vied with one another in giIls innd,d Thdt
or Seneca would have considered spier sno coo
totai Vatue go 70 moralize upon the evil eneec'
Of heavy luxury of the kind we No. ,,a ora't lust
scribing 1t is probably less thau % ,a,,st wo-k-
now all tempted to imagine ,roao;s lust above
man diskes and envies tie bourgeos 80, . milton
hin, wore than he enves or disilkes VIZ .,nnot
aire who at all events, preaks ene 80 for the
ony of modern municipal . M, thai occurs
dao,adatiou OF the ideal, though 'nd' sooiI
the George Nv kind of man produces 60 g.,
among thinkers, while his wealth acts Do -. Ids
Win upOn thousands who womb eise ue Iii
We dread the power which the mit1on 60. s;aa
80 H. no,soas as the reverence lot pHth u,e'
ont and the thirst for physician ENJOY nie ~
comes more of a dominant passion, a nss,.sEn,
III, uaLine IN under new CULTIVATION, con'e"N
let ,,onotony becomes too difficult. much NOR
than we dread the effect OF their eAainpie.
usual moralizing too, though aosoiuteIy -
has lost its bite through oNerhluvn -, r,av
n1 ,,e 500 abroad ominous signs that men may
sicken of philanthropy, and say thaI IL po
duces nothing save new disposition 10 piuliu..
in new ways We prefer. therefore, uo-uas
speculate On the ultimate destination Oh al IN .n
6nerv of which this week the bulletins are iun.
It will last a long while, OF course lor "ea . ~
clothing itself in the magic artnor OIL scier.e'
and unhampered by slavery, Whlch III Tue NJ
man nerod always mined beneath it. VIII make
n stouter fight than it did in the ancient worid
mr. in France at the time of the Reyoluton aud
the world has never yet been ruled py us ma
ioritv hut by the concentrated strength or nm
tied castles bound together by common interest,
n common conviction or a common fear; but II
history teaches anything Ii is that accumulated
wealth is at last transferred, and disappears In
the transfer. The treasures Of Rome nave NOT
merely passed into other hands; they nave
passed away SO completely that it is doubtful II
= level exists or a gold cup of which 1t is even
probable that 1t belonged to Consular house
still less to a Prince whom the Romans plum
dered. Who will have 1t all, or destroy tt au
when the existing order which has rotten places
in it, crumbles away? Will the barbarians from
below explode the heap. as so many believe? IL
Is not impossible, though as we have SAID
wealth is putting on enchanted armor-inSurrec-
ton against troops is even now impossibe-and
though the superficial crust has this protection.
that all below who are admitted to share in IL
show a disposition to defend it. Or will Asia
make its last rush, and. for a moment. over
whelm civilization? 1t is hardly conceivable. for
iocusts cannot GROSS the seas. numerous and ir-
resistibe they are. and the Americas can
not practically be reached by land VIII the
Jews get it ALL as some OF their dreamers fancy.
and. using ii as weapon. build up new and
widely different civilization. intended to ayenge
the slavery of nearly two thousand years? Or
will the dream of that strange dreamer. Dayid
Urquhart, prove true? He thought that there
was oentrpetal force in capital which would
gradually place the wealth OF the world in the
hands of one man. or ore trust. and ultimately