Evening journal., 1912-02-03
GOING INTO DEBT
BY The REV. r. L. JACKSON

st. Paul in his epistle to the Ro-
mans, says: owe no man anything"
This is not always possible. There
are times when we cannot help go
ing into debt. Unemployment, sick
ness, failure in business, the death Of
a member of the family-these and
many other things often oblige us to
go into debt. Saving up something
for a rainy day is a good principle
and a wise practice; but what if it
takes about all one earns to make
both ends meet from day to day, and
what If one has laid by something
for the rainy day and the said day
has lasted so long as to exhaust the
little store? What is there left to
do, in the event of ones inability to
find work, or Of his incapacity to
work but to go into debt2 Going
into debt under these conditions is
mournfully sad business. Alasi that
il is the experience Of so many.
But there is another kind of going
into debt. II is the voluntary kind.
IL is not the necessity Of the where
withal to keep body and soul togeth-
er; il is the desire for luxury and
hshow that makes men debtors to their
fellow men. II is the desire to live
! in a fashionable neighborhood, and
/ in a handsome house. It is the de-
sire TO entertain in lavish manner,
and to mingle with the so-called eN-
elusive set. Or il may be that ones
ambitions have a more modest reach,
and extend only to certain personal
possessions and pleasures. How many
people we know, who, to crafty their
desires whether they be large or
small, will deliberately go into debt!
! They may, after hard struggle, eX-
tricate themselves. but what freedom
and independence have they not sac
rifcedl The Bible says the borrower
is servant to the lender. How true
this is. and in how many senses is it
| truei How ones true manhood de-
Gays and sintegrates under a bur-
den of debt incurred for luxuries one
cannot Afford How many men can no
longer, like the village blacksmith in
the poem. look the whole world in
the face, all because they are hope
lessly in debt! And who pays at last
when they do that? The honest bal
ance of society. We who pay our
bills. finally foot the bills of those
who do not pay. We pay for some
of the automobiles that dash along
our streets. We pay for the fine
clothes that some of our fellow cit
liens wear; We pay for the delica-
cies that are upon their tables. Is
not this fact enough TO arouse our
righteous Indignation?
p This article is not an attack upon
the credit system, although I believe
il possesses features that expose Il
to an attack 1t is simply a protest
against a vicious, demoralizing habit
too many people nowadays possess
Going into debt unnecessarily. is get
, ting to be too ominously common. The
good self-respecting people of every
community need to discourage it in
every possible way Pay as you go
If you can't pay. then don't go. Stay
at home That is the honest, man.
3 ly, womanly way.
I have profound contempt for peo-
} pie who incur obligations for things
! they cannot possibly afford and do not
J in any way need, and then repudiate
! them, thereby obliglng the rest Of
society to meet them I do not care
} who they are or in what social set
: they move-they are the meanest form
of human parasites society supports