Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1883-05-29
Worldly Dishonesty.

of the day said -
II have often spoken to you about faith,
but faith without works is dead think
YOU will agree with me in the statement
that the great want of the world is more
practical religion. We want practical reli-
gion to go into all merchandise. 1t will SUI
pervise the labelling of goods. 1t will not
allow man to say that thing was made
in one factory when it was made in another.
1t will not allow the merchant to say thai
watch was manufactured in Geneva, Swift
zerland, when it was manufactured in Mas
sachusetts. 1t will not allow the merchant
to say that wine came from Madeira when
it came from California. Practical religion
will walk along by the store shelves, anC
tear off all the tags that make misrepresen-
tation. 1t will not allow the merchant tC
say that is pure coffee, when dandelion root
and chiccory and other ingredients go into
L. 1t will not allow him to say that is pure
sugar, when there are in it sand and GROUND
glass
''When practical religion gets its full
swing in the world, it will go down the
street, and it will come to that shoe store
and rip off the fictitious soles of many a
fine-looking pair of shoes, and show that il
is pasteboard sandwiched between the SOUND
leather. And this practical religion viii
go right into a grocery store, and 1t vii
pull out the plug of all the adulterateC
gyrups, and it will dump into the ash barrel
in front of the store, the cassia bark that il
sold for cinnamon and the brickdust that il
sold for cayenne pepper; and it will shake
out the Prussian blue from the tea leaves
and it will sift from the -four plaster O.
Paris and bonedust and soapstone, and il
will by chemical analysis separate the one
quart OF Ridgewood water from the few
honest drops of cows milk, and it will
throw out the live animalcules from the
brown sugar.
There has been so much adulteration o.
articles of food that it is an amazement tt
me that there is a healthy man or woman
in America. Heaven only knows what
they put into the spices and into the sugars
and into the butter and into the apothecary
drugs. But chemical analysis and the mi
croscope have made wonderful revelations
The Board of Health in Massachusetts, an
alyzed great amount of what was called
pure coffee, and found in it not one particle
of coffee. III England, there is law thai
forbids the putting of alum in bread. This
public authorities examined tifty-one pack
ages of break, and found them all guilty
The honest physician, writing prescription
does not know but that it may bring dealt
instead of health to his patient, because
there may be one of the drugs W eakenet
by cheaper article, and another drug may
be in full force, and SO the prescription may
have Just the opposite effect intended. Oh
of NORWOOD warranted pure from Boston
was found to have forty-one per cent. Of
resin and alcohol and chloroform. Scam
mony is one of the most valuable medicina
drugs. 1t is very rare, very precious. 1t il
~ SNes, 4, -
Syria. The root Of the tree is exposed, an
incision is made into the root and ther
shells are placed at this incision to catch the
sap or the gum as it exudes. It is very
precious, this scammony. But tn e peasant
mixes it with a cheaper material then il
is taken to Aleppo, and the merchant there
mixes it with a cheaper material then il
comes on to the wholesale druggist in Lon
don or New York, and he mixes it with q
cheaper material /; then it comes to the re.
tail druggist, and he mixes it with cheap.
er material, and by the time the poor sick
man gets it into his bottle, it is ashes and
sand, and some of what has been called
pure scammOny after analysis has been
found to be no scammOny at all.
"Now, practical religion will yet rectify
all this. 1t will go to those hypocritieal
prof ssors of religion who got a corner il
corn and wheat in Chicago and New York,
sending prices up and up until they were
beyond the reach Of the poor, keeping these
breadstuffs III their own hands, or CONTROL
ing them until the prices going up and VI
and UP, they were, after d while, ready Il
sell, and they sold out, making themselves
millionaires III one or two years-trying tC
fix the matter up with the Lord by build
ing Il church or d university or hospital
deludinfg themselves with the idea that the
Lord would be SO pleased with the gift HI
would forget the hwindle. NoW, as such
man may not have any liturgy i'll which tt
say his prayers, | will compose for him one
which he practically is making 80 Lord
we, by getting corner in breadstuffs
swindled the people of the United State,
out Of ten million dollars, and made suf
feriDg all up and down the land, and We
would like to compromise this matter witt
Thee. Thou knowest it was a scaly Job
but then it was smart. Now, here we com.
promise it. Take one per cent. of the
profits, and with that one per cent. you Car
build an asylum for these poor miserable
ragamuffinS of the street, and | will take a
yacht and go to Europe; forever and ever
Amen ~
''Ah my friends, if a man hath gotter
his estate wrongfully and he build line o.
hospitals and universities from here to
Alaska, he cannot atone for it. After a
while, this man, who has been getting {
corner in wheat, dies, and then Satan gets
a corner in him. He goes into a great
long Black Friday. There is a break il
the market. According to Wall Street par
lance, he wiped others out and now he il
himself wiped out. No collaterals on which
to make spiritual loan. Eternal defalca
tion."