Arizona republican., 1902-02-28
THE AGE OF LUXURY.

1 We have had our Iron Age and our
 Age of Steel Cotton has been king. | Time was when there was Nothing | like Leather" and even the American ] Hog has ruled abroad as well as at | nome. Electricity has worn the crown. | and one after another of our produc-
 tions has for time held sway. giving place to some industrial rival. till. i'm
 stead o: any one being supreme, We are foremost with many.
 So at this beginning Of a new century We live in an age foreign to that of cur fathers as steam and electricity compare with sail and candle. We may well call it the Age of Luxury.
 T. would be difficult indeed tu define luxury as found in the United States. or to draw the line between luxury and necessity. Many of the things which we have become accustomed to class among the necessaries of life are thought of abroad as luxuries or are not enjoyed at all We might (but | think we cannoO do without thou sand and one comforts and conven- fences which our fathers would have considered extravagant and unneces-
 ssry. In our homes. at our offices. on
 our traveIs-at every turn of life we
 enjoy luxuries innumerable.
 Instead of the old-time one weekly
 paper. we now have our morning and
 evening daily. our illustrated. religious
 and other weeklies. and one or more
 monthly ma ga zines. We have our lux
 uries in food and our luxuries in dress.
 Even the dolls of our children are bet
 ter dressed and have more things than did our grandparents themselves
 when children Our homes are filled with luxurious furniture and bric-a-
 bac. our tables are set with costly china and glass ware. and our rooms are hung with the rarest pictures and curtains. Our offices are equipped with easy chairs and rugs. with with open bookcases and desks. with telephones and mail chutes. On the railroad. par Tor sleeping and dining cars are luxuri- ous in every detail and our hotels are palaces from entrance to roof
 Milady's gowns and wraps and Hn- gerie and gloves and handkerchiefs are fit for any queen. and every daughter is princess in wealth of apparel and comforts. In anusements there is no hinlt to luxury. Millions and hundreds or millions are annually spent at the theater. on yachting, golf foot ball. receptions. dinners. teas and balls We nave our pianos. our phonographs. our automobiles, our bicycles and our car TlaSes Tor adult, baby and doll We have our sealskins and furs. OUT silks and satins and fine linen. our feathers and boas. our veIvets and laces. our paintings and roses. our hand-painted ware and ornaments. our diamonds and rubies and pearls. our watches and clocks. our sweets and perfumes. ana so on infnitum.
 We spend over billion q year in drink. outside of tea and coffee: We spend over half billion in tobacco. and quarter of a billion in confec- tionery. fruit and flowers. It is esti mated that our present annual bill for luNuries exceeds ten billions of dollars. And only half century ago our fath- CTS would have been amazed at even the thought of such expenditures. and would have termed it folly.
 And yet the making and production oi these iuxuries form the basis of much of our prosperity, and in turn II IS cur prosperity that ena bles us to enJoy such comfort and luxury. We would hardly want to go back to the days o: Jefferson ard Hamilton and Franklin, or even to the days of Lincoln and Seward. So heres to the Age of Luxury. and may it be but the begin ming of a still higher plane of moral living and a still greater endowment of the noblest things Of life.-Francis Curtis in Leslies Weekly.