The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-09-07


 large part of a vast fortune, ac- cumulated through the shrewdness, abil- ity, or luck of his father, naturally af- forded an opportunity for an immense volume of more or less dissertation on the well-worn theme of the degeneracy of the male descendants of the very rich men of the present era. No one will deny that, as a rule the prospective heirs to many of the great fortunes, which are to be seen on every hand, lack in a marked degree, the rich qualities, the mental force the persistent industry, the lauda- ble ambition. the rigid self-denial. the simplicity of life, which constituted the working capital as it were, of the over whelming majority of men whoi in every line of endeavor, have risen from the humblest beginnings to the very highest positions in the world of commercial, financial and industrial achievement, making. many of them, their names,
 household words all over the earth as possessors of practically boundless wealth
 The indictment of degeneracy against this fortunate, or unfortunate class of rich young men is Justified by general experience in all sections of the country, and under widely different circumstances. It Is not a theory; it is a fact, which can not be gainsaid How account for it? Here opens up wide field of philosoph- | ic speculation. By the educator and nor | alist we are told that these young men have not been trained in their youth in the good old ways, and that from the very first destruction and perdition were | inevitable. By the followers of another school of philosophy we are assured that nature Is solely to blame. Lavish in the distribution of her gifts to the first gem eration, they declare she has played the niggard in the case of the second one, and that it's members must not be too severely condemned because of their fail ure. It is argued by still another band of students of human nature. that these gilded youths are victims of fate, that if in their early years they had felt the sharp spur of incentive, as their fathers felt 1t, the result would have been differ ent; that they are impelled to action as forcibly as their parents ever were, but it assumes the form of destruction in stead of construction. Then we have a very hackneyed quotation that 'ft is only a generation from shirt-sleeves to shirt sleeves" dictum which may be said to have found a permanent setting among | the proverbs. but is at the same time | far from true. A lapse into she ancestral shirt-sleeves is generally the forerunner | of family extinction, of total eyanish- | ment from the life struggle.
 But there is a reverse side to this med al of spendthriftism which is seldom looked at, and which. probably consider ed and carefully studied. serve to restore weakened confidence in the innate capa- bilities of our common humanity While we are looking at the falling stars in the | heavens of the great activities of life,
 we seldom think of those that hold firmly
 in their orbits. and which are constant ly ascending higher and higher toward l the zenith. To drop metaphor, what of | the rich young men of the second and | third, and even fourth generation, in | whose hands family fortunes, so far from | melting away and dwindling into nothing | have been growing as the years glide by | into proportions that would very nearly
 astound the energetic, conservative old
 fellows who laid their foundations, and
 whose memories are now preserved in the | names of immense educational institu- tions, benefactions for the alleviation of
 human suffering. magnificent edifices of religion, museums art galleries, statues, fountains and parks, in innumerable vil- l lages, towns and cities, all over the con- | tinent? Surely, this is a phase of our social and economic life which is well l worth study, thought and reflection. 1 There are hundreds, possibly thousands 1 of these men, although their names rare i ly appear in the types of the newspapers | Their influence, for the most part, counts for good and the fortunes they com mand are employed in the upbuilding of | the republic, in the construction of gi- ] gantic works to carry through which re- 1 quire financial resources that could have been commanded only by governments a century ago. If we deplore the degen- crates, certainly should we not withhold some measure of commendation from | their antitypes who bring honor to the | American name in fields where honors are not lightly won. but must be con- tended for in the face of the keenest com | petition, not merely local and national, but international in cases that cannot be easily enumerated.
 A conspicuous illustration of the con servation and augmentation of wealth, coupled with the maintenance of high and honorable family traditions, through generation after generation, is afforded | by the Fishes From the days when New York was known on the map as