Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1905-07-07

is of good TO your fellow men.
To furnish in your lives such real
lied high ideal is to do a great ser
vice to the country. The chief harm
done by the men of swollen fortune tC
the community is not the harm that
the demagogue is apt to depict as
springing from their actions, but the
fact that their success sets up a false
standard, and so serves as a bad exam
I pie for the rest of us. II WE DO NOT
OURSELVES ATTACH AN ExAG-
GERATED IMPORTANCE TO THE
RICH MAN WHO IS DIsTING-
UIsHED ONLY BY HIS RICHES,
THIS RICH MAN WOULD HAVE A
MOST INSIGNIFICANT INFLUENCE
OVER US. 1t is generally our own
fault if he does damage TO us, for he
damages us chiefly by arousing our
envy or by rendering us sour and dis
contented.
Foolish 10 Envy.
In his actual business relations he
is much more apt to benefit than harm
the rest of us and though It is emf
nently right to take whatever steps are
necessary in order to prevent the ex-
ceptional members of his class from
doing harm, it is wicked folly to let
ourselves be drawn into any attack
upon the man of wealth merely as such.
Moreover, such an attack is in itself
an exceptionally crooked and ugly trib-
ute to wealth, and therefore the proof
Of an exceptionally ugly and crooked
state of mind in the man making the
attack. Venomous envy Of wealth is
simply another form Of the spirit, which
in one Of its manifestations takes the
shape of eringing servility toward
wealth, and in another the shape of
brutal arrogance on the part of certain
men OF wealth. Each one Of these
states Of mind, whether il be hatred,
servility, or arrogance, is in reality
closely akin TO the other two; for each
Of them springs from a fantastically
twisted and exaggerated idea Of the
Importance Of wealth as compared TO
Dther things. The clamor Of the dema- |
rogue against wealth, THE sNoBBERY |
oF THE SOCIAL COLUMNS OF THE |
WHICH DEAL WITH
THE DoINGs OF THE WEALTHY,
Ind the misconduct Of those men Of |
wealth who act with brutal disregard |
II the rights Of others, seem super
icially to have no fundamental rela-
ion; yet in reality they spring from
which are fundamentally
he same; and one Of these shortcom.
ngs is the failure TO have proper ideals.
Few Really Rich.
This failure must be remedied in
arge part by the actions Of you and
our fellow-teachers, your fellow edu
ators throughout this land. BY your
ives, no less than by your teachings,
on show that while you regard wealth
$ good thing YOU regard other things
$ still better. II is absolutely nee
ssary 10 earn a certain. amount Of
ioney; il is mans first duty to those
ependent upon him to earn enough for
heir support; but after a certain point
as been reached money-making can
ever stand on the same plane with
ther and nobler forms of effort. The
Oh Of American WORTHLESS numbers men
Ike Washington and Lincoln, Grant and
arragut, Hawthorne and Poe, Fulton |
nd Morse, st. Gaudens and MacMon-
les; il numbers statesmen and sol
iers, men Of letters, artists, seulptOrs, s
len Of science, inventors, explorers, q
bridge builders, philan- $
hropists, moral leaders in great re- /
Drms; il numbers men who have de- Z
srved well in ony one Of countless I
elds Of activity; but Of rich men il {
umbers only those who have used their !
ches Alright, who have treated wealth /
OF as an end, but as a means, who c
ave shown good conduct in acquiring I
and not merely lavish generosity in y
isposing of it.
Thrice fortunate are you to whom
is given to lead lives of resolute n
ldeator for the achievement of lofty a
.eals, and, Furthermore, to instill both s
: your lives and by your teachings, "
lese ideals into the minds of those "
no in the next generation will as the i
en- and women Of that generation, de- n
inc the position which this nation will Il
I'D in the history of mankind. Il
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