Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 93, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1898 — THE RICH AMERICAN. [ARTICLE]

THE RICH AMERICAN.

Points About the Man Who Has a Large Fortune. He Becomes the Mark o's Mallee and Envy and. Han Hie Troubles In Life with All Hin Money. In the popular imagination the very rich man occupies a peculiar position. Everyone would like to be very rich, for the possession of a million, or, not to be too primitive, let us say two millions, represents independence, freedom from toil, a life of ease, if not pleasure, opportunities for making one’s self felt, or for benefiting 'bne’s fellows, or carrying out long-cherished schemes of some sort. Yet the very people who long for wealth picture those, who possess it in a very different light. In proportion to their distance from the world of the very rich is their ignorance of it; and much as the man in moderate circumstances may long Tor wealth he never fails to misrepresent to himself the result of possessing it. while among the poor the very rich man is gradually coming to be looked upon as a sort of public enemy who becomes richer and richer, while the rest of the world grows poorer and poorer. Explain to them as much as you will that this is not a fact; that the very rich are so few in number that their wealth divided among their fellows would make no one appreciably richer, or that all great fortunes are very soon broken up, or that the poor are improving their condition quite as steadily and surely as the rich, what you say makes no impression. To be rich is every man’s dream. To be poor is to suffer that others may wax fat and kick.

The very rich man of real life is, for a variety of reasons, difficult to describe, so that the picture will seem fair. His peculiarity is that he has so few typical peculiarities. He is neither necessarily lavish, nor loud, nor noisy, nor fond of self-assertion. Though he may, of course, be one, or all, of these, he is just as apt to be a rather quiet man. whom you would pass in a crowd without thinking twice about him. Inexperienced persons, sometimes, hearing that one of the very rich is near them, try to pick him out—almost always unsuccessfully, because they inevitably think he must be a noticeable person. Their mistake comes from their not knowing that the effect of wealth, after the first froth is off, is often to sober and chasten. Even noisy, boastful braggarts, suddenly overtaken with wealth, sometimes become noted for their quiet, retiring manners. A multimillionaire may spend a whole evening without letting the cat out of the bag. On the other hand, he may make the room echo with his boasts; but in this case it almost always turns out that he is something else besides a very rich man—a philanthropist, or a corruptionist, or a journalist, perhaps. Our remarks are intended to be confined to those who are merely very rich. Their aim seems to be as often as not to render themselves in dress and manners and speech indistinguishable. The law is not made any easier for them on account of their weatlh. The tuxes fall upon them with equal weight, so far as houses and lands are concerned, and though they may be “let off” a little as to their stocks and bonds this is not owing to the law. but through the cleverness, of some attorney whom they must quietly 7 retain and pay for the work. The law is always on the alert. The wealthiest may any day be confronted by a decision of the court of last resort that the right to a glass of sherry and bitters at his club has been taken from him; if he keeps any considerable amount of valuables on his premises, he must have private detectives to guard them; if he gives a ball, he is loudly criticised for his extravagance, and his wife is caricatured; if he does not subscribe liberally to public objects, he is held up to public reprobation as a miser; if he is bo unlucky as not to get into a club the fact is advertised as if he had been defeated in an election to congress, and any objections to his life and conversation, or to his personal appearance which may 7 have affected the result, are bawled out under the head of “club news."

The result of the dangers which threaten, and the jealousy and suspicion which surround him, is that in the end he is very far from daring to be the arrogant, purse-proud creature he is painted by popular imagination. So far from being haughty, he has seldom even the high spirits and power of enjoyment that ought to go with wealth. The very rich American, in short, is apt to be embarrassed. His tastes are still more or less those of a primitive, semi-rural community, founded upon equality, managed under democratic forms, in which runk and title and etiquette do not exist, yet this social organization, which was in its full flower u generation ago. is submerged by a new civilization, of which he is the head, which is not arranged for him or prepared to receive him. and of which he'is at once the boastand the butt. He is the victim of a social order which he represents but does not understand. He knows that he is one of the great of the earth, but does not know how to manage it all. It. has to be managed for him by private secretaries. ami “major domos." and above all by his wife and children, who make Idin build a house us big us u hospital ou a twoacre lot. and entertain “house parties” of young people whose names be does not know. Quiet is the role of such a man, and quiet he generally is. In his own set he may find relief and momentary solace in boasting about his liquors and cigars, or stocks, but when he goes abroad among those who would give their eyes to change places with him, his one idea is often to escape notice.—N. Y. Post.