Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-16

Forget the steps already trod,
And onward urge thyws
As last Sabbath the Rev. T. Dewitt
Tslmsge, D D, the pastor, had baptized
nv sorinkling, he this morning baptized
by immersion those who preferred this
mode, baptistry having been built under
,Se pulpit. The subject Of his sermon
vas: 1.-THE Age of Swindle," aud the
.eyt. Job viii, IA: "Wbose trust shall be
sspider's web" DR.. Talmsge said:
The TWO most skillful architects in sll
the world are the bee and the
spi.er. TIE one puts up q sugar
mandatory and the other builds q
daughter house for flies. On a bright
summsr morning when the sun comes
ant snd shines upon the SPIDERS web,
hedecked with dew, the gosssmer struc-
tnre seems bright enough for q suspen-
sinn bridge for supernatural beings to
cross on. But alas for the poor fly which,
in the Is ter part of that very day, ven
tures on it, and is caught and dungeoned
and destroyed The fly was informed that
n WAS free bridge and would cost moth
mo. Int at the other end of the bridge the
nj Maid was its own life The next day
tbere comes down strong wind, and
IW.y goes the web, and the marsnding
spider and the vlctimizsd fly. So delicate
are the silken threads Of the SPIDERS web
hist many thousands of them are put to-
retber before they become visible to the
human eye, and it takes 4. 900 900 Of them
10 make & thread as large as the human
hsjr, Most cruel as well as most inee-
NOUS Is the spider. A prisoner in the
Bsstile, France, had one so trained that
at the sound Of violin it every day came
7 for its meal OF flies. JOB, the author OF
nv text, and the leSdiDg scientist Of his
dsy, had no doubt watched the Vorscious
process of this one insect with smother,
and saw spider and fly swept down with
the same broom, or scattered with the
same wind. Alas, that the world has SO
many designing spiders and Victimized
dies.
There hiss not been g time when the
utter and black responsibility of many
men having the flHncial interests Of 9th
ers in charge, has been more evident than
in these last few years.
The unroohng of banks and disappear
snCe Of administrators with the funds Of
large estates, and the disorder amidst
postofice accounts and deficits amid
United States officials, have made
4 PEsTILKNCE OF CRIMG
that solemuizss every thoughtful man
and woman and leads every philanthro-
DIst and Christian to ask: What shall be
done to stay the plague? There is mon
soon abroad, a tyDhoon, sirocco. l
sometimes ask myself il it would not
be better for men making Wills to be-
queath the property directly TO the execu-
{ tors sud officers of the court and appoint
the WidoWsnnd orphans committee to
see that the former got all that did not
belong 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-
trolling country seats who are not worth
dollar if they return to others their just
rights. Under some sudden reverse they
{ lsil and with afflicted air seem to retire
from the world aud seem almost ready
for monastic life, when in two or three
years they blossom out again, having
compromised with their creditors-thst
is, paid them nothing but regrets,
and the only difference between
the second chapter Of pros
perity and the first, is that their pictures
are Murillos instead Of Kensetts, and
=
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 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
4 putthe world of the track while they
3 practice large sWindle. There Is some
thing wOefully wrong in the fact that
these things are possible. First Of all, l
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 5 banking
Institution to swindle it year sitter year
without detection. I will undertake to
say that II these frauds are carried on for
two or three years without detection,
either the directors Sre partners in the in
fanny and pocketed part Of the theft, or
they are guilty OF culpsble neglect OF
duty, for which God will hold them SIS
responsible as He holds the scknowl-
& edged defrsuders. What right have
& prominent business men to allow their
names to be published as directors in .
financial institution, so that uusophisti-
Gated people are thereby induced to de-
post their money in or buy the scrip
thereof, when they, the published di
teCtors, are doing nothing for the safety
Of the institution? 1t is
CASE OF DECEPTION
4 most reprehensible. Many people with
Z surplus Of money, not needed for imme-
s diAte use, although 1t may be LITE
further on Indispensable, are without
friends competent to advise them
4 and they are guided solely BY
. the character of the men whose
names are associated with tht
8 institution. When the crash came, anC
with the overthrow Of the banks went the
small earnings and limited fortunes o.
widows and orphans, and the helplessll
aged, the directors, stood with idiotiC
4 stare, and to the inquiry of the frenzleC
depositors and stockholders who had los
their all, and to the arraigument Of an in.
dignsnt public had nothing to say except
awe thought It was all right. We die
not know there WAS anything wrong go.
Ing on" 1t was their duty to know
They stood in q position which deludeC
the people with the ides thAt they wert
carefully observsnt. Calling themselves
directors, they did not direct. They hsC
opportunity of auditing accounts and in
specting the books. No time to do so
Then they had no business 20 accept tn
position. 1t seems to be the pride Of SOM
monied men to be directors in 8 gres
many institutions, ana all they know i
whether or not they
GET THEIR DIVIDENDS
regularly, and their names are used e
decoy ducks to bring others near enough
70 be made game Of. what frat of sll i