The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-03-13

Hold thee in fan survey;
Forget the steps already trod,
And onward urge thy way"
As last Sabbath, the Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
mage, ID. D., the pastor, had baptised by
spriklng, he this morning baptised by INNER
sion those who preferred this mode, bap-
tistry having been built under the pulpit. The
subject Of his sermon was: The Age of Swim
die, and the text JOB 8, II: NV hose trust
shall be a SPIDERS web" DIR. Talmage said
The two most skilful architects in all the
world are tile bee and the spider. The one
puts up sugar mandatory and the other
builds a slaughter house for flies. On bright
summer morning when the sun comes out and
shines upon the spiders web, bedecked with
dew, the gossamer structure seems
bright enough for 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 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 down a strong wind and
away goes the web, and the marauding spider
and the victimiZed fly. So delicate are the
slken threads of the spiders web that many
thousands of them are put together before they
become visible to the human eye. and it takes
four million oithem to make thread as large
as a human hair. Most cruel as well as most
ingenious is the Spider. prisoner in the
Bastille, France, had one so trained that at the
sound OF violin il 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 III
sect with another and saw SPIDER and fly swept
down with the same broom, or scattered Iy 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 having
the financial interests OF others in charge, has
been more evident than i'll these last few years.
The unroofing Of banks and disappearance of
administrators with the funds of large estates
and the disorder amidst postot1ice accounts and
deficits amid United States officials, have made
a uestilence of crime that SolemniZeS every
thoughtful man and woman, and leads every
philamthrophist and Christian to ask: What
shall be done to stay tie plague? There is
monsoon abroad, typcoon, sirocco. | some
times 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
committee to see that the former got all that
did not belong to them. The simple fact is
that there are n large number of men sailing
yachts and driving fast horses, and members of
expensive club houses and controlling country
seats who are not worth dollar if they return
to others their Just rights. Under some sudden
reverse tLey fall and with an afflicted air seem
to retire from the world, and seem almost
ready for mUnastic life, when i'll two or three
years they blossom out agian, having COM
promised with their creditors, that is, paid
them nothing but regrets, and the only differ
enCe between the second chapter of pros
perty and the first, is that their pictures are
MuriNos instead of Kennetts, and their horses
go a mile in twenty seconds less than their
predecessors, and instead of one country seat
they have three. l have watched and have
noticed that nine out of ten of those who fail
i'll what is called high life have more means
after than before the failure, and in many of
the cases failure is only a strateGem to escape
the payment of honest debts and put the world
of the track while they practice large swim
die. There is something woefully wrong in
the fact that these things are possible.
First OF all. | charge the blame on careless,
indifferent bank directors and boards having
in charge great financial institutions 1t ought
not to De possible for a president or cashier or
prominent officer of a banking Institution to
swindle ii year after year without detection. |
will undertake to say that if these frauds are
carried on for two or three years without de-
lection, either the directors are partners i'll the
iniamy and pocketed part OF the theft or they
are guilty of a culpahe neglect of duty. for
which God will hold item as respCn iDls as
He holds the acknowledged defrauderS. What
right have prominent business men to allow
their names to tie published as directors in a
people are thereby induced to deposit their
money III or buy the scrip thereof, when they,
the published directors, are doing nothing ior
the safety OF the institution. 1t is a case of
deception most reprehenSible. Many people
with a surplus of money. not needed for imme-
date use although it may be little further
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
wiz !,
the overthrow OF the banks Went the small
earnings and limited tottunes of widows and
orphans, and the lIclpiessly aged, the directors
stood with idiotic stare, and to the inquiry OF
the iIcn2jod depostt0rS and stockholders who
had lost their al. Land to the arraignmeHt of an
indignant public had nothing to say except:
I'VE thought it was all right. We did not
| know there was anything wrong going on.
| 1t was their duty to know. They stood i'll q
! position which dcluded the people with the
| idea that they were carefully ohserant. Call
| inc themselves directors, they did not direct
| They had opportunity of auditing accounts
and inspecting the books. No time to do so
/ Then they had no business to accept the posi-
tou II seems TO be the pride of some moneyed
| men to be directors in great many ln'titu
| timis and ali they know is whether OF not they
/ get tneIr dividends regularly, aud their name,
| are used as deCoy ducks to bring others mean
| enough Ia be made game Of What first OF all
/ is netded is that 5000 bank directors and III
! surancc company directors resign or attend &c
| tlieir business as directors. The business world
/ will be full of fraud just rs long as fraud is SC
/ easy When Won arrest the president and see
/ retarv Of bank for an embezzlencnt carried
! on for many years. have plenty of sherifis out
! the same day TO arrest all the directors They
| are guilty either OF neglect or completely.
| o.. some one viii say, "better preach the
! cosprl and let business matters alone" l re-
| pv: II your gospel does not inspire common
! honesty in the dealings OF men, the sooner you
| close up your gospel and pitch it into the depths
! of the Atlantic ocean the better. An
| orthodox swindler is worse than q
| heterodox swindler The recitation Of all the
/ cateceisms and creeds ever written, and
/ drinking from all the communion chalces
/ that ever glittered in the churches of Christen-
! dom will never save Your soul unless your
! business character corresponds with your re-
/ ligipus profession. Some OF the worst scoun
! drels In America have been members OF
churches. and they got fat on sermons about
/ heaven when they most needed TO have the
pullits preach that which would either bring
I Them 10 repentance or thunder them ont OF
/ the holy communions whore there presence
wa, q sacrlege and an niainy.
Wen especially deplore the misfortune
/ of banks in NarioU, parts OF this country II
I that they damage the banking institution
/ which is tile great Cony eueuce OF the centr
,t.. ,rI ;p1fsttusa1ll- tO commerce and the