Milford chronicle., 1893-07-21


Francisco to New York and from ocean to
ocean. The complete uncertainty that has
halted all styles of business for three
months and the pressure Of the money
market for the last year have put all bar
gain makers at their wits end. Some of
the best men in the land have faltered; men
whose hearts are enlisted In every good
work and whose hands have blessed every
great charity. The church of God can af-
ford to extend to them her sympathies
and plead before heaven with all availing
prayer. The schools such men have estab-
lished, the churches they have built, the
asylums and benefieent institutions they
have fostered, viii be their eulogy long
after their banking institutions are forgot
ten. Such men can never fail. They have
their treasures in banks that never break
and will be millionaires forever.
The stringency Of the money market, l
am glad to say, begins to relax. May the
wisdom of Almighty God come down upon
our national legislature at their convening
next month in Washington and such re
suits be reached as shall restore confidence
and revive trade and multiply prosperitiesi
Yet not only now in the time of financial
disaster, but all through life, our active
business people have a struggle, and think
It will be appropriate and useful for me to
talk about their trials and try to offer some
curative prescriptions.
THE TEMPTED MERCHANT.
In the first place, I have to remark that a
great many Of our business men feel ruin
Gus trials and temptations coming to them
from small and limited capital in business.
It is everywhere understood that it takes
now three or four times as much to do
business well as once it did. Once few
hundred dollars were turned into goods
the merchant would be his own store
sweeper, his own salesman, his own book
keeper. He would manage all the affairs
himself, and everything would be net
profit. Wonderful changes have come.
Costly apparatus, extensive advertising,
exorbitant store rents, heavy taxation, eX-
pensive agencies, are only parts of the de-
mand made upon our commercial men.
And when they have found themselves in
such circumstances with small capital they
have sometimes been tempted to run
against the rocks Of moral and financial
destruction.
This temptation Of limited capital has
ruined men in two ways. Sometimes they
have shrunk down under the temptation.
They have yielded the battle before the
first shot was fired. At the first hard gun
they surrendered. Their knees knocked
together at the fall of the auctioneer's ham
mer. They blanched at the financial peril.
They did not understand that there is such
a thing as heroism in merchandise, and
that there are Waterloos Of the counter
and that a man can fight no braver battle
/ with the sword than he can with the yard
stick.
Their souls melted in them because sug
ars were up when they wanted to buy
and down when they wanted to sell and
unstable goods were on the shelf and bad
debts in their ledger. The gloom Of Their
countenances overshadowed even their dry
goods and groceries. Dependency, coming
| from limited capital, blasted them. 9th
ers have felt it in different way. They
have said: "Here I have been trudging
along. I have been trying to be honest al
these years. I find it is Of no use. Now il
is make or break"
The small craft that could have stood the
stream is put out beyond the lighthouse
on the great sea of speculation. Stocks
are the dice with which he CANDLES. H'
| bought for few dollars vast tracts of west
| ern land. Some man at the east living OIL
a fat homestead meets this gambler Of for
tune and is persuaded to trade of his estate
here for lots in a western city with larg'
avenues and costly palaces and lake steam
ers smoking at the wharves and rail trains
coming down with lightning speed from ev
cry direction. There it is all on paperl Th'
city has never been built nor the railroads
constructed, but everything points tha
way, and the thing will be done as sure a
you live And that is the process by whicl
many have been tempted through limita
tion of capital into labyrinths from whicl
they could not be extricated.
would not want to chain honest enter
prise. would not want to block up an.
of the avenues for honest accumulation
that open up for young men. On the con
trary, would like to cheer them on an'
rejoice when they reach the goal, but whel
there are such multitudes Of men going t.
ruin for this life and the life that is t.
come through wrong notions OF what ar
lawful spheres of enterprise it is the dut.
of the ministers Of religion and the friend
of all young men to utter plain, emphat
ic. unmistakable protest These are tn
influences that drown men in destruction
and perdition.
THE FEvERIsH THIRST FOR GAIN.
Again, a great many of our business me-
are tempted to over anxiety and care. Yo'
know that nearly all commercial businesse
are overdone in this day. Smitten wit
the love of quick gain, our cities are crovde
with men resolved to be rich at all hazards
They do not care how money comes. Gu
best merchants are thrown into compet
ton with men of more means and less COL
science, and if an opportunity Of accumulf
ton be neglected one hour some one els
picks it up From January to Decembe
the struggle goes on. Night gives no qnie
to limbs tossing in restlessness nor to
brain that will not stop thinking. tn
dreams are narrowed by imaginary loss an
flushed with imaginary gains. Even th
Sabbath cannot dam back the tidc Of ans
iety. for this wave Of worldliness dashe
clear over the churches and leaves its foar
on Bibles and prayer books.
Men who are living on salaries or by th
culture of the soil cannot understand tn
wear and tear Of body and mind to whic
our merchants are subjected when they d
not know but that their livelihood an
their business honor are dependent upo
the uncertainties Of the next hour. Thi
excitement Of the brain, this corrodin
rare of the heart, this strain Of effort tha
exhausts the spirit, sends a great man
of our best men in midlife into the grav'
They find that Wall street does not end q
the East river. 1t ends at Greenwood
E Their life dashed out against money safe
They 90 with their store on their back
They trudge like camels, sweating froI
/ AIeppo to Damascus. They make their III
S a crucifixion. Standing behind desks an
I counters, banished from the fresh al
E weighed down by carking cares, they a
SO many suicides,
E RELIANCE ON DIVINE AID.
q Oh. / wish 1 could today rub out some
:. these lines Of care; that / could lift some
/ the burdens from the heart; that l cou
e give relaxation to some Of these wo
muscles. It is time for youto begin to "a
K It a little easier. Do your best and tn
: trust God for the rest. Do not tret. y
T manages all the affairs Of your life, and
r manages them for the best Consider {
lilies-they always have robes Behold z
/. : 49, f4.-o4ru fnrrn 1pci