The age-herald., 1900-05-08
DEMOCRACY AND
 THE VERY RICH

are to be believed things are becoming rather uncomfortable for the millionaires
 in republican countries and it is seriously
 suggested that the unfortunate victims of democratic persecution will soon have to
 think about finding secluded corners' where they might enjoy their life and wealth undisturbed. France comes in for some criticism, but the worst offender is alleged to be the United States. A heart rending account in a London magazine tells of the troubles of millionaire who was driven almost frantic by the American press and who finally had to shake our dust from his feet and seek the peace and quiet and privacy of-of all places,-ths British capital The poor man could not
 make a move, attend an opera or ball, give
 dinner make a gift (we imagine his gifts
 were rather rare), without getting himself talked about in the terrible newspapers, and he was compelled to seek the protec- tion of a city which has many papers, but no newspapers in the American sense. His
 case we are to understand, is typical. The really burning social question:" there fore is the future of the very rich which seems dark and full of trouble unless a way is found to save them from the alleged jealousy, hostility and constant pin-prick- ing of the masses and their organs. A solemn English editor f1atters himself that the persecution of millionaires will not assume threatening proportions in his country because "the English are money getters'' and 'sympathize with those who have got money" This is an amusing non sequitur. Are not Americans money get ters? Are not the Germans working over time to outstrip England and become pre- eminent as an industrial instead of military nation? And the French! With all their art, idealism, histronism and thirst for glory, do they ever forget business? Why should the milionaires have to move on at all if they expect sympathy and con- sideration from money getters? Where are these not to be found? But our editor per- ceives his lapse and corrects himself by suggesting the beautifuI divisions of the
 eartfr,' Asia Minor, the Greek islands, the Balkan peninsula, as retreats and paradises for the very rich. The millionaire is to obtain serenity and freedom from carping criticism by living in a palace planted amid a paradise, among dependents ignorant of
 the existence of a prying press and edu- cated to regard the liberal master as beneficent providence Truly, what a de- lightful prospect
 Ignorant is he of human nature, of mill lionaire nature, who fancies that the very rich men can live away from their poorer fellows. in isolation, among interiors who are both servile and ignorant. The place
 of the very rich is among the not very rich, the merely well-to-do and the poor.
 They human, and nothing human is foreign to them They are products of their age and environment, and do not escape
 the currents and influences which affect
 all others. Their moral standards are not
 peculiar and it is a demonstrable fact
 that they demand of themselves what se-
 ciety demands of them. To live the larger
 life of the world Is a necessity to them,
 and not isolation, but an atmosphere of re-
 spect is what they need
 The problem of the future they are solv-
 ing for themselves, and in harmony with
 the solution which democracy has reached.
 Recently the papers have called attention
 to the remarkable beneficence of American
 millionaires. It appears that in seven years
 the amount of individual gifts to educa- tional and charitable institutions aggre- gated not less than $266 1000. This shows
 what the very rich think about the future and the way to the good opinion and good will of democracy. The men who are help ing their less fortunate fellows, who pre- fer usefulness to ostentation, are not afraid of the fierce light of publicity and are safe from the daily malevolence Of the most yellow-hued newspapers. They do not think of Asia Minor, the Balkans or the Greek islands New York, Chicago, Boston and San Francisco are desirable enough, and the social microscope has no terrors for them.
 The complaint of improper invasion of
 privacy by the sensational class of news
 papers is not unfounded but it is unjust
 to blame the democratic spirit for this tendency. Events have shown that democ-
 racies are essentially conservative and that the rights of property and person are se- cure under them. All the predictions of the defenders of aristocratic and minority rule have been falsified by the politics of Great Britain and the United States. Nei- ther confiseation nor exile is the fate of the very rich who use their wealth properly and who do not outrage public morality by their conduct on the stock exchange or in the social sphere. The privilege of criti- cism democracies will exercise, but this is in the main wholesome. It is the sheerest absurdity to allege that democracy has changed the traditional view of the rights and responsibilities of wealth. Misers were
 never popular, and vulgar ostentation has never been admired. That even common justice is denied to the very rich, whose only "offense'' is the possession of wealth,
 is gross libel on democracy.
 
 From the St. Louis Post-Dispateh. The Standard Oil company has declared a quarterly dividend of s10 share, payable June 15. This makes total of 80 share placed to the credit of stockholders since January 1, 1900
 MT. John D. Rockefeller owns S31 1,0eo,000