Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1899-02-11

as fraud is SO easy. When you arrest
the president and secretary of bank
for an embezzlement carried on for
many years, be sure to have plenty Of
sheriffs out the same day to arrest all
the directors. They are guilty either Of
neglect Or completely.
"0h, some will cay, "better preach
the gospel and let business matters
alone. 1 reply, if your gospel does not
inspire co nmon honesty in the dealings
of men. The sooner you close up your
gosnol and pitch it into the depths Of
the Atlantic ocean the better. An or
thodox swindler is worse than hetero-
dox swindler. The recitation Of all the
catechisms md creeds ever written and
partaking Of all the communion chal-
ices that ever glitttered in the churches
of Christendom will never save your
soul unless your business charactco cor
responds with your religious profession.
Some Of tho worst scoundrels in Ameri-
ca have been members of churches, and
they got fat on sermons about heaven
when they most needed TO have the
pulpits preach that which would either
bring them to repentance or thunder
them out of the holy communions where
their presence was sacrilege and an
infamy.
The Abuse of Sacred Trust.
We must especially deplore the mis-
fortunes of banks in various parts of
this country in that they damage the
banking institution, which is the great
cow, nience of the centuries ind indis-
pensablc to commerce and the advance
of nations With one hand it blesses the
lender, md with the other it blesses the
borrower On their shoulders are the
interests of private individuals and
great corporations. In them are tho
great arteries through which run the
currents of the nation S life. They have
been the resources Of the thousands Of
fnanciers in days of business exigency.
They stand for accommodation, for IA
cility, for individual, state and national
relief. AT their head and in their man.
egement there are as much interest and
moral worth Is in any class of men, per-
haps mora How nefarious, then, the
behavior of those who bring disrepute
upon this venerable, benignant and God
honored institution.
We also deplore abuse of trust funds
because the abusers fly in the face OF
divine goodness which seems determined
to bless this land We are having Sc
ries of unexampled national harvests.
The wheat gamblers got hold of the
wheat. and the corn gamblers get hold
Of the corn The full tide Of Gods
mercy toward this land is put back by
those great bikes of dishonest resist
ance When God provides enough food
and clothing to feed and apparel this
whole nation like princes, the scramble
of dishonest men to got more than their
share, and get it at all hazards, keeps
everything shaking with uncertainty
and everybody asking "What next Z"
Every week makes new revelations.
How many more bank presidents and
bank cashiers have been speculatlng
with other peoples money, and how
many more bank directors are in imbe-
Gle silence, letting the perfdy go On,
the great and patient God only knows!
Ny opinion is that we have got near
the bottom. The wind has been pricked
from the great bubble of American spec
ulation. The men who thought that the
Judgment day was at least 5000 years
off found it in 1898 or 1897 or 1896.
And this nation has been taught that
men must keep their hands out of other
peoples pockets. Great businesses built
an borrowed capital have been obliter-
ated, and mon who had nothing have
lost all they had. 1 believe we are start
ed on higher career of prosperity than
this land has ever seen, if, and If, and