Great
wealth brings other things in its train. It has brought into South
Africa a great spirit of gambling. People neglect the honest
industries of the country: they leave their farm work, and rush off
to make fortunes in a minute. Everybody--from the king to the
beggar--is gambling in gold shares. Everybody neglects his
business, and talks about nothing else. I ask whether this is a
wholesome state of society? Is it not a state of society to which
we may look with some degree of apprehension? I believe myself that
things will work round, but, undoubtedly, the state of affairs is
serious. After all, there is something which goes to build up a
country besides material wealth, and I am not sure that gambling in
gold shares is exactly the thing which is wanted. Of course, there
have been other countries where these vast increases of material
wealth have occurred--California and Australia--but there the
conditions were different. They were new countries, which attracted
large numbers of white men, and, when they found the gold fields
did not pay, they made homes for themselves on the land.
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