The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-07-12
INCREAsE OF WEALTH.

AS the modest lnulandpOlls clliZeH
about in search of rest this summer. the
question is likelYto recur to his mind again
and again, Where do the people get all
the money they spend in having a good
timer 1t has required to him every sum-
mer for four or five years-and every win
ter. too, if he has visited any Of the winter
resorts of the southern mountains or coast,
or California or Arizona. Go where he will,
almost, he will find the enormous hotels
fitted up most hlxuriously, with appoint
ments and menage of the very best. patron
lied by shoals Of people who seem to think
nothing Of paying from five to twenty-five
dollars a day for accommodations and
spending considerably more every day on
amusements of various sorts. He will see
whole families standing his sort Of pace
and will begin to get some realization of
what 1t means to have a million or half
million, or an earning capacity that would
be represented by some such figures. The
millionaire Is so common that we think
nothing of him but when we see him, his
wife and his daughters literally by the
lnOuSdnu, OUtSdnuOtl CiP WhSAS
the limit of money-spending lies.
One does not have to study dry statistics
TO understand that the American people
have reached a degree of wealth and luxury
hitherto unknown in the history Of the
world. He has the fact protruded upon
him every time he enters a frst-class hotel
or drives through the residence portion Of
any city. The great agricultural and min
eral resources of the country. combined
with the commercial intelligence and in
dustry Of the people have produced a rapid
rise to o~pulence that is the wonder of the
world.
What are we going to do with 1t all? Are
we going to continue to pile up wealth and
make a show of it by dressing our wives
and daughters in costly gowns and sending
them to expensive watering places that
the rest of the world may see them; are
we going to put it into costly piles of stone
and brick and mortar that the succeeding
generation will tear down because they are
ashamed of the taste displayed; are We
going to just keep on making more money
" gam pO"ch W a. iho oiC I.
There are many indications that the Amer
lean people Will answer all these questions
in the negative. Already our people of
wealth do more for public education and
for public charity than has ever been
dreamed of in any other lime or country.
1t is seldom that a millionaire dies with
out leaving considerable requests for these
or kindred purposes. while not a few of the
wiser ones are enjoying their philanthropy
while still living. Along with this tendency
one cannot but note the rapid increase in
the number OF people of wealth falling into
a more rational way of living. When
wealth is no longer new. when a generation
to the manner born comes in charge of the
family wealth. the costly hotel is quite
likely to give way to a country residence
in the family calculations, the popular novel
gives way to more substantial liter
allure, and the daughters hnd very often
better things to do than merely to array
themselves and idle about. When an
enormous amount of American wealth goes
TO idle luxury and senseless display, a large
and growing percentage Of IL goes toward
building up a better civilization.