Show A picture of our country america as she now stands is a striking f fact act the western clearings clearings the immense immens e farms of the mississippi siley valley illey the lake trade the foreign immigration 9 ration toiling africa chained to the car of commerce g gorgeous orge ous and reckless new york and sudden san francisco excite imagination by all that they imply an and foreshadow they represent many ideas and embody many a wonderful and moving story for business has its danger and daring its s suffering and endurance and the changes of fortune in this new world of boundless resources and free activity are more marvelous than the tales of the arabian ni nights 7 ats this bold enterprise that stretches to the pacific this skilled and thoughtful race grasping avast a vast empire like a homestead to cultivate and plant and adorn this brave army of 0 worshippers wor shippers marching on irresistibly to the conquest of nature form a grand spectacle though their thele weapons the axe the plow and the steam engine have not the lustre of poetry that gleams from the point of the sword ili ill though 1 0 u h the heroes of tile the farm the workshop work shop a and n d tte the counting house like village die unsung yet great qualities are often exhibited in these humble heid held of mans effort and their labors found nations as those of the coral insect lift the basis of an island above the sea to the light and air of heaven but bat the picture has its dark side the eager desire for wealth the incessant and pursuit of it A has become the universal passion and occupation we have that love of money which is the he root of all evil and under the deadly shade of the tree from that root the love of knowledge and a art rt of truth and virtue and beamut beauty withers and dies in gln prosperity no altars smoke sin okie ok ie 1 the curse of i midas is upon us our feelings our ideas our aspirations are all turned into gold and we are starving amid our barren abundance we worship the material not the spiritual the visible and tran not the invisible and eternal we are practical not intellectual and our pleasures are of the senses not of the reason imagination and taste we are smitten with the lust of flesh and the lust of the eye and the pride of life we are true disc disciples les ies of the ethics of interest and utility an and our own owa mortality morra lity is cash payment truly has it been said that he rho who makes haste to get rich shall not be innocent 2 if intemperate drinking be the degrading vice of one portion of our people intemperate moneymaking is the besetting sin of another and much larger portion and it is difficult to lay which is the more pernicious eneis one is a vice of the senses destroying the mind the other a delusion of the mind and a selfish passion blasting the moral sentiments and the high er powers of the intellect the poor drunk ard cannot resist the baneful cup which be numbs the soul molding Itin un reasons mintage and transfer transforming ming him into the inglorious likeness of a beast beas tP and the infatuated worshiper of mammon deliberately libera tely uses his mental faculties for his own destruction prefers the ignoble and low to the pure and high and shuts out the light of heaven from his life successful industry rapid gains rank prosperity without vit hout bout counteracting causes to modify their influence have stimulated this passion assion for wealth to excess and have produced produced already in this new koun coun country luxury venality corruption contempt for intellectual pursuits and piea plea pleasures and sneering indifference to ennobling and elevated seni selli ciment hence the vulgar ostentation of our I 1 cities hence the deplorable frauds of business I 1 hence much of the baseness of our politics i north american review |