Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1912-02-06
70 the Right Man 1t Frequent
ly Acts as a Stimulant to
Good Work.
BY NO MEANS ALWAYS CURSE
Pressing Financial Obligations Have
Sometimes Been the Means OF
Enrichine the World With
Great Works OF
Genius.

To the right man debt is blessing.
1t spurs him to bring out the soldie-
spirit and to make the fight that wins.
But to the one who Is lacking a
sense of financial honor debt is a
curse. He doesn't feel the lash OF the
collectors insistence or the bill with
the red linked please remit" To the
honest soul those things are as blows
under which the flesh witches, and
he makes high resolves that that tor
ture shall not always be his. He
doesn't like the idea of getting In
debt in the first place, but the ext
gencies of life force 1t upon him. Then
be buckles down to pay the creditors.
Who knows how much of priceless
value the world has received because
some once obscure genius was hound
ed by creditors? With his alleged
tondness for the cup that cheers and
then mocks, would Edgar Allan Poe
have found time for the masterpieces
which he implored editors to buy
had not the bills pressed hard?
1t was sensitiveness over heavy OBJ
legation that inspired Sir Walter Scott
to put forth his best endeavors; that
made Sam Clemens, at sixty, moisten
his hands and declare he would not
leave legacy Of debt to his children.
Balzac was tormented by duns until
he wrote a string of hooks reaching
half way across a large room, and
| nearly all of them are good.
Many of those to whom the world
owes most never got away from their
relentless creditors The lash was ap-
piled to their backs and they bowed
their heads to the work, that their
names might not go down dishcnored.
To be In debt is not an unusual
situation, but it is no more endurable
from the fact that so many are tread
Ing the same path.
20, he doesn't Fay his debts!"
To the real man such en- accusation
IS as bad as to say he steals. he owes
money and doesn't pay 1t. The world
Judges that way, making scant allow
ance for desire.
Debt is not disgraceful to the man
who has an honest purpose to pay.
It is disgraceful to him who contracts
It without figuring ahead on the
chances Of payment. 1t is well, in the
scheme of Providence, that 1t is hard
FOR the average man to borrow a few
dollars without ample security. 1t is
well that money lenders are some
lines harsh and persistent 1t teaches
as the proper measure of values. 1t
gives one the necessary education to
handle wisely and frugally what he
has earned. It makes the pupil study
long and hard over the problem of in
creasing the earning capacity.
1t is true that these bitter tests
cause some men to become aggrieved
at the world and quit the fight, or else
men would never count in the worlds
development, even though a gold mine
were poured In their laps.
The world only knows the workers,
the men who emerge from out of the
quagmire of debt and misfortune. The
child born with a silver spoon in it's
mouth but lives and dies. Unless 1t
develops some reputation along char
table lines, shows willingness to do
good with the money it has inherited,
It's existence might be represented by
3iphers. 1t Is rare that II is given to
a person who has never known the
urgent need of money the gift to
create great thing.
So don't weep too much over the
man in debt. He'll win out IL the d.
vine force is in him and lose If 1t
Isn't. In neither case is there occa-
sion for lamentation.- White In
Chicago Tribune.