The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-04-18
Only That Can He Right
fully Get From So ciety
BRYAN PUTS FIGURES H|GH
In Address at University Of Virginia
COmnlOner DenOunces Criminal
CORPORATIONS. Their SubS1dlZeI
Newspapers and Their Lawyers
Iarake Before y. nj. c.. A.
(The Times-Dispatch.

(The Times-Dispatch.)
Charlottesville. Va, April 9-The
feature Of the thirty-second State
convention of the Virginia Young
Mems Christian Association was the
address in Cabell Hall, at the Univer-
sity of Virginia, by William j. Bryan,
on The Price of a Soul
Mr.. Bryan arrived from Washington
at T:1e o'clock this morning. and be-
came the guest OF President Alder
man, who introduced him to he audi
ence Of men which filled the hall
from pit to gallery.
Dr.. Alderman said that for the past
fifteen years the country had been
passing through the clearest moral
crisis ia all its history, and that dur
4ng that crisis no man has persisted IN
a more cons stent moral course than
William Jennings Bryan.
In his address. which consumed
nearly two hours, Mr.. Bryan covered
a great many moral issues involved
in American life, especially in politi-
ca. and business e~ndeavors.
Emphasis on ''Fs~ightfully."
How much money, he inquired. can
q man rightfully collect in society?
and suggested that probably a visit
to the p~enilentiary would throw light
and emphasis upon the word right
fully His own answer to the ques-
ZION was lIidl q ild Siltulu -llOl Ccl-
lect more than he honestly earned.
Beyond that he is stealing. How
much money can he honestly earn?
Not more than his service is worth
to society. He held that a man can
inherit money without offenSe when
the money was honestly earned by
him who transmitted it. Every
right-nainded man expects to pay
back to society What he has received
from it, and this includes what he
!rharitS The ora YoH NJ GiSpr2ca must
be placed upon the idler who uses
what he does not earn as ~sternly as
upon the man who steals.
How much can a man honestly carr
I'll an average lifetime, surprising his
working years TO be q little more han
tn rty-three years: Is 100000 too
much? Mr.. Bryan thought not, be-
cause it would require only a little
more than $4,000 a year of income to
make this total in q little more than
that a million dollars in ~thirty-threc
years was possible, as only a little
more than $50, 900 was necessary in a
year. He surprised his audience more
and more by gradually raising the
amount that q man might honestly
earn until it to as much as
$500, 900, 00o in a lifetime. He said that
q man had the right to collect as much
as his services were worth to society.
Those OF Thomas Jefferson were SO
large that II he had collected this
great SIN he would not have been
~Oyerpaid; and the same, he said. was
true Of Abraham Lincoln. He had thus
been nonpartisan, since he had named
8 Democrat and a Republican, but he
did not feel called upon to look for a
Republican to match every Democrat
he could name. Neither Jefferson nor
Lincoln had desired to collect any
thing like what they a earned.
Men of this type are 50 busy earn
9ng from society that they have no
time to collect what is due them,
while those Of the opposite character
are so busy collecting that they have
no time to earn what they collect.
The Important Question.
What would Jefferson and Lincoln
have done with $500. 900, DOOR The
question is Interesting, but the more
vast sum awe done with Jefferson
or Lincoln? A man may earn more
than it would be we'll for him or So
ciety to collect. Every noble soul
deserves to earn more thal he claims.
Mr.. Bryan said that a mar should
ciety than he can use worthily, and
he can use wisely not 50 much as he
desires. but only what he needs. and
his necessary needs are confined to
food. clothing and shelter. Some men
spend long years amassing wealth, and
tributing what they cannot use. What
the world needs is men who give thei,
lives to the solving OF present-day
problems rather than to the accumu.
fation Of great wealth and the making
Of problems for the future.
Mr. Bryan discussed the profession
Of law and the attitude of diferen'
1wYers to life, finding them divided
into TWO great classS-those who sci
their souls in their practice. and thos'