The rise of consumerism and materialism worried many Americans. Social reformers such as Father John A. Ryan perceived in the emphasis on material acquisition a threat to people's spiritual and cultural lives. With the focus on the exterior person and acquisition for its own sake, he feared that concern to cultivate the whole person--mind, body, and soul--would fall by the wayside. Although men such as Andrew Carnegie, William Randolph Hearst, and J.P. Morgan received much criticism for their accumulation of wealth, there were those people who saw these men as contributing to and ensuring the advancement of American culture. One such argument is presented in Gunton's article. Annoyed by the "continuous wail against materialism", the author argues the importance of wealth for the cultivation and maintenance of a "higher life". As you read this essay keep in mind Fr. Ryan's comments on the Christian life and bettering oneself.

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