The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1895-08-02
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE NOTED DIyINE's SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
Subject "Buslness Troubles. p

rg-rsinhllshmsnt 90 public confidence and.
above all tho blessing Of God VIII turn iu
upon ull sections of America the widest.
greatest prosperity this country has ever
seen. Bat that door Of success d not set
fully omen. and thousands of business men
hrn Yet suffering from The distressing times
through which we have been passing
some oi the best men in tho land have
iuItered. men whose hearts are enlisted In
every good work and whose hands have
blessed every great charity. The church Of
God can afford t0 extend 10 them her SYM
lnthes aud plead before heaven with an
nvnlllng prayer. The schools such men havo
established, che churches they have built.
Che Asylums and bonencent institutions thoy
have lusterod viii Dos their enlogy long after
their banking institutions are forgotten.
such men can never FAIL They have their
treasures in banks thar never break and viii
ho mlllionaires forever But I thoughtIt
would be appropriate to-day aud useful for
mo 10 talk about the trials and temptations
OF our business men and try 10 offer some
curative prescriptions.
In tho first place 1 have 10 remark that
| great many ol our business men feel ruinous
! trials and temptations coming 90 them from
small and limited capital ia business. II O.
everywhere understood that 4 now takes
| three or four timrs us much TO do business
~
| dollars were turned int goods The mer-
| chant would be- his own storekeeper. his own
| salesman, bis own b0okkeeler. Ho would
/ manage all the affairs himself, and every
| thing would De net profit Wonderful
! changes have come. Costly apparatus, exc
/ tenslye Advertising exorbitant store rents
! heavy taxation, expensive agencies ARE only
/ parts OF the demand made upon our COM
| mercial men, and when they have found
] themselves In such circumstances with small
/ capital they have sometimes been tempted 10
| run against the rocks OF moral aud financial
| destruction. This temptation Of limited
/ capital has ruined men in two ways. Some
/ times they have shrunk down under the
! temptation. They have yielded the battle
| before the first shot was fred. At the first
/ hard dun they surrendered. Thdr knees
knocked together at the fall OF the auction
GERS hammer They blanchel at the nnan-
cial peril. They did not understand that
there Is such a thing as heroism in merehan-
| 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
yardstlck. Their souls melted In them be-
cause sugars were up when they wanted to
buy and down when they wanted TO sell. and
| unstable goods were on the shelf and
bad debts I'm their ledger. The gloom OF
| their countenances overshadowed even their
dry goods and groceries Dependency,
coming from limited capital, blasted them.
Others have felt it in a different way. They
| have said: "Here / have been trudging
along. have been trying to be honest all
these years. find 1t is Of no use. Now it
is make or break" The small craft that
could have stood the stream is put out be-
yond the lighthouse on the great sea OF spec
ulation He bOrrOws few thousand dollars
from friends who dare not refuse him, and he
goes bar,ering on a large scale. He reasons
in this way: "Perhaps / may succeed, and if
/ don't / will be no worse of than I am now,
for 100000 taken from nothing, nothing re-
mains"
Stocks are the dice with which no gam
bles. He bought for few dollars vast tracts
of Western land. Some man ut the East, liv-
ing on n 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 steam
ers smoking at the wharve5, 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
way. 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
equipage he dashes past, while the honest
laborer looks up and wipes the sweat from
his brow and says ~ wonder where that
man got all his money!" After q while the
bubble bursts. Creditors rush in. The law
clutches, but finds nothing in its grasp. The
men who were swindled say II don't know
how could have ever been deceived by thai
man, and the pictorals, In handsome wood
cuts, set forth the hero who in ten years hat
genius enough to fail for $150,0OOl
And that is the process by which many
have been tempted through limitation Of
capital to rush into labyrinths from which
they could not be extricated. l would moi
want to chain honest enterprise. l would
not want to block up any Of the avenues fol
honest accumulation that open before younl
men. On the contrary, would liketo cheer
them on and rejoice when they reach thu
goal, but when there are such multitudes o.
men going to ruin for this life and the lifC
J that is to come through wrong notions o
what are lawful spheres Of enterprise 1t il
the duty Of the Church OF God and the minis
ters of religion, ana the friends OF all younl
men, to utter plain, emphatic, unmis
taxable protest These are the influence
| that drown men in destruction and per
dition.
Again, great many of our business mel
are tempted to overanxiety and care. Yo1
know that nearly all commercial businesse
{ are oYerdone in this day. Smitten with tn
love Of quick gain, our cities are crowded
with men resolved to be rich at all hazards
4 They do not care how money comes il il
only comes. Our bestmerchants are throw
into competition. with men Of moro mean
4 and less conscience, and if an opportunit
OF accumulation be neglected one hou
some one else picks it up. Fror
January to December the struggle goe
on. Night gives no quiet to limbs toss
= ing in restlessness nor to Il brain tina
E will not stop thinking. The dreams ar
narrowed by imaginary loss and fushe
: with imaginary gains. Lyen the Sal
bath cannot dam back the tide OF anxiety
for this wave Of worldliness dashes clea
' over the churches and leaves its foam o
Bibles and prayer books. Men who ar
y living on salaries or by the cultivation OF tn
q soil cannot understand the wear and tear G
=" the body and mind to which our merchant
+ are subjected when they do not know bu
that their livelihood and their bushes
l. honor are dependent upon the uncertainte