The record-union., 1893-09-11
POWER AND VIRTUE OF MONEY.
If the Root of Evil, It is Also the
Agent of Good.
Rev. J. B. Koehne's Plain Talk on the
Subject-Why the Hard Times
Pinch People.

Lie" Ihe opening lecture was dellV-
cred last night, and the subject was
Money" The following is the sub
stance of what was said:
Chicago just now is in blaze of light.
The century has flung round her the gem
fuses of this and other ages. What the
mind of man has wrought, what the hand
has fashioned, the nobler products Of in
Epiration, standing by the side of prod
uct and of toil-allpresent bewildering
picture of magnificence as a startling
contrast. This country suddenly fell
to its knees under the blows of financial
disaster. The splendid beach of the Car
olinas-the ocean's grandeur, and there
in the waves the dead bodies of a thou
sand men, is type of the hour. A whis-
per of distress in India shakes the world.
More terrific than the pestilence, the
flood, the earthquake, is the fury locked
up in piece of coin.
We are looking anxiously to Congress
for relief. Senates are powerless in a
great crisis. The people must extricate
themselves. Manhood is the solution of
all problems. Frugality and good man
agement are redemptive energies. Now
and then forces must be loosed by the
masses.
America is, in singular sense, peculiar
and alone. 1t is the only nation in the
world presenting an army of self-made
men. Blood, caste, education, religions,
beliefs, customs, prejudices, the laws OF
inheritance which crush men, are un-
known here. Energy, ability, worth,
connt for power in America.
Men start with plckaX and end mill
lonalres. WheelbarrOws are often har-
blngers ofimmense fortunes. Our wealth.
lest men smell of the factory. This is
one of the glories Of democracy. The
battle of life in America is more often a
Gettysburg than Waterloo. To every
man of energy and will-power results
come.
We may decry the worship of the
golden calf as we will, but until hu-
manity can see and think with the brain
OF Moses, the homage will continue.
What plants cities and creates empires?
Gold! Gold lifted California into State
hood with Massachusetts. The hope OF
replenishing the exhausted treasury of
Spain was one Of the causes OF the Jour-
ney OF Columbus. There stood the Ro-
man Empire fat with Wealth and civiliza-
ton.
The glitter of gold fascinated the pov-
erty stricken barbarians Of the north.
They swept down and emptied the en-
plre. What was the result? Modern
Europe! The conquest of Rome, for
gold, brought the savages of the north
into contact with civilization. They car
r1ed this civilization back with them. and
up sprang Germany, France ard Eng
land.
We may say the love of money, as a
motive of human action, is low and base.
All the coarser human motives are like
the roots OF plants-they blossom into
something nObler. The love of beauty in
its degraded state ends in passion, and in
an elevated condition art is tho product
The same spirit of adventure inspiring
the boy, on larger scale inspires the
and rich 0IEpnuaria- fo1IA,r
Sciences date back to the low motive of
curiosity. Money-getting is the prelude
to civilization. The savage races are
poor and therefore inferior. Place
near the hut of the savage a place Of ex-
change, develop the commercial instinct
with the glitter OF coin, and school
houses, courtr0oms and churches will
crowd around his feet. The Anglo-Saxon
race is an imperial race, because it Is a
gold-getting race.
More than that, the desire for wealth
toreshadows mans immense nature. To
be satisfied with a crust is to be beast.
The divine hunger-the craving for the
infinite-are all rooted in the impulse to
accrue wealth.
To say money is also a destroyer is to
say half the truth. There is a vast differ
ence between gold coin and a sword
the difference between a city and battle
field. The wealth of men, of our million
ares, is often abused and cursed Let not
prejudice blind our eyes to the fact that it
is utterly impossible for a man to live
unto himself"
Carnegie's wealth is scattered. These
steel plants, besides employing tbon-
sands, are producers of railroads. For
Gould to gather up his riches into his
arms would be to empty States of rail-
road systems. The wealthy man. how
ever selfish he may be, however tyran-
ical and cruel, must pay tribute to hu-
manity. He adds dollar to dollar only
on condition OF betterlng the condition of
his tellowman and enriching civilization.
What is destroying race prejudice.
The missionary? \ es; also the merchant
The Bible is being reinforced by con-
science in battering down the Chinese
wall! Modern Europe began when its
barbarian legions began to trade with
their enemies. Herein lies the divinity
of gold-it is character builder. Itun-
folds energies, ambitions, hopes, tolls.
and the development of individuals
leaves as the result the development of
nations.
When the great Apostle declared money
the root of evil he might have added that
man makes il so. Man injects the poison
of his own nature into gold, and il be-
comes a force of evil. Money, as builder
of cities, as the developer of arts. as the
foster-mother of Sciences, as the difTuser
of intelligence, is an angel. But when
employed to buy up the votes and souls.
of Senates money is transformed into
devil.
The great peril to-day is not the igno-
rance of the negro, the depravity of Grim
inals, the weakness of our social systenl
II is the lack of conscience in our great
mon. There are too many Judas Iscariots
in Congress and in our State Legislatures
who will sell the interests Of humanity
for few pieces of silver
Money became a power of evil In the
hour 1t generated that frightful maxim.
business is business"
Under that commercial plea are being
committed the terrible crimes of our ape
1t is the plea of the rum-seller; it is the
excuse OF the procuress, who invents lie
to induce young girls to come to the
great cities, and then plunge them into
prostitution. 1t is the only defense of the
man of business who builds up wealth
by keeping hundreds of families in hack
alleys and in hell-holes of degradation
toiling for his store.
II the rich man is guilty of wronging
others, the poor man is guilty of wrong
ing himself The truth is, nearly every
mechanic makes enough money to be
happy, If 1t was not for the fact that his
hard-earned wages are being emptied into
the lap of fashion.
Not the love of money, but the love of
display, Is our modern sin. To be gen
teel," to be considered ''respectable'' to
outshine our neighbors, to rival in dress
and living those n better circumstances
here is our guilt.
This false idea that external splendor is
a sign of respectability is an accursed
thing. 1t is making fathers forbear teach
ing their sons and daughters trades. be-
cause soiled hands are not good for no
nte society," oung girls, arrayed in