Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-04-05
RICHES NOT FOR
 THEIR OWN SAKE.
Why N. o. Nelson Opposes Pill
 ing Up Wealth Needlessly.
MILLIONS BRING ONLY TROUBLE.

St. Louis Millionaire Says Getting Rich Is Merely Habit, and a Bad One at Thnt-Tells How It Can Be Overcome-Those In Middle Class, He Says, Enjoy Life Far More Than Rich Captains of Industry.
 To the question, Need captain of industry get rich?'' Nelson o. Nelson, a merchant in St. Louis, head of the firm that bears his name and himself cap tain in the millionaire class, returns an emphatic negative.
 MT. Nelson, whose wealth has come to him in spite of philanthropic prac- tices and not because of them, aston ished the natives of Chicago recently when on that subject he told them that getting rich was merely a habit, and bad habit at that. But Mir. Nelson, who has returned to his desk in St. Louis, spondent there that the conclusion was no new one to him and that 1t was merely a phrase of his gospel of work and its just and proper remuneration"
 we need to do things, to act out our beliefs, to do those things which in theory we all recognize as right and just" said he, and he added, That's fact"
 The latter expression MT. Nelson tacks on to most of his homiletics.
 My little sermon" said MT. Nelson, dealt with those things of which I knew by actual experience. We are prone to require authorities for every thing we do or contemplate doing es- pecially where the thing to be done may be departure in any line of phi lanthropic endeavor. The better part would be to do for ourselves according to our own ideas and our own lights.
 All the established systems of reli- zion, law, government business are not carrying the world and it's people along without individual endeavor. It is the old truism that faith without good works is dead We need to do things ourselves, to live up to those things which we know and believe to be right and just and recognize as such in theo- ".
 T recommend the social laboratory for those earnest minded students of the wrongs of mankind and their prop CT remedy. It Is worth lifetime of speculative or theoretical study. To see it. to be in it, to observe 1t at close range, to live their lives day in and day out exactly as they live them, no better and no worse, is the only way to know how that other half of whom we hear and read so much afar off | lives. A little of such contact will arouse any man from the lethargy of mere elegant study and do nothing ruminations on the wrongs of men and fire him with zeal to do things. And then he will do them. That's fact.
 "If he has broken the bread that they break, lived and slept in and paid the prices that they pay for the mex cusable tenements they must accept, he will work to the end that their lot may be improved, that their vile houses may be altered and made fit for the existence of human beings with nat ural rights to life and health and as much of happiness as it may be possi- ble to attain.
 'It will not be necessary to sweep entire blocks from their sites that new CT and more expensive ones may take their places and be rented at price that will grind the tenant down still more. But it is possible to alter the tenements and give the tenants the light, the air, the sweetness and or dinary comforts that the rent they pay entities them to.
 "This may seem a Aggression from a discussion of the duties of captain of industry, but it is not. The du- ties of the employer and the rights of those who serve are connected, and the latter will never be attained until the former realizes this and performs his duties. And so I say that what ever may be the opinion of those duties one of them is assuredly not that of I getting rich. That's a fact He is really a manager of men and of prod ucts, and this function he exercises for the dual benefit of the workers under him and the public. It is a self evil dent fact that he is entitled to benefit also for himself.
 Whether he knows 1t or not, or. knowing it, will not recognize it, the captain of industry is really hard working servant of the public. Now, isn't that higher status for him to oc cupy than that of being mere selfish, ceaseless, soulless gatherer of wealth for himself and for wealth's sake? As suredly it is, and that's fact. And he is a better public servant by leav- ing out of consideration the sole pur- pose of getting rich and improving the quality of the service.
 '.To be rich or to have riches is not a crime-assuredly not Many good men. earnest men, men of good impulses and, what Is better, of good actions. have riches because they were thrust upon them. But it is different to ac- quire riches by the constant neglect of their duties to their fellows. And that's why say the acquiring of riches is habit. and a bad one.
 "If those who are in a position to ac- quire riches will only realize this it will result in a new and better type of captains of industry. who will look to the attainment of social results rather