Connecticut western news., 1901-07-18

there is no reasonable expectation they will ever be able to pay. Now, if you have become oblivious of honesty and
 mean to defraud, why not save the
 merchant as much as you can? Why
 not go some day to his store and when nobody Is looking just shoulder the ham or the spare rib and in modest si- lence steal away? That would be less criminal, because in the other way you take not only the mans goods, but you take the time of the merchant and the time of his accountant, and you take | the time of the messenger who brought you the goods. Now, ii you must steal, l steal In q way to do as little damage to
 the trader as possible.
 John Randolph arose in the American
 senate when question of national finance was being discussed, and, stretching himself to his full height, in
 a shrill voice he cried out, MT. Chair
 man, 1 have discovered the philoso- pher's stone, which turns everything into gold-pay as you go." Society has got to be reconstructed on this subject or the seasons of defalcation will con
 
 | no right to ride In carriage for which | you are hopelessly in debt to the wheel | wright who furnished the laudau and 1 to the horse dealer who provided the l blooded span and to the harness maker who caparisoned the gay steeds and to the liveryman who has provided the stabling and to the driver who, with rosetted hat, sits on the coach box. Wasted Wealth.
 Oh, am so glad it is not the absolute necessities of life which send people out into dishonesticS and fling them into misfortunes. It Is almost always the opportunities. God has promised us a house, but not q palace; raiment, but not chinchilla; food. but not canvas back duck. I am yet to see one of these great defalcations which is not connected in some way with extraya- gance.
 Extrayagance accounts for the dis turbance of national finances. Aggre- cations are made up of units, and when one half of the people of this country owe the other half how can we ex- pect financial prosperity? Again and again at the national election we have had a spasm of virtue, and we said, 'Out with one administration and in with anether, and let us have new deal of things, and then we will get over all our perturbation" l do not care who Is president or who Is secre- tary of the treasury or how much breadstuffs go out of the country or
 how much gold Is imported until we learn to pay our debts and 1t becomes q general theory in this country that men must buy no more than they can pay for. Until that time comes there will be no permanent prosperity. Look at the pernicious extravaganza. Take the one fact that New York every year pays $3,O0O,000 for theatrical amuSe- ments While once in awhile Henry Irving or an Edwin Booth or Joseph Jefferson thrills great audience with tragedy, you know as well as I do that the vast majority of the theaters are as debased as debased they can be, as unclean as unclean they can be and as tlamnable as damnable they can be. Three million dollars-the vast major ity of those dollars going in the wrong direction.
 Over hundred millions paid in this country for cigars and tobacco year! About S2,000000,000 paid for strong drink in one year in this country! With such extravagance, pernicious extrava- gance, can there be any permanent prosperity? Business men, cool head ed business men, Is such a thing pos sibility? These extravagances also ac- count, as have already hinted. for the
 positive crimes, the forgeries, the ab-
 scondings of the office0 of the banks
 The store on the business street swamp cd by the residence on the fashionable avenue The fathers, the husbands craft capsized by carrying too much do- mestic sail. That Is what springs the leak In the merchants money till. That
 is what cracks the pistols of the sui cides. That Is what tears down the banks That Is what stops insurance companies. That Is what halts this ria- ton again and again in its triumphal march of prosperity. In the presence | of the American people, so far as 1 can | get their attention, I want to arraign | this monster curse of extravaganza, | and I want you to pelt 1t with your
 scorn and hurl at 1t your anathema. Fortunes Wrecked.
 How many fortunes every year wreck ed on the wardrobe! Things have got
 to such pass that when we cry over our sins In church we wipe the tears
 away with a $150 pocket handkerchief!
 show you domestic tragedy in five | acts:
 Act the first - A home, plain and | beautiful. Enter newly married pair. l Enter contentment. Enter as much haLt hess as ever gets In one home. Act the second-Enter discontent.
 Enter desire for larger expenditure.
 Enter envy. Enter Jealousy.
 Act the third-Enter the queenly
 dressmakers. Enter the French mill
 liners. Enter all costly plate and all
 great extravagances.
 | Act the fourth-Tip top of society.
 Princes and prlncesses of upper tendon floating in and out. EverythingAen a ! large and magnificent scale. Enter
 contempt for other people.
 | Act the fifth and last-Enter the as-
 slgnee. Enter the sheriff. Enter the
 creditors. Enter humiliation. Enter
 the wrath of God. Enter the contempt
 of society. Enter ruin and death. Now
 drop the curtain. The play is ended.
 and the lights are out.
 l I called 1t q tragedy. That is mis- l homer. It Is q farce.
 Extrayagance accounts for much of
 the pauperism. Who are tEfse people
 whom you have to help? l~tlny of them
 are the children of parents who had
 plenty, lived in luxury, had more than
 they needed, spent all they had, spent
 more, too; then died and left their fam
 flies in poverty. Some of those who
 call on you now for aid had an ances-
 try that supped on Burgundy and
 woodcock. could name score of men
 who have every luxury. They smoke
 eie best cigars, and they drink the fin
 est wines. and they have the grandest