The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1906-01-26
.oNEsT AND DIS
HONEST WEALTH.

the heads of live multimillionaireS and
dig up the scandals of dead ones
that it is refreshing to discover an
exception. The case of the late Mar
shall Field furnishes a conspicuous
and remarkable exception. Here was
a man whose fortune was estimated
at more than 1OO,O0c,OOOand yet, now
that he is dead, the highest tribute is
being paid throughout this country
and in Europe to his character Not
a jarring note has been heard so far
to develop discord in the great chrous
of praise.
The tenor of the tributes is that
Mr. Field made his fortune honestly;
| that he did not climb to power upon
the wrecks of his fellow-men; that
he did not stiae competition; that he
did not resort to underhanded tricks
to gain an advantage over rival;
that he fought in the open and gave
everyone else a chance; that he was
generous to his employees, broad in
his sympathies, liberal with his gifts,
and that he was so filled with the
milkof human kindness that twenty
or thirty other men have risen
through his aid and good will from
poverty to millions.
"A good name is more to be valued
than great riches" runs the Scrip
tural legend. But Mr.. Field both bore
good name and possessed riches. He
had his weaknesses, but nevertheless
he proved to the world that honor
and wealth are not incompatible.
This is not to say that he is the only
man who has done that, for of course,
there have been other notable and
noble instances before him. And
there live today men who, although
they may not control so vast an es-
tate as his, carry into their business
relations the loftiest principals and
ideals They will leave behind them
in their several communities just as
hOnored memory as the Chicago
merchant has left in the world.
1t is not fair to accept every dis
creditable statement made of rich !
man. His accumulations invite the
malicious attacks of the envious and
the unbridled billingsgate of the dem
agogue who seeks to ride into Office !
through pitting masses against |
classes He is not always so black |
as he is painted. But oftentimes, he |
is pretty black. We have seen with
in the past twelve months some dis |
tressing evidences of the unscrupu-
lousness, THE baseness, the trickery, |
the lawlessness, the contempt of pub |
lie opinion and defiance of established |
of which the rich man can
be capable. 1t is when we consider
the sinister operations of the malel-
VIOLENT rich that a man like Marshall |
Field takes on such radiance. He
lived in period of commercial throat
cutting and plundering, yet, judging
from all the testimony presented up
to date, he did not stoop to the prac-
tees of his age. He earned his money
through the legitimate profits from
a trade which his ability and labor as
a manager built up in a legitimate
way
A man like this makes riches re
spectacle. If more rich men were
like him there would be fewer rabid
anarchists and frenzied socialists in
the world. There would not be so
many voices preaching the gospel of
hate, dynamite and destruction. The
wonder is that the evil millionaires
and manipulators do not see this
themselves and, since they will not
change their ways by moral inspira-
ion, cease their methods as a matter
If polite eXpediency. The worse they
heir undoing. The people are already
iwaking. They propose themselves to
change what the financial brigands
will not change voluntarily. They do
lot intend to work the revolution
through the red tactics of the an
lrchist nor the visionary agencies of
he socialist. They will not fall into
'uch dire pits as these. But they
will accomplish the end by insisting
lpon and developing in business and
politics higher senses of morality and
ustice. They will be less tolerant of
he CRATER and the mercenary, they
will have less patience with avarice
nd venality, and the force of this
moral influence will be aided by
tatutes, as far as statutes can be
made consistent with democracy and
Individual rights.
The vicious money-hunter and des-
ot ought to study well the case of
1r Field IF HE concniapno io not |