Year: 1873

GLADSTONE ON WEALTH AND NEwsPA.
PERs.-Gladstone recently said at public
dinner that had there been absolutely no
wealth in all Great Britain in 1915. had
there been no stored capital of any form,
but had the riches of the country been CON-
pletely exhausted and then stood at zero,
nevertheless in three score years since,
Great Britain would have acquired all her
present gigantic wealth, had her people
SINCE 1915 in every year created wealth
at the same rate as they have been crea
ting it recently. This was the moral which
he drew from these amszlDg facts:


Bat what does all that mean7 1t
means with such accumulated creations of
wealth, the accelerated movement of the
human m nd and appetite connected with
its creatlon-it means the multiplication
of temptations, it means the greater power
Of the outer world over the inner man
it means the application of more stirring
and bewlldering Instruments of excitement
in the daily course of life to large mass
of the com nunity, ani this perhaps on the
whole, its most energetic aud IN ,st inf l.
entail portion. And If from the acquisition
of wealth We tura to the q lestiou of its
consumption, here again We are met with
other sources of danger not less Formidable
IN the incessant growth and empIre of
personal luxury, and iu that alm ,st insane
appetite for the worst Of ali distinctions
which appear to possess and carry away
the minis OF whole classes among US iu
the determination not to be behiud our
neigbbor in sef-indulgence.


But whether We 10 * to the growth of
luxury and the love of display and SELF
indulgence on one side. or that powerful
and exhausting excitement on the other
side which attenls our energetic and
speculative systems of trade and commerce,
neither of these are congenial to the hearts
of men of letters, but tend to lead off the
human mind in great degree both from
the creation of works worthy to live aud
from the appreciation of those works which
ought 20 be valued"


Tnis was Mr.. Gadstone's criticism of
the newspaper press:


Even our admirable periodical press,
which is SO beneficial and so wonderful,
and to which we owe so great debt OF
gratitude, has, of course, its besettiug
dangers, and tends to rapldity rather than
to soidlty of work, and to the superb ,ial
and popular rather than to the thoroughly
exhaustive and enduring handling OF great
questions. 1t tends again, inasmuch as
toe producer of literature conforms in q
great degree TO the tastes of those who
read tit tends to the production of what
is called sensuous tone aud excitement


literary creations, neither of which is
favorable to their permanent vitality. 1t
IS also impossible to deny that, great as is
the mental activity Of that part of the
press, great as are its triumphs, yet the
growth of the critical faculty is somewhat
out of proportion to the growth of the
/ constructive, faculty. [Cheers.l If this
gentlemen, be SO, all tnese are dangers
which for ourselves and in the sphere of
our individual influence We should endeav.
or to avoid, and the action and operation
OF which at least we should endeavor to
reduce. l have myself great fairh in
publicity; but it is a very singular thing
how difficult it is to obtain publicity.
Tdere are a great many things put into a
newspaper which never obtain publicity at
all. A laugh Tney are printed, but if
they are printed they are not read; or if
they are read, are they marked. learnt and
luwardly digested ? The very aim of
publicity is only gained when intelligence
has reached the stage of digestion. 1t is
then that publicity has been attained"