The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-09-14
THE CRIME OF USURY
REV. THOMAS DIXON, JR., ARRAlcNs
THE MONEY HUcKSTERs.

alton.
New York, Sept. 10.-Rev. Thoina.
Dixon, Jr., continued tins morning In
Association hall his series Of sermons on
"The Panio-Its Causes and Cure" The
subject Of today's sermon was "rhe
Primal Causes of the Panic" in which
he arraigns the great money lenders foi
the crime Of producing the panic for
personal gain and declares their pro.
cedure nothing short Of ga conspiracy
against the race" The texts chosen were
from Ezekiel xii, 90, and vii, 10, In con.
nection with Jeremiah xvii, IL.
Thou hast taken usury and increase,
and thou hast greedily gained Of thy
netghbors by 7xtortion and hast for.
gotten me, saith the Lord God"
GAS the partridge sitteth on eggs and
hatcheth them not, SO he that gettetb
riches and not by right shall leave them
in the midst Of his days and at his end
shall be fool"
"They shall cast their silver into the
streets, and their gold shall be removed,
their silver and their gold shall not be
able to deliver them in the day Of the
wrath Of the Lord"
The temptation for the enormously
rich to use the well nigh resistless power
of their riches to increase them still fur.
ther by wrong and oppression is some.
thing appalling.
It Is hard for rich man TO enter the
kingdom Of God.
He is not condemned to hell by the
fact of his riches, btt If he ever gets to
heaven it will be by the skin Of his teeth
Jesus Christ said 1t is easier for camel
to go through the eye of the needle than
for rich man to enter. He does not say
that rich man cannot enter. He does
say that 1t is harder for him to be true
man than for his poorer brother.
The only description Of hell Jesus
Christ ever drew was the hell of the rich
man.
The present panic is Q possibility be-
cause Of the selfish fear that ON occasions
will dominate and stampede q nation.
It is groundless, ignoble fear and re.
duoes men TO the level of the animal
herd.
The stampede is the immediate cause
OF ruin. People are brutally and use
lessly and senselessly trampled to death.
The moment you can allay this sense
less fear and restore reason the danger
is practically over. While fear and the
basest selfshness are the immediate
cases of panic they are never its primal
causes.
KNAvE or FOOL
A panic always has first cause. Some
knave or fool must raise the cry of fire
before the stampede is possible A fool
causes panic for the lack of sense, q
knave because he has an end to serve
generally that end is to pick the pockets
OF the herd as they trample on one an
other. Was the primal cause of the
present panic folly or rascality?
The man or men who started it-fool
or knavee 1t seems to me a aperfectly pat
ent fact that the present panic was pro-
duced primarily by conspiracy of the
great money hucksters of the world's
financial centers.
First-All the accompanying pheno-
mena tend to establish this fact.
1t certainly was the product of artifice,
not nature. There was nothing natural
about it. 1t was produced in the face of
natures loudest protest.
The fertile portion Of the earth's sur
face is estimated by geographical experts
at $500, 200 square miles. Sun and
cloud, dew and wind and rain never
kissed this fair face Of the earth with
more passionate love than in this present
year of our Lord. There is no war, no
famine, no pestilence TO speak Of. Our
fields are heavy with grain. Our barns
groan with plenty. In the midst of this
real prosperity suddenly stalks financial
ruinl
TRICK AND CHIcANERY.
We had lost not one dollar Of the real
wealth of the nation. We are not today
one cent poorer in that which really con
stitutes the wealth Of q people. The
conclusion is inevitable to an unpreiu-
diced mind that it is the work of some
mave who has q deep purpose In the
desperate game being played.
Such panic could have been produced
only by human trick and chicanery. Is
our national prosperity real? No man
can dispute 1t successfully. Then the
panic was fictitious. 1t was manufac-
tured to order. Itwas done with malice
and 1t has in it all the ele-
ments Of the deed of Cain.
Not only is the panic contradiction
OF nature, but the method of It's approach
gives inevitable signs of its true origin.
There was concerted action of @ GER
tain coterie of great money hucksters
the world. They began
without cause save the secret decree of
conspirators to cal in their loans, to re-
fuse applications for money from the
best security and In every way to con-
tract business. They issued a year ago
certain secret financial bulletins to the
lesser lights, giving them warning to fol
low In the footsteps of their masters.
Through their organs of news through
'ut Europe and America they exagger-
ated systematically every bank failure
hat could possibly further the end Of q
stampede. They began the boarding of |
money, forced those dependent upon
hem to do the same and frightened |
hose who were not into doing likewise.
senator David B. Hill of New York, ad-
nitted by his bitterest enemies to be one
Il the shrewdest politicians and closest
Students Of current events in America.
most graphically and accurately sum-
ned up the action Of the conspiracy in
he following paragraph;
with ghoulish glee they welcomed
very bank failure, especially In the sil
'er states, little dreaming that such fail
lres would soon occur at their own
loors. They encouraged the boarding