Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-07-12
VALUES NEW CONCEPTION
BY BOYD S. FOWLER
Yard Trainman, p. r. r., Harrisburg
(From the Railroad Trainman Magazine)

~ ESPITE the amazing losses
of the past four years, it is
- almost worth all that the war
has cost us to have got the new
vision of values that seems to have
come to us as a people and a Ma
ton. Before we entered the arena
in the cause of democracy, our
course of action in most matters
was determined by the dollar (S
mark. Our first questions were,
what is there in it for ME-? how
will it affect MY business, MY
profits, MY prospects? The query
What is he, she or it worth? re-
quired an answer framed in finan-
cial terms, as matter of course.
The charge made against us by the
nations of the world, that we were
money mad, had too much of a
foundation of truth in 1T for our
comfortable way of thinking. The
way we were heaping up wealth
was without precedent. Millionaires
were as the leaves of the trees in
numbers, while multi-millionaires
were so common that they excited
no special interest.
and great financial success, were
part of the common school educa-
ton, and served as an inspiration
and incentive to our youth. We
dreamed and worshiped, both Sc
cretly and openly at the shrine of
ST. Midas, while the clutch of dis
torted and miserly conception of life
was upon us. Our fears, hopes,
loves and hates, energies and ambi-
tions found sole expression in THE
Almighty Dollar. - Then we became
involved in the World War, and so
long as it was an overseas war, 1t
seemed likely that it would only
cater to our insatiate greed for
money.
Profiteering became both a
science and an art. Men of mod
crate fortunes became wealthy over
night, from the products of and
profits of ten-acre farm or two
by four factory. The rich became
richer by leaps and bounds, and
there seemed no limits to the Pc
cuniary advantages of the United
States from the world catastrophe.
Even to those who tried to look be-
low the surface did there seem to
be any depth or limit to which we
would not go as a money-grabbing,
money-worshiping nation. That the
war could not be confined to Europe
was our salvation. Just as soon as
we were in 1t, part of 1t, the clouds
began to lift, and the vision of
worthwhile things and objects be-
gan to get clearer, and now with
a world peace only round the corner
we begin to see with a clear vision.
Perhaps 1t is no eXaggeration to say,
there never has been a time in the
history of the Nation when money
was less priced for it's own sake
than now, or when men were valued
for their accumulation of wealth,
and more for what they are and
can do for the world.
To-day the worthwhile men are
| coming into their own, we are wit
Messing the rebirth of the Nation.
One of the marvels of this great
day. is the awakening of what we
have been accustomed to call "The
Moneyed Class and "The Captains
of Industry" heads of great con-
Germs and men of great wealth, to
their duties and privileges as citi-
zens of this great country, not as
plutocrats, but as real red-blooded
MEN. 1t has certainly been a
revelation, as we have witnessed the
wholehearted and eager way in
Wnlch they are trying 10 clutcn tne
new idea, and follow the gleam of
the new light which their vision
senses. The rolls of the govern
ments during the war, show that all
nations had as their hardest work
Ing and most efficient agents an
astonishingly large number of such
men-chosen not because of what
they have, but because they pos
sess unusual talents for usefulness
and service. factors which have
made them most successful in their
chosen eallings or professions. The
world could not with any sum at
the command of its governments,
purchase the time or the service OF
these men. but both time and money
and service was freely given, or was
rendered for "a wage so small as 10
be ridiculous when considered az
payment, and rendered, too, with
zest, delight. and degree OF
interest that never characterized the
old merely money-making days and
pursuits. These men are really liv-
ing. In the best and highest sense
of the word, for the first time In
their lives, and II Is incredible that
they will ever willingly abandon this
| new and better thing that has come