Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-07-13
TRIALS OF BUSINESS.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE DISCUSSES a TIME
Ly SUBJECT.

After Clouds of Distress There viii Fol-
low tho Sunshine of National Prosperi-
ty-what the business Man Is Com
PEELED to Undergo The Souls Welfare.
New York, July I'm his sermon
for today d. Talrlage, who is still alb
sent en- his western lcctrring tour, cho@e
subject CT universal interest--viz,
Business Troubles tho text selected
being Ezekiel xvii. 81, Those were
thy merchants iii all sorts Of things"
We are at the opening door Of return
ing national prosperity. The coming
crops, the accomplishment OF public
confidence and, above all, the blessing
of God will turn in upon all sections of
America the widest, greatest prosperity
this country has ever seen. But that
dsor of successes is not yet fully open,
and thousands of business men are yet
suffering from tho distressing times
through which we have boon passing
Some of the best lacn in the land have
faltered, men whose hearts are enlisted
in every good work AID whose bs::ds
have blessed every great charity. Tho
chareh Of God can afford to extend to
them her synpathies and plead before
heaven with all ayailine prayer. The
schools such men have established, The
churches they have built, the asyluns
aud beneiiceat institutions they have
fostered will be their ealccy long alto
their banking institutions arc forget cns
Such mnn can never fail They lavE
thor treasures in banks that never bsesI.
and win be millcnaires forever. Eat /
thought il would be appropriate tfdaY
and useful for me to talk about tho irs-
ais and temptations Of our business inell
and try to offer some curative prescrip-
tons.
Rocks of Danger.
III the first place, l have to remark
that great many of our business men
feel ruinous trials and temptations com
ing to them from small and limited cap
ital in business. 1t is everywhere under
stood that it takes now three or four
times as much to do business well as
once it did. Once 4 few hundred dollars
We're turned into goods. The merchant
would be his own storekeeper, his own
salesman. his own boolxkeeper. He would
manage all tho affairs himself, and ey-
erything would be net profit Wonder
full changes have come. Costly apparatus,
extensive advertising, exorbitant store
rents, heavy taxation, expensive agencies
are only parts of the demand made upon
our commercial men, and when they
have found themselves in such circum-
stances with small capital they have
sometimes been tempted to run against
the rocks Of moral and financial destruc-
ton. This temptation of limited capital
has ruined men in two ways. Sometimes
they have shTunk down under the temp
tation. They havo yielded the battle be-
fore the first shot was fired. AT the first
hard dan they surrendered. Their knees
knocked together at the fall of the auc-
tioneer's hammer. They blanched at the
financial peril They did not understand
that there is such a thing as hego;sm in
merchandise and that thore are Water
looS of the coulter aud that man can
fight no brave- battle with the sword
than lie can with the yardstick. Their
souls melted in them because SUGARS
were up when they wanted to buy and
down when they wanted to sell, and
unsalablo goods We're on tho shelf and
bad debts ii their ledger. The glocm Of
their count cnaaces oyershaGowed even
their dry goods and groceries DcEpOnd-
ency, coming from limited capital,
blasted them Others have felt it in a
different way. They have said: "I+cre l
have beon tculS1ng along. l have been
trying to be honest all these Yeas. l
find it is Of 10 use. Now it is make OF
break. 2" The small craft that could have
stood the stream is put ont beyond the
lighthouse ON the great sea of spccula-
ton. lie borrows few thousand dollars
from friends who dare not refuse him,
and he goes bartering on q large scale.
He reasons III this way 81 Perhaps I may
succeed, and if l don't / viii be 10
worse of than l am now, for $109, 900
taken from nothing. nothing remains ~
Stocks are the dice with which he
CANDLES. He bought for a few dollars
vast tracts of western land. Some man
at the east, living on a fat Homestead.
meets this gambler of fortune and is
persuaded to trade OF his estate for lots
in n western city, with largo avenues.
and costly palaces. and lake steamers
smoking at tho wharves. and rail trains
coming down with lightning speed from
every direction. There it is all Oh pa
perl The CITY has never been bniIt nor
the railroads constructed. bat everything
points that way. and the thing will be
done rs sure as Won live. Well. the man
goes ON. stopping at no fraud or outrage
In his splendid eouipaee he dasfes mast.
while the honest laborer looks up and
wines the sweat from his brow and saws.
II wonder where that man got all his
monev?" After awhile the bubble
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