The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1899-08-10
THE new MAN N---RICH.
SOME MEN RICH, YET HONEST
He is to Keep Others and Will.
BY G. GROSvENOR DAVE.
Written for The Commonwealth.

The New Man-Rlch.-Desp what
some Of us may feel prompted to say
In our haste, regarding the sin of be
ing rich, our sober thought convinces
us that it is possible for some men to
grow rich and yet remain honest-at
least we think that it could be so with
ourselves were any such good fortune
to come our way. 1t would indeed be
great sanity it, before judging others
we would get into the habit of placing;
ourselves IN their positions. II woul,!
save The ycrld from much that is barsI,
and heart-breaking and unworthy IN
crlticlsm.-
It often haprs1s that man with I,
sort of second sight, either cultivate
or natural, can see in his minds eya
the value of an idea or Of neglected
land, and can deYelop it so that on the
hillside and on the fat, where men
neYer lived before, there shall arise tha
walls and the nlarts OF city. And We
will declare therefore that even if we
| have hitherto denounced as robbery
that which was enterprise and fore
sight, we will not any more blind our
seiyes to the fact that the more complex
our civilization becomes the more fire.
quently viii one man see the broad
opening for effort where the broad eve
| OF another feels only an adamantlne
| wall Of difficulty and OF truitlessness.
*s*
The new man-rich-recognizes the
righteousness of the old statement that
"to whom much is given ct him much
shall be required"-a truth that has
been understood, more or less, since
men first began to ally themselves with
other men, but whose greatest power
and whose greatest beauty Is blossom
ing forth in these ending days O. a
great century. The influence of the new
man-rich-is felt. in the social life Of
the day. For he it is who can found
Libraries, can endow hospitals, can Of
fer the nucleus of museums and can
support the modern idea of shining the
sity thought Into the dark places of
crowded cities.
He understands that wealth brings
with it burden, unrecognized by those
who have no wealth. The heaviest load
is to know how to administer it with
out doing harm to others. II he should
say to himself, II have no right to any
more than I can spend for my need" !"
which after all is all-and then should
go out on the street to scatter his coin
hither and thlther he could not pos
sibly find way OF doing more harm ;
for the british and the brutal would
always get more than the needy !;
go that the products of his genius would
only tend to create deeper dlscontent in
those who could not scramble and deep
or degradation III those who fought,
and grabbed, and gained. Again, it he
should be confronted with the problem
that was placed before a certain rich
Young man, "Go, sell al! that thou hast
and give to the poor" the new man
rich-would also be "sorrowful." For
whatever may have been the grade OF
the poor IN a sami-pastoral country like
Palestine, we know full well that not
all the submerged tenth can lay tie
blame upon misfortune except the mis-
fortune OF yielding to their own pas
slons and whlms and poor Judgment.
The new man understands very we'll
that if he we're to so divide his prop
erty, the result to any one individual
would be SO small as to provide no one
with permanency and yet at the same
time sufficient to stop the wheels OF in
dustry because OF the scattering OF
capital. The new man-rlch-sees clear
ly the insincerity or at least the heed
Iessness OF those who would persuade
the poor that capital is the natural
enemy OF the laborer for it is asking
US all to believe that the progress OF
this country, and of the world IN TACT,
could have been made just as we'll by
clinglng to the old OK carts that the
machinery of the day would all have
been possible simply by the use OF the
old anvil and the hammer, and that
the hungry mouths OF the millions
could have been fed by still swinging
the old-fashioned scythe with its home
made snath or by still trampllng out
the haryests by the none too clean feet
of the unmuzzled OK. Capital has made
such changes possible.
-
What then shall the new man-rich
do? Without taking away his cap
ital from any Of the enterprises that
ntil,ze labor and therefore keep roofs
over the heads of the needy and make
If the laborer himself the creator OF new