The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-11-20
"Money Madness"
By the Editor of Price Current.

Who is to blame for the craze for
money, for the wealth which has
brought about the present ill-feeling
between the multi-millionaire on the
one hand and the masses on the
other? The answer must be that the
masses themselves are to blame.
Why? A little consideration will
make that clear. To begin with,
nearly all the great millionaires, the
very wealthy men who, are actively
engaged in business, were either
poor boys or the sons of men who
began life poor. Their constant aim
has been to acquire wealth, not only
to acquire plenty of wealth but more
than anybody else had acquired be-
fore them, the more the better. Why?
What has made such men money
mad? Let that question be an
swered by asking another: In the
United States, everywhere, among
all classes in all conditions Of life,
in the cities, towns and in the coun-
try, what Is the standard of success?
What men and women are pointed
out as having been most successful?
Among all the retired business
men you know, which n do you
count as having been most success
full? The man who has piled up the
biggest heap of wealth and at the
same time kept out Of the peniten-
tiary. Which active business man
is the most successful? The fellow
with the biggest pile or who Is likely
TO get the biggest pile. Who is the
most successful lawyer or doctor?
The one who gets the biggest fee.
Who is the most successful preacher?
The fellow who builds the costliest
church or gets the biggest salary.
Who is the most successful clerk or
teacher? He who gets the most per
week. What farmer is counted the
most successful? He Of the most
acres or biggest bank account. Who
Is counted the most successful by
his fellow workmen? The mechanic
who gets the biggest wages. Why
does one leave one trade, profession
or business to enter another except
in the hope of being more successful.
Successful in what? In getting more
money.
When he succeeds in adding more
to his pile, however big or little that
it may be, he gets the applause of
his fellows. Those who don't ap-
plaud him envy him. Throughout
the whole of your life, who has al
ways been pointed out as the success
full mar or woman in any and every
walk of life? Has it not been he or
she who has been getting the better
price for what they had to give? BY
constant example and teaching by
parents and teachers, and by the
practice of the world, the young are
taught from childhood that
money is the standard of success.
They are taught to believe that peo-
pie with money are better than peo-
pie without it, that people with
much money are better than those
who have less. The rich and the
poor and those in moderate circum-
stances act upon this principle.
1t becomes and has long since be-
come a part of the very nature of
the American people, and it will
take the teaching of generations to
eradicate from the minds of the
American that the size Of ones pock-
etbook is not the real criterion by
which to judge Of success. This
wrong standard by which to judge
of success. This wrong standard
by which the degree Of success is
measured is the cause of the present
money madness and the American
people themselves are to blame for
this false standard. Each is deter
mined to win as much of success as
possible. The desire in life to win
success is a commendable one, but
the definition of the word is by no
means what it should be, and until
the conception of that standard is
radically changed there is not likely
to be any change in the swollen for
tunes.