The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1902-12-04
Paper Read Before the Chautauquo Circle.

Paper Read Before the Chautauqua Circle.
1T HAS recently been said that,
"The progress of civilization in
j the United States is materialistic
only in its tendencies, and that to
the average American, the counting
room is his temple, his desk his altar,
his ledger his Bible, and his money-his
God"
1 believe this is very true, for even
while admitting that the present age
is one of remarkable discoveries and
marvellous mechanical progress, it is
also an age in which everyone is pos
sessed of consuming desire to get
rich. Hence, it is an age of stupen-
dous humbugs and swindles. The
ruralite is still buying gold bricks and
men and women continue to be carried
away with the glitter of impossible
offers made by promoters of mines, oil
wells and stocks that exist only on
paper. Wealth is appealing to every
body as it never did before and the
victims of these get-rich-quick schemes
are so numerous that the age seems to
bear out Barnum's theory that the peo-
pie like to be humbugged. That peo-
pie are SO easily beguiled by the glare
of wealth proves the fact that the love
of money is lamentable failing of the
entire human race, fostering as it does
cold, calculating and mercenary spirit
which parlyzes the better impulses of
man.
This failing so stiles the conscience
of some men that it leads them into
various forms of dishonesty. Men who
are thought to be reputable merchants,
and who are pillars of the church,
adulterate and rmisrepresent the goods
they sell to such an extent that it has
become an alarmingly common defect
in commerce and trade. Money is the
ruling spirit, not only in commercial
transactions, but in politics and at the
marriage altar. Some of our ministers
of the gospel find it their duty to preach
the word of God to the highest bidders.
Every other consideration in life is
sacrificed to hunting the almighty dol
lar.
These, among other results of the
desire for money, have led me to won
der if, after all, great wealth is some
thing desirable or If in this mad chase
for gold we are not menacing the
higher ideals of life. The poor envy
the rich and the rich very often envy
the poor. The reason for this mutual
sentiment is, 1 suppose, that both are
seeking happiness. The accumulation
of money, in the opinion of majority
OF the people, must mean happiness.
1t may, however, result in nothing but
misery. 1t is we'll known axiom that
too much money brings with it more
unhappiness than too little, for there
are some things that money cannot
buy which the poor man often pos
sesses without seeking, while he who
has untold wealth strains to attain them
in vain.
We are told that the love of money
is the root of all evil, but despite all
the unhappiness it brings, despite the
misery aud the crime it fosters, it
seems to be human nature that we
should all be pursuing the selfsame
root, never contented while in pursuit
and still less contented in the posses
sion of what it brings.
The experience of past centuries also
seems to prove that riches, in them
selves are not source of happiness,
or that a man is we'll off simply be-
cause he is rich. In ancient times
riches contributed 80 little toward
happiness that even the richest Ro-
mans were accustomed to regard suicide
as one of the greatest boons in life.
Solomon, the richest of all the Jewish
kings, the one who made silver to be
as stones in the streets of Jerusalem,
wrote his experiences in tones of mel
ancholy. Give me, he says, neither
poverty nor riches, but feed me with
food convenient for, me. They that
desire to be rich, says st. Paul, fall