Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1895-07-13
BUSINESS TROUBLES.
REV. Or. TALmAGE PREDICTS GREAT
GENERAL PROSPERITY.

He Says We Are at the Opening Door Of
Good Times-why 80 Many Men Fall by
the way.Ide-Th. value of Human
soul.
NEW YORK. July I'm his sermon for
to-day DIR. Taimagc. who Is still absent ON
his western iccturing tour, chose "a subject
Of universal inicr,si-viz. " business Trou-
bics"-tic text selected hcing Ezekiel
xvii. -, These were thy merchants In all
sorts of things"
We arr nj the opening door Of returning
national prosperity. The coming crops. the
rc-cstahlishment 81 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 door of successes Is not yet
fully open, and thousands Of business
men are yet suffering from the distressing
times through which we have been pass
ing
Some Of the best men in the land have
falicrcd. men whose hearts are enlisted In
every good work and whose hands have
blessed every great charity. The church of
God can afford to extend to them her sym
pathics and plead before heaven with all
availing prayer. The schools such men
have established, the churches they have
built the asyiums and benehccnt institu-
tions they have fostercd, will he their cu-
logy long after their banking institutions
are forgotten. such men can never fail.
They have their treasures In banks that
never break and will I've millionaircs for
ever. But l thought IL would be appro
pirate to-day, and useful. for mo TO talk
about the trials and temptations of our
business men and try Ia offer some cura-
tive prescriptions.
Limited Capital.
In the first place, have 10 remark that
a great many of our business men feel
ruinous trials and temptations coming 10
them from small and limited capital in
business II is everywhere understood
that il takes now three or four times Ms
much to do business well rs once II did.
Once few hundred dollars were turned
into goods-thc merchant would bc his
own store sweeper, his own salesman, his
own bookkccper: he would manage all the
affairs himself, and everything would be
net profit Wonderful changes have come;
costly apparatus, extensive advertising, cx-
brilliant store rents, heavy taxation, ex-
HtuNift stAsflitltfe stTt oAlfN parts VI tut ut-
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 II 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
hwss Il ha H. ID .
the first hard dun they surrendered. Their
knees knocked together at the fall of the
auctionecr's hammer They blanched at
the financial peril. They did not under
stand that there Is such a thing as heroism
In merchandise and that there are Water
loos Of the counter and that n man can
fight no drawer battle with the sword than
he can with the yar,istick. Their souls
melted i'm them because sugars were up
when they wanted to buy and down when
they wanted 10 sell and unstable goods
were ON the shelf and bad debts In their
ledger. The gloom Of their countcnanccs
oyershadowed even their dry goods and
groceries. Dependency. coming from linn
tied capital, blasted them. Others have
felt IL In different way. They have said:
Here have been trudging along l have
been trying TO 10 honest all these years. /
find IL Is Of no use. Now 1t Is make or
break" The small craft that could have
stood the stream Is pnt out beyond the
lighthouse, ON the great sea Of speculation.
He borrows - few thousand dollars from
friends who dare not refuse him. and he
goes bartcrinR on u large scale.
He reasons In this way: Perhaps may
succeed, and II don't l will be no worse
of than I am now. for 500, 900 taken
from nothing nothing remains. Stocks
are the dice with which lac gambles. He
bought for few dollars vast tracts OF
western land. Some man at the east, liv-
ing ON q fat homestead, meets this gam
bier Of fortune and is persuaded To trade
of his estate for lots In western city
with large avenues, and costly palaces,
and lake steamers smoking ut the whnrycs
and rail trains coming down with light
ming speed from every direction. There IL
Is all ON paper. The city has never been
built, nor the railroads constructed, but
everything points that way, and the thing
will b. done as sure as you live. Well, tho
man goes on. stopping at no fraud or out
rage. In his splendid equipage he dashcs
past, while the honest laborcr looks up
and wipes tho sweat from his brow and
says, 81 wonder where that man got all
his money After awhile the bubble
bursts Creditors rush in. The law
clutches. but finds nothing in Its grasp.
The men who We're swindled say, II don't
know how could have ever been deceived
by that man. 4" and the pictorials in hand
some wood cuts set forth the hero who In
ten years had genius enough to fail for
fi50, 900.
And that Is this process by which many
have been tempted through Limitation OF
capital 10 rush into labyrinths from which
they could not bc extricated 1 would not
want 10 chain honest enterprise. would
not want TO block up any Of the avenues
for honest accumulation that open before
young men. On the contrary. would like
10 cheer them ON and rejoice when they
reach the goal, hut when there are such
multitudes Of men going To ruin for this
life and the life that is 10 come, through
wrong notions of what nre lawful spheres
Of enterprise, II Is the duty Of the church
Of God, and the ministers u religion, and
the friends of all young men to utter n
plain. emphatic, unmistakabie protest.
These are the influences that drown men
In destruction and pcrdition.
Overanxiety.
again. - Eithh VI buF uuslHtse
men are tempted Ia oseranxicty and care
You know that nearly all commercial busi-
nesses are oyerdOnc In this day. Smitten
with the love Of quick gain, our cities are
crowded with men resolved to be rich at
all hazards They do lot care how money
comes, II it only comes our best mer-
chants are thrown into competition with
men Of more means and less conscience,
and II an opportunity of accumulation be
neglected one hour some one else picks
IL up. From January Ia December the
struggle goes on. Night gives no quiet 20
limbs tossing la cstlessness nor To brain
that will not stop thinking The dreams
ere narrowed 10y imaginary loss and
flushed with Imaginary gains. Even the
sabbath cannot dam back the tide of anx-
lefty: for this wave 81 wurldline>s dnshes
clear over the churches and leaves It's foam
ON Bibles and prayer books. Men who are
living on salaries or by the cultivation OF
the soil cannot understand the wear and
tear If the body and mind to which our
merchants are subjected. when they do not
know but that their livelihood and their
business honor arr dependent upon the un-