Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 April 1887 — Private Extravagance. [ARTICLE]

Private Extravagance.

The frequent exposures of defalcations and betrayals of trust generally give stock-gambling as the cause, but there are few instances in -which the defaulter has not lived extravagantly at his home. The effort to make a display of wealth in private and public 1 fe in this country is unprecedented. Its possession, no difference how obtained, is at once made the occasion to indulge in habits of extravr gance and display. It is not confined to officials, but is more especially noticeable in private life. A 'man accumulates wealth in some honorable employment after years of hard toil and rigid economy, aDd he or his family are at once seized with the amb tion to endeavor to eclipse their more fortunate neighbors, whose wealth is not of such recent date.

We spend money lavishly, foolishly, and are unpardouably extravagant in this country. In liurope, Americans are famous for their fashionable recklessness of expenditure. They spend a dollar where an Englishman, I renchman, or German, with more money, would spend ten cents. They value a thing, not according to its real worth, but according to the price paid for it, because this price is a flattering reminder of their ability to pay the bill. Economy is characterized as meanness, and to be careless of money is lauded as commendable generosity. 'ihe consequence is that we have display for disp ay’s sake, and the pressure of fashionable life and the demands of society drag into ruin and disgrace many a family who, under other circumstances, wo :ld be honest. Labor and industry cannot compete in a race of this kind. Diamonds, velvets, and gorgeously furnished private residences can neither be procured nor maintained by the ordinary and legitimate means of money making. The only remedy for this is more simplicity in our mode of life, dress, and living, and this can only be secured by the co-operation of those whose position and wealth is assured and unquestioned. A rigid ignoring of this fashionable demand for the exhibition of wealth by those whose financial ability and real worth was admitted would have a most salutary and beneficial effect on society. The complaint is not altogether against the poor, or those dishonest, or who suddenly accumulate wealth, but our millionaires, with money in bonds and banks, have joined in the reckless style of living. A man does not seek to live within his income, but is ready to take the chances of some fortunate accident to supply the deficiency; then come the pressure of debt, the persistent demand for money, and the opportunity presented to procure the money to relieve the pressure is seized with avidity, and with a moral nature already blunted and honesty tarnished, the road to ruin and crime is easily entered. It is time to call a halt. It is useless to longer attempt to cover up the necessity for a change in a social life; extravagance has grown on us as a people, so that from the highest official to the humblest citizen the race seems to be for display. The place to remedy it is at the head, and the time it is now. It was said in home, in her days of prosperity, by one of her most eloquent orators, on the occasion of the dedication of a statue to a Roman whose life had been offensive to the humble citizens of that republic, “that if there was a Roman youth who had courage enough to behead that statue, he would be cherished and honored in the memories of his countrymen. ” If some brave man in this country, whose position gives him the power, will behead this vile monster called “fashionable society,” he will be a hero, with a prouder distinction than if he had led an army to triumphant victory.—American Cultivator.