The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-06-21
FINANCIERING.
Basic Principle on Which Business
is Being Done.
Address by the Rev. J. M. Taber en- Some
Modern Business Meth ds.


his church were immoral and unjusti-
fable according to his view Of the ques-
tion, and I'm his preaching took a very
decided stand upon the matter, the cam
paign has been fairly on. Evidently q
good many Providence clergymen had
been for some time formulating private
ideas upon the right anu wrong Of this
question, and it only remained for cer-
tain pastor of one of the large down town
churches TO convince them that this was
"A question within the rightful province
Of the pulpit, 10 set the ball a-rolling and
the prospects are that the argument and
pulpit invective against some existing
conditions.wiil continue to roll.
Owing 10 the popular sentiment which
Is now directed upon this question, IL Is
not 10 be wondered at that when the. Rev.
James NJ. Iaber Of Trinity M. t. church
announced as his subject for last Sunday
evening, Immoral Financiering, that
there was considerable Interest aroused In
regard To what attitude Mr. Iaber would
take upon tine question Consequently
there was a good sized audience at Trinity
church last evening. After the usual
preliminary exercises MIR. Iaber spoke as
follows:
Some time ago noticed In one of our
lending daily papers, an article entitled
immoral Einanciering. Tha immoral
ity referred 10 took place In the mission
airy meeting at Old Orchard. The object
of this particular meeting bad been TO
raise funds Tor the extension OF mission,
cry work. The giving was being done by
the congregation and the enthusiasm was
high. In fact an almost fabulous sum
had been reached. During the meeting a
telegram was received, contributing
much to the sum total and adding
greatly to the excitement OF the hour.
And SO it went on. The paper comment
was upon this and the term used was
Immoral FinancieriDg
Ii seems strange that even paper that
will never be used for an excess of Chris
tian principle, should take such a stand. /
suppose its protest Is against the method
adopted to gain the funds. Whenever
there is any religious enthusiasm, when
ever there Is any tendency on.the part of
any class or sect TO raise funds or any en-
shusastic rally for a good cause, this
sheet denounces 1t rs Immoral flnan-
ciering."
This instance first caused me TO reflect
upon this question. Now there are i'm
moraiities in the church and without its
pale. Let us consider the former.
First there are cases Of immoral flnan-
ciering in the church. The pulpit is
alpo post entirely at the mercy OF the daily
paper. 1t is almost impossible TO fight
the press. Yet there are evils suc1 that
If the press will not protest against them,
the pulpit must.
III some of the old prophets could look
upon our modern business methods even
in the church. evils would be denounced
with voice OF thunder that now flourish
by public permission.
Now, you ask, just where does this i'm
moral nnancieripg l.o? l reply that lawn
parties, soclals and entertainments upon
which the church relies To obtain her
necessary funds are immoral financiering.
/ can imagine cases where lawn parties,
off ha are n he tn IN oh
but when she is Obliged To depend upon
these tor her financial existence she had
better cease to exist.
Some of our local newspapers OCCASION
ally put on n religious and patroniziDg
appearance and speak encouragingly Of
socials and other church entertainments.
l saw, woe to the church that must seek
the favor of the city newspapers TO flour
ish Better die as church and organ
ization. When we assume that such
things are necessary 10 our existence
and that we cannot do without them, l
claim IL Is immoral financering.
Again, / call 1t immoral fnanclering
to run church extravagantly. To pay
more than we ought for our organist,
choir or church decoration, and then
when we find we are behindhand in our
bills, deem 1t absolutely necessary TO
hold lawn party TO make up the deficit
As rule, | do not mean Co say that our
n
do not claim that Gods house should be
furnished any better than our own. but |
know as an actual fact that IL Is not
The very worst form Of immoral finan-
ciering in u church is that which allows
the credit of a church TO be damaged. II
any corporation or organized body on
earth ought To meet their obligations, Ii
is q church. But by far the worst aspect
of this question Is the phase presented
outside the church.
What is financiering that is immoralS l
wish had more young men in this au-
dIence, but will say that il Is immoral
for any young man TO enter into any busi-
ness that Is contrary to tho law OF God
and an enlightened conscience. There
are a great many kinds of business today
that cannot stand that test / speak of
the liquor business that should be ut
terly wiped out of existence. And that
is not the only business that needs dyna-
mite and annihilatioD.
The business OF today as carried on in
our great stores is conducted mainly on
an immoral basis. fancy hear a man
In the audience say, the world was never
so organized or running on Christian
basis rs now. But claim that the world
is organized wrong. The basic principle
of every business house in this city is sell
fshness and unsacrifice. Go down West
minister street and establish n business
house on the principle Of self lf-denial and
sacrifice and see how long your business
will live. There is but one basic princi-
pie and that is greed.
Again our advertisements are splen-
did illustrations of immoral finanoiering.
i chanced yesterday 10 pass down West
minister street and noticed some OF the
advertisements verbatim. Here IL one
that reads 10 cent dimities for Q cents. y
That is a lie. Here is another, ''25 cent
mems underwear for 10 cents " IhJre is
another lie. Watches are advertised for
less than wholesale prices; cloaks guar.
auteed TO DO worth ten, twelve and fifteen
dollars are guaranteed in perfect condi-
tion for Sl.gS These are correct figures,
my friends, and they were not copied from
either Shepard's or the Boston store.
Another feature Is the announcement OF
bankrupt sales. Small country towns
initiate the example of the large cities
and declare that they "have been fortu-
nate enough 10 secure the entire bankrupt
stock Of A. B. a. Co, and that IL must be
sold in the next 60 days These are all
samples OF immoral financiering Bust
ness you say IL may he business but IL
is gross deception and Misrepresentation
A Ia. fa lin M MN tar hat nm aas