ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 135 



amount of pasturage. To discuss this question as it de- 

 serves, would occupy more time than is allotted to me. 



The foremost and most reliable form of wealth is in 

 real estate, but corner lots may now be purchased for a 

 song in Palmyra and Nineveh, but recently the Napoleons 

 of finance have obtained their commissions in the navy 

 and seek riches in another element by watering stock. 



Aquarius, the water bearer, should be their emblem. 



The sunshine of publicity has caused great evapora- 

 tion in this liquid aggregation of wealth. Let me sug- 

 gest an epitaph for one of these so-called captains of in- 

 dustry. At the base of the pyramid of Cestius in the 

 English cemetery at Rome, lie the remains of the poet 

 Keats, who caused to be inscribed on his head stone, 

 "Here lies one whose name is writ in water." 



No wealth is so enduring as that which finds its roots in 

 the soil, but in America the very rich have generally pre- 

 ferred a more productive, though less lucrative, form of 

 property. 



The old families of New York City who have grown 

 rich by the wisdom of their ancestors, are now busy 

 tracing their genealogical trees back to Alfred the Great. 

 None of them care to go back to Noah, for that would con- 

 nect with their uncles, Shem and Ham. 



The public domain will have accomplished its great 

 purpose when it has finally passed into the ownership of 

 prosperous citizens. 



