The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-02-22

STAMPED Cain like, upon their brow.
Living always rides upon Debts back
enee wrote Benjamin Franklin. The Sec
enc vice IS lying; the first is running into
febt."
when a man needlessly and Willfully
runs into debt. he opens the sulee gates
of falsehood. He processes his willingness
10 CLASH hands with deception and deceit
,rhe debtor says to his creditor. Il have
no money this morning, but I Will nay
vou next week" His words are false; he
has no intention of paying next week.
The debtor says: Il am now trying to
sell some land. The deal is almost closed,
then | will send You check The debt
or knows he is a falsifier; he has no Land
to sell.
this curse of running into debt became a
moral degenerate. He went to another
friend and borrowed $500 ana gave as Sc
ellrity some cattle Which he progressed to
own at that time in Kansas. In fact he
did not own a horn or hoof In all the
world. So the perjury habit. which is
often the offspring of debt. Will creep into
mans heart as worm tunnels its way
into the heart of a great tree and leaves
there nothing but death and corruption
and filth "All liars shall have their part
in the lake that burneth with fire ard
birthstone. which is the second death :.
Beware. o man. how you noursh this
destroying child of perjury. which is OF =
ten the offspring of aecursed Debit
Helpless and Innocent Victims.
Willful Debt is the fend who cares not
how many helpless and innocent victims
he may destroy in his own annhlauon.
The pirates of old used to raise their
black flags and prey upon the ancient
shipping The robbers Of Scotland used
to place false lights upon the shores SO
that the ships would be decoyed upon the
rocks and the wrecliers could collect the
broken cargoos. The man who willfully
runs into debt is human vampire who
is sucking the llfeblood out of his butch
er and baker, bis tailor and landlord his
friend and enemy alike. lie cares not
how he gets money so long q 5 his present
desires are satisfied What is tie natura
and inevitable result? There have beer
thousands of small retail merchants
6riven into bankruptcy because .heir Gus
TONER'S supposed to be honorable men
would not pay their bills. There have
been hundreds and thousands of poel
widows and orphans and aged and help
less depositors of small sums In tn,
banks who have lost all merely because
the cashiers have become defaulters and
cared not whom they dragged down will
! them in their own moral and spiritua
| destruction. 1t is contemplate act fol
| n man to steal from millionaire. 1t is
| infinitely meaner for woman to stea
from her poor dressmaSer, her cook o;
her washerwoman, or for a man to ROT
his grocer lyman or iceman or his coach
man or the gardener who sells to him
his flowers 1t Is meaner because thos.
who are robbed under such circumstances
| OIIsf 1prhanc 1tGp tbpii. all nd ba
out to starve and die.
But If II is fiendlike for the willfdl debt.
or to steal from his butcher and baker
how much more criminal is 1t for him t.
destroy the spiritual and moral life oil
his own ehildrenl There is many a mar
who is rearing his children after the cx
allied style of a milllonaires children, WIN
when he dies Will leave to them not on,
cent. In other words, he is Installing int,
the hearts of his boys and girls unnat
ural desires, and then, when he Is gone
those boys and girls. in order to gratif,
those desires, may be led TO plunge into
life of dissoluteness and crime. To illus
! trate, l would introduce to YOU Youn.
man who was once a companion of my
youth. He was the sen of n president O
a large life insurance company in tn,
east. He came to my home some TIM
ago why, Joe" | said to him. AZ hav,
rot seen you for years. Where did yol
come from?' Prom poverty and wan
and drunkenness and from nowhere" h
answered gloomily. Il have come to yo'
for help. VIII you help me?" What wa
the cause of that young mans downfall
The extravagant life his father LED
While that boy was growing up he coul
nave anything he wanted that none
could buy. His father sent him on pleas
ure trips across the sea and willingly pal,
all his oils; then when his father die,
Joe and his sisters We're helplessly strand
ed They had the tastes and desires o
millionaires they had the empty pocket
OF paupe1s. Preparations for sucE trag
edies are being enacted today by selhsl
men all round the world As long a
these wickedly foolish fathers can sat
;sfy their present wants they care no
what may become of their children afte
they are gone. Every wise father Shout
teach his children that the d-breaste
Criole of gold has wings swlfter than tn
winds. When 1t is gone it is very har
to overtake and to bring 1t back. II
should train each child to be able to ear
a livelihood Independent OF any money h
nay bequeath TO that child.
A Well Dressed Villain.
Willful Debt is often a well dressed vii
lain who pretends to be an honest mar
In olden times If man could not pa
his debts he was looked upon in the sam
sense as a thief and sent to jail. Unde
the old Roman law, after spending a ccr
tain time in jail, If he was still unable t
ray his creditors, he was soil into SLAYER
and had to pass his life as a serf. Som
enc might say that such a condition
very hard and unjust, and so it Is Blu
in many cases, when man will delibsr
atey enter a store and run up a heavy bill
which he has no intention or paying II
is just as much a robber as the snea
thief who PUSHES into the bakery am
steals "A leaf of bread, and he should hay
little mercy shown to him. The debtO
not only steals the groceryman's goods
but he steals his time and his service.
Many man who for years has deiih
erately run up all the debts he can is to
day walking around our streets clalmln
that in the sight of the law he is honest