COMMERCIALISM. 297 



and placed in high official positions, while men 

 of culture, refinement, virtue and moral worth 

 often struggle in vain for recognition. 



The super-normal power exhibited by wealth in 

 every department of life makes poverty a disgrace Poverty a 

 and the fear of poverty and its consequences the &*** 

 nightmare, the constant terror of millions. The 

 mad struggle, not for the necessities and com- 

 forts of life, but for riches and its pomp, power 

 and privileges, produces a constant strain upon 

 all. It robs home of its quiet joy, honest toil of its 

 contentment, commerce of legitimate business, 

 public trust of fidelity, patient study of its reward, 

 moral worth of its just recognition, and places a 

 bounty upon commercial shrewdness, political 

 trickery, professional quackery and religious bun- 

 combe. 



The instinct to acquire is natural. To lay up 

 property and prepare for old age, future want and 

 those depending upon one; is not only the right, 

 but the duty of all. "If any provide not for his The Right to 

 own, he is worse than an infidel." To convert 

 the crude materials of nature into such things as 

 minister to the health, happiness and progress of 

 humanity, or to increase the wealth of the world 

 by the honest accumulation of a large fortune, is 

 certainly commendable. For a number of men 

 to combine their wealth and energy in order to 

 develop and conduct a business that is too extens- 

 ive to be successfully operated by one, is per- 

 fectly legitimate; but none of these necessitate 

 the overwork, rush, greed, and criminal abuses 

 of wealth that characterize modern commercial- 

 ism. 



