I6 



HARDWOOD RECORD. 



but ulii> ilo Hot iipiirovc u( liitvUii; iluir 

 lionif life writti'ii up iiloujr wlih wrltt'ii!'" 

 of 'fronk.s iiiiil niunltTors mid prize Q|;lili r~ 

 Tlie.v wtiuliln'i |ierniit It for ii tnliiutc. 



lint those rich people arc persUtent. nml 

 they ninke life n bunleii for folk who iu-vit 

 dill tliein iin.v hiiriii niul wlio don't wnnt 

 nn.vlhInK to do with them. When they 

 fnll to butt In in this country, which tln-y 

 usuiilly do. US n Inst resort they go iiliro:id 

 and give some penniless count or loni :\ 

 million or two to mnrry one of their dnu;:li- 

 ters, believing that by uslnj; Uio rlBht of 

 preeo<lence which a title j;iv«8 In Kuropc, 

 they can butt In there. 



And all this time, mind you. tliey arc 

 strivlnj: to fon-e themselves upon people 

 who don't want them. And <\o .vou believe 

 that In an employment conducive to linii- 

 pinees? 



Occasionally, of course, one does really 

 get in. but it is because of persona! quali- 

 ties and not because of his money. 

 • • • 

 Another thing which money will not buy 

 is political preferment. 



A Kood deal of fun is made of the de- 

 sire so universal among Americans nf 

 holding some public office, but to my way 

 of thinking the ambition is a laudable one. 

 The election to an office by the vote of 

 the citjzens of your community is an in- 

 dication that those who know you best 

 hold you in esteem. And a man likes to 

 have it known that he stands well in his 

 commuuit.v. And the holding of public 

 office is almost completely forbidden to 

 men of great wealth. 



There is a good deal of talk about cor- 

 ruption of the ballot and the buying of 

 office in this country, but it isn't true. The 

 percentage of those who buy their way 

 into office is so small that it is scarcely 

 worth mentioning, and is only possible in 

 those instances where the election is taken 

 from the hands of the people, as in the 

 case of the election of United States 

 senators. And even in that case it must 

 be a mighty small and mighty rotten 

 l)orough that can be bought. There arc 

 fifty millionaires in Chicago who woiilii 

 like to represent Illinois in the United 

 States senate, who would spend money 

 like water to that end. but both our sena- 

 tors are poor men and all the senators tlie 

 state has ever had have been poor men. 

 And it is so in nearly every other state. 

 And none of our presidents has ever 

 been a rich man and never will be until 

 there is a vast change in the character of 

 our people. . Xo rich man can ever win 

 the place in the hearts of the people that 

 McKinley, the banknipt, or tliat Lincoln, 

 the poor lawyer, held. Not only will money 

 not buy these places of public trust ami 

 honor so dear to the American heart, luit 

 the possession of much money actually 

 bars a man from any hope of securing 

 them. 



The American people absolutely refuse 

 to elect a very rich man to any place 

 within their gift. "When one of them dois 



>.|i|i Ihtii such a place It Is through some 

 clrcnmlocutliin that defeats Hie people'R 

 » III. I slate that as a riilf. There are 

 txccpllcin- I" '1 (<( course, but they are 

 few. 



When liiiif I- among the people so 

 lieariy an acctird upon ;iny subject there 

 iiiiist be a reason for It — niid a good rea- 

 son. There is In this country a vast dis- 

 trust of the very rich man. II is illlliciilt 

 til convince the public that a man wtio 

 has secured possession of several millions 

 or liiiinlred& of nillllons of dollars came by 

 all of it honestly. Or ever concetUng that 

 he came by it all legally, tlii' p<>«>ple feel 

 rcasiiiiably sure tliat he has in his nature 

 :iii clement of hoggishness, and unscnipii- 

 li.nsncss which is far from attractive. 



In this day. when you can scarcely 

 throw a stone in a crowd in a big city 

 without hitting a millionaire, it confers a 

 sort of distinction upon a man of parts to 

 lie conipanitiveiy poor. The fact that he, 

 being a man of parts, might have accumu- 

 l.ited great wealth had he set his heart to 

 tlie work and yet did not. argues to the 

 jiublic mind that he is not only a pretty 

 decent kind of a man, but also that he is 

 a man having a just appreciation of the 

 true value of things. 



» • • 



For as sure as you live, there is mighty 

 little tliat great wealth will buy that is 

 any better tlian yon mihI I enjoy, dear 

 reader. 



The millionaire rolls down town in liis 

 automobile, while you and I come down 

 in a street car, but all question of expense 

 aside, his automobile is a whole lot more 

 bother and annoyance to liim than our 

 street car is to us. We get down town 

 just as quickly and just as comfortably as 

 he. and when we arrive at our destination 

 all we have to do is to jump off and the 

 street car company has men hired to take 

 care of the ing until we want it again. 

 And when we want it again there Is it. 



He gets more pleasure ovit of his big 

 stone house than we get out of our 

 nio<lest abode: maybe, \)ut not much. We 

 get just as much enjoyment viewing his 

 line place from the outside as he does. 

 And when we get into our home and get 

 our family around, or a choice lot of 

 friends, or get lost in a good book, it 

 doesn't really make much difference 

 whether the carpet is velvet or ingrain, or 

 whether the chair cost a hundred dollars 

 or only two and a half. The enjoyment 

 doesn't depend on the carpet or the chair, 

 jinyhow. It depends on the family, the 

 friends or the book, and we'll match ours 

 .'igainst his and ijet him two to one. in a 

 small way, you understand, that our 

 family, our friends and our Ijooks are of 

 a superior quality. Isn't that right? 



And although his money will liuy him 

 richer food than we are accustome<l to, it 

 won't be as good for him. We don't care 

 for rich food, anyhow. .Vnd I defy it to 

 buy him a better appetite. Don't you? 



.\iid iIk- al"petlle furiilHlies 'M per cent 

 of the I'lijoynieiit of ii menl. 



And If we want to run for an oillce or 

 get Into soi'iety we are not hnndli'appisl 

 by having evcrybo<ly down on uh. 



The fni't of it Is that the thln(;s that 

 great wealth will buy for a man, that are 

 (lenled to the man of very moderate 

 means, .nrc^ entirely nonessential— things, 

 In fai-t. that he'd be better oTC without. 



And there are so many things- that bring 

 us the greatest pleasure that are dcnie»l 

 to tlie man of too much money. 



We know that our friends arc our 

 friends beiaiise they like us. and are not 

 constantly suspleious that they are merely 

 trying to work us. 



.\nd we don't go chasing around tho 

 Cfiuntry. trying to force ourselves on peo- 

 ple who don't want us. 

 • • • 



I took up. this matter because so many 

 people have a misconception as to what 

 money— a srreat deal of money — can pro- 

 cur<' for them. And this misconception 

 causes an awful lot of misery and disap- 

 pointment in the world. 



Why. if you have a few good friends — 

 just a few — that you like :ind who like 

 you, they are worth more to you than a 

 iiundred million dollars. And should you 

 sacrilice the friends to get the millions 

 you'd always regret it. For you'd find 

 your millions absolutel.v powerless to buy 

 you anything worth while. 



How'd you like to belong to that Buttin- 

 ski crowd we've been talking about, and 

 have all the real nice and desirable people 

 shun you as though you had the Itch? 

 Think you'd enjoy that? 



M'ell. I'm here to tell you that you 

 wouldn't. 



And whatever you do, don't make the 

 mistake of envying the poor devils. They 

 are the most miserable lot in the world. 



If you've got a clear conscience, a good 

 digestion, and some good friends don't 

 vou envy nnvbody. 



OUR CHIEF VACATIONIST. 



We li:i\o alioiil n':ir]ii-il llic end of the 

 vacation season, and most of us have 

 had a rest, of a week or two, or may- 

 be only a few days. And in this matter 

 of taking a vacation we have the indorse- 

 ment of your great and strenuous presi- 

 dent, Mr. Itoo.sevelt. 



For lie is indeed our cliicf vacationist. 

 Last winter he was taking a vacation 

 Imnting bear in the swamps of Mississippi; 

 last spring he was taking a vacation in 

 Yellowstone Park for a month or two; and 

 now he is having a Qnd outing at Oj'ster 

 Ha.v. wliere he has been all summer. He 

 is indeed a strenuous vacationist. 



His vacation in Mississippi was not a 

 success, because of a lack of picturosque- 

 ness in the surroundings. When a man 

 has struggled through the swamps and 

 rjinebrakes for a day he looks disreputable 

 even in a Roui-'li Hlilcr uniform. He does 



