Marshall County independent., 1900-11-02

ed In. What swapping Of finger and
thumb and wild gesticulation and raw
ing like hyenas and stamping like
buffaloes and swaying to and fro and
jostling and running one upon the
other and deafening uproar, until the
president Of the exchange strikes with
his mallet four or five times. crying.
Order, order." and the astonished
spectator goes out into the fresh air
feeling that he has escaped from pan
demonium. What does it all mean?
will tell you what it means. The
devotees OF every heather temple cut
themselves to pieces and yell and gy-
rate This vociferation and gyration
Of the Stock Exchange is all appropri-
ate. This Is the worship of the gold
en- calf
Day Of Judgment Coming.
But every day is a day of Judgment.
and God is all the time grinding to
pieces the golden calf. Some years
ago in a time of panic We learned as
never before that forgeries will not
pay, that the watering OF stocks will
not pay, that the spending of $4,000
on country seats and a palatial city
residence when there are only S30,000
income will not pay that the appropria-
tien of trust funds to our own pri-
vate speculation will not pay. We had
a great national tumor in the shape OF
fictitious prosperity. We called it ma
tional enlargement. Instead OF calling
it enlargement we might better have
called it a swelling. 1t was tumor,
and God cut it out, and the nation was
sent back to the principles of our
fathers and grandfathers, when twice
three made six instead OF sixty and
when the apples at the bottom OF the
barrel were just as good as the apples
on the top of the barrel. and a silk
handkerchief was not half cotton.
and a man who wore S. coat paid for
was more honored than man who
wore $50 coat not paid for.
The modern golden calf, like the
one Of the text, is very apt to be made
out of borrowed gold. These Israelites
of the text borrowed the earrings of
the Egyptians and then melted them
into a god. That Is the way the gold
en- calf is made nowadays. A great
many housekeepers, not paying for
the articles they get, borrow of the
grocer and the baker and the butcher
and the dry goods seller. Then the
retailer borrows of the wholesale deal
er. Then the wholesale dealer bor-
rows of the capitalist, and we borrow
and borrow and borrow until the COM
munity Is divided into two classes,
those who borrow, and those who are
borrowed Of, and after awhile the
capitalist wants his money, and he
rushes upon the wholesale dealer. and
the wholesale dealer wants his money
and he ruShes upon the retailer, and
the retailer wants his money, and he
rushes upon the customer, and we all
go down together. There is many a
man in this day who rides in a car
riage and owes the blacksmith for the
tire and the wheelwright for the wheel
and the trimmer for the curtain and
the driver for unpaid wages and the
harness maker for the bride and the
furrier for the robe. while from the
tip Of the carriage tongue clear back
to the tip of the camel's hair shawl
fiuttering out of the back of the We
hicle everything is paid for by notes
that have been three times renewed
Utnya na,,ort.ba.l
But, If We have made this world
our god, when We come to die We shall
see our idol demolished How much
of this world are you going to take
with you into the next? Will you have
two pOckets-one in each side of your
shroud? Will you cushion your cas-
ket with bonds and mortgages and GER
tificateS of stock? Ah, no, The fer
ryboat that crosses this Jordan takes
no baggage nothing heavier than an
immaterial spirit. You may, perhaps,
take $500 with you two or three miles
in the shape Of funeral trappings to
the cemetery. but you will have to
leave them there. 1t would not be safe
for you to lie down there with a gold
watch or a diamond ring. 1t would be
temptation to the pillagers. If We
have made this world our god, we shll
see our idol when We die ground to
pieces by our pillow, and We shall
have to drink it in bitter regrets for
the wasted opportunities Of lifetime.
Soon we will be gone. Where are the
men who tried Warren Hastings in
Westminster hall? Where are the pill
grim fathers who put out for America?
Where are the veterans who on the
Fourth of July, 1894, marched from
New York park to the Battery and
fired a salute and then marched back
again? and the Society of the Cincin-
natl who dined that afternoon at Ton
tine coffee house on Wall street? and
Grant Thoburn, who that afternoon
waited fifteen minutes at the foot of
Maiden Lane for the Brooklyn ferry
boat, then got in and was rowed across
by two men with oars, the tide SO
strong that it was an hour and ten
minutes before they landed? Where
are the veterans that fired the salute
and the men of the Cincinnati society
who that afternoon drank to the patri-
otic toast? and the oarsmen that row.
ed the boat and the people who were
transported? Gone. Oh. this Is
1eeting world, 1t is dying world A
man who had wOrshiped it all his days
in his dying moments described him
self when he said, Fool. fool, fool"
Unfailing Securities.