A j
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An Interesting Study of a Universal Human -Illusion
Some Remarkable Instances
Where Wealth Brought Misery and
THE faet that reat wealth Is no in
surer of domestic happiness It be
ing constantly demonstrated In
the divorce courts. v
More marriages among the wealthy end
In the dirorce court, proportionately, than
among the middle chases or the poor,
la fashionable society the proportion of
dlrorces Is M high. If not higher, than on '
the stage.
The beautiful Elale Whelen, of Phila
delphia, married Robert- Goelet, 'the -richest
bachelor In the world. Certainly
every luxury must have been hers. They
did not satisfy. It Is whispered that her
real reason 'for obtaining a dirorce was
that she grew tired of being "simply
rich," She promptly married Henry
Clews, Jr., an amateur , painter and
writer, with en Interest In everything
artistic. .,-. '
Mrs.. William Miller Graham, of Cali
fornia, had e remarkable career. She
was once a waitress and she married her
husband when he was a penniless pros
pector. She struggled through life with
him until be acquired a fortune of $20,
000.000 In California oil wells. Mrs. Miller
Graham won a brilliant success In
English high society and was warmly, ad
mired by the late King Edward.
Mrs. Graham enjoyed the luxuries that
wealth brought for she built the most
beautiful villa at Santa Barbara, called
"Bellosgvardo," with a wonderful theatre
attached. But recently she began a di
vorce suit against her husband. The suit
was dropped for the sake of her child,
nut ner lawyer explained inat mere was
no reconciliation.
Equally remarkable was the case of
Dr. Joseph A. B!ake one of the most
successful of American surgeons, and his
wife. Dr. Blake married Miss Catherine
Ketchum. a brilliant and attractive
woman, who received the honorary de
gree of M. A. from Yale University In
IW9. . ' .
Dr. Blake made an Income of at leant
f 100.000 a year. lie and bis wlfo occu
pied two fine houses at 601 and 03
Madison avenje. New York, but proceed
inga recently introduced showed that for .
several years Dr. Blake kept his house
at 601 locked against his wife.
The publlo first learned that the two
had not been living happy together when
Mrs. Blake brought suit for $1.0000,000
against Mrs. Clarence II. Mackay for
alienating her husband's affections. This
suit wss dropped, but Dr. Blake and Mrs,
Msckay ' have since been married In
rerie.
A few months ago, Mrs. Kathryn
Browne Decker secured a divorce from
Henry E. Decker, of the Sheffield-Farms-Blawson-Decker
Co the big mills or
ganization. The Deckers were tosrrted five year
. ago. Mrs. Decker waa Kathryn Browne,
the actress. . Although she bad achieved
more or Ihs success on the stage, it
was not until site married Decker that
she began to lead a life of luxury and
ease.
The Deckers entertained lavishly. Mr.
Decker testified that he spent $35,000 en
tertaining his wife's friends during the
first three years of thetr married life.
Despl;e it all, however, the Deckers do
mestic happiness wss short lived. A bare
three years afier the marriage finds Mrs.
Decker back on tho atage , and their
charming home life a thing of the pas'..
A tew month after her return to profes
sional Ufa she sued for separation and a
month or two ago the decree was
granted.
Casea of this character are being con
stantly revealed. Hardly a mouth passes
In which another one Is not added to the
long list. Why Is Uf
One of America's most distinguished ,
psychologists and philosophers, Profes-'
sor George Trumbull Ladd, here explains
the baslo reasons why wealth doea not
brin hancilness. ,
The Illusion That
D Prof. George Trumbull
. Laid,
Emeritus Professor of Philosophy In
Yals University. y
MONO the Judgments upon human
affairs which have been passed by
those who "ought to know best"
there are few more nearly unanimous
than this: ElcLea, whethe; In the acquir
ing or in. the possession, do not bring
happiness.
Oa the contrary, they, probably oftener
than not, serve to diminish or to destroy
the happiness of those who bad been
happy wiihout theio. And yet. It we are
to juiijre the most Intimate beliefs of men
from the universality unif Intensity of the
conduct which gives (Tiem expression
and, surely, "actions saklouder than
words" there Is no opiuion more nearly
unanimous than this: Riches, If not in
Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine
Divorceand Destroyed
Happiness and Contentment
P(ts y
STUDIOS
beautiful
Elsie
Whelen,
of - '
Philadelphia, ;
who sjarried 'the richest bachelor in
rith him, because she grew
wi
Wealth Brings Happiness Explained
the acquiring, at least In the possession,
do bring happiness. '
Indeed, from the conduct of the multi
tude In our own land and day one would
almost seem forced to conclude that, in
the Judgmentot all but the very few, to
get money and so to control the things
which money wtll buy is the only way
to get happiness. Here, then, is "The
Great Illusion." ' ' -
Now, the curious thing about all this Is
that, when in a reflective and confessional
mood, the rich men themselves will tell
you thst thei.' riches have not brought,
. them to the happiness they expected from
them; often, that they are not at all so
hsppy as they were when they were poor.
And those who are not yet ready to make
confession, or are at ill too proud to make
It, show plainly by their conduct that la
reality the causa Is little, if at all,
din cren t with them. Yet tbey, too. and
the multitudes of the people, go steadier
. 'mmmmmril U I ,
1 -:v'-:.:r iz-- .-sr vm
. , v
the world' could not live happily
tired of being 'simply rich."
or fitfully and feverishly on. just as
though they were firmly convinced that
the experience of the race did not tell
the truth; or that they could somehow
make themselves exceptions to' the uni
versal law. There most be something in
human nature, and In ita environment, to'
aocount for such self-contradictory and
Irrational behavior as this attitude of the
multitude of men toward great wealth
aeems to indicate. ' , '
The reason la thin: Incomparably above
all the other animals atands man In the
variety and unlimited character of his
needs and of bla ambitions. He hss an
ever-needy, ever-restless, ever-aaptrtng
soul Give the moat Intelligent and am
bitious dog a good full meal, and he doea
not begin to think wbern the unt meal
is to come from, or wliother he may not
some day take a store 1'ivur! c mu .t
of a silver platter or a oni puie. Kor
the lime he Is satun. t ; uai the alL.i:
tlons ate 3x03 aluaa to be confined
Cop) rlsht, 1813. ly th t Company.
. , . V
1
.'within the circle of the same recurring
wants.
But with man1 the case is not so. He U
built ao that he can never be satisfied
fully and forever witn what be has and
what he ia. And here is the source of
his rise toward uore and more of divine
excellence, or the cause of his falling into
the devil s own trap. If he chooses for
bis pursuit, as the really good thing,
riches and all that rlchea can buy, be w ill
never get out of that trap, until he learns
the lesson of Its illusion; he will be more
. hopelessly caught, the more he fattens
on the bslt And even if be chooses the
real goods of life, the things that make'
mqre than wealth can, for humanhappi
neas, ha must cultivate other virtues than
right desire and noble ambition, in order
to secure a fair measure of happlnesa.
But let us turn for one moment to the
historical study of the growth of avarice
. and the development of the great illusion
In its more modern and exaggerated
form. Those who are most Industrious,
wodt fjreeeiug, moot prudent, most self
restrained, are sure In the long run to
ac-ouire in More the gteatpet accumu
lations of material good. Other benefits'
than those of having a supply for their
own wants and the wants of thoee d-
Ort Britain Rifhts Ranr
"
indent on them
.ollow asa mat
ter of course.
They become
' objects of envy,
of flattery, of ob.
sequiousness on the
part of others. They
become possessed of
the power to command
Vhe services of their fel
lows, to "- carry out their
schemes, to defeat their en
emies, and to bind to them
selves at least a semblance of
. devoted friendship; or they
may discover the more' refined
pleasures of bestowing largesse, of
being the objects of prslse and, at
least, the -semblance of gratitude, by
sharing some of .their stored goods
' with others. All these things are
pleasant; they all seem chiefly de
pendent upon the possession and
use of wealth and the more the
better.
All modern scientific discoveries,
in the growing knowledge of how
to Increase In magnitude and mul
tiply in variety the advantages
which', wealth can secure, have
operated to enlarge the monstrosity
of the great Illusion; so that it
sometimes seems as though the
sages were all dead, the teachers of
morals and religion all asleep; or had
themselves all fallen into the trap of the
great illusion. But the voice of those
who have "tried It on," and their sad ex
perience, it not their aad confession, and
the secret Judgment of the few remain
ing wiae with the wisdom of Solon and
of Jesus, atlll persists' in assuring us
that riches do not, and cannot, aecure
happiness. ' '
v But let us now give somewhat more
particular attention to our own present
condition as viewed ia the light of
psychology and of history. Why is
America so completely, it would appear,
under the influence of the great Illusion?
In the first place, all our economical and
material development has favored the
overestimate rf the value of riches to a
most monstrous degree. Sturdy, vigorous,
ambitious races have been put in con
trol of incalculable material resources for
their rapid development. The Govern
ment baa on the whole favored rather
than successfully opposed these resources
being unjustly appropriated, or stolen
quite outright, by crafty and unscrupulous
individuals or corporations.
Our development of our inheritance of
common law from England haa aa yet
provided no safe-guard agalnat thai
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'The fascinating MraVilliaiu Miilef
'Graham, of California, originally a
waitress, starved for her husband'
while he was a penniless prospector,
but when he made $20,000,000 she
s . ' asked for a divorce." ,
Illicit ways of acquiring wealth. The men
who have made these accumulations,
although in general by no means men of
great mental gifts, have been praised as
though they were. And, as has always
happened, they have been offered a oup
full of every form of deference, amount
ing to adulation; until, of late, the tide
has been turning toward equally un
reasonable distrust and hatred of all the
wealthy, such as has been the fate of the
very rioh in all the ages. Let us call all
this, a ptychological atmosphere; and
alnce all classes, and especially all our
young people, who have had neither the
wisdom that comes from experience nor
that which comes from expert observa
tion, are constantly breathing this atmos
phere, let us iflnd in it the chief cause
for the prevalence in America at the
present time of "The Great Illusion."
But the deceptive influence of the
general persuasion that happiness may be
got ny attaining wealth, takea many sub
ordinate forms. Sometimes it is chiefly,
the anticipation of the time when, being;
rich, one ahall be able to gratify all one's
appetites. One who la tired of black
bread and meat once a week, will surely
be ha spy if be can have meat every day
and plum' pudding on Sunday. Perhaps
the man thinks he will enjoy champagne
more than beer; or, mayhap, the actress
or the dan$eu$e more than the wife who
married him when he waa a common
laborer, and she herself a washer-woman
or a bar-maid. The wife thinks If she
could only wear auch dresses as are worn
by the wife of her husband's employer,'
or could get accepted by the social circle
in which the lady moves, she should be
much the happier Of all auch thoughts,
disappointment la pretty aure to be the
ultimate result- And it would be much
worse for man or woman if it were not so.
Or, in most cases, we will believe that
the ambitions rise to a higher level than
this. The man wanta to have power, or
to be successful. But the happiness that
comes to oneself, and through oneself to
others, in ail these ways, is neither de
pendent on wealth nor secured la seem
ing wealth. One may have It without
riches, and one is not sure of it with any
amount of rlchea. And the aame thing
ia true of every one of the indispensable
conditions or Happiness.
What are those conditions of happiness;
which it is quite beyond the power of'
wealth to afford but that may be bad In!
sufficient and, indeed, in large measure
without wealth t They are chiefly these
three: Appreciation, contentment, resig
nation. But the art of being happy U not
our theme. We are satisfied to do some
thing toward explaining "The Great
Illusion."
