Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-03
THE RICH CHRISTIAN.
Rev. George Hodges Questions the
Business Men of Pittsburg
ON CHRISTIANITY AND SUCCESS.
A Variety Of Answers as to the Possibility
Of Having Both.
OPINIONS OF THE BUSINESS WORLD
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH,
Paper No. 1.

WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH,
Paper No. 1.
GAS nail sticketh fast between the join
ings of the stones, so doth sin stick close
between buying and selling. "-Eccles.
xvii. 4.
Some time ago wrote letter to num-
ber of business men in Pittsburg, asking
for information. said that proposed to
preach sermon, one of these days, on the
subject of Business on Christian Principles.
81 find it stated" wrote, sin book OF
Prof Ely's that Young Mems Christian As
sociation in some city decided recently, after
debate, that 1t is impossible to do business
on Christian principles; and that an emf
nent political economist has raided the
question as to whether all the preaching
about the necessity of righteousness in
business doesn't simply make men worse,
on this ground, that as the business world
is at present constituted men must commit
sin, and to point out to them their sinful
ness only awakens a sense of guilt, and in
creases their sinfulness'
Questions Asked Business MeA.
"Now, about all this" wrote, '1 know
nothing. BuOto preach about business on
Christian principles without some definite
information would be to preach either false
hoods or platitudes. And the best way 1
know of is to write to several business men
of my acquaintance, of whom you are one,
and ask you frankly to tell me:
81. Is it impossible 20 do business on
Christian principles? Is it true, that as the
business world is at present constituted,
men must commit sin?
ss2. If SO, what sin, and how? What are
the particular practices which are consid-
cred commercially right, but which come
into opposition to Christian principles?
For example, must a business man lie?
must he break the fourth commandment?
must he steal?
''3. And, in general. in your opinion,
what do you think the Christian pulpit
ought to do by way of bettering unchristian
elements in business life? Leave them
alone, except in generalties? or speak of
them plainly? And it speak of them,
speak of what?"
To Pittsburg's Leading Business Men.
This letter was written to about 20 men,
some of them men whose names are familiar
to every inhabitant of Pittsburg, the lead
ers Of our great industries, men associated
with the most extensive OF the concerns
that have carried the renown of this oity
even over the wide sea. Others were men
in subordinate positions, or connected with
retail houses, or owners of a small business,
and able to look at the problem from an
other point of view.
The letter made its inquiry of people in
many different occupations and industries
Iron and steel, oil and gas are represented
In the answers. So also is the business of
the merchant, the grocer, the dealer in hard
ware, the newspaper man, the broker, the
banker and the commercial traveller. Some
of the answers were given in extended
interviews; most of them we're set down in
writing. OF the written answers a few we're
short; the majority were of considerable
length; some of them being good deal
longer than the usual limit of my sermons.
Great Variety of Replies.
AS to the nature of the replies to nv
questions, some said one thing and some
another. One letter would return an en-
phatic assertion of the purity of all the
principles of business. and in the same mail
would come another letter casting suspicion
upon the integrity, from the Christian point
of view, of the most honest rules of COM
in general to be Christian in its conduct,
but excepted certain men, or certain
branches of commercial life. Some held
that business is the most Christian institu-
tion now existing in the world, maintaining
that most business men are really Christian
missionaries, teaching and enforcing the
strictest Christian ethics.
Others confessed that, from their point of
view, the business world, so far from being
q house of prayer. is really great den of
thieves. The quotations in my letter, these
correspondents said, represented the real
truth, that as the business world is at pres
ent constituted men are of necessity every
day forced into sin.
One Fact About the Answers.
noticed one curious division line run
ming through all this interesting and profita-
BILE correspondence The men at the head
of great industries are emphatic in affirm
ing the absolute honesty of all decent bust
ness But the small traders, the clerks, the
commercial travellers, are not by any means
so sure about that Nearly all the mega
tive answers came from them.
All these letters were so carefully and
thoughttully written, every one of them so
suggestive and SO instructive, that I am
sorry that my space does not permit me to
quote them all, from the first even to the
last, without missing q sentence. Some of
them are as good sermons as I ever heard.
All that 1 can do is to quote sentences from
them here and there, and to give you their
main ideas and to make some comments upon
the general subject in the light of this cor
respondence. Even this will take three
Sundays.
sis it impossible to do business on Chris
tian principles? Is it true, that as the
business world is at present constituted
men must commit sin?"
An Answer in the Affirmative.
"It is said," writes one correspondent,
s'that there two sides to all questions; but
the question, Can business be done on
Christian principles?' seems to me to have
one side only. 1t is not only possible, but,
as rule, the most profitable, to do business
on Christian prInciples; and I cannot ad-
nit for one moment that those principles
antagonize legitimate business as the world
Is now constituted.
Gas we have been taught, writes another
correspondent, "that all things are possible,
I must say that it is possible to do business on
Christian principles; but when and where
are very rare instances in my humble opin-
ion. 1 once heard cashier of now de-
funct bank tell u prominent business man
of this city, that it was impossible to get
rich and be honest, except by inheritance,
or striking it lich' by some lucky find. /
have never been engaged in business for
myself to any great extend, but L must con-
fess that in almost every business in which
I have been employed L have observed
many cases of deception"
An Abused Corporation Heard From.
The next writer represents one of the
largest and most widely abused corpora
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