Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1899-08-16
PRESFNT-DAY THOUGHTS.
BY G.. GRosvENoR DAVE.


The New Man-Rich.- Despite what
some of us may feel prompted to say in
our haste, regarding the sin of being rich,
our sober thought convnces us that it is
possible for some men to grow rich and
yet remain honest at least we think that
IL could be so with ourselves were any
such good fortune to come our way, Ii
would indeed be great sanity if. before
Judging others, we would get into the
habit of placing ourselves in their posi-
tons. 1t would save the world from
much that is harsh and heart breaking
and unworthy in criticism.
1t often happens that man with sort
OF second sight, either cultivated or
natural, can see in his minds eye the
value OF an idea or of neglected land, and
can develop it so that on the hillside and
on the fiat, where men never lived BEFORE
there Shall arise the walls and the marts
of city. And we Will declare, therefore
that even If we have hitherto denounced
as ROBBERY that which was enterprise and
foresight, we will not any more blind
ourselves to the fact that the more COM
pick our civilization becomes the more
frequently will one man see the broad
opening for effort where the blind eye of
another feels only an adamantine wall of
difficulty and of fruitlessness.
The new man-rieh-recognizes the
righteousness of the old statement that
"to whom much is given of 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 blossoming forth in
these ending days of great century
The influence OF the new man-rich-is
felt in the social life of the day. For he
1t is who can found libraries, can endow
hospitals, can offer the nucleus of museums
and can support the modern idea of
shining the light of university training
and university thought into the dark
places OF crowded cities.
He understands that wealth brings with
1t a burden, unrecognized by those who
have no wealth. The heaviest load is to
know how to administer it without doing
harm to others. If he should say to him
self, ~ have no right to any more than
can spend for my needs" which after all,
is all-and then should go on the street to
scatter his coin hither and thither he
could not possibly find way of doing
more harm; for the british and the brutal
would always get more than the needy;
SO that the products of his genius would
only tend to create deeper discomfort in
those who could not scramble and deeper
degradation in those who fought and
graz bed and gained.
Again, if he should be confronted with
the problem that was placed before GER
tain rich young man. Go, sell all 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 semi pastoral country like
Palestine, we know fun well that not all
the submerged tenth can hay the blame
upon misfortune, except the misfortune of
yielding to their own passions and whims
and poor judgment. I he new man under
stands very well that if he were to so
divide his property, the result to any one
individual would he so small as to provide
40 one with permanency, and yet at the
same time sufficient to stop the wheels of
industry because OF the scattering of
capital.
The new man-rch-sees clearly the IN
sincerity, or at least the heediessness 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 fact, could have been made just as well
by clinging 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 he old fas hioned
scythe with its home made snath or by
stlll tramlling out the harvests by the
none too clean feet OF the unmuzzled OK.
Capital has made such changes possible.
W hat then shall the new man-rch do?
Without taking away capital from any
oi ius enterprises tn5t utilize labor and
Therefore keep roofs over the leads of the
hoody o,.- make OF the laborer himself the
creator of new demands To keep other
labor employed, he shall regard himself
simply as steward, entrusted with more
ability, and, therefore, set for the uplifting
and for the benefit of the day he lives in
His giving, whether administered by
himself or by some one paid to see that
the cases are worthy, shall cheer many d
disconsolate home, bring new hope into
bruised hearts, and pauperize none He
shall interest himself in those things that
make the lives of all men more hopeful,
more useful. Thus disposng of his wealth
by simply making opportunities for the
young to study and to perfect themselves,
or the toilers to live in the atmosphere of
high thought, he robs wealth of the harm
that would come from spendable cash
division and imparts to it only good by
making OF it ladder by which ambitious
students and eager workers can reach
hE4ist Hft -gnfl,