Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-12-22
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22, l91
Thou Shalt Not SteaiP

II may be well TO pause for short
time. in tho midst of the merry Christ
mas whirl into which the majority OF our
people are now entering with such Joyous
feelings. and seriously reflect upon the
rs,.nt occurrepoee In financial circles
which also have convulsed the city NOT
with a view to Hoating over the fallen OF
denouncing their acts, but for the pur-
nose of looking resolutely and uDshrlnk-
;nglv upon the basis of all such transac-
tions and pointing out the way to An
avoidance Of them in the future
The love Of money" il IL said ID
the Scriptures, ''is the root OF all evil
And II is the desire for money that under
lie. all the manipulstions of men TO ge'
rich quickly by any means that may DC
available. TOO frequently without any At
t~u,pt 20 difrerentiate between right ana
wrong And then comes the insidious temp
tstion 10 temporise with wrong doing; 20
endeavor 10 suppress the voice OF CON
science and make evil acts appear JUS
tifiablc. because there may be promise Oh
some measure of good-or rather OF gam
attendant upon a yielding TO evil I'M
pulse
But there |. another injunction thaf
should stand forth in the minds OF men
and women, at all times, and with force
that should not be resisted. IL was
handed down BY the Most High TO Moses
in Mount Sinai, in words OF unmlstskapIe
import: "Thou shalt not steal.
There is no equivocation, no room iof
human misinterpretation, in this Divine
Injunction. 1t means just what 1t says
and says Just what it means. 1t means
onlv that no man shall lavlessly take tha'
which does not belong to him. either IN
money or in goods. That is sil, but that
is sufficient for every purpose.
This is what men forget when the.
WELD 10 the temptation TO teke tha'
which does not belong To them-especiai
v money entrusted TO their custody-te
oe employed in projects fer their owl
gain. They may endeavor to Justify then
action by affecting to believe they NEAR
no wrong. and that BY restitution they
will condone the offending, even renoV'
from the act al tsint OF wrong-doinF
When they eucceed they are compiacen
and self-satished, although their VIOLATION
Il the Divine law. and Of the law Of man al
well, is Just as reprehensible when the.
succeed as when they fail. And when the.
fail. and shame overwhelns them anf
thei- families, and stern punishment loom
I'D before them, they are prone TO seel
the fimsy consolation that they mean
10 wrong. and should be judged by thei
good intentions rather than by the ID
fanny OF their dishonest acts. And TO
many persons are apt 70 coincide with TIN
uaudlin philosophy and extend synpsth
.nd consolation when the need OF Tn
bour i. condemnation Of the wrong an
the Just punishment Of the offender.
The real demand of the hour, therefor'
j. for al 70 look upon these offendings
their true light, and refrain from attempt
AZ justification, so that the lessons to .
learned from such traDsgessions ma
have due force and effect and operate
discourage such yieldings TO temptatlo
thereafter. No specious reasoning, Dor
of misplaced sympathy. can serve
conceal the stern truth that the offence
not in any manner iustifable. AS wa
so tritely expressed by James Russe
Lowell:
In vain we call old notions fudge
And bend our conscience TO our dealln
The Ten Commandments will not bulge
And stealing will continue stealing
So. let ue feel what sympathy we ma
for those who are most deeply wrongt
by these evil offendings, and then
enter the field Of enjoyment Of TINS ie
tive season, resolved to take 70 heart u
lessons that have been impressed upon
and look hopefully for better things