“The men of mere wealth never can have and never
should have the capacity for doing good work that is possessed by the men of
exceptional mental training; but that they may become both a laughing stock and
a menace to the community is made unpleasantly apparent by that portion of the
New York business and social world which is most in evidence in the papers.”—Theodore
Roosevelt (1858-1919), 26
th President of the United States, “The College
Graduate and Public Life,” originally printed in The Atlantic Monthly,
August 1894, reprinted in American Ideals, and Other Essays, Social and Political (1897)
TR explained further about the dangers of “malefactors
of great wealth” in a speech 13 years after the publication of the above
article. I considered his prescient warning about these men who hoped to “enjoy
unmolested the fruits of their own evil-doing” in this post from 14 years ago.
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