The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-10-12
RICHES.

The richest in the world today probably
hasn't very much money, and the with the
most money may be poor indeed But that is an
ethical view, and receives but small notice in a
sordid world. We are prone to call man who
has money rich We have done it so long that our
ideas of riches have taken a purely avaricious
meaning, and we have seen so many mediocre fell
lows rise from an obscure mental position to one
of power through lucky chance that the idea of
riches cannot be ASSOCIATED from that of money
possession.
But what is money, and what is the possessor
of money? A brigand may roll in wealth and
thief may have a few dollars or big bank account.
Then, too, an honest man, high minded and benevo-
lent, may have as much as or more than either the
brigand or the thief So it is evident the mere pos
session of money is very poor criterion by which
to Judge the worth of any individual, family, cor
poration or nation.
Shakespeare makes Hamlet give utterance to
very despairing exclamation: "The times are out
of joint; oh wretched plight that | was ever born
to set them right" The times are still out of joint,
but there is optimism and less despair in the
world today than Hamlet possessed, and the evils
which nfest society are being exposed and the
remedy for some of them.
There probably never was time when money
was more sought after than today and the meth
DDS of securing it probably never we're so devious
Money making today is a mania, and any method
that brings results is considered good. num-
Der of years ago an unknown packer for whole
sale drug house hit the Louisiana lottery for the
capital prize. Now there were thousands and thou
sands of persons just as intelligent and shrewd who
tried for that prize and lost, but the winner estab
ished a bicycle factory which is today part of the
automobile trust. By the lucky chance in the lot
terry game this man became fnancier-a genius,
admired by many, his foresight and acumen greatly
overestimated, but an apparent success. And there
are many others who have by gambling with fate
suddenly found themselves possessed of wealth.
Some have made fortunes out of prospects as thin
as air by purely fictitious representations. No mat
ter that others have suffered losses in the game the
success of the winner is forever held before the
world and hundreds and thousands are drawn in
to leap into riches, though they land in oblivion
with heartaches and keen regrets as companions
in their inconsolable poverty
This Unsuitable hankering for wealth is, of
course, regrettable. When the hankering leads men
into lllegltlmate methods 1t costs the legitimate
commerce and industry of the world a vast sum,
all Of which consumers are required to pay. Pro
fits are the tribute the consumer of goods must de-
liver for the glorious privilege of consuming. But
legitimate profits are but small part of the total
cost of living. If the retail business of America
were done without profit should even show
net loss the consumer would still be paying high
prices to aggregations of shrewd rascals who are
classed as fnanciers for want of a word more def
nitey expressive of their depredations upon society
Remove the phantom of speculative profit and con-
vert into legitimate industries the stakes in the
vast gambling games and there would not be so
much hardship and poverty, albeit less riches, and
money available for reasonable business would be
sufficient to meet all requirements. The country
needs more money not so much as more reasonable
use of what it has.