Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-02-09

! where their presence was u sacrilege and
an iniamy.
Abuse of Trust Funds.
We must especially deplorc the nisfor-
tunes of banks in various parts Of this
country in that they damage the banking
institution, which is the great convenience
! of the centuries and Indispensable to
commerce and the advance of nations.
| With one hand 1t blcsscs the lender, and
with the other it blcsscs the borrower
On their shoulders are the interests of pri
Natc individuals and great corporations.
In them are the great arteries through
which run the currents of the nation $
life They have been the resources of the
thousands of iinancicrS in days of business
exigcncy. They stand for accommodation,
for facility, for individual, state and ma
tional relief At their head and in their
management there are as much interest and
moral worth in any class of men, per
haps more. How nefarous, then, the be-
havior of those who bring disrcputo upon
this venerable. bcnignant and God honor
cd institution
We also dcplore abuse of trust funds
because the abuscrs fly in the face of di-
vine goodness which seems determined to
blcs, this land We are having Il series of
uncxampcd national harvests. The wheat
gamblers get hold of the wheat and the
corn gamblers get hold of the corn The
fun tide of God mercy toward this land
H. put back by those great bikes of dishon-
est resistance VIXEN God provides enough
food and clothing to feed and apparel this
whole nation like princes the scrabble of
dishonest men to get moro than their
share and gCt il at all hazards keeps every
thing shaking with uncertainty and every
body asking, "What next Every week
makes new revelations How many more
bank presidents and bank cashiers have
been specializing with other peoples mon
ey and how many moro bank directors are
in imhccile silence, letting the pertidy go
on. the great ana patient God only knows
My opinion is that we have got near the
bottom. The wind has been prickcd from
the great bubble of American speculation
The men who thought that the Judgment
day was at least > 100 years Off found it in
1898 or 1897 or 1896, and this nation has
been taught that men must keep their
hands ont of other people, pockets. Great
businesses built on borrowed capital have
been ohlitcrated, and mon who had moth
ing have lost all they had. ! believe we
are started on a higher career of prosper
ity than this land has ever sCcn-if and If
and IT,
Evils of Speculation.
If the first men, and especially Chris
tan men, will learn never to speculate
upon borrowed capital-if you have a
mind to take your own money and turn it
all into kites. to fly them over every com.
mon in the United States, you do society
no wrong, except when you tumble your
helpless children into the poorhousc for
the public to take care of. But you have
no right to take the money of Others and
turn it into kites. There is one word that
has dcludCd more people into bankruptcy
and state prison and ruin than any other
word in commercial life, and that is the
word borrow. That one word is RESPONSE
bic for all the declarations and cmbczzlc-
mcntS and financial considerations of the
last 20 years. When executors conclude to
spec ulate with the funds of an estate COM
mitted to their charge, they do not pur-
lon they say they only borrow. When o
banker makes an overtiraft upon his insti-
tuition, he does not commit theft; he
only borrows When the officer of com
pany, by flaming advertisement in some
religious paper and gilt certificate of
stock, gets multitude of country people
TO put their small earnings to an enter
prise for carrying on some undcvcloped
nothing, he does not fraudulently take
their money; he only borrows. When a
young man with easy access to his en-
ployer's money drawer or the confidential
clerk by close propnquity to the account
books takes a few dollars for Wall street
excursion, he expects to put it bnck. He
will put it all back. He will put it all
back very soon. He only borrows Why,
whom you are going to do wrong, pro
nOunce so long "A word as borrow, a word
of six letters, when you can get "A shorter
word more descriptive of the reality, a
word of only five letters-the word steal?
When II Is Right TO Borrow.
There are times when we all borrow,
and borrow legitimately, and borrow with
the divine blessing, for Christ in his ser
mon on the mount enjOins, "From him
that would borrow of thee turn not thou
, away \ young man rightly borrow.
money to get his education. Purchasing
a house and not able to pay all down il
cash, the purchaser rightly horrows it or
: mortgage. Crises come in business, whCI
it would be wrong fee ii nan not to Dor
: row. But | roll this warning through al
: these aislCS, over the backs of I'll these
pews, never borrow to speculate-not a
dollar, not cent, not farthing. Young
men, l warn you by your worldly pros
a.
souls do not do it. There are breaker.
distinguished for their shpwrecks-thC
Hanways, the Needles, the Baskets, the
Douvcrs, the Anderlos, the Skcrrics-ant
, many IA craft has gone to pieces on thosl
rocks, but | have to tell you that all tn,
| Hanways, and the Needles, and the Cas-
l kets and the Skcrries are AS nothing com
pared with the long line of breakers which
bound the ocean of commercial lie north
south, east and west with the white foam
OF their despair and the drge of thei
L damnation--thc breakers of borrow.
If ] had only IA worldly weapon to us,
y on this subject, ! would give you the fact
T. fresh from the highest authority, that Q,
u per cent of those who go into wild specu
lation lose all, but l have n better warn
! ing than worldly warning. From tn,
place where men have pershed--body
It mind, sOul--stand off, stand off, Abstrac
pulpit discussion must step aside on th
question. Faith and repentance are abso
lutely necessary, but faith and rcpentanc,
are no more doctrines of the Bible than
commercial integrity. Render to al
their dues. W owe no man anything
u And while | mean TO preach faith anC
repentance, more and more To preacl
them, do not mean to spend any time il
VI chasing the Utilities and Jcbusites ant
Girgashitcs of Bible times when there arr
so many evils right around us destroyin,
men and women for time and for eternity
| The greatest evan gel site nreochpr III