The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1908-01-25
MONEY As
4 MEASURE
Of MANHOOD
Able Address by an Eminent
Rabbi at Kansas City
Thursday.

Rabbi Samuel Schulman, of Temple
BETHEL. New York City, and Alfred
Montgomery, artist, offNew York, were
guests of honor Thursday at dinner OF
the Knife and Fork Club at Kansas
City. Mr.. Montgomery gave an illus
trated talk on art, and Rabbi Schulz
man spoke on Money as Measure
of Manhood
The "Money Age"
DR.. Schulman declared that in no
age, as at present, had money come
to be recognized so frankly and uni
versally as the common denomilator
by which to measure the merit OF
men. At no time, was the scholarly
recluse or the unselfsh student SO
comparatively thrown in the back.
ground as in our own, and even the
occupations that are not devoted 10
the amassing of wealth receive their
reward of public. applause and con-
ceded influence in proportion to the
money their products can command
in the open market Of a public ever
on the alert for what will enhance its
comfort or minister to its pleasure.
"The practical invention, the catchy
novel, the popular virtuso, all compel
attention by the bigness OF the price
they exact They legitimize, as It
were, their prominence. by showing
themselves characteristic children Of
the spirit of the age, and this age is
above all, one whose impelling f)>ee
is the accumulation Of, respect for.
but let Us also add the proper use of
money.
'sThe deep impulse Of our life in
America, the ideal which is becoming
a national enshrined in the hearts Of
said that all unsparing condemnation
A Measure Of Manhood.
Addressing himself to the moral as
poets of money considered as a posi-
BILE measure OF manhood, DR.. Schulz
man continued: ct must first be
said that a. unsparing condemnation
of the pursuit of money as an object
in life is either pedantic, hypocritical
unQuestionab1y a fair measure Of the
individuals merit as it is for the pres
emit an index of the power-the prog
Fess of our civilization.
THE activity that earns something
is that which in some way is doing
useful and beneficial work Money is
the only visible and feasible test of a
mans Industrial efficiency. Ability
that has- found no pecunfary reward in
our society with its ramffications of
the dl sion Of labor is not genuine,
or at all events is insufficiently prac-
teal. Noble sentiment is precious
beyond price, human sympathy cannot
be purchased, and its value is meas
ured in the happiness it causes and
not in any reward with which one
would foolishIy coax it. The best
thing in human Hfe-love-is not to
be bought, neither is the genuine ar
ticle ever sold. The divine things of
life are free as the air and sunshine
to him for whom they are Intended.
Nevertheless, human energy that COM
mands no price in the worlds mar
ket is defective either from lack of
talent or weakness of character.
Money and Virtues.
There are virtues which are in
dispensable in the making of money.
The ACQUISITION of wealth NAV not be
the highest purpose in life. but It pre-
suoposes, when honestly obtained,
moralitieS without which no enterprise,
however lofty, can succeed. Compe-
tence is the result not merely of abil-
ity-which is. OF course. mainly native
but by industry, which can be cievel-
oped and strengthened. 1t is the re-
ward of years of unfagging applica-
ton, Of dailv duties wEic- though dis
agreeable, are not yet shirked; of
countless hours of seff-deniaI. of tri-,
umph over passion, of heroic battling
with circumstances. of restraint of
self-indulgence. Great wealth, in adj
dition. is a result of the resources of
the commander of men. OF the states
mans breadth of view. and of the adj
ministrator's use of the labor of a mil
lion individuals to produce nations
useful work. Money is society's reward
to virtue which may b. the lowest
in the scale, viewed from the divine
attitudes of ideal enthusiasm or sub
lime self-sacrifice. but which is at the
same time the base UPON which any
strong character is 10 he built
Ethical Justification.
There is. therefore. some ethical
justification for the Difference given
to the possession Of money. 1t inva-
riably spells success. IL may. owing
to the trend of the times. and TO the
overw helming indust-iai character of
our civilization, be over emphasized.
1t NAV obtrudo itsolf too much uDon
the thought of men. and by its insist
ence upon its exclusiveness as meas
ure of mems values, may warp the
Underwent But within its rishtful linn
its, it is a test, and is an expression,