The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1902-12-04
Che Hpctbec$i$ Of lUeaItb.

|l
into temptation and snare and many
foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown
men in perdition and despair. Go to,
now, ye rich men, says st. James, weep
and howl for your miseries which shall
come upon you. Yet, in spite of the
warnings of these seers and prophets,
we poor mortals envy the rich man
and regard him as fortunate being.
To amass money, to push, to strain,
to stand neck to neck in the race for
wealth, is the bright goal which makes
toll seem worth while. In st. James
time it was buy and sell and get gain.
In our day it is sect money, John, get
it honestly if you can, but get the
money"
Taking money as standard of sue
cess, let us glance at one or two of the
men whom we take as our ideals. Ac-
cording to Scriptural law, a mans
money is not his own, but is simply
held in trust by him for the benefit of
all. There are men who believe in and
obey this law, as is evidenced by the
one who recently gave his entire for
tune for the establishment of home
for convalescents. Wealth in the
hands Of such men is very desirable,
but there are only a few of them and
the good they do is as nothing COM
pared to the evil done by other mill
lionaires. But the philanthropist is
not the man whom the money seeker
takes as his ideal. It is rather the one
who spends million year to en-
courage and keep alive the public in
terest in horse racing, sport which
has led many to their ruin. Great
wealth brings power and opportunity,
and these should be used for some
good purpose. In the hands of one Of
our greatest ideals of success it is used
for the creation of trusts, which mo-
nopolize the necessities of life, and to
get laws favorable to. their existence,
their money makes criminals of our
lawmakers. Wealth has so inflated
the arrogance of the chief of one of
these combines that he has the audac-
ity to say that the coal mines are con-
trolled by combination of wealth and
divinity, when to all outward appear
ances it is combination of Baer and
Lucifer. They both use coal as their
instrument of torture. When men of
wealth make such statements, and at
the same time are depressing the labor
ing man, 1 do not wonder that anarchy
finds favorable breeding spot in this
land of the free. Such men breed
hatred and discomfort among the poor
and are gradually widening the breach
between poverty and wealth.
Surely, the world is not benefited by
the actions OF these men whose for
tunes stand simply as glaring monu-
| ments of how much profit can be made
| out Of the labor of the masses, nor is it
benefited t,y any of the examples of
the applications of wealth to any cause
detrimental to the poor or to purposes
of self-glorification. Could we read
the pathetic appeal Of the laboring
class at q more fitting time than the
present, when ostentation by these
masters has reached the height of
vulgarity, when the gambling spirit,
both in finance and in high play by the
admired plunger at Monte Carlo, is
rampant, when the common people
stand agape at the-stories of luxury,
SURPRISING all records for fantastic
forms? The magnificent display and
selfish prodigality of our miIIionaires
can have but an evil effect on the
minds of our youth. The effect would
be different, however, if these same
men showed by their actions that they
value their positions chiefly on ac-
count of the advantage they afford
them of being socially useful, if they
were seen. studying social problems
and above all graphing with the great
question of how to bridge the gulf be-
tween rich and poor.
+ These. then, are the kind of men
whom we make our ideals In looking
| towards wealth as the great aim Of life.