To begin with, there is one objection that is constantly made to the
work of this League. Our critics do not understand why we do so much for
the rich. They grant that many rich people are unhappy and lead
miserable lives; but they argue that if they suffer from riches, it must
be their own fault. Nobody would have to stay rich, they say, if he
would just make an effort: and if he has too much money and yet won't
give it away, he must be a bad lot.
We believe these assertions are mistaken in every particular. The rich
are not really a bad lot. We must not judge by appearances. If it
weren't for their money they would be indistinguishable from the rest of
us. But money brings out their weaknesses, naturally. Would it not bring
out ours? A moderate addiction to money may not always be hurtful; but
when taken in excess it is nearly always bad for the health, it limits
one's chance of indulging in nice simple pleasures, and in many cases it
lowers the whole moral tone. The rich admit this--of each other; but
what can they do? Once a man has begun to accumulate money, it is
unnatural to stop. He actually gets in a state where he wants more and
more.
This may seem incomprehensible to those who have never suffered from
affluence, and yet they would feel the same way, in a millionaire's
place. A man begins by thinking that _he_ can have money without being
its victim. He will admit that other men addicted to wealth find it hard
to be moderate, but he always is convinced that he is different and has
more self-control. But the growth of an appetite is determined by
nature, not men, and this is as true of getting money as of anything
else. As soon as a man is used to a certain amount, no matter how large,
his ideas of what is suitable expand. That is the way men are made.
Meanwhile the mere having of money has the effect on most men of
insidiously making them more and more dependent on having it. Of course
a man will hate to believe that this is true of himself, but sooner or
later money affects him as drugs do a dope-fiend. It is not really much
joy to him, but it scares him to think of giving it up. When you urge a
rich man to pull himself together, to summon his manhood and try, only
_try_, for a while to depend on himself, he tells you he'd like to,
perhaps, but he hasn't the strength. He can't take life that way. He
can't face the world even a month without money in the bank.
Even so, why should the rest of us feel it's our duty to help? Why not
wait until the rich come to ask our advice, if they're troubled? Ah,
but they wouldn't. They couldn't. The rich have their pride. Their
unfortunate weakness for money may blacken their lives, but they suffer
in silence. They try to conceal it all from us. Their feverish attempts
to find some sunshine in life every evening, the desperate and futile
migrations they make each few months, and the pathetic mental deadness
of their gatherings, they try to keep private. We might never know to
what straits many rich folk have come, were it not for the newspapers
and their kindly society columns. Bless their noble insistence on
showing us the lives of the rich, their portraying with such faithful
care each detail of their ways!
It is no easy matter to reform these rich people offhand. Just to call
at their houses and advise them, when you aren't too busy--that would be
a kindness, of course, but quite far from a cure. Besides, they might
even resent your little calls as intrusions. A good-hearted reformer
would certainly endanger his comfort, and he might risk his life, trying
to get in past rich people's butlers. Don't go in those districts at
all, that is this League's advice. The drinking, bad language, the
quarrels and shooting affrays, armed watchmen, fast motors--all these
make those streets quite unsuited for decent folks' use.
What, then, shall we do? We can't just walk selfishly off and go mind
our own business. The rich are our brothers. How can the rest of us let
ourselves be truly happy when our brothers are suffering?
That's where this League steps forward. This League will provide ways in
which any reformer can help.
(1) It plans to establish neighborhood houses in all the rich centers,
where those who can stand it can go and live just like the rich. It
will thus enable a few of us to mingle with them, day by day, and
gradually brighten their outlook and better their standards.
(2) It will send trained welfare workers to inspect the most desperate
cases and gently reform one by one their conditions of living.
(3) It will instruct volunteers in the best methods of rich relief
work, especially methods of relieving the rich of their wealth.
The most common type we treat is the man who is making great efforts to
keep other people from getting his money away from him. Such a man is
always in a nervous, excitable state. In fact our statistics show that
many died from this strain. The typical case gets a temperature daily,
from what he sees in the papers, about the attacks which radical persons
are constantly making on property. Inflammation sets in, and his
outbursts grow more noisy and violent. He practically racks himself to
pieces. It is a most painful end.
Other men try to invest money securely. This is a strain too. It leads
to constant worries and losses, no matter what they invest in. Again,
every man of means is exposed to innumerable skillful appeals to devote
all he has to some new educational uses, or to lend it to friends in
great need, or give aid to the sick. These appeals are so pressing that
it wears out a man's strength to refuse them; and yet, since they are
endless, he must. He can't give to them all. He must practice ways of
dodging the determined askers who hunt him and trail him. Rich women,
alone with their mail on a bright sunny morning, must learn to throw
even the most pathetic circulars in the waste-paper-basket. In other
words they must harden their hearts. But that hardens their arteries. It
also gives them a disagreeable disposition; and that's quite a load.
It means much to the rich when our League takes these weights off their
minds.
But the best way to give an idea of the good we are doing, will be to
cite just a few special cases we have helped in the past: