Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-07-15


know very we'll there are thousands of
families III our great cities who stay in
neighEorh0Uds until they have exhaust
ed all their capacity to get trusted.
They stay in the neighbOrhoods until
the druggists will let them have no
more medicines, and the butchers will
sell them no more meat, and the bak-
ers Will sell them no more bread, and
the grocerymen will sell them no more
sugar. Then they find the region I'M
healthy. ana they hire a carman, whom
they never pay, to take them to some
new quarters, where the merchants,
the druggists, the butchers, the bakers
and the grOcerymen come and give
them the best rounds of beef and the
best sugars and the best merchandise
of all sorts until they find out that the
only compensation they are going to
get is the acquaintance Of the patrons.
There are thousands of such thieves in
all our big cities. You see, [ call them
by the right name, for if a man buys
anything he does not mean to pay for
he is q thief.
Of course sometimes men are flung
Of mfsfOrtunes, and they cannot pay. [
know men who are just as honest in
having failed as other men are honest
in succeeding. l suppose there is hard
~ q man who has gone through life
but there have been some times when
he has been SO hurt of misfortune he
could not meet his obligations. But all
that l put aside. There are a multi
tude Of people who buy that which
they never intend to pay for, for which
there is no reasonable expectation they
will ever be able to pay. Now, if you
have become obIivious of honesty and
mean to defraud, why not save the
merchant as much as you can? Why
not go some day to his store and when
nobody is looking just shoulder the
ham or the spare rib and in modest ST.
lence steal away? That would be less
criminal. because in the other way you
take not only the mans goods, but you
take the time of the merchant and the
time of his accountant, and you take
the time OF the messenger who brought
you the goods. Now, if you must steal,
steal in a way to do as little damage to
the trader as possible.
John Randolph arose in the American
finance was being discussed and,
stretching himself to his full height, in
a shrill voice he cried out, "Mr. Chair
man, / have discovered the philOso-
piers stone, which turns everything
into gold-pay as you CO." Society has
got to be reconstructed on this subject
or the seasons Of defalcation will con-
tinue to repeat themselves. You have
no right to ride in a carriage for which
you are hOpelessly in debt to the wheel
wright who furnished the landau and
to the horse dealer who provided the
bI0oded span and to the harness maker
who caparisoned the gay steeds and to
the Iiveryman who has provided the
stabling and to the driver who, with
rOsetted hat, sits on the coach box.
wasted wealth.
Oh. am so glad it is not the absolute
necessities Of life which send people
out into dishonesties and fling them
into misfortunes. 1t is almost always
the superiuities. God has promised US
house, but not palace; raiment, but
not chinchilla; food, but not canvas
back duck. / am yet to see one of
these great defaIcations which is not
connected in some way with extrava-
gance.
Extravaganza accounts for the dis
turbance of national finances. Aggre-
cations are made up Of units, and when
one half Of the people Of this country
owe the other half how can we eX- !
pect financial prosperity? Again and
again at the national election we have
had a spasin Of virtue, and we said,
'Out with one administration and in
with another, and let us have q new
deal OF things, and then we will get
over all our perturbation" l do not
care who is president or who is secre-
tary of the treasury or how much
breadstufs go out of the country CT
how much gold is imported until we
learn to pay our debts and it becomes
q general theory in this country that
men must buy no more than they can
pay for Until that time comes there
will be no permanent prosperity. Look
at the pernicious eXtravaga nce. Take
the one fact that New York every year
pays S3.000,00O for theatrical amuse-
ments. While once in awhile Henry
Irving or an Edwin Booth or a Joseph
jefferson thrills a great audience with
ira gedy, you know as well as [ do that
the vast majority of the theaters are
as debased as debased they can be, as
unclean as unclean they can be and as
damnable as damnable they can be.
Three million dollars-the vast major
ity of those dollars going in the wrong
direction.
Over q hundred millions paid in this
for cigars and tobacco a year!
About $2.00O,OO0,OOO paid for strong
drink in one year in this country! With
such extravaganza, pernicious extrava-
gance, can there be any permanent