Los Angeles herald., 1907-11-18
DAY breaches A
BUSINESS SERMON
TALKS TO CONGREGATION ON
FINANCIAL QUESTION
"More Faith in Our Fellow Men Will
Save U.s." He Says-Moral Intea-
rity Is Basis of Busi-
ness Success

IF have made gold my hope and have
laid to the fine gold thou are my con-
fldence-I should then have denied the
God that is above"
This famous quotation from the Book of
Job, chapter 81, decrying the placing of
too much faith in the almighty dollar
and too little in God, was the text taken
yesterday morning by William Horace
Day, pastor of the First Congregational
church, for a sermon on Business Con-
fldence," subject apropos at this tirue
of pecuniary difficulty. The pastor said
in part:
Job had experienced reverses. The
problems of business confidence con-
fronted this ancient capitalist as they
confront those of our time. The press,
that record of Gods dealings with the nn-
tions, contains facts and judgments which
furnish food for reflection. The latest
chapters from this modern book of
chronicles present the country of four
weeks ago prosperous with bulging stores
OF marketable products which the normal
movements of business would care for
Three weeks and a half ago the copper
corner broke. United Copper, which ha
been run up to 61 collapsed and fell to 10.
Call money in New York was 125. The
Knickerbocker Trust company whose ex-
president awaits suicides burial, closed
its doors and the demon of financial panic
spread ltS Qark wings over tue pdiihS VI
the metropolis.
The Sudden Fall
what had happened? There was plenty
of wealth. there was a great volume of
currency in private banks, but business
confidence had been lost. The very hearts
blood of business-con in the banks
had been impaired. Men are asking the
further question, Who made it happen?
On the one hand we are told the presi-
6ent and his pig stick are alone to blame.
The vice president of the Knickerbocker
says One man is to blame, because in
public and in private speeches he has been
undermining the credit business of the
country The New York Sun jeers at the
White House Hail Caesar, we who are
about to bust, salute thee
"Others among our prophets -.nf-the
press tell us only in the sense that the
man who turns the light on the loaded
dice of the gambler. when the light Is on,
the public certainly loses confidence In
that gambler. And Mr. Bryan comes to
the help of his rival counseling us not to
blame the sheriff but the horse thief for
the disturbance.
whether the president is to blame for
intensifying the difficulty and increasing
the inevitable sufferings Of the innocent
in pushing indiscriminate Indictment is
of less moment than that we should
realize that the basis of business conf
dence is fundamentally moral. There
must have been a leaking joint or the gas
filter, though careless with his nakel
light would not have been torn by ex-
plosion. The Outlook is right; confidence
is not destroyed by exposure and punish
ment of malpractice, but by the MAJ
practice This catastrophe is like the
collapse of the Quebec bridge. The great
bottom cords were unequal to the strain.
American business, with all it's integrity,
contained some great slams where the
bottom cords of honesty were deficient,
and they buckled under the strain of the
lavishness of the period of prosperity.
Moral Integrity
''The rebuilding of business confidence
must begin at the bottom on the moral
foundation Confidence, which is the lie
of credit must be built of conscience. In
this work some rotten walls will have to
be dynamited. AS in San Francisco, the
first work is to clear aehe debris and the
tottering. The men who are out of moral
plumb must go No less must we feel q
rational faith n our fellows. These verv
days have laid bare the graft at the heart
OF some of our institutions, but these are
but few; 1t has no less tested and proven
the stability of those whose concrete is
really reinforced with the steel of per-
sonal integrity. Because we know that
the great majority want to be honest and
that our institutions are sound we must
begin at once to contribute our share ,oI
restored confidence. Pull that money out
Of the safety drawer, those bills out from
Under the carpet. Believe in men, ami
the situation is bothered AS the hiss Of
the stem of the Mauritania cutting the
waves seems to reach our ears In her
rush for New York the fact that sne
bears $12,O0O.OOO of gold gives us here IL
California new confidence but the moral
gift which each man may give who will
is the real basis we need. Not in fine
gold is our confidence, but in the God that
is above.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget, lest we forget"
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