The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1893-08-03
KIT WORTH LIVING ?
REy. THOMAS DIXON ILLUSTRATES
az JAY GoULo's LIFE
PLATA w eris ahos, a Aax whose Thea ats
Conferred on ~~lf-Csnsra.a with the N~a
who Talf~ss for HumAnIty-rh~ Western


F hCElAs IF17ssa. JT-. ftgF~Aa L4'~A A. saF"v :
island today the fifth sermon # tn.
series on Money" The suht~ct today
Was Jay Gould's Life Worth Living.
/ The text chosen was Matthew xvi. -,
( For wha; shall man be protited II he
shall gain the whole world and forfeit
his life"
In view Of our discussions II the in
trinsic value of money and is relations
70 men AMI IL ,L-sirableness the ques-
ton arises i Il worth "A mans while u
give his life. his genius. IN the mere get
ting Of money: This question can best
be answered by an analysis Of the life
of one OF the most distinguished Amerl-
cans who was the incarnation Of this
problem. II ever a man perspnitied the
modern commercial spirit, it was Mr..
Jaw Gould With much Of the personal
abuse heapei upon him 10y enemies, men
who had axes - grind at hI~ mill and could
not grind them because be was a sharper
man than they were-with this abuse, |
say. have no sympathy Such personal
abuse is worth little either for or against
a man. 1t is usually given 10y those who
have personal ENDS to serve. and it,
value to the student Is less than nothing
NOT A HYPOCRITE.
There are some things that can be said
about Mr. Gould that do not call for
condemnation. He gave employment to
a certain number of laborers. Person
ally he was temperate and industrious.
He cared for his family. He was not a
hypocrite. He gave 500 to missions
He did not have any religion to speak Of,
and he did not pretend 10 have any-that
is, so far as | have ever heard.
Hehad plain business notices by which
he lived and in which he died. Those
notices We're the standards of success in
this age of money getting. They began
in self and ended in self, and his charity
was the charity that began at home and
.taid there.
The simple facts are he lived for him
self, he worked for himself, he died for
| himself. He accumulated a vast for
| tune-a milliOnaire's fortune-estimated
on an auction basis at SO 900. zoe. On a
geld basis It Is certainly worth, as prop
erty is generally estimated, more than
| 800, 600. 900. He was the most thor
| oughly hated man in America. These
are substantially the facts Of his life.
| He died at an early age. He had scarce
| ly turned his fftieth year. For years
before he died he was compelled to live
a most abStemiOus life, to eat the sim
plest foods and deny himself the simplest
| pleasures.
| Is the life of such a man worth living?
1t does not seem to Inc that it is,
judged
First-PatriOtically
Breathes there man with soul so dead
That never to himself has said.
This is my own, my native land?
The community is the source of
wealth. The essence of wealth is in the
community which gives it birth, and
therefore any use of money which does
not advance the interests OF the COM
| munity which gives it value is viola
ton of the fundamental principles of
true business. A man who grows rich
In money should recognize the fact that
the value of his mopey comes from the
| country in which it is made. If the
great man of whom we speak ever gave
evidence of the fact that he lived in
| America rather than in Africa. the
world never knew it. 1t was left to
| other men to build our monuments. to
build our institutions Of learning, to for
ward great national enterprises and to
| bless the communities which gave them
birth and from which their lifeblood in
wealth was born
| A TEACHER OF ANARCHY.
| So far from such a life blessing the
| country, the nation, it directly contrib
uted to feed hatred among classes. Such
life does more to educate in anarchy
and the more desperate principles of
| socialism than any force that operates
lie more recent times.
The drift of the ages is toward the re-
| lieving Of the distress of the masses, the
| millions. There have arisen men who
have recognized this fact, men who
| possessed enormous wealth, and who
| have used that wealth for the purpose of
healing the arrangements of classes, of
| eleyatlng the masses of their kind. All
this might have been the work of Mr..
| Gould, but nothing could have been
farther from his genius-so far as we
know. His life was the life of the sue
cessful business man, centered upon
self. And the love of country and hu-
| mainly in its broader sense are irrecon-
cl1able utterly with such principle of
action. He lived thus for himself, and
he died in himself. In his will he left
not dime to the community from which
he drew it. 1t was left to his offspring
III trust, for their sole benefit
SOLD HIS BODY
Second-Is such a life worth living
| physically? What shall it profit man
| if he gain the whole world and forfeit
| his life?
The modern business world in which
Mr.. Gould moved was a great furnace
IN which the nerves of men are burned
up as fuel. He played at great games,
on whose issue hung colossal fortunes.
He paid the penalty in the nerve tension
and the ceaseless grind of his body. He
lived the life of a miserable slave. He
was compelled to eat the coarsest foods,
the simplest foods He had money
enough to get the delicacies of the earth.
but he sold his body, he sold his appe-
tite, he sold his stomach, he sold his di-
gestlon, he sold his muscles, his ewes.
his head, his arms, his feet-he sold his
body for gold.
The comrnonest workingman that car
ried his pail to his task and ate his din
ner with keen relish was richer in the
| physical attributes of life than was this
multimillionaire, who was mighty as a
| power ID the Stock Exchange He was a
power that could be felt by the world s
industries, ana yet how miserable the
failure when confronted with the DOW
ers with which man must battle in ma
ture! He had brought to his feet the
powers In the commercial world that
opposed him. He saw men who had de-
fed him humbled and in poverty. His
word was the imperial edict of car
and affected thoUsa nds of lives. and vet
he sold the power of his own being in
the process. 4 little microbe. so small
| that magnifyins glass must he usad 70