The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1910-12-08

en- into the lives and characters of
mankind, that as Henry Taylor says,
An insight which should search
out the life of man in his penuri-9
airy relations, would penetrate into
almost every Granny of his nature.
Cant ard fatuous sentimentalism to
the contrary, money is the keystone
to the arch of our civilized, social
structure, and that philosophywhich
affects to hold it in contempt does
mot run very deep.
The greatest foe to the beneficient
forces of life, the greatest obstacle
to- cultivation of enobling ideals is
poverty. It is a condition which
no man should accept unless it be
inexorably forced upon him, or as
the alternative of dishonor. Money
was created to Danish poverty from
the social organism, and it is encum-
bent, therefore, on every man to use
every honorable effort in its accu-
mutation.
The merchant, the manufacturer,
the banker, the railroad magnate,
the artisan, the farmer, the profes-
sional man, the laborer, all, in the
very nature of things. are weighted
with this necessity. Tt is a duty
they cannot shirk if they would and
be true to themselves, their families
and the community. There can be
no evil in the honorable production
or amassing of great wealth; it is
only in its distribution, and therein
lies the true test of practical genius.
The banker and the manufacturer,
{ by reason of their talents and oppor-
tunities, may have honestly arrived
at far greater wealth than the doc
tor or teacher, but if they have failed
in wise distribution, they have set
at naught the interests of the COM
, munity and their practicability does
transcend the pnrview of their own
, selfish purposes. The doctor and
the teacher, on the other hand, il
they are true to their professions
consider their fee or salary as Of
subsidiary moment when their ser.
!, vices are enlisted. We all know
that the physician called into a case
! involving life or death, is oblivious
to every consideration save the re-
j scovery of his patient. Nor do we
| see him fleeing to the Rivera, Ba
/; den-Baden, or any other foreign
| resort for his health when an epi
| demic stampedes his neighborhood
: Likewise, the professor, at the enc
], of his scholastic year, feels bettel
s repaid in the knowledge that hi
: charges are htted to engage in life
: battles, than any increase in salar.
e he may be promised during the com
= ing season. So it is in the othe
!. professions. Grant had no othe
: thought than the saving of the Union
: Money and future political honor
0 had no place in his plans. 'Tis tru
! that in later years he spread hi
s pennons to alluring financial breezes
e but we all know how disastrous tn
e outcome. Wellington little dremp
Y of the Star and Garter when plan
e ming his campaign against Napoleon
5, If we consider Washington prac
II tical only from the fact that he wa
n the richest man in the country q
n the time Of his death, we place hiI
d in category subordinate to Oseal
the Waldorf Astoria's premier wal,
e. er. The heritage that is ours by th
al frmness and. martyrdom of the in
0, mortal Lincoln, and the yalor of th
in four million patriots who responde
8 to his call, is surely practical on
ic A certain class of writer's and lie,
W turers are ever busy injecting ii
nt1idea into Young America to loo
IN down upon and get away from Il
e. place in life to which, if a humble on
d? Providence has assigned him. E
e. is told to become a great man
j. such as a governor, senator, dipl
lis mat, mayor. general, railroad ma
be nate, captain of industry and SO Q
or which he is assured he may becon
IL if he only makes up his mind to /
es it. They forget that it is the hea
th only which dcgrades and not t
Ill work man does;" that the me
no despised calling may be made pra
" tical by The practice Of its professe