d material
one, affecting the bodily senses alone--the animal part of our
nature--and which contains little either to expand the mind or exalt the
aspirations. With us but comparatively few can become distinguished in
the ranks of literature or of art, or, indeed, in any of the higher or
intellectual branches of human attainment; hence for the great mass
there is but one road to distinction, one object to claim every
exertion--the pursuit of wealth. And as a natural consequence, we see
every art, every profession hinging upon this motive. Most of the evils
connected with the administration of our public affairs, the fraud and
corruption which are so prominent, the quadrennial scramble for place,
with its consequent degrading of those positions which should be those
of the highest honor, may be traced to this one source. More than this,
we find the so-called aristocracy of our great cities--a moneyed one
purely--excluding from its ranks those who earn their livelihood in the
pursuit of literature and art, and who, if true to their professions,
are entitled to the very highest rank in society. There are of course
exceptions, but not more than sufficient to prove the rule. A striking
exemplification of the power of wealth among us is seen in these days of
shoddy, when those who have hitherto moved in the humblest circles
suddenly take their positions among the 'upper ten thousand,' and are
treated with a deference to which they have all their lives been
strangers, by virtue of a successful contract or a towering speculation.
The effect of such a state of things upon our civilization is easy to be
seen. A low motive is sure to bring down its followers to its own level.
A people without a lofty and ennobling object is sure to fall into
decay. The grasping spirit which everywhere pervades our society is fast
lowering our people to the level of a race of mercenary jobbers. Truth,
justice, honor, purity, and even religion, are in a great measure lost
sight of in the general scramble for gold, until the strictest
integrity, the most self-sacrificing honesty, are beginning to be looked
upon as marvels, and we have won for ourselves among the nations of the
world the unenviable title of worshippers of the 'almighty dollar.'
Religion itself is twisted and distorted into every imaginable shape to
bring it into harmony with our all-absorbing pursuit: all our ideas of
public policy and of social progress are made to depend upon and
mod