Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1901-07-13


change, where people sell what they
cannot get paid for it. A prominent
banker tells me that he thinks $4,000
people financially prostrated by the
recent insanities in Wall street. Here
and there a case is reported, but the
vast majority suffer in silence. The
children are brought home from school
the wardrobe be denied replenishment,
the table will have scant supply, wild
generosity will be turned into grim
want. Forty years from now will be
felt the disaster of last months black
Thursday.
Can you hear the story of the unprin-
cipled manipulators of stocks and of
the devices of the gambling saloon to
entrap the verdant and unsuspicious
without having your pulses tingle, and
your heart thump. and your entire ma
ture shocked with the villainy? If so
you are not much of a man or much of
a woman. You ought to be angry, for
there is no sin in such vehement dis
like. You ought to be so angry that you
could not repress your feelings in the
presence of young men who are just
forming their life theories. In every
possible way you ought to denounce
such stupendous robbery. Let it be
known that the only successful game
in which a man plays for money is
the one which a man loses all a2d
stops.
Indignation Over Fraud.
There is another sin that we are Of
tentimes called to be angry with, and
that is fraud. We all like honesty, and
when it is sacrificed we are vehement
in denunciation- We hope that the de-
tectives will soon come upon the track
of the absconding bank official of the
burglar who blew up the safe, of the
clerk who skillfully changed the figures
in the account book, of the falsifier who
secured the loan on valueless property,
of the agent who because of his per-
centage wrongfully admits a man to
| the benefit of life insurance policy
when his heart is ready to stop and
who comes from an ancestry char
acteristically short lived.
One act of fraud told of in big head
| lines in the morning papers rightfuIly
arouses the nations wrath 1t is the
| interest of every good man and good
woman who reads of the crime to have
it exposed and punished. Let it go
unscathed, and you put a premium on
| fraud, you depress public morals, you
| induce those who are on the fence be-
| tween right and wrong to get down on
| the wrong side, and you put the busi-
ness of the world on down grade. The
| consta bulary and penitentiary must do
| their work. But while the merciless
| and the goddess cry: Good for him! 1
am glad he is within prison DOORS. "
be it your work to find out if the man
| i-
causes of his moral overthrow. Per-
| haps he started in business life under
a tricky firm, who gave him wrong no
| tlons of business integrity; perhaps
there was a combination of circum-
| stances almost unparalleled for temp
tation; perhaps there were allevia-
tions; perhaps he was born wrong and
never got over it; perhaps he did not
realize what he was doing and if you
are a merciful man you will think of
other perhaps which, though they
may not excuse, will extenuate Per-
haps he has already repented aud is
washed in the blood of the Lamb and
is as sure of heaven as you are What
an opportunity you have now for obey
ing my text. You were angry at the
misdemeanor, but you are hopeful for
| the recovery of the recalcitrant
Blessed all prison reformers, Blessed
are those governors and presidents who
| are glad when they have a chance to
pardon! Blessed the forgiving father
| who welcomes home the prodigal
Blessed the dying thief whom the Lord
took with him to glory. saying This
day shalt thou be with me in para
| disei"
Help for tho Unb-liever.
Have lightning in your eye and q
flush in your cheek and a frown on
your brow for a dastardy that would
blot out the sun and moon and stars OF
Christianity and leave all things in an
arctic night, the cold equal to the
darkness. You do well to be angry, but
how about those who have been flung
of scepticism, and that is more mil
lions than you will ever know of until
the judgment day reveals everything
All, here comes your opportunity for
gentleness, kindness, and sympathy
The probability is that If you
had been piled with the same in
f1uence as this unbeliever there
would not be a Bible in all your
house from cellar to attic. Per-
all your house from cellar to attic. Per
haps he was in some important trans
action swfndled by a member of the
church whose taking Of the sacrament
was sacrilege. Perhaps he read agnos-
tic books and heard agnostic lectures
and mingled in agnostic circles until
he has been befogged and needs your
Christian help more than any one thai