The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-07-13
BUSINESS TROUBLES.
ELOQUENT REV. DR.. TALsIAGE
breaches Timely Sermon on Business
Cares, Trials and Temptations.


National Or esperitv The coming c7ops, the
re-e-tablahnsnt OF public confidence and,
above all. :he blessing of God vii turn III
upon all sections Of America tho widest,
greatest prosperity this country has ever
seap. Bat that door of success is not get
fully open. and thousands OF business men
are yet suffering from the distressing times
thrcagh which we have been passing.
Some OF thu best men in the land have
fat=red. men whose hearts are enlisted ID
every good work and whose hands have
blessed every great charity The church Of
Go can afford to extend to them her SYM
path;cs and plead before heaven with all
;vailinc PRAYER. The schools such men have
established, the churches they have built,
the asvlums and benefcent institutions they
have fostrrel will be their eulogy long after
their banking institutions are forgotten.
Such men can never fail. They have their
treasures IL banks that never break and VIII
be millionaires forever. But l thouSntt II
would be appropriate to-day and useful 1or
nns to talk about the trials and temptations
" our business men and try 70 oHer sone
curative prescriptions.
In the first place, havc 10 remark that
great many Of our business men feel ruinous
trials and temptations coming to them from
small and limitei capital in business. 1t IS
everywhere understood that it now takes
three or four times as much to do business
well than if once did. Once few hundred
dollars were turned int goods. The mer-
chant would be his own storekeeper. his own
salesman, his own hookkeeler He would
manage all the affairs HIMSELF and every:
thin, woull be net profit. Wonderful
changes have come. Costly apparatus; eX-
,ensive advertising, cxorbitant store rents:
heavy taxation, eXpensive agencies are only
parts Of the demand made upon our COM
inercial men. and when they have found
| themselves in such circumE tanceS with small
capital they have sometimes been tempted tG
run against the rocks OF moral and financial
destruction. This temptation OF Limited
capital has ruine.l men in two ways Some
times they have shrunk down under the
temptation. They have yielded the battle
before the first shot was fired. At the lirst
hard dun they surrendered, Their kneos
knocked together ut the fall 5f the auction
GERS hammer. They blanched at the tnan.
cial peril. They did not understand that
there is such thing as heroism in merchan-
disc and that there are Waterloos of the
counter and that man can fight no Drawer
battle With the sword than he can with the
vardstick. Their souls melted in them be-
cause sugars we're up when they wanted to
buy anil dcwn when they wanted to sell. and
unsalable goods were on the. shelf and
bad debts in their ledger. Tho gloom OF
their countenances overshadowed even their
dry goods and groceries. Dependency,
coming from limited capital, blasted them:
Others have felt it in different WAY. They
have said: Here l have been trudginS
along I have been trying 10 be honest all
these years. find it is Of no use. Now it
is make or break The small draft that
could have stood the stream is put out be-
yond the lighthouse on rhe great sed OF spec
tlation. He borrows few thousand dollars
from friends who dare not refuse him: and he
goes barterinc on large scale. He reasons
in this way: perhaps I may succeed, and If
don't will be no worse off thar I am now,
for 500. 900 taken from nothing, nothing re-
maius.
Stocks are the dice with which he gam
bles. He bought for a few dollars vast tracts
OF Western land. Some man at the East liv-
ing on fat homestead. meets this gambler
Of fortune and is persuaded to trade off his
estate for lots in a Western city, with large
avenues. and costly palaces; and lake stean-
ers smoking at the wharves, and rail trains
coming down with lightning speed from
every direction. There it is all on paper!
The city has never been built nor the rail-
roads constructed. but everything points that
wav. and the thing will be done as sure as
you live. Well, the man goes on, stopping
at no fraud or outrage. In his splendid
equipase he dashes past, while the honest
laborer looks Up and wipes the sweat from
his brow ami says, Il wonder where that
man got all his money! After n while the
bubble bursts. Creditors rush in. Tbs law
clutches, but finds nothing in its grasp. The
men who we're swindleI say, Il don't know
how could have ever been deceived by TINT
man" and the pictoria!s, in handsome wood
cuts, set forth the hero who IN ten years had
| 10 fail
AMI that is the process by which many
have beeii tempted through limitation Of
capital to rush into lubyrinths from which
they could not be eXtricated. would not
want to chain honest enterprise. l would
not want to block up any Of the avenues for
honest accumulation that open before young
men, On the contrary. would liketo cheer
them On aud rejGics when they reacn the
goal. hut when there are such muttitutes OF
men going to ruin for this life and the life
that is to come through wrong notions OF
what are lawful spheres OF enterprise it is
the duty of the Church Of God, aud the minis
tcrs Of religion. AM the friends OF all young
men, T. utter Il plain, emphatic, unmis-
takab.e protest These aro tho influences
that drown men in destruction and per-
ditiun.
Again. 4 great many OF our business men
nre tempted TO ov"ranXie:y and care. You
know that nearly au commercial businesses
are overdone in this day. Snlttea with the
love of quick gain, our cities ars crowd:
with men resolved to BIZ rich ~ all n zarls.
They do not care how money come5 II Ii
only comes. Our best merchants are thr>Wl
into competition with men OF moro mems
and less conscience, and ii an opportunity
of accumulation be neglected one hour
some one else picks it up. From
January to December the struggle goes
on. Night gives no quiet to limbs toss
ing in restlessness nor to brain that
will not stop thinking. The dreams are
narrowed by imaginary loss and flushed
with imaginary gains. Lven the Sub
bath cannot dam back the tide OF anxiety,
for this wave Of worldliness dashes clear
over the churches and leaves its foam on
Bibles and prayer books. Men WHO ar'
living on salaries or by the cultivation OF the
soil cannot understand the wear AM tear OF
the body and mind to which our merchant;
are subjected when they do not know but
that their livelihood anl their business
honor are deDendent upon the uncertainties
Of the next hour. This excitement OF tho
brain, this corrodinS care OF the hearf, tnS
strain Of effort that cXhausts the spirit,
sends great many of our best men in mid
die life into the grave, their life dashed or
against money safes. They 60 with their
store on their backs. They trunSe Ike cam
els, swa hin-. from Aleppo to Damascus.
They make their life crucif1xior. Stand
Ing behind desks and counters. banisned
from the fresh air. weighed down ~ carS-
,, Ing caras. they az So many suicides. %.
wish could 20 day rub out some OF these
, lines Of care: that could lift some OF tlo
burdens from the heart; that l could gIv3
relaxation to some of these worn muscles.
It is time for you to begin to take it little
! easier. ID your best and then trust Col
for the rest. Do not fret. God manages all
the affairs OF your life, and He manages
; them for the best Consider the lilies. They
always have robes.
Behold the fowls of the air! They always
have nests. Take long breath. Bsthlni
betimes that God did not make YOU for 4
pack horse. Dig yourselves out from among
the hogsheads and the shelves. and In the