Show An EveryDay Homily Perhaps there is no city in the world of the same size as Salt Lake where there are more independent real estate owners or where property prop-erty is more evenly distributed and the same assertion may be made of most of the settlements of this Territory Ter-ritory with but little fear of making mak-ing a mistake a condition of things which we sincerely hope may be an everlasting one but our hopes are not however without misgivings Time is sure to effect changes by which the poorer owners will disappear dis-appear and their place be supplanted sup-planted by a wealthier class of landed proprietors whose revenues will be derived from rents exacted from our descendants We have no good reason for supposing that our city and Territory will be exceptions excep-tions as we have examples enough before us to point out clearly what is the usual course in similar casts New England will afford us the necessary examples and in face every colony State and Territory of the United States But is such a condition of things desirable There is only one answer to this qu stion The grandest effort ever made to realize the general principle that all men are created free and equal was looked upon by the great lawgiver LycurguSj as vain unless grounded on an equal distribution of wealth And so longas this condition of things continued con-tinued the stud ent of history knows what were the consequences In the dream of the largehearted poet philosopher Plato he considered at least a near approach to an equal distribution of wealth as the only basis on which his perfect republic could be established But is such a condition of things possible To this question likewise but one answer can be given except by the most rancorous communist unless the character of men shall be wonderfully won-derfully changed from what it isfat the present time Yet if there must I be rich and poo can not something I be done if not to make the rich man poorer wherein no good result R ould follow anyhow if his means be honestly gotten at least to make the poor man better off It looks like a hopeless task on the face of it when we remember that all the schemes that have been tried thus far have proved futile and most every theory advanced has some weak point which renders it impracticable im-practicable or worthless But still tit e must conclude that the human race has made some advancement a d that civilization has done something some-thing to ameliorate the condition of tim xace In India we hear in story books and history of the vast wealth or that country but when we come to examine more l closely perhaps we shall find with all the advantages that nature could lavish there are more poor people in proportion to the population than in any other civilized or semicivil ized country on the globe What wealth there is the few are in possession pos-session of while the body of the people own nothing Of this condition condi-tion we see readily that we are far in advance The majority of men out in this western country own I their own homes and are not by any means the property of their employers employ-ers The possession of a home should be one of the chief objects of a mans ambition if his occupation will permit per-mit Though we very frequently hear people say that building is a bad policy when one can lend the money necessary to build a home and with the interest of it be able to save something after paying o the rent of just as good a house as he could build Prom point of view in which dollars and cents are cdn corned we also see itin the same light But there is a far higher standpoint Nothing tends to cultivate cul-tivate in man that spirit of independence inde-pendence which is indispensable to the nobility of his character the proud consciousness that where he Eroud lives is his own home and there he is master just as much even as the Czar of Russia on his throne The nomadic spirit which leads a man to wander hither and thither and + makes him so restless wherever he is can be considered as nothing else than a relic of barbarous timeswhen men from ignorance of the resources of nature around them were compelled com-pelled to emigrate from place to place in order to obtain a scanty livelihood from her niggardly provision pro-vision This barbarism is fast disappearing dis-appearing from the race and in its place arises a love of home and all its pleasant surroundings A home is not only a place of convenience con-venience and neeessity but tne possession pos-session of it gratifies a higher sense than merely that of our animal nature na-ture just as much as the reading of a good book or the harmony of apiece a-piece of beautiful music One might just as well argue against music on the ground that it is nothing more than mere vibrations of the air striking the organs of hearing and producing in them corresponding movements and that any sounJs are just as good as others or that the stupid volume of a poetaster is better than the sublime Shakspeare because you can get more pages of the one for the same or less money The possession of a cottage however how-ever mean and insignificant if rightly appreciated will tend to cultivate more of Independence and manhood than all the gift and splendor of a palace when not ones own or to return to the comparison have how much I we just dropped I more valuable to you is a good book which though its leaves are tattered tat-tered and fingermarked and its cover soiled and worn contains within itself the precious thoughts of some great mind as an everlasting heritage to mankind when compared com-pared U a whole library QL tratlh in all the ostentation of gif ii T t tering andall the wealth of Russia leather I So the home possesses within itself an intrinsic merit which all the klitter of wealth should not outshine C The possession of a home gives a man an interest in the public welfare wel-fare which otherwise he might not feel He knows now that allpub = lic measures will effect f him in one way or another and unless thoe measures are wise he will have to bear the consequence at least in part Selfish motives if no others will induce Mm to look into public affairs and once interested in the publc he will begin to comprehend that what is for the general good of all will also be attended with advantage > ad-vantage to himself and thus he will be taught to take a broader view of things than before Of so much importance was this interest in the public welfare considered in the time of Solon that a punishment was inflicted upon those that would not attend to their voting and other duties required of them by tie State A home thoroughly appreciated will lead a man to the cultivation of his better and higher nature No I nook or corner of the home no < quare foot of ground but will be susceptible of some improvement or ornamentation and nj matter how imperfectly his taste may be developed de-veloped even though it be in embryo em-bryo it gets that exercise and training that is necessary to its successful growth But as the home sentiment does not consist merely in those outward forms which indeed are only the expression expres-sion of the promptings of the inner man so likewise his attention will be turned within upon himself and here he will find abundant opportunity oppor-tunity for the cultivation of those higher faculties of mind and nobler virtues In short it is the home sentiment that makes the man a human being and not the intellectual intellec-tual faculties which only make him an animal of a higher order The home thus endeared to us we could not willingly let go from our possession and made sacred to our children by so many hallowed recollections recol-lections will be held by them as a priceless treasure But the possession posses-sion of a dwelling house and a small garden is not recommended as a panacea for all the ills oft pov ertystricken humanity i4 must betaken be-taken only for what it is worth and that is when properly considered a great deal Here we have made aright a-right beginning and if we can but give to home that value that it i I merits our children will continue the course we have begun end though as a consequence we may have fewer palaces yet we will be more than compensated by the absence ab-sence of so many hovels and rookeries rook-eries and more of our citizens will occupy that middle station in which as all philosophers tell us the greatest sum of happiness is to be I found I |