Evening star., 1914-07-23
The MONEY MYTH.
BY DR., FRANK CRANE.
,o.s r-.-&
Copyright. 1914. by Frank orase.p

II there is any one truth among the
| vital truths of life that hide themselves
as grayftation and steam and the other
| natural forces SO long hid themselves. and
one truth that needs to be brought to
light for the help and guidance Of men
| it is that the ultimate treasure in anv
mans possession fs his personal charac-
ter. and that the net result OF any mans
final effect upon the world is measured
solely by the influence OF his personality.
| Beside the net result upon the world or
| what a man is. what a man has is OF
small importance. The whole gospel OF
the power OF wealth and OF the ability OF
| a person to push mankind up or down.
to save or to ruin. by means OF money
and the power Of money is fallacious.
| Money can do many things: It has its
peculiar dynamic: but in the making OF
| the world better. in the increase OF con
science power. of ethical energy. IT counts
not at all
Your first impulse will be to deny this
to declare it a crazy creed. For you live
in an age that deifes money. All the
human creatures around you are working
for it. The great ones of earth seem to
be those who have heaps of it.
1t is natural that you should think that
If you had billion dollars you could do
an incalculable amount OF good. But
you are mistaken The sum total Of your
good doing capacity lies in your naked
soul.
In fact IL you are going into the up
lift business the nearer you como to
having nothing at all the surer is the
probability of your success.
Read your history. The three greatest
figures OF spiritual potency in Christian
records are Jesus. St. Paul and St Fran
els Of Assist. They had to go into power
ty to get power. So did Buddha. Com
pare these with the wealth holders. from
Midas and Croesus, the Medici and the
E>nRRprS fn he
the American plutocrats.
The hurt of the world cannot be poui-
tfced by money. The progress OF man.
kind cannot be aided by money.
Truth cannot be advanced or Kindred
by money. 1t moves in the hearts of the
people, and the only power that can aid
or impede 1t is man power
Your notion that you could do so much
good if only you had money Is an error.
All the good you can possibly do lies in
you. in your spirit You could produce
some happiness or misery by money: you
might relieve conditions here and there:
but no real good was ever done people
that they did not do for themselves. and
the only way to do good" is to induce
the people. and to show them the way.
to do ii for themselves.
Feudalism, paternalism and the like are
as specious in morals in politics. De
mocracy is more terribly true in the
moral realm than in the political.
You may produce a temporary flush OF
welfare, OF moral force and Of good by
the money pill but the reaction is always
sad.
II you would be great" and II you
seek the heights of moral leadership you
must obey the suggestion OF the great
est Teacher that ever lived. And assure
you His words are just as true in Ameri-
ca as in Galilee-in the twentieth century
as in the first:
Provide neither gold, nor silver nor
brass in your purses, nor scrip for your
journey. neither two coats. nor shoes, nor
yet slaves"
1t is the men who obeyed this who
transformed the world. II Is the institu-
tions that thought they were wiser and
shrewder than this that have clogged the
world.