The Washington herald., 1916-12-01
at Hurts Me to Give. /"
BY ORIsON SWEET MARDEN,

By ORIs0N SWEET MARDEN.
Senator Young, of Iowa, says that
the United States is drunk-drunk
with money.
There never was a period in the
worlds history when the passion for
wealth had such a terrific grip upon
human beings as in America at the
present time.
We all know the fable of King
Midas, who, when given his choice,
wished that everything he touched
would turn into gold; and how, when
he sat down to eat his food became
gold; when he went to embrace his
child she turned to gold; in fact,
everything he touched turned to gold.
This fable is suggestive of What
many men are trying to do today.
They want to turn everything they
touch into gold. Many Americans
have become so obsessed with the
dollar-making mania have concen-
| trated their minds so long and so per-
sistently upon money that they have
become huge magnets for attracting
1 dollars. Their lives have become SO
absorbed, so swallowed up in the
money-game, they can think of little
else. They have developed such a
prodigious greed for gold, such a pas
sion for accumulating wealth. that
they have become capable Of enjoying
little outside of money-making. Their
hearts are in their pockets. They want
to grasp and hold and never to give.
A few years ago fishing village
in New England was overwhelmed
with sorrow at the loss of great
many fishing boats, with their crews,
that had sailed to the banks of New
foundland
A wealthy city banker, who had
once been a poor boy in that fishing
village, went back to his old home
and undertook to start subscription
for the wives and children of the dead
fishermen among the friends of his
childhood. Calling on an old friend,
! certain merchant who was noted for
his Darsimony, the banker rehearsed
the terrible calamity which had fallen
upon the little village, and asked for
a contribution. The merchant told
him to put his name down for a thou
sand dollars. A little later the banker
received a letter from the merchant,
saying that he found he would have
to reduce his subscription to $500, and
would send his check within a few
days. Not receiving the check the
banker wrote to the merchant who
replied that he was very sorry but he
really felt he must cut his subscrip-
ton still further. Two hundred and
fifty dollars was all he could possibly
| afford.
Shocked by his evident unwilling
ness to part with his money, the bank
er resolved to call again on his boy
hood friend. A week later he went
to his office to collect the promised
subscription. But the merchant after
pretending to look for his checkbook
turned round in his chair and said,
my friend, l can't do it. Do you
know it hurts me to give" After a
, little more urging on the part of the
banker the rich merchant took out his
purse and handed him two one dollar
bills!
The banker, telling of the occur
renee afterward, said he had never
passed through more embarrassing
interview in his life. He was amazed
at the rich mans mental processes.
The pain which the mere thought of
parting with FIVE hundred or a thou
sand dollars out of his abundance to
help the needy cost him was simply
pathetic.
This man is type of large num-
Der of people who are panied by Civ
ing. This is especially true of self
made men who suffered great poverty
in their childhood but who managed
later by unceasing industry and hard
work to accumulate a fortune.
| know self-made men who had a
terrible struggle with poverty in their
youth, who were so mortally afraid OF
the possibility of losing their money,
after they had made it, so terrified at
the thought that something might hap.
pen to their business or their fortune
and again throw them and their fam
lilies into poverty, that they formed
the habit of clinging to their money
with deathlike tenacity.
Many self-made men make the mis-
take all through their careers of moi
making "a habit of regular, periodical
giving. They postpone giving until
they think they are in a better posi-
ton, and so the giving time never
comes. Greed and avarice get posses
sion of them. Their hearts become
hardened. their affections 'dwindle un-
til sometimes there is nothing human
left in them. They become huge
= money glands, so used to gripping and
hanging on to their wealh that il
positively pains them to give dollar
away, however worthy the object. II
does not seem business to them tc
. expend money for sentiment or senti'
mental reasons. They are so used tc
barter and trade, so habituated alway:
to trying to get the best end of The
. bargain that they become fairly OBJ
: sessed with the idea that what none,
represents is everything In life.
Few people realize the cankering
rusting. despoiling influence of av
arice, the grip which it gets upon oul
: better selves. -: