Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1888-03-31

we musr especially doplore tho misfortune
OF banks in various parts Of this country in
that thoy damage tho banking institution,
which is the great convenience Of the CEN
turics, and indispensable to commerce and
the advance of nations. With one hand it
blesses the lender, and with the other it
blcsscs tho borrower. The bank was born Of
the worlds necessities, and is venerable with
the marks of thousands of years Two hum
dred years before Christ the bank Of Ilium ex-
listed and paid its depositors 10 per cent. The
bank Of Venice was established in It'll, and
was of such high credit that its bills were at
premium above coins, which wero fire.
quently clipped. Bank Of Genoa, founded in
1885, bank of Barcelona, 1401; Bank of Am
stcrdam, 1000; Bank OF Hamburg, founded
1G19, its circulation based on great silver bars
kept in tho vaults; Bank of England,
started by William Patterson i'll 1912,
up to this day managing the stupendous
dobt of England; Bank of Scotland founded
In 1906; Bank Of Ireland, 1888; Bank Of
North America, planned by Robert Morris,
It'll, without whose financial help all the
bravery of our grandfathers would not have
achieved American independence. But now
we have banks in NIL our cities and towns
thousands and thousands On their shoulders
are tile interests OF private individuals and
great corporations. In them are tho great
arteries through which run the currents Of
tho nations life. They have been the re-
sources of the thousands Of fnanciers i'll days
Of business cxigency. They stand for ac-
comnodation, for facility, for individual,
state and national relief. AT their head and
in their management there is as much in
terest and moral worth as in any class Of
mcn-pcrhnps more. How nefarious, then,
the behavior of those who bring disrepute
upon this venerable, benignant and Cod
honorcd institution.
We also depore abuse Of trust funds, be-
cause they fly in the face of that divine good
ness which seems determined to bless this
land We arc having the eighth year of un-
cxamplcd national harvest The wheat
gamblers get hold Of tho wheat, and the corn
gamblers get hold of the corn. Tho full tide
of Gods mercy toward this land is put back
by those great dykes of dishonest resistance.
When God provides enough food and clothing
to feed and apparel this whole nation like
princes, the scramble of dishonest men to get
moro thnn their share, and get it at all
hazards, keeps everything shaking with I'M
certainty and everybody asking: "What
uext.n Every week makes new rovcla-
tions How many n,oIc bank presi-
dents and bank cashiers have been specu-
lating with other peoples money, and
how many more bank directors are in
imbccilo silence letting the perfidy go on, the
great and patient God only knows My
opinion is that we have got near the bottom.
The wind has been pricked from the great
bubble Of American speculation. The men
who thought that tho judgment day was at
least 5000 years Off, found it in 1885, 1887 and
1856; and this nation has been taught that
mon must keep their hands out Of other peo-
ple's pockets. Great businesses built on bor-
rowed capital have been obliteratcd, and men
who had nothing have lost all they had.
believe we aro started on higher career of
prosperity than this land has ever seen, if,
and it, and if.
If the first men, and especially Christian
men, will learn never to speculate upon bor-
rowed capital. If You have mind to take
your own money and turn it all into kites, to
fly them over every commons in the United
States, you do society no wrong, except when
you tumble your helpless children into the
poor house for tho public to take care of.
But you have no right to take the money of
others and turn it into kites. Thore is one
word That has doluded more people into bank
ruptcy and state prison and perdition than
any other word in commercial life, and that
i tte. ygora. hoyyo%. that QUO word is respon-
ments, and financial consternations of the
last twenty years. When executors conclude
to speculate with the funds of an estate conf
mitted to their charge, they do not purloin,
they say they only borrow; whom banker
makes an overtiraught upon his institution,
he does not commit theft, he only borrows.
When the officer of q company, by flaming ad-
vertisomcnt in some religious papers, and gilt
certificates of stock, gets multitude of
country people to put their small earnings
into an enterprise for carrying on some I'M
developed nothing, he does not fraudulcntly
take their money, he only borrows. When q
young man with easy access to his employers
money drawer, or the confidential clerk by
close propinquity to the account books, takes
few dollars for a Wall street excursion, he
expects to put it back; no will put it oil
back; no will put it oil back very soon. lie
only borrows. What is needed is some man
of gigantic limbs to take his place ct the
curbstono in front of Trinity church, and
when that word borrow comes bounding
along, kick it clean through to Wall street
ferry boat, and if, striking OH that, it bounds
clear over till it strikes Brooklyn heights or
Brooklyn hill, it will be well for tho City OF
Churches.
Why, when you are going to do wrong,
pronounce so long word us borrow, word
of six letters, when You Gun get IA shorter
word more descriptive of the reality, word
of only five letters, the word steala
There arc times when VIC oil borrow, and
borrow legltimatcly, and borrow with the
divine blessing, for Christ in his sermon on
the mount enjoins, "From him that would
borrow of thee turn not thou away" A
young man rightly borrows money to GET
his education Purchasing house and no!
able to pay all down in cash, the purchaser
rightly borrows it on mortgage. Crises
come in business when it would be wrong
for man not to borrow. But roll thi:
warning through all these aisles, over the
backs of all these pews, never borrow to
speculate; not dollar, not cent, not
farthing Young men, young men, warn
you by your worldly prospects and the value
of your immortal souls, do not do it. There
are breakers distinguished for their ship
wrecks-the Hanways, the Needles, the
Caskets, tho Douyers, the Anderlos, tin
Skerries-and many craft hos gone K
pieces on those rocks; but have to tell yor
that all the Hnnways, and the Needles, ane
tho
compared with the long line of breakers
which bound tho ocean of commercial life
north, south, east and west with tho White
foam of their despair and the dirge of their