It is pretty certain that fully3 ninety-nine per cent. of these bloated plutocrats do not know where the next dollar is coming from. I have it on the authority of an American that “in introducing a man in high American society the introducer thinks it proper to say, ‘This is Obadiah S. Bluggs of Squedunk, Wis.—one of the richest men in the city. He’s worth his million dollars—ain’t you, Obadiah? And he’s president of a National Bank and owns a block of buildings on the main street. His wife has the largest diamonds in the northern part of the State, and his daughter, Miss Mamie Bluggs, gets her[20] gowns in Paris, and uses lorgnettes.’ Such words of recommendation, I am told, move Mr. Bluggs to a profound delight. Within five minutes half the men present—this is true even of the most exclusive circles—will cluster around Mr. Bluggs to sell things to him; champagne4, a horse, shares in a bogus mining company, or to ask him if Miss Bluggs is engaged, whether she is a blonde or a brunette, and whether he, Bluggs, thinks it is worth the questioner’s while to run up to Squedunk, Wis., take Miss Bluggs out buggy riding and size her up one afternoon.”
It is highly probable that Mr. Millionaire Bluggs possesses no ready cash whatever, though he is prepared to discuss five-million dollar propositions in the loudest tones and in any quantity, and it is probable, too, that Miss Bluggs is neither a blonde nor a brunette that matters, but an ordinary good strong country girl whose principal diet is pumpkin5 pie and chewing gum, and whose single go-to-party gown was bought in Paris truly but fell to the lot of Miss Mamie Bluggs at third hand and at bed-rock bargain-day price, at the corner store in Squedunk, Wis.
I have no desire to suggest that the millionaires of America as a body are in straitened or difficult circumstances,[21] or that an American here and there has not succeeded in amassing6 vast sums of money. But I assert flatly that the great majority of them are not within a mile of being anything like so rich as they pretend to be, and that, taking millionaire for millionaire, they are an entirely7 Brummagem and specious8 company. They maintain all the appearances of riches, not on solid bullion9 or property, but on a little paper. They come like water and like wind they go. Since millionairedom became fashionable, New York State alone must have produced, literally10, thousands of them.
Of the real authentic11 untraversable American millionaire, one is inclined to speak with bated breath and whispered humbleness12. There are three men of means in America at the time of writing who will probably be remembered for the wealth they possess as long as this weary world holds together. The virginal chaste13 names of them, need one say, are John D. Rockefeller, J. Pierpont Morgan, and Andrew Carnegie. No doubt there are others, such as the Vanderbilts and the Goulds, and Mr. Astor and Mr. Harriman, and that great patron of the drama, Mr. John Cory, whose wealth transcends14 the wealth of Ormuz and of Ind coming in together.[22] But it is on Messrs. Rockefeller, Morgan and Carnegie that the brunt and burden and glitter and glory of real unlimited15 and omnipotent16 millionairedom has fallen. Mr. Rockefeller, indeed, is commonly credited with being the richest and most powerful capitalist in the world. So rich is he, and so enormous are his accumulations of earned and unearned increment17, that he is rapidly becoming the overlord of all the other millionaires, who even now are, to a great extent, playing with his money and must, to a corresponding extent, do his bidding.
Of Mr. Rockefeller the world knows next to nothing, excepting that he is fabulously18 and pitifully rich, that he has absolutely no hirsute19 covering for his stupendous brains, that he suffers from indigestion, and that he plays golf and teaches a Sunday school in a Nonconformist place of worship. Every other morning he appears to present to this or that American city a few odd millions “for educational purposes,” the which millions are promptly20 spurned21 by the local authority as “tainted money,” but ultimately accepted “in the interests of the industrial class.”
Probably Mr. Rockefeller is the best abused man on this footstool. He has been variously described as a thief,[23] a ghoul, a bloodsucker, a murderer, a miser22, a cannibal, a wrecker, a tiger, a devastator23, a jackal, and a wolf. All the notice he takes is blandly24 to play golf and unobtrusively to dodge25 the lawyers and officers of the law who desire to bring him to book for the alleged26 malpractices of the Standard Oil Trust. Yet you have to remember that this placid27, smiling, hairless old gentleman of sixty-five, “with a glad hand for everyone,” takes out of the United States an income greater than the incomes of all the Royal Families of all Europe, and that, in addition to his controlling interest in the Standard Oil Trust, which last year paid dividends28 to the tune29 of fifty million dollars, he owns the entire Electric Light and Gas Plants of New York City, controls the American iron industry, has almost complete control of the railways and copper30 mines, and of the largest banks in New York and throughout the country. The which sad data go to show that he is at once a wicked man and a foolish, and that the American people are even wickeder and more foolish. You can never bring an American to see that there is no conceivable advantage in possessing too much money; and in spite of his “shattered nerves,” “enfeebled mind,” and “unenviable reputation,”[24] there is not a man in America who would not jump at the chance of standing31 in the shoes of Jawn D.
As for Mr. Pierpont Morgan, he is chiefly noted32 as the head and front of a Steel Trust that is making money at the rate of one hundred and forty million dollars per year, and as a gentleman who has a pretty taste in pictures and objects of art. Mr. Morgan is a man with a large and poetic33 imagination. It was he who conceived the noble idea of Americanising the British Transatlantic carrying trade by buying up the principal fleets engaged in it. In this deal, as in most other American-English deals, the American came forth34 to shear35 and got shorn. The woolly, bleating36, unsuspicious Britisher sold his vessels37 at inflated38 figures, snickered in his sleeve, and built new ones with some of the money. Mr. Morgan is a frequent and welcome visitor to these shores, and the London picture dealers39 and their touts40 no doubt do very well out of him. But if you say “Liverpool” to him he goes hot all over.
For a bonne-bouche I have kept Mr. Andrew Carnegie, of Skibo Castle and sundry41 other addresses. Mr. Carnegie has the misfortune to be a Scotch42 American—surely the least admirable of the less admirable types of humanity. He[25] will live in men’s memories as the sturdy, forthright43 Scot who managed one of the most desperate strikes that ever took place in America from the safe vantage ground of his native heath. It must be remembered that in spite of his ridiculous possessions Mr. Carnegie is an avowed44 democrat45, and the author of a book that makes him out to be quite a benevolently46 minded philosopher. But during all the terrors of the Homestead lock-out, he lay snug47 at his shooting box of Rannoch, N.B., and refused to say a word that would tend to still the storm, although he knew that blood was being shed at Homestead, and that his own partner, Mr. Frick, had been seriously wounded.
Being a Scotchman it is impossible that Mr. Carnegie should have been a coward. Let me say rather that he was cautious and canny48, and indisposed to take unnecessary risks. When the row was more or less over he told a representative of the Associated Press that “the deplorable events at Homestead had burst upon him like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. They had such a depressing effect upon him that he had to lay his book aside and resort to the lochs and moors49, fishing from morning to night.” Which, on the face of it, is pawky Scots, and as who should[26] say “the deplorable news of the death of my wife had such a depressing effect upon me that I had to go to a fancy dress ball and dance and dance till cock-crow.”
It will be seen, therefore, that in the main the American millionaires do not shine with any startling or blinding effulgence50. With here and there an exception, they are common, vulgar, snobbish51, undistinguished men who happen to have come out top-dog in a series of financial bruising52 matches in which few persons above the quality of a savage53 would have cared to engage. For the possession and administration of even reasonable wealth their qualification would seem to be of the meagrest. Outside the dull mechanical reduplication of their mammoth54 fortunes, their stunted55 intellects permit them only two very doubtful joys, namely, sensational56 house building and sensational charity. Mr. Morgan may be taken as the type of the house-proud money-snatcher. Mr. Rockefeller and Mr. Carnegie are the charity-proud; and they have reaped the reward of the charity-proud—the colleges of the one being a by-word and a mockery in America, just as the “Free Libraries” of the other are a by-word and a nuisance in England.
I do not believe that in their heart of hearts the Americans themselves—that[27] is, the great mass of the people—have any feeling of admiration57 for the gigantic money-grabbers who rule them. The American has just perception enough to discern that millionaires are not altogether the best possible kind of man. On the other hand, if you take away the country’s millionaires you have robbed her male population of one of its chief objects of envy and its chief subject of blurring58 conversation.
The shadow of each of the fascinating trinity that I have mentioned is as the shadow of a Colossus, and is so enormous that it is almost impossible to pick up an American newspaper or other publication in which they do not figure and figure prominently. Especially is this the case with respect to Mr. Rockefeller, upon whose doings or misdoings every scribbler in America has some comment to offer or some theory to base. The other day I came across a book of essays published in Boston, which contained a review of Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace’s “Man’s Place in the Universe.” And right in the middle of it I found this passage: “When a little child looks out on the Earth he at first thinks it infinite. He looks upon it as unorganised and unrelated. Only with increasing age and understanding can he realise that it is finite[28] and organised. So when Rockefeller as a lad went into the oil business it seemed to him that there was infinite scope for the extension of the oil business,” and so on and so forth. Clearly it is a mighty59 business to be Rockefeller!
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1
census
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| n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查 | |
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puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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pumpkin
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| n.南瓜 | |
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amassing
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| v.积累，积聚( amass的现在分词 ) | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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specious
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| adj.似是而非的；adv.似是而非地 | |
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bullion
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| n.金条，银条 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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authentic
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| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
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humbleness
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| n.谦卑，谦逊；恭顺 | |
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chaste
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| adj.贞洁的；有道德的；善良的；简朴的 | |
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transcends
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| 超出或超越（经验、信念、描写能力等）的范围( transcend的第三人称单数 )； 优于或胜过… | |
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unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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omnipotent
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| adj.全能的，万能的 | |
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increment
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| n.增值，增价；提薪，增加工资 | |
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fabulously
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| 难以置信地，惊人地 | |
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hirsute
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| adj.多毛的 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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spurned
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| v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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miser
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| n.守财奴，吝啬鬼 (adj.miserly) | |
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devastator
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| n.蹂躏者，破坏者 | |
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blandly
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| adv.温和地，殷勤地 | |
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dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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dividends
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| 红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金 | |
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tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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shear
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| n.修剪，剪下的东西，羊的一岁；vt.剪掉，割，剥夺；vi.修剪，切割，剥夺，穿越 | |
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bleating
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| v.（羊，小牛）叫( bleat的现在分词 )；哭诉；发出羊叫似的声音；轻声诉说 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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inflated
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| adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨 | |
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dealers
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| n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者 | |
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touts
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| n.招徕( tout的名词复数 )；（音乐会、体育比赛等的）卖高价票的人；侦查者；探听赛马的情报v.兜售( tout的第三人称单数 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报 | |
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sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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43
forthright
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| adj.直率的，直截了当的 [同]frank | |
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avowed
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| adj.公开声明的，承认的v.公开声明，承认( avow的过去式和过去分词) | |
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45
democrat
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员 | |
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benevolently
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| adv.仁慈地，行善地 | |
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snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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48
canny
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| adj.谨慎的，节俭的 | |
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49
moors
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| v.停泊，系泊（船只）( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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50
effulgence
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| n.光辉 | |
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51
snobbish
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| adj.势利的，谄上欺下的 | |
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52
bruising
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| adj.殊死的；十分激烈的v.擦伤(bruise的现在分词形式) | |
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53
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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54
mammoth
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| n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的 | |
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55
stunted
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| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
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56
sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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57
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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58
blurring
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| n.模糊，斑点甚多，（图像的）混乱v.（使）变模糊( blur的现在分词 )；（使）难以区分 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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