The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1893-07-13
THE POWER OF MONEY.
REV. THOMAS DIXON'S SER
MON ON THE ALMIGHTY
DOLLAR.

The Real Capital Of the United
States Is Not Washington, but
Wall Street, New York---Money
Questions to Predominate for
Many Years---An Awful Force.
The text chosen was Exodus xxi, 3,
4: And all the people break off the
golden rings which are in their ears and
brought them unto Aaron And he re-
ceived them at their hand and fashioned
it with II craving tool and made it Il
molten calf, and they said, These be thy
gods, . Israel, which brought thee up
out OF the land OF Egypt
MODERN IsRAEETTES.
The children OF Israel il they were the
first to make n golden cali and worship
it, certainly have not been the last peo-
pie guilty of this descrtion of the true
God for the image made with human
hands. The problem of money is the
problem OF the latter days OF the nine
teenth century. The problem of money
is i'll fact the problem OF modern life 1t
is the one question with which we are all
Intimately concerned from the very be-
ginning OF life to its close 1t costs
money to be born into the world, and
under present tariff schedules it costs
more to die. From the beginning to the
end it is this everlasting money question
with which mortal man is confronted.
The money issue is the one magnet
around which all other problems ut last
do centre. Mans interest in money
seems to be the power by which he can
be tested both physically and morally
In ,fuf IA
rs the power by which mans capacity
for the army is frequently tested. When
men are summoned to enter the army,
they are often afflicted with various
diseases of sudden Development Men
are stricken dumb and deaf in most un-
accountable ways. \ deaf man appears
before the French tribunal as n possible
army recruit. He Oicourse can hear moth
ING. The lOudeSt word of command
makes no impression on him. He de-
. clareS through signs that he can not
hear it thunder After the examination
| is completed and he has been discharged
as unfit for service, as he departs from
| the tribunal an officer follows him to the
| street and drops n gold coin behind him
on the pavement. Instantly he turns,
attracted by tn" magic ring of the coin,
| to pick it up. He is at once arrested
| and forced into the army ranks. 1t is Il
test OF mans character in q thousand
ways. II is Il test OF anatiOn S scharlctcr
| 1t is the test OF the nature Of society as
we'll as OF individuals and nations.
| FARMERS ALLIANCE.
| Our own nation is most intimately
concerned Just now with this tremen
dous problem and its possible develop
ments. We are in the throes Of a posi-
BILE panic that will be IN epoch making
event in our history. Men are studying
the money problem as never before, and
they are studying it from the bottom to
the top. The question of money involved
in the problem OF gold or of silver as {;
standard opens finally the broader qucs
ton of the right of money to exist. We
are brought face to face with the thcO
rics promulgated by the great Frencl
and German socialists Of the past cen
tury. In the theories of the Farmers
Alliance and its allied parties we arr
brought face to face with the rcincar
mated doctrines of Karl Marx and Rod
bertus.
These problems OF Il money STANDARD
and of the question of intrinsic value sc
to the very heart of the social problem o
the century. They will not be settled il
day They will not be settled in ON
administration or i'll two. This none,
problem is destined to make or unmak
parties and statesmen for the next quar-
ter of Il century. 1t is the problem o
the hour. In the world of politics it il
the problem of the future for the pro
foundcst statesmen. In our introduction
to this study we do not propose to ente
upon the discussion of these prOfount
aspects Of the money problem. We shal
discuss rather money as the unit of com
mcrcial value, and therefore the stand
ard of measurement for economic pow"
or, in other words, the standard o
measurement for wealth.
Personally | do not decry wealth O
its accumulation. do believe that it i!
Il crime for any man to rear Il family il
the world and not provide for them.
believe that there is Il sin which Il maj
may be guilty of that is worse than th
attempt to get mOney-lt is the vice O
the spendth hrift, and it is a vice OF whicI
the preacher is often most guilty. Icon
fess that is one of my sins. With me, per
sonalIy, the money problem has been al
ways about the same. Six years ago
was pastor of Il little church in Nortl
Carolina and had IL salary of $50 {
month At the end OF the month, a.
you may we'll imagine, | had nothing
Now, in New York, | have salary O
about $500 Il month, and at the end O
the month | am in debt. | have neve
believed it to be right. have promised
and promised to reform. | am trying t'
study he subject that | may lead mysel
into the light, certainly in this aspect O
the case.
GRE >TEST POWER ON EARTH
Wealth. in fact, has its deep spr
itual significance when accumulated b.,
.. proper ways and sought in the propc
spirit The fact of wealth does not sig
nifty the material and the brutal. AS
nation we are the richest people in tn
world. We are not therefore for tina
. reason the cOarSest. We hay" "1st pile
of buildings, vast systems OF I,,lirOadS
whose very vaStncsS, our foreign critic
, have told us, Indicate Il coarse view q
life. The greatest piles OF brick an'
mortar, stone and cement and iron an,
steel have back of the matter we see thci
spiritual meaning. They are the incar
nation of greatest hopes. noble faiths
They may be crude efforts. They ar
great, not for what they are, but TO
what they promise, for the ideal OfwhicI
, they are the dim outline.
As nation we should study the none
problem, and we should be among tn
first, ii not the first, to solve it. God ha
given wealth to US as to no other peOpl
| born on the earth. BY the census {
r 1880 America had more money tha
> Great Britain, on whose empire the su
never sets, whose flag floats in ever
sea and whose ships ride proudly at thei
anchors in every harbOr of the wOrl(
:. We had in 1880 wealth enough to bu
>, one-half the known wOrld-lands, house.
;, kingdoms, scepterS, empires. But aftt
u " we had bought hemisphere and pal
Z for it we would have money enough t
. carve new nation out OF the undeve
u oped west.
!. One OF the first things that strikes tt
5 student of economies and OF the relatiO
OF religion to the great social problem
u u the fact that money is the mighties
u power that moves to-day upon the su
II face of modern civilization. We obser,
this fact: