Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-10-05
SOME ULTRA-RlCH ALSO FACE
WOES DUE TO UNEMPLOYMENT
And Hoover Cannot Help Them, Though
Their Plight Is More Painful Than
That Of Idle Wage Farmers

That Of Idle Wage Farmers
uALF the truth hasn't been told about
Money, when it is available in clumps,
does more than talk. 1t has been known to
corrupt international relationships. to work
havoc with political institutions. to break up
families and to breed lot Of wild delusions
in the minds of otherwise reasonable men and
women, and to rob many of its possessors
of every chance for peace in this world.
This doesn't mean that money is an evil
thing in itself. 1t is very good servant
and the worst Of masters.
Let it rule in house and you may be
sure of confusion and catnstrophc After
,uoR a"ound the word nowadays il is easy
to believe that those who are too rich are
quite as badly off ns those who arr too poor.
Here. for example. are the Harold Nc
CormiCkS, Of Chicago. taking the place on
the front pages which was vacated only re-
Gently by the StilimanS, of New York. Too
much moncy-or. rather. too much Of the
Un">ranHblc leisure that is the usual accom-.
grows Of itSclf--Secms to be the cause of
DIR, troubl" I'm both cases.
\ mans mind or n womans DOESN'T stop
f.n tionjng even though it is denied the
Nh@"s"mc exercise necessary to make a
living. Put your mind in the vacuum which
too m"rh money oftCR creates and strange
things will happen to it. 1t will continue
tp Sppl p'itlptS for itS nj Co.
it's impulses. You may be the best -intcn-
toned person in the world. But before you
know it. aud because there is nothing else
for you to do YOU will find yourself attempt
ing the financial reorganization Of China
or the upift Of musical comedy or the study
Of occult religions or the penetration of the
mysteries of rsychoanalysis.
You will be bored because money will have
robbed you of the capacity for wondcrmcnt
Sooner or later you will break OUT at wild
tangent and leave the house in chargc of a
flock of buffers and the children at the
mercy of under servants and your wife or
your husband in the care of friends The
upshot is certain tfbe distressing to every
body concerned.
The most widely advertised troubles of the
ultra rich are for the most part nothing but
n now set of mefortunc% due to an aspect
Of the unemployment question which Hoover
himself. with oil hiSNaIcnts and hi limitless
audacity. couldn't remedy
Labor of some sort is necessary 10 every
one who would remain wholly rational.
Even the minor anxcties of the days work
have a tonic value. They make for mental
stabili2atiOn.
Work is more necessary to all classes of
the population than light wines or beer or
horse racing or grand opera or the tariff or
lower taxes. but YOU never hear of energetic
organizations with Washington lobbies de-
viscd to make work fashionable.
We have become afflicted with n notion
inherited from the Victorians-that there is
something admirable and even noble about
persistent idencsS. and that the most sue
cessful men are those who can find others
to do all their work for them and bring them
money in an increasing food.
That belief is wholly illogical and 1t CON
tinues to get well meaning folk into endless
trouble 1t has made life barren for thou
sands of men and women who are unhappy
without knowing why they are unhappy.
Now and then you will find a fabulously rich
idle man who retains normal view of life
and normal capacity for enjoying it, But
the divorce courts and the afflucncc of law
ycrs prove that it is hard to be abnormally
rich and normally peaceful.
People who are lucky enough to be only
moderately well off are likely to be happiest
They do not lose the saving consciousness of
mutual dependence. Money, in their case,
,Ioesn' rob life Of all its surprises. SO long
as you have the sense Of necessary contacts
with the outside world existence can con-
tinue to have a favor Of adventure. Mar
riage and domestic responsibilities will not
.crm like things to be avoided.
To be at peace, to be even tulcrable
citizen. you have 70 compromise with life
in hundreds of small ways. The great delu-
sion cf the over rich man is the belief that
he can buy immunity from the rules. He
cannot, of course The same desires and
the same regrets, the same Establishments
Of all men. no one can close a door against
them. But it is hard 20 discern the little
lights Of simple truth in the binding glare
Of the artificial world which is created out
Of too much money. And when nt last you
do discern them, it is often too late to turn