Milford chronicle., 1888-03-16

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Hold thee in full survey;
Forget the steps already trod,
And onward urge thy way.
As, last Sabbath, the Rev. T. De Witt Tai
mage, DID, the pastor, had baptized b.
sprinkling, he, this morning, baptized by i'm
mersion those who preferred this mode,
baptistry having been built under the pulpit
The subject of his sermon was, ''The Age o
Swindle,n and the text, Job viii, IA: "Whos
trust shall be a spiders web.n DR.. Talmag
said:
The two most slzillful architects in all tn
world are the bee and the spider. The on
puts up sugar manufactoTy and the othei
builds a slaughter house for flies. On
bright summer morning, when the sun come
I out and shines upon the spiders web, be
decked with dew, the gossamer structur,
seems bright enough for a suspension bridg,
for supernatural beings to cross on. Bui
alas for the poor fly, which, in the latter
part of that very day, ventures on it, and il
caught and dungeoned and destroyed. The
fly was informed that it was a free bridge
and would cost nothing, but at the other END
of the bridge the toll paid was its own life
The next day there comes a strong wind, and
away goes the web, aud the maraudine
/ spider and the victimized fly. So delicate
are the silken threads OF the spiders web
that many thousands of them are put to
gether before they become visible to the
human eye, and it takes 4, 100000 of them to
make a thread as large as the human hair.
Most cruel as well as most ingenious is the
spider. A prisoner in the Bastile, France,
had one so trained that at the sound of a
violin it every day came for its meal of flies.
Job, the author of my text, and the leading
scientist Of his day, had no doubt watched
the voracious process Of this one insect with
another, and saw spider and fly swept down
with the same broom, or scattered by the
same wind. Alas, that the world has so many
designing spiders and victimized flies.
There has not been time when the utter
and black responsibility Of many men hav-
ing the financial interests of others in charge
has been more evident than in these last few
years.
The unroofing of banks and disappearance
Of administrators with the funds of large
estates, and the disorder amid postofice
accounts and deficits amid United States
officials, have made a pestilence of crime
that solemnizes every thoughtful man and
woman, and leads every philanthropist and
Christian TO ask: What shall be done to stay
the plagues There is a monsoon abroad, a
typhoon, a sirocco. l sometimes ask myself
if it would not be better for men making
wills to bequeath the property directly to
the executors and officers of the court, and
appoint the widows and orphans a commit
tee to see that the former got all that did not
belong to them. The simple fact is that
there are a large number of men sailing
yachts and driving fast horses, and members
of expensive club houses and controlling
country seats who are not worth a dollar
if they return to others their Just
rights. Under some sudden reverse they
fail, and with afflicted air seem to re-
tire from the world, and seem almost ready
for monastic life, when in two or three years
they blossom out again, having compromised
with their creditors, that is, paid them moth
ing but regrets, and the only difference be-
tween the second chapter of prosperity and
the first is that their pictures are Murillos in
stead of Kensetts, and their horses 20 a mile
in twenty seconds less than their predeces-
sors, and instead Of one country seat they
have three 1 have watched and have no
ticed thai nine out of ten of those who fail
in what is called high life, have more means
after than before the failure, and in many of
the cases failure is only strategem to escape
the payment of honest debts and put the
world of the track while they practice a
large swindle. There is something woefully
wrong in the fact that these things are pos |
sibie
First Of all, I charge the blame on careless,
Indifferent bank directors and boards having .
in charge great financial institutions 1t
ought not to be possible for president or .
cashier or prominent officer of banking in
to swindle it year after year with
4. I 81, A..
# these frauds are carried on for two or
three years without detection, either the
directors are partners in the infamy and
oocketed part Of the theft, or they are guilty
If a culpable neglect of duty, for which God
will hold them as responsible as he holds the
defrauders. What right have
prominent business men to allow their names
% be published as directors in a financial
so that unsophisticated people
ire thereby induced to deposit their money
n or buy the scrip thereof, when they, the
published directors, are doing nothing for
he safety of the institution. 1t is case Of de-
eption most Feprehensible. Many people with
surplus of money, not needed for immediate
ise, although it may be a little further on
are without friends competent
o advise them, and they are guided solely by /
he character Of the men whose names are
ssociated with the institution. When the
rash came, and with the overthrow Of the
anls went the small earnings and limited I
ortunes Of widows and orphans, and the
elplessly aged, the directors stood with :
liotic stare, and to the inquiry Of the
renzied depositors and stockholders who had
,st their all, and to the arraignment Of an
public had nothing to say except:
We thought it was all right. We did not /
now there was anything wrong go {
ig on" It was their duty to know. t
hey stood in position which de- c
lded the people with the idea that v
ley were carefully observant. Calling 4
iemselves directors, they did not direct.
hey had opportunity Of auditing accounts d
nd inspecting the books. No time to do sol
hen they had no business to accept the posi- {
on 1t seems to be the pride Of some monied I
ZEN to be directors in great many institu- o
ons, and all they know is whether or not s.
icy get their dividends regularly, and their d
lmes are used as decoy ducks to bring others v
sar enough to be made game Of What, first :
all, is needed is that five thousand bank di- Z
ctors and insurance company directors re- q
gn or attend to their business as directors. (
be business world viii be full of fraud just q
long as fraud is so easy. When you arrest Z
% president and secretary Of bank for an Z
nbezzlement carried on for many years, .
I'VE plenty of sheriffs out the same day to d
rest all the directors. They are guilty il
-her of neglect or completely. :
'Oh," some one will say, "better preach v
e gospel and let business matters alone u
reply: If your gospel does not inspire f
mmon honesty in the dealings Of men, the D
oner you close up your Gospel and pitch it d
to the depth of the Atlantic ocean the v
tier. An orthodox swindler is worse than e
neterodox swindler. The recitation Of all c
Q cathechisms and creeds ever written, "
ID drinking from all the communion chal- Il
IS that ever glittered in the churches Of g
will never save your soul B
less your business character corresponds "
til your religious profession. Some Of the II
'rst scoundrels in America have been mem "
rs Of churches, and they got fat on sermons b
out heaven when they most needed to have
Q pulpits preach that which would either in
ing them to repentance or thunder them ic
t of the holy communions, where their II