Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1907-12-20
Calma0e
sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmage. ID. ID.

ping and bargain hunting this prnc-
teal sermon has an especial tmels-
ness. The text Is Hebrews xii, II,
Wherefore lift up the hands which
hang down and the feeble knees"
How the ways OF doing business have
changed within the last fifty years!
When our grandfathers lived the land
was Sparsely settled. Then every man
willing to work could find plenty of
work to do Then the UNIVERSAL mot.
TO was: Never build upon another
mans foundation, Never try to un.
dermine the work OF your neighbors."
If man had n little country store
no one ever thought of building an
other store just across the street to
split his trade in half 1t was a uni.
versally recognized truth that there
was only room enough for one store in
village. and the first man who start.
ed store had a personal right to that
trade. and no one else dared say him
nay.
Ii another man started a blacksmith
shop in village he had monopoly
OF his line IF business ir that region.
A neighbor had the right to start
blacksmith shop ten miles away, but
not another I'm that locality. What was
true of the blacksmith was also true OF
the miller, and the cobb.er, and the
physician, and the lawyer. Then the
harvest had so few laborers that no
man tried to build up his success upon
the ruin of another's life. But now all
things have changed. Instead of trade
hunting the man the man has to hunt
his trade. Whereas in olden times
there were dozen different places
for each man, now there are a dozen
different applicants for each place:
Thus men today seem to win their sue
cess 10y crushing out the lives Of their
fellow men. And this fact is especial
~ true in the mercantile world. Each
year the margin of profits is being cut
down. The merchant who can buy the
closest and sell the cheapest is the man
who builds up the biggest trade and
has the largest store.
This competition for trade has be-
come SO bitter that the merchants In
order TO underbid each other have said
to their partners: Eve will take some
goods and mark them down below
cost. These we will put upon the bar
gain counter. Then after the people
have fiocked to this bargain counter
perhaps we can sell them some other
goods that will reimburse us for our
direct loss" Thus almost every day
you can see some advertisements in
the newspapers which tell you that at
such aud such store at certain times
such and such goods will be sold at
price below cost When YOU read
these reductions you know that these
goods could not be made for such n
selling price. And yet there is a large
class or people who daily scan the
newspaper columns for the bargain
sales. These buyers go from bargain
counter TO bargain counter and then
come home gloating over the fact that
they have purchased those goods cheap
er than they could have been made.
The Bargain Counter Tragedy.
Now, this is sad commentary up
on the social condition of modern life.
Whenever n man or n woman buys an
article cheaper than it cost to produce
that article some one has 10 suffer.
There is no exception to the rule. To-
day would use for my sermonic
theme The Tragedy OF the Bargain
Counter" and the lessons it teaches.
In the first place. the great throngs
pushing and jostllng about the bar
gain counter impress me with the
thought that for the great masses of
people life is a terrific financial strug-
fpla Erntf,
from night until morning the vital
question uppermost in most peoples
minds is how they can make their in
come equal their outgo. The children
must have shoes and dresses and I'M
derwear. The house servant must be
paid. Food must be provided for the
table. Medicines must be bought.
School bills must be met Yet the sal
airy cannot lie made any bigger. Now,
what is the average man TO do? He
must cut down his expenses. And in
every way in which those expenses
can be cut down people do it. This is
one or the great reasons of the multi
tudes fiocking about the bargain coun-
tiers.
You do not believe this? Well. per-
maps the dollar question is not vital
question III your family. You have
made financial success. and your
home Is on Easy street But is your
memory so short lived that you can
not remember the experiences of your
old fathers house. Money was not as
plentiful then as II is now. Then
every dollar had to be made to do its
full stint OF work. Then there was no
waste and no foolish buying Do YOU
remember how your mother used to
go shopping day after day? How tired
she would look when she came homei
And the strange fact was she would
SO often come home empty handed.
Your father would come I'm for supper
and say, well, mother, what did YOU
accomplish today" and with n tired
voice she would answer: Nothing.
john. nothing. / do not know what I
shall do. The two girls must have
new coats. Then the boys need warm
underwear. l must get another set of
warm blankets for Jennie's bed. Ev-
-erything Is so hight OF course II would |
De easy enough TO shop IL we had plen-
ty or money, but we haven't, and the
clothing must be bought, and how to |
buy 1t is the question. Well, will try |
again tomorrow and see what | can
do" Then your father said: TOO bad. |
Mary; too bad! | hate to see you look |
so tired. But perhaps when we pay off |
the mortgage You will have n LITTLE /