The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1894-01-10

GILMAN AND SOUT
but the day OF wrath came at last. And
now poor weeping France looks on, and
one great man falls and another and an
other. And the poor little fool that was
in the assembly that day and said:" l
believe in old fashioned honor and in
tegrity, and l will not have your money.
I will vote as my conscience dictates" -
he was described as "a fool and an idiot
then, but now he is the only man that
can hold his head up and look the world
squarely in the. face.
The great principles of right and
truth are those that really are guiding
and directing the world. Every doubt
full business ii this world could be swept
from the face Of the earth, and the
earth would Be richer. Whenever men
ask you 70 enter into successful busi-
ness transaction, remember that this
world can do without that transaction
and be the better for it, and you had
better let it alone. It is not the easiest
way, this way of Christian life, as
against this modern business method,
but it is the only. true way. Christians
in the past had hard time to live;
then they died. They were put to death
in the arena. They marched over burn
ing plowshares. The Christian man to-
day can live better, easier, with less
sacrifice called for by modern life, than
ever before in the history of the world.
And the man that says, '.1 cannot live
today unless i do these things, simply
lies. Is tie business world in conflict
with Christianity? So much the worse
for the business world. The curse Of
God-a living, whitening, blasting
curse-is on that society, on that COM
merce that makes success possible
against truth and right and honor.
HONEST WORK SACRED.
'.All things are yours, !" and because
the business world is legitimate field
for Christian its obligations are high.
It is yours; bat, precisely because it is,
it is holy ground. The merchant that
sits at his desk is doing as sacred work,
when honest in his transactions and deal
ings, as do when ! am here at this
desk before you on Sunday. The labor
er at his anvil, the farmer who holds
his plow, every workingman that does
his work unto the Lord, is doing sa-
cred work. His shop, his Office, his
place of business, is as sacred as the
high altar of. God to him, for Ged call
ed him there toshethe high priest. But:
you say, what 9is The nse to behonest?
People love to .be humbngged. But,
my friend, for your own sake, be hon-
est. Most people, take them all lin ali
have q large streak Of fool in them.
They will run after special bargains
and sales. For your own heart and life
he honest: You do not fool yourelf, and
when you mark yourgoods to- fool the
people and to rope in the unwary you
know in yourself you have degraded
yourself. You have sold your own soul
out to the deyilin the process. Be. hon
est and ayoid every man who in the
process Of the business world SEEKS to
coin money out of other peoples blood
am done with bargains, sheriff sale
and bankrupt clothing establishments.
If you support those ablshments, you
are trading in the. blood Of broken
hearts and homes, for it tookgood, hard
labor to make those goods, and if they
are sold at less than it costs to make
them you are buying the price Of good
hearts blood. As for the man that can
undersell another man and make it pos
sible to undersell by cheating clerks and
giving small wages and making them
work their lives out would rather 80
to man that gives his clerks honest
salaries. The time may come in your
life when adversely may be yours, and
your loved onesare thrown on this great
vulgar labor market Of the world, and
in your own flesh and blood others can
trade in dollars and cents. # you get
what are called bargains today, it means
somebody's heart is broken-somebod
else has paid for it too high price.
soULLEss CORPORATIONS.
do not want anything to do with
business transactions where the princi-
pies that are used are such that an indi-
vidual would not touch. We have
corporations. A distinguished man
died some years ago in New York city,
the soul Of honor in every personal
transaction. 81 His servants stood weep
ing by thedoor when he died. He did
not owe cent. Everything waspaid
for in cash. He said Do not owe your
workingman cent. It is dishonest to
keep his wages from him, unless you
pay him interest On it.- pay him
prompsiy.'' But be was at the head OF
a gigantic corporation that held mo-
nopoly and made his fortune ont of the
lives Of community that were ground
in the process. And when men ap-
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