The Washington weekly post., 1900-12-11

sMBER III, 1YUW
sooner you close up your Gospel and pitch
II INTO the depths Of the Atlantic Deem
the better. An orthodox swindlsr Is worse
than heterodox swindlsr. TIE recitation
Of all the catechisms and creeds efsr writ
ten. ana part8 ting OF all the communion
chalices that ever gIittered in the church
es Of Christendom, viii never save your
soul unless your business character CORE
spends with your religious profession.
Some OF the worst sc0undrels in America
have been members Of churches. and they
got fat on sermons about hsaven when
they most needed TO have the Dulpits
preach that which would either bring
them 10 repentance or thunder them out
OF the holy communions where their pres
enee was sscrilege and an infamy.
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 convenience
Of the centuries, ard indispensable to COM
fnerce and the advance of nations. With
one hand II blesses the lender. and with
;he other II blesses the borrower On their
shoulders are the interests Of private in
divldi-als and great corporations. In them
are the great arteries through which run
fhe currents Of the nations life. They
have been the resources Of the thousands
OF fnaneiers in days Of business exigelcy.
They stand for accommodation. for facil-
ity. for individual. State. and national re-
lief At their head, and IN their manage
nent, there Is as much interest and moral
worth as In any class Of men-perhaps
more. How. nefarious, then, the behavior
OF those who bring disrepute upon this
venerable, benignant, and God-honored
institution!
selfish AbHse of Gods bounty.
I'VE also deplore abuse of trust fun'z,
because the abusers fly in the face OF di-
vine goodness. which seems determined 10
bless this land. We are having a series
Of unexampIed national harvests. The
| wheat gamblers get hold OF the wheat,
and the corn gamblers get hold Of the
corn. The fun tide Of Gods mercy to-
ward this land is put back by those great
dykes Of dishonest resistance. When Goa
provides enough food and clothing 10
feed and apparel this whole nation Ike
princes, the scrabble OF dishonest men 10
get more than their share, and get II at
all hazards, keeps everything shaking
with uncertainty, and everybody asking
| What next% Every week makes new
| revelations. How many more bank pres
| idents and bank cashiers have been spec
| ulating with other peoples money, and
| how many more bank directors are in i'm
beetle silence, letting the pertidy go on,
the great and patient God only knows!
The men who thought that the judgment
| day was at least 5000 years off. found 1t
| in 1889. or 1898. or 1887; and this nation has
| been taught that men must keep their
han nf af rpnnlp'g nnrkHfE
| Great businesses built on borrowed capi-
tai have been obliterated. and men who
had nothing have lost all they had. be-
| lieve we are started on higher career OF
+; prosperity than this land has ever seen,
| if, and If, and if.
'If the first men, and especially Chris
| tian men, will learn never TO speculate
upon borrowed capital-if you have
mind to take your own money and turn
| it all into kites, to fy them over every
| common in the United States, you do So
| eiety no wrong, except when you tumble
your helpless children into the pOorhouSe
| 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 deluded more people into bank
ruptcy and State prison and ruin than any
| other word in commercial life, and that
is the word borrow; that one word is re-
| sponsib,e for all the defalcations and en-
bezzlem ents and financial consternatiOns
of the last twenty years. When executors
| conclude to speculate with the funds of
an estate committed to their charge they
do not purloin, they say they only bOr-
row; when banker makes an overdraft
upon his institution, he does not commit
a theft, he only b0rrows. When the Off
Ger of a company, by flaming advertise
ment in some religious papers and gilt
certificate of stocks. gets a multitude OF
country people TO put their small earnings
into an enterprise for carrying on soma
| undeveloped nothing, he does not fraudu-
| lently take their money, he only borrOws.
| When a young man with easy access to
| his employers money-drawer, or the con-
| fdential clerk, by close prOpinquity 10
| the account-books, takes a few dollars for
a Wall street excursion, he expects TO put
| it back. He will put il all back. He wiz
put ii all back very soon. He only bOr-
| rows. Why, when you are going to do
wrong, pronounce so long word as bOr-
| row, word OF six letters when you can
| get a shorter word more descriptive of
the reality, word of only five letters. the
/ word steal.
| Wrecks on the Reefs of 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. A young man rightly bOrrOWs
money to get his education. Purchasing a
house and not able to pay all down IN
cash, the purchaser rightly bOrrows IL on
mortgage. Crises come in business, when
| il would be wrong for man not TO bor-
! row. But / roll this warning through all
| these aisles over the backs of ali these
pews, never borrow to speculate-nOt a
dollar, not a cent, not a farthing. Young
men, warn you by your worldly pros
poets and the value of your immortal
souls, do not do it. There are breakers
distinguished for their shipwrecks-the
| Hanways, the Needles. the Caskets, the
DOuvers, the Ande@los. the Skerries-and
many a craft has gone to pieces on those
rocks; but / have TO tell you thai all the
Hanways, and the Needles. and the Cask-
cts. and the Skerries are as nothing COM
Jared with the long line Of breakers which
hound the ocean OF commercial life north,
| south. east and west with the white foam
of their despair and the dirge OF their
damnation. The breakers OF borrow.
'Tf l had only a worldly weapon TO use
on this subject / would give you the fact.
| fresh from the highest authority. that
90 per cent. OF those who 90 into Wild
| speculation lose ali; but / have a better
warning than a worldly warning. From
the place where men have perished-mnd,
body, soul-stand of, stand on! Abstract
fuulpit discussion must step aside on this