The Opelousas courier., 1902-02-01
RIGHT. uses or WEALTH,
A MANS FIRST DUTY. IS TO HIM.
SELF AND HIS FAMu Y.

vi Hle
ganta University Before the National
Congregational counclI-Men to Whom
the Possession OF Great Riches is
. Curse.
At the recent session of the National
Congregational Council an address was
delivered by the Rev. DR.. Horace Rim
stead, President of Atlanta University
on "The Right Use of Wealth" H
said:
To the ties of family and of human
brotherhood may be added those Of citi-
zenship. Men are fellow-citizens. bound
together in a ommon obligation to nre.
serve, protect, strengthen and purify the
government under which they live. Here
in my judgment, is a widely overlooked
and greatly u~ndervalued field for the
wise expenditure of wealth. Upriph,
government, and clean politics, and good
citizenship can never be adequately S.
cured and perpetuated by the State alone
IN its corporate capacity. There are
legitimate and honorable uses for money
IN efforts to dethrone the vicious to SIM
press corrupt rings, to educate public
sentiment for the enactment OF whole
some laws, and to safeguard their en-
torcenlent. The State cannot apnro-
PIRATE money for such purposes. The
money must come, if at all, from private
patriotic charity, Last, but by no means
least in U catalogue Of objects to which,
wealth should be devoted, let us men,
ton religion and education.
Or. Bumstead then devoted consider
able attention to the principles which
should regulate the use Of wealth-the
principle of stewardship; that of the
personal equation, the difference of ca.
pacIty, tasfe, and opportunity; the prin-
oiple OF relative value, and the principle
OF tdealism. In conclusion, he said:
In closing this address l desire to call
attention to a very striking economic
fact, which has a very significant spir-
itual lesson. Through the division of
labor, the invention of machinery. and
the combinations of capital, the produc-
tive powers of man are being rapidly
increased to a point of efficiency far in
excess of the needs of his physical ma
ture. Thqre seems every reason to be-
lieve that this productive power to be-
is to go on increasing indefinitely. At
the same time, the capacity of the human
stomach and the superficial area of the
human body remain substantially con-
slant quantities through all the advanc-
ing stages of civilization, so that there is
q limit to the amount of bread and cloth
which man can use in keeping himself
from being hungry and cold. As civil
cation progresses, less and less time will
be required, and fewer and fewer men
will be employed, in ministering to the
physical needs Of the race, even includ-
ing in these needs all reasonable in
crease in the comforts and refnements
of q wholesome physical existence.
From this curious condition of things,
only two results are possible. One is
increased idleness, luxury, and vice
leading to the arrest of civilization, and
possibly to the decay and death of large
portions of the race. The other is the
diversion of the surplus labor and
wealth of the world into channels that
shall minister to the aesthetic, intellec-
tuai, ethical, and spiritual development
of the race. Who can doubt that in this
latter alternative we find the desire and
purpose Of God?
1t may sometimes happen that the best
use OF wealth is not to use it individu-
ally, but to renounce it altogether, or
to hold it in common with others. The
liberty and at times the duty of the
remuneration of wealth or the living Of
the communistic life seems to be clear
iy recognized III the Bible and justified
by the experience of mankind. Jesus
told the rich young lawyer to sell all
he had and give to the poor. 1t was an
act of moral surgery that the Great Ply
stefan deemed necessary to save the
voting mans spiritual life. The world
contains many men to-day who would
be greatly benefited by such an applica-
ton of the knife-mean, sordid, stingy,
s~elf-indulgent, grasping and avaricious
men, with no thoughts of sympathy for
humanity, no realizing sense of the re-
sponsibility which the possession OF
wealth has placed upon them. In some
such cases it is probable that nothing
but the absolute remuneration of all they
have would be able to save them from
spiritual death.
We must not, however, overlook the
fact that the remuneration of wealth and
the living of the. communistic life are
treated in the Bible as exceptions rather
than normal. For the great majority of
men wealth is a thing not to be re-
nounced, but to be used. For what OBJ
jects should it be used and what are
some of the principles by which its use
should be regulated?.
First of ali, it goes without saying
that a man should spend his wealth upon
himself and his family. Self-preserva-
ton is the first law of nature. Every
man should, if able, bear his own burden
OF self-support. And If any man pro-
yideth not for his own, and especially
his own household, he hath denied the
faith, and is worse than an unbeliever.
AS a corollary of this, the maintenance
and enlargement Of ones business or
trade becomes a legitimate object for
the expenditure of wealth. A mar owes
himself and his family not only food.
raiment, and shelter, which a daily wage
might supply; he is under obligation,
within reasonable limits, to improve the
r~aaterial condition of his family and to