The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1888-03-22
TALMAGFS SERMON.
4 Pointed Discourse on "The Age
Of Swindle."
Ths Careless Direction OF Banks and
Othsr Fiscal Institutions RespOnsi-
bls for ths MANY Defalcation
-Lsssons to be Learned.

Gle, taking for his subject ~The age OF
Bwindls." His text vast
whose trust shall be . spiders web. Job
viii IL
DR.. Talmsgs said, The two most skill
full arch itects in all the world are the bee
and the spider. The one puts up Q sugar
mandatory and the other builds
slaughter house for hies. On . bright
summer morning, when the sun comes out
and shines upon the spiders web, bedsck-
I'd with dew, the gossamsr 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 10 and is caught and dungeoned and
destroyed The fly was informed that It
was . 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 viotimzed fly. 80 delicate
are the silken threads of the SPIDERS
wed that many thousands of them
are put together before they
become visible to the human eye, and 1t
takes 1000, 900 of them to make a thread as
large as the human hair. Most cruel as we'll
in thu Bastile, France, had one so trained
that A. >he sound of violin 1t every day
came for It's meal Of flies. Job, the author
Of my text and the leading scientist Of
his day, had no doubt watched the vorac-
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
mid
dies.
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 unrooflng of banks and disappear.
ancs of administrators 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 plagues There
Is Q monsoon abroad, a typhoon, sirocco.
sometimes ask myself if it would not be
better for men making wills to bequeath
tho property directly to the executors
widows and orphans a 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 expensive club houses and con-
troll ing country seats who are not worth a
dollar IL they return to others their just
rights.
First of all, charge the blame on care
less, ind ifferent bank directors and boards
having in charge great financial institu-
tions. 1t ought not to be possible for a
president, or a cashies, or prominent Of
fcer Of banking institution to swindle
II year after year without detection. i
will undertake to say that if these frauds
are carried on for two or three years with
out detection, either the directors are
partners in the infamy and pocketed part
Of the theft, or they are guilty Of a cul-
pable neglect Of duty, for which God will
hold them as responsible as he holds the
acknowledged defrauders. What right
have prominent business men to allow
their names to be published as directors
in q financial institution, so that unso-
phisticated people are thereby induced
to deposit their money In or buy the
scrip thereof, when they, the pub
lished directors are doing nothing
for the safety of the institution II
10 q case of deception most reprehensible.
Many people with a surplus of money,
not needed for immediate use, although il
may be little further on indispensable,
are without friends competent to advise
them, and they are guided solely by the
character of the men whose names are
associated with the institution. When
the crash came, and with the overt hrow
Of the banks went the small earnings and
limited fortunes of widows and orphans,
and the helplessly aged, the directors
stood with idiotc stare, and to the in
quiry of the frenzied depostors and
stockholders who had lost their all. and
to the arraignment of an indignant pub
ic had nothing to say except;
ave thought it was all right. We did
not know there was ny thing wrong go
ing on"
It was their duty TO know. They stood
in q position which deluded the people
with the idea that they were carefully
observaut. Calling themsel yes directors,
they did not direct They had opportuni'
ty Of auditing accounts and inspecting
the books. No time to do so? Then they
had no business to accept the position
It seems to be the pride Of some monied
men to be directors in great many in
stitutions, and all they know is whether
or not they get their dividends regularly,
and their names are used as decoy-ducks
to bring others near enough to be made
game of. What first of all is needed i!
that five thousand bank directors and In.
surance company directors resign or at
tend to their business as directors. The
business world will be full of fraud just
as long as fraud is easy. When You ar
rest the pres dent and secretary of banh
for an embezzlement carried on for many
wears, have plenty of sheriffs out the same
day to arrest all the directors. They are
guilty either of neglect or completely.
'Ohw some one will say, "better preach
the Gospel and let business matters
alone" Ireply: If your Gospel does mo-
| inspire common honesty in the dealings
of men, the sooner you close up you
Gospel and pitch it into the depths of the
| Atlantic ocean the better. An orthodox
swindler il worse than heterodo1
swindler. The recitation OF all the cate
chisms and creeds ever written, anC
drinking from all the communion chaliceI
that ever glistened in the churches o
| Ckristsndom will never save your sou
unless your business character oorre
spends with your religious profession
Some Of the worst scoundrels in Americs
have been members of churches, anC
they got fat on sermons about Heavel
when they most needed to have the pul
| pits preach that which would. eithe
bring them to repentance or thunder
them out of the holy communions wher
their presence was q sacriIess and an In
fanny.
We mnst especially deplore the mis-