PERILS. — WEALTH. 167 



cratic, and to plead the leveling character of our institu- 

 tions. There is among us an aristocracy of recognized 

 power, and that aristocracy is one of wealth. No her- 

 aldry- offends our republican prejudices. Our ensigns 

 armorial are the trade-mark. Our laws and customs 

 recognize no noble titles; but men can forego the husk 

 of a title who possess the fat ears of power. In England 

 there is an eager ambition to rise in rank, an ambition 

 as rarely gratified as it is commonly experienced. 

 With us, aspiration meets with no such iron check as 

 birth. A man has only to build higher the pedestal of 

 his wealth. He may stand as high as he can build. His 

 wealth cannot secure to him genuine respect, to be sure ; 

 but, for that matter, neither can birth. It will secure 

 to him an obsequious deference. It may purchase polit- 

 ical distinction. It is power. In the Old World, men 

 commonly live and die in the condition in which they 

 are born. The peasant may be discontented, may covet 

 what is bej^ond his reach; but his desire draws no 

 strength from expectation. Heretofore, in this country, 

 almost any laborer, by industry and economy, might 

 gain a competence, and even a measure of wealth ; and, 

 though now we are beginning to approximate the condi- 

 tions of European labor, young men, generally, when 

 they start in life, still expect to become rich; and, 

 thinking not to serve their god for naught, they com- 

 monly become faithful votaries of Mammon. Thus the 

 prizes of wealth in the United States, being a,t the same 

 time greater and more easily won, and the lists being 

 open to all comers, the rush is more general, and the 

 race more eager than elsewhere. 



"But the}- that will be rich, fall into temptation and 

 a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which 

 drown men in destruction and perdition." i They who 

 "will be rich," are tempted to resort to methods less 

 laborious and more and more unscrupulous. Fierce 

 competition is leading to frequent adulterations, and 



1 1 Tim. vi. 9. 



