Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-06-18
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y Among the People. =
THR GREAT PAY-pAY.

entered, each one, a1ter signing ms
name, was handed an envelope con-
tanning his weekly wages.
ISwondered as l noted the transac-
tion,if exact justice were being done in
every case. 1t occurred to me that
since men nor their methods are infal-
lible that some of the men might be
receiving more than they really de-
served and others less. OF course if
this were true it was not due to any
malicious intent, but to mans inability
to fix and maintain exact justice in the
matter of services and rewards. While
there may have been slight mistakes
in the matter of Judgment, each man
was supposed to receive remuneration
commensurate with his merits in the
particular sphere whereunto he had
been called Not one of them Thought
of basing a plea for liberal pay on the
ground that the foreman of the factory
possessed unusual aptness in his ap-
pointed task. Theoretically each one
received according 20 his own individ-
ual merits regardless of the exception
al skill of superintendent or leader.
Some, under tine instruction and in
spiratEon of those farther advanced
than themselves had worked their way
up from lower to higher positions and
in consequence thereo. received larger
pay. But the increase was based upon
their enlarged personal worth to the
institution and not upon the fact that
their teachers were wise and conscien-
tious men.
THIS rule is recognized everywhere
in the commercial world. 1t is not un-
til we enter the realm of religion that
it is denied. In that realm it has been
taught for centuries that there is
sore of psychological juglery by which
a man can escape from himself and re-
ceive large and most precious rewards
on the merits of another. 1t is boldly
affirmed that 1--WE are accounted right
eous before God, only for the merit of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by
faith, and not for our own works or
deservings.
If one were to go into the business
centers of the world and begin teach
ing the young that they could succeed
on the merits of men and women of
great diligence and unquestloned in
tegrty, he would be denounced and
accused of putting premium upon
laZiness and Indifference TO business
success. The message preached there
is Ito succeed, you must embody in
your own lives the same principles
of activity and integrity that charac-
terized those who have won laudible
success" And it is never thought for
a moment that there is any other way
given under heaven or among men"
whereby one can, with credit to him
self, succeed. And why it should be
believed and commonly taught that
one can for many years be careless
possibly reckless, as to his moral life
and then escape the, natural conse-
quences of his Indifferent or prodigal
living solely through the merits of an
other, is one of the many puzzling
facts that has attended the develop
ment of the religious thought and life of
the world. The presumption is that
one may SOW much bad seed and yet
Through some mysterious psychic op-
GRAFTON whereby merit and demerit are
supposed to be transferred, reap a
most glorious harvest in the end.
But to maintain this doctrine one must
be able to show that it is possible to
create deep and impossible gulf be-
tween himself and his own conscience.
Speaking of the misguided attempt
to escape ones real self, Emerson
said: AT home | dream that at Ma
pies, at Rome, / can be intoxicated
with beauty and lose my sadness.
pack my trunk, embrace my friends,
embark on the sea, and at last wake
up in Naples, and ther beside me Is
the stern fact, the sad self, unrelenting
identical that l fled from. seek the
Vatican and the palaces. / affect to be
intoxicated with sights and sugges-
tions; but am not intoxicated. My
giant goes with me wherever l 60"
The deluded traveller must learn
that unless genuine merit is developed
within himself, that unrelentlng iden-
tical giant will go with him to the ends
of the earth, and accompany him
across to the other shore. When those
who sought to encompass the destruc-
rlOn of the woman taken in sin were
told that he who was guiltless should
cast the first stone, they all, being
convicted by their own consclences,
went out one by one"
In the great Judgment when con
science is on the bench, no mistakes
will be made. Every man will then
receive according as his works have
been. Richard III and Lady Macbeth
may loudly profess great faith in the
merits Of "our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Chrlst," but when the eyes of con
science are opened the ghosts of the
murdered twins will vex the soul of
the one, and a perpetual stain of blood
Will be seen on the hand OF the other.
God has put no premium on lndlffer-
ence or disobedience by making it pos
slble for any one 90 escape exact ius-