The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1888-03-23
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Pointed Discourse on "The Age
Of Swindle.' -

The Careless Direction of Banks and
Other Fiscal Institutions RespOnsl-
Bile for the Many DefaIcatIons
Lessons to be Learned.
Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage preached the
following sermon at Brooklyn Taberna-
Gle, taking for his subject "The Age OF
SwindIe." His text was:
Whose trust shall be a spiders web.-Job
viii. IA.
full architect in all the world are the bee
and the spider. The one puts up sugar
| mandatory and the other builds a
| slaughter-house for flies. On a bright
summer morning, when the sun comes out
and shines upon the spiders web, bedeck-
| ed with dew, the gossamer structure
seems bright enough for a suspension
| bridge for supernatural beings to cross
on. But alas for the poor fly which, in
| the latter part of that very day, ventures
on it, and is caught and dungeoned and
| destroyed. The fly was informed that IL
| was a free bridge and would cost moth
| Ing, but at the other end of the bridge
the toll paid was its own life. The next
| there comes down a strong wind, and
| away goes the web and the marauding
| spider and the victimizsd fly. So delicate
4
wed that many thousands of them
/ are put together before they
become visible to the human eye, and IL
| takes 4, 900, 900 of them to make a thread as
/ large as the human hair. Most cruel as we'll
as most ingenious is the spider. A prisoner
| in the Bastile, France, had one so trained
| that at the sound of violin it every day
came for it's meal of flies. Job, the author
| of my text and the leading scientist Of
| dov had NO dOubk vvafchad the vOtsa0.
| ious process of this one insect with an-
| other, 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
| 6ies
There has not been a time when the
utter and black responsibility of many
men having the financial interests OF
others in charge, has been more evident
than in these last few years.
The unroofng Of banks and disappear
ance of admins traitors with the funds of
large estates, and the disorder amid post
office accounts and deficits amid United
| States officials, have made pestil ence of
crime that solemnizes every thoughtful
man and woman, and leads every philan-
thropist and Christian to ask: What
shall be done to stay the plague? There
is monsoon abroad, a typhoon, a sirocco.
| SOul6b blLu6S ASK my S6tA IL ID WOulu uOb DS
better for men making wills to bequeath
the property directly to the executors
and officers of the court, and appoint the
widows and orphans committee to see
that the former got all that did not be
long to them. The simple fact is that
there are large number of men sailing
yachts and driving fast horses, and mem
bers of expe nsive club houses and con-
troll ing country seats who are not worth 8
dollar if they return to others their JUS
rights. Under some sudden Lreverse
they fail, and with afflicted air seen
to retire from the world, and seem almos
ready for monastic life, when in two ol
three years they blossom out again, hav.
ing compromised with their creditors, tha'
is, pad them nothing but regrets, and tht
only difference between the second chap
ter of prosperity and the first, is tha
their pictures are Murillos instead of Ken
setts, and their horses go a mile in twenty
seconds less than their predecessors, anC
instead of one count try seat they have
three. l have watched and have noticed
that nine out of ten of those who fail il
what is called high life have more means
after than before the failure, and in many
of the cases failure is only a stratagem {,
escape the payment of honest debts, anC
put the world off the track while they
practice large swindle. There is some
thing woefully wrong in the fact tina
these things are possible.
First of all, charge the blame on care
less, Indifferent bank directors and board
having in charge great financial institu'
tions. 1t ought not to be possible for I
president or a cashier, or prominent Of
fcer Of banking institution to swindl,
it year after year without detection.
will undertake to say that if these frauds
are carried on for two or three years with
out election, either the directors ar,
partners in the infamy and pocketed par
of the theft, or they are guilty of a cul
pabe neglect of duty, for which God viii
hold them as responsible as he holds tn,
acknowledged defrauders. What righ
have prominent business men to ALLOW
their names to be published director
in a finan cial institution, so that unso
phisticated people are thereby induces
to deposit their money in or buy th
scrip thereof, when they, the pub
lished directors are doing nothing
for the safety of the institution? ]
is a case of deception most reprehensible
Many people with surplus of money
not needed for immediate use, although
may be little further on indispensable
are without friends competent to advis
! them, and they are guided solely by tn
character of the men whose names ar
associated with the institution. Whe
the crash came, and with the overt hrol
I
limited fortunes of widows and orphans
and the helplessly aged, the director
stood with idiotic stare, and to the in
5uiry of the frenzied depOsitors an
stockholders who had lost their all, an
to the arraignment of an indignant pull
lie had nothing to say except:
I s'We thought it was all right We di
not know there was any thing wrong &c
ing on.'
r Dvos tho fr drtv to know They stoo
. in a position which deluded the fpeopl
with the idea that they were CAREFUL
observant. Calling themsel YES directori
! | they did not direct They had opportun
. | ty of auditing accounts and inspectin
the books. No time to do so? Then the
! had no business to accept the position
! 1t seems to be the pride Of some monte
men to be directors in great many il
stitutions, and all they know 10 wheth'
a or not they get their dividends regularly
a and their names are used decOy-ducl
= to bring others near enough to be mad
!. game of. What first of all is needed
. that five thousand bank directors and IN
: surauce company directors resign or a.
a tend to their business as directors. III
/ business world viii be full of fraud jui
as long as fraud is easy. When you a
rest the pres ident and secretary Of q bar
for an EN- bezzlement carried on for man
= years, have plenty of sheriffs out the san
> day TO arrest all the directors. They al
I guilty either of neglect or completely.
'fObW some one will say, "better preac
the Gospel and let business matter
alone" reply: If your Gospel does n
5 inspire common honesty in the dealing
OF men, the sooner you close up yol
a Gospel and pitch it into the depths Of Il
Y Atlantic ocean the better. An orthodc c
Z swindIer is worse than q heterodc
II swindler. The recitation Of all the cat
i chisms and creeds ever written, an
!: drinking from all the communion chalic
b that ever glistened in the churches
Christendom will never save your so
4 unless your business character corr
D spends with your religious professio
. Some Of the worst scoundreIs ia AmeriC