The Oskaloosa herald., 1909-08-19
CHAUTAUQUA
GsgEa5o
Program, Notes and Comments of the 1909 Assembly

| WHICH He kHcW W nc iWTOhS. Auu 81
with all Of us, the turning point II
the life is the day when we surrender
the soul for something that for the
time being seems more desirable.
Most of the temptations that come
to us to sell the soul come in connec
ton with the getting OF money. The
Bible says, The love of money is the
root of all evil II | had been making
the statement, | think | would have
said, that the love of money is the
root of nearly all evil. But that Is
probably due to the fact that 1 an
so conservative in thought and meth
cd of statement, that prefer to leOye
margin in the statement OF a pro-
position so that if anybody disputes
it | can bring proof of more tnan
said But the Bible says, The love
| of money is the root of all evil" and
shall not attempt to weaken the
statement. If it is mistake at all
1t is so slight mistake that we need
not spend time in discussing 1t.
| "And so many of our temptations
come through the love of money ana
| the desire to obtain 1t, it is worth
while to consider the laws of accum-
| ulation. We must all have money;
we need food, clothing and shelter,
and money is necessary for the pur-
| chase of these things. Money IS not
an evil in itself-money is in fact a
very useful servant. 1t is bad only
| when it becomes the master, and the
love of it is only hurtful because 1t
can,, and often does, crowd out the
| love of nobler things. go. t.,
| =. The Laws Of Accumulation. =
But since we must all use money
and in our active days store up
money for the days when our strength
fails, let us see if We can agree upon
the rules that should govern us in
the accumulation OF the money we
need. How much money can man
rightfully collect from society? Sure
| ly there can be no disagreement here.
He cannot rightfully collect more than
more than he rightfully earns, he col
lects what somebody else has earned,
and we call it stealing If man takes
that which belongs to another. Not
only is man limited in his collection
of what he honestly earns. but no
honest man will desire to collect more
than he earns.
"If man cannot collect more than
he rightfully earns, it is. then, a mat
ter of the utmost Importance to know
how much money a man can honestly
| earn. l venture an answer to tins
and say, that man cannot honestly
earn more than fairly measures tie
| service which he renders to society,
| cannot conceive of any way of earn
| ing money except to give society a
service equivalent to the money col
| lected. This is a fundamental propo-
sition and it is important that 1t
should be understood, for If one de-
sires to collect largely from society
he must be prepared to render large
service to society, and our schools
| and colleges, our churches and all
other organizations for the improve.
ment of man that have for one or
| their chief objects the enlargement
| of the capacity of service.
There is an apparent exception In
the case of an inheritance, but it Is
not a real exception, for ii the man
| who leaves the money has honestly
earned it, he has already given society
| a service of equivalent value and,
therefore, has right to distribute it.
And money received by Inheritance
is either payment for service already
| rendered, or payment in advance for
service to be rendered. No right
| minded person will accept money
even by inheritance, without recog-
nizing the obligation 1t imposes, to
render a service in return. This SER
vice is not always rendered to the
| one from which this money is received
| but often to society in general. In
| fact, most of the blessings which we
receive come to us in such way that
we cannot distinguish the donors and
must make our return to the whole
public.
But l need not dwell upon this, be.
cause in this country more than any
where else in the world we appreciate
the dignity of labor and we under.
stand that 1t is honorable to serve
And yet there is room for improve
ment, for all our land there are scat
tered here and there young men and
young women-and even parents, who
still think that it IS more respectable
for young man to spend in idleness
the money someone else has earned
than to be himself producer OF
| wealth. And as long as this senti-
ment is to be found anywhere. there
Is educational work to be done, for
public opinion will never be what It
ought to be until 1t puts the badge OF
disgrace upon the idler. no matter how
rich he may be, rather than upon the
| man who with brain or muscle con,
tributes to the nations wealth, the
| nations strength and the nations
progress. But, as | said, the inner
itance is an apparent, but not an ac-
tual exception, and must be measured
| by the service rendered. This is so
important proposition that | beg