Newspaper Page Text
Glay County Reformer
S. H. WEAVER, Editor.
VOLUME I.
THE RAILROADS.
GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP NO
NEW IDEA AND ENTIRELY
PRACTICAL.
Kxtrnrt from n of W. N. Morgan
at Medical Springs, Arkansas, in Ile
fainn of tlio Omaha Platform.
'J he People’s party is in favor of
government ownership of railways.
As there wero no great corporate rail¬
way systems in Jefferson's day, we
can only surmise what stand he would
have taken if he hud lived in a rail¬
way age. On this question our plat¬
form dec! a res as follows:
We believe that the time has come
when the railroad corporations will
either own the people or the people
must own Ihe railroads; and should
the government enter upon the work
of owning and managing any or all
railroads, wo should favor an amend¬
ment to the constitution by which all
(ter&ons engaged in I lie government
service shall be placed under a civil
service regulation of the most rigid
character, so as to prevent the in¬
crease of the power of tho national
administration by the use of such ad¬
ditional government employes.
Transportation being a means of ex¬
change, uud a public necessity, the
government should own and operate
♦ he railroads in the interest of the
people.
We are aware that in the treatment
of this subject we are treading on
grounds that are hotly contested. We
have no hesitation in approaching it.
We have never yet met any one who
opposed it that had ever made any in¬
vestigation of the subject. Many peo¬
ple are foolish enough to believe that
government ownership is a new
fantastical idea that originated within
tho chimerical brain of some crazy
Populist The idea of government
ownership is as old as the invention of
railroads. Among the governments
now owning and operating their own
lines, together with the number of
miles they are operating, are the fol¬
lowing:
No. of
Miles.
Germany......... .28.283
Austria Hungary 7,800
Belgium.......... 8,000
Italy............. 8,110
Portugal......... (MX)
Denmark......... WM
Norway.......... 7(H)
Ronntesia........ 1,000
Russia............
British India..... .. 8,4211
Japan.... • • • .. 710
Egypt.... .. 1 , 2(0
The Cnpe Colony. .. 1,074
Port Natal........ .. 800
New (South Wales Ot
Victoria*......... 01
Tasmania......... 1 .lb 0
New Zealand..... 824
Booth Australia.. 752
Queensland....... J*
West Australia... 41)0
Chili.............. 682
Argentine........ 1.817
Brazil............ 1,200
The above figures are taken from
the statistical reports ranging from
the year 1988 to 1892. In addition to
these the Dominion of Canada owns
ami operates four railways, the cost
of which up to Juno 30, 1890, was ¥.V2,-
800,OOA Besides this the government
exercises the strictest control over
the roads owned by corporations.
In South America most of the gov¬
ernments own and operate a portion
of all of their railroads. The republic
of Ecuador, iu 1889, owned and oper¬
ated most of her railroads. The total
number of miles operated in Chili, in
1887, was 1,674, of which 082 were
owned by the state. The Argentine
Republic, in 1887, owned and operated
1,148 miles of railroad; Buenos Ayres,
572, and the province of Santa Fe, 102
miles. Brazil owns nnd operates 1,200
miles of railroad, which yields a net
income of 3 pet cent on the capital in¬
vested. Germany, perhaps, owns and
operates more miles of railroad than
any other nation. The total number
of miles in operation in that country,
in 1891, was 43,000 kilometers, or
nearly 27,000 milea Of these roads
the government owned and operated
38,250 kilometers, or more than 23,000
milea The Annual of 1889 contains
the statement that the roads had
turned into the public treasury 1 006.-
262,000 marks, or about 5230,000.000,
with which about 4,000 miles of new
roads had been constructed, with quite
a good sum left unexpended.
Kx-Gov. William Larrabee in his ex¬
cellent work, “The Railroad Ques¬
tion.” from which we have quoted
largely, says:
No one can contradict the follow¬
ing facts, viz.: That the average cost
of European roads is much greater
than that of American roads; that the
number of railroad employes per mile
Is much greater than here; that much
•’•os are expended for repair¬
ing and improving the roads, and
that, therefore, the lives of passengers
are much safer in Europe than in
America, and that the average speed
and corresponding accommodations of
European trains, and especially those
of England, France and Austro-Hun
gmry, compare quite favorably with
the average speed and corresoondiug
accommodations of our roads It is,
under the circumstances, absurd to
claim that the higher prices charged
by American roads are due to the
greater cost of service.
Gov. Larrabee quotes from Arthur
T. Hadley, “Railroad Transportation.
Its History and Its Law*,'.’ this stubs*
*' ■
meat
The importance of the zone system
in Austria and Hungary lies in the
fact that its adoption was accom¬
panied by a greater reduction in rates.
The unit rate for s ow third-class
trains, which have previously been
nearly 1 x 4 cents per mile, was re
duced to less than 1 cent
Speaking of the effect of this reduc¬
tion of rates, Mr. Larrabee says:
The zone system recently adopted
in Hungary reduced both the passen¬
ger and freight rates of the govern¬
ment roads at least one-third, and this
reduction has, contrary to expecta
tion, greatly increased their net reve¬
nues.
In summarizing the results of
government ownership in European
countries, Mr. Larrabee says:
For the past fifteen years there has
been a decided drift on the European
continent toward state ownership of
railroads.
The principle upon which the de¬
mand for government ownership rests,
s that railroads are public highways,
necessary to the public welfare and
convenience, the same as our public
roads and water ways, and as forming
too important a factor in the com
merce and exchange of the country to
be left to the whims and caprices of
individuals.
HUY ISO TUK KAII.UO ADS.
It is amusing to see our friends, the
enemy, construct straw houses, and
then proceed to demoli' , h them. It is
inore like the action of school boys
madly charging the mullen stock Ilian
anything else, except the mullen
stock is a more tangible object Ilian
our opponents usually conjure up in
tlieir imagination.
These elegant gentlemen, the squir
rel-tailed politicians, who are so de
voted to the dear people’s interests as
to be willing to make tho great sacn
iicc of accepting an office at salaries
ranging from ¥500 to 5¥,000 a year,
take peculiar delight in supposing.
In their fertile imaginations they
supposo a plan, charge it up to the
l’opulists, and then jump onto it and
demolish it. Of course they take great
care to suppose a plan that is weak
enough in its structure for them to
demolish. iSotne of these conjurations
are as silly as the supposition that we
are in favor of shoeing the horses’
tails.
The People's party declares in favor
of government ownership of railroads
and telegraph lines. But nowhere in
its platform does it indicate a plan to
secure this end. If our opponents are
disposed to act fair why not concede
that we favor some practical plan for
carrying out our declaration? Why
charge that we are in favor of pur¬
chasing all the railroads at once at
their capitalized value, including the
watered stock, and issuing bonds for
the amount and taxing the people to
pay the bonds? No Populist has ever
proposed any such thing, There is
no necessity for doing any such tiling.
The rail roads could be bought
and paid for within twenty years out
of their net earning and savings with¬
out taxing the people one cent, or iu
creasing the present rates of freight
and passenger tariff. But the people
are already taxed on every dollar of
capital represented by railroad bonds
and stocks to the extent of ¥10,000,
000,000. They, are taxed in tho freight
nnd passenger rates which they have
to paj’ the railroad companies. What
the People’s party desires is that the
money which now goes to pay divi¬
dends on stock and interest on bonds,
shall go toward purchasing the rail¬
roads and eventually owning and
operating them at greatly reduced
rates. In an able and well written
article in the Arena, Mr. Q Wood
Davis, a practical railroad man and |
reliable statistician, figures the actual
savings by government ownership of
railroads as follows:
Savings from consolidations of
depots nnd staffs.............. $ 20.0Cki.000
Savings from exclusive use of
shortest routes................ 25,000.000 :
.Savings iu attorney's salaries
aud legal expenses............ 12.000.000
Savings from abrogation of the
pass evil...................... 80,000,000
Savings from abrogation of com¬
mission system................ 20 . 000.000
Savings from dispensing with
high-priced officers and staffs. 4,000,000
Savings by disbanding traffic
associations................... 4.000,000
Savings by dispensing with
presidents, etc................ 25,600,000
Savings by abolishing jail but
local) officers, solicitors, etc... 15,000,000
Total 51f4).000.000
In addition to this there would be saved:
The annual political corruption
fund ...5 »),000.000
Secret rebates to directors, etc..
who compose various trusts
and combinations...;......... 50.000.000
All dividends and surplus....... 134,000.000
Total ............. $214,000,000
Add Mr. Davis’ figures 160.000.000
Total $874,000,000
Suppose that the government should
purchase the railroads at their actual
cost and issue bonds bearing 2 per
cent interest per annum. The best
authorities concede that at least one
half of the present capitalization of
the roads is water. But.we will allow
them to be valued at $6,-too, 000,00a
The annual interest charge on this
sum for the first year would be $120,
000,00a We have already figured the
net savings and dividends from the
roads at $374,000.000. Deduct the in¬
terest on bonds from this amount aud
it leaves $2.34,000,000 to go into a sink¬
ing fund to pay the bonded indebted*
ness. The iaterfwt would frow less
“The Voice of the is the Voice of God. *
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CONSTITUTION ^■V'T’v.v ' ,yu I? aV> ,
Sf ne National Rotorm Press Associatioe (AAA,
GROVER AND HIS FRIENDS.
each year as the principal was being
paid and within twenty years the en
tire debt will have been discharged
and not a dollar of paper money
issued for the purpose, and not a cent
m taxes collected from the people,
other than that which they now pay
and which sgoes into the pockets
of rich railroad magnates. The
question is not whether the people
will assume the burden of debt—it is
already on them—but whether they
will make provisions to get from un¬
der it, and in the future lower the
rates of transportation to less than
half what they are now.
AS MEANS OF CORRUPTION.
It is claimed that if the government
was to assume the ownership and
operation of the railroads that it
would constitute such an army of men
dependent on political patronage and
the caprices of whatever party that
might be in power, that it
would constitute a menacing .dange”
io our liberties and a fruitful
source of political corruption. Under
our present defective sj'stem of civil
service, where the principle laid dow n
is “to the victor belongs the spoils,”
and it is a wild rush for the hog
trough to see who will get the most
swill, I admit the weight of this olA
jection. But the People's party has
provided for this It recommends in
its platform an amendment to the
constitution by which all persons en¬
gaged in the public service shall be
placed under civil service regulations
of the most rigid character. It might
be well to adopt the regulations em¬
ployed in the regular army, permit¬
ting no one to vote or to be a dele¬
gate in a political convention while
thus in the employ of the govern¬
ment So far as corruption is con¬
cerned no sane man believes there
would be one-fourth as much as now’.
It is an open secret that railroad cor¬
porations control courts, conventions
and national and state legislatures.
Well might Senator l’feffer make use
of the following language:
“The railroad interest is a powerful
one. It extends throughout the en¬
tire country. There is hardly a county
in the Union that has not one or more
railway lines running through it, and
there is not a mile of that vast sys¬
tem that is not represented locally’ by
at least cne of the best lawyers to be
found in the region,
“If all the lawyers who are in the
employ or retained in the interest of
the one great railway system in the
country were marshaled together they
would form an army as large as Gen.
Jackson had at New Orleans, larger
than Gen. Scott had at Lundy’s Lane.
you put together the different
armies made up of lawyers repi-esent
i D g. ^j le different great railway sys¬
tems of the country you will find that
the influence of the railway system
reaches but into every county in the
United States”
In a recent investigation of the af¬
fairs of the Santa Fe railroad, it was
found that $7,000,000 was charged as
having been paid back in rebates to
unsatisfactorily accounted for that it
was no doubt stolen by the officers of
the road. It seems to have become a
well-settled fact that the railroad
companies violate the laws with im¬
punity, and their influence has be
come so powerful that they are be
yond control through the ordinary
course of law. That they have been
tlie m< >st fruitful source of political
corruption let the history of the land
grants, subsidies of bonds, control of
courts and legislatures testify. In
deed this is one of the very best rea
sons why the government should own
and operate the ro%ls as it does the
postal system
The railroad corporations seem de¬
termined that their employes shall
“keep off the political grass.” It was
all right as long as it was in either of
the old parties, but when they began
to join the Populists, oh dear!
The sea of harmony on which the
democratic party thought it had em¬
barked is becoming very boisterou*,.
All the honest democrats are not dead
yet; neither do they all want offic
bad enough to stf$} and lif for it
MR, MORELAND
RECEIVES A LETTER FROM HIS
SON IN KANSAS.
Wheat Crop Good, Hut l’riees Very Had—
Faring Bankruptcy.
Dkak Father:— Your welcome let
ter received, and I am glad to know
you are all in health. I am hearty
and strong and so are my family, a
blessing from God to us. 1 shudder
when I think what would become of
my wife and children if I should be
called away. It is true they have
loving relatives who would share
life’s last crust with th m, and that I
also carry a sm ill insurance on my
life in the Alliance Aid, but that
would soon bo exhausted. If our
price was paid for it would help
awhile, but as times are I look upon
it as only a question of time when the
big fish will eat us all up and reduce
us to utter dependency upon very
meager wages for the commonest liv
ing.
I am sorry to feel so. I used to look
on the bright side of life and was full
of hope and energy. How happy 1
was and lion full of hope when I left
your roof sixteen years ago to acquire
a home in th s rich country, having
your and mother’s blessing upon me
and my bride Dear mother! I shall
never see her face in life.
Our wheat crop is excellent I think
I shall get twenty if not twenty
five bushels per acre, and I have
sixty acres in wheat, but prices
are very low, wheat only 45 cents and
1 am afraid it. will go lower, but
whatever tt brings, after the expense
of harvesting is paid, the balance is
ours. I have no bills to pay, having
“traded and trafficked” around so as
to pay all my expen-es, and Tomy,
my son, now in bis fourteenth year,
has been a great help to me. Child
as he is, lie appreciates the situation,
and we are determined to pay our in
deebtedness off and be free, so we can
meet the struggle before us under a
roof free from debt. Little as our
debt is compared with the value or
what was the value of the place when
there was sale for land, w’e would
hav>> lost it had it not been for your
timely help.
I have forty acres in corn and it is
good, 15 acres in grass and five acres
in sorghum and other crops, 120 in all.
I have seventeen head of good nogs,
so I think I shall be able to pay you
and have enough for another winter,
for which I am thankful to my Crea¬
tor,
Dear father, I have told you more
than I ever thought to tell. It
relieves me of a burden to unbosom
myself to you, who from my earliest
recollections, always rejoiced with
me in my pleasure, and sympathized
with me in my sorrows.
Now, with all which we a few years
ago would have called good prospects,
I feel like I was facing bankruptcy,
Indeed Ido. My children must beedn
cated. “Sarah and I do all that we can.
De take magazines and five papers,
and interest them in good reading;
but we are overworked, and Tommy
and Grace have too many cares for
children. My home must be en¬
larged and repaired, and much of my
fences will have to be looked after,
Our clothing is like Joseph’s coat, and
while goods are cheaper than ever
known, the money to buy with is also
harder to get, and the certainty that
we can get no relief under Cleveland,
and may be not from the next, makes
me feel like you, “panickv.”
The railroad management is our
worst enemy, because they are the
great backbone of the money system.
All the railroads have some particular
bank to deposit in of which the roads’
chief officials are the owners or large
stockholders. They are always frem
one to three months behind with the
pay, and the immense earnings of the
roads give the bank or banks ample
capital to loan to the public. For ex¬
ample, take a road that earns $1,000,
000 a month; they pay this month the
expanses of last month- None of
• • *■ i > * *. . Jr *
them do better than that. This gives
them ¥1,000,000 always to use that
really belongs to their employes. Then
if they are short they pass that month
until next, and perhaps pay two
months together. Now* this ¥1,
000,000 a month at 10 per cent
is ¥100,000 a year; and if they
run it two months behind it is §200,
000 per y ear > that the railroad officials
can, and usually do get, that in jus¬
tice should go to the employes. Re¬
member that all roads, telegraphs and
other semi-p iblic utilities do this, and
when we see that the railroad earn¬
ings are ¥1,220,000,000 at 6.per cent, it
is ¥73,200,000 per year, Is it any won¬
der that our railroad officials soon get
to be millionaires.
I am of the opinion that it would be
best to build new roads, on certain
lines, or to select certain routes, have
fair estimates made and offer the
roads that amount in greenback
money, and no piece of money over
¥100 in value. Make the rates so as
to pay at least 20 per cent, this wou d
allow a reduction of at least two-fi fths
to oue-haH of pru.ent ratw Keep < n
buxldingf and bttying- until the public
system is complete. In this way the
expenditure j-i of f not more than $1,000,- „
000,000 of original outlay would, in
twenty years or les 11 . provide the
United States with 150,000 to 200,00
miles of railroads. Your mention of
vi. belt toads „„ , , .s . good v and should , , be the ,,
first constructed.
The present proposition to take
the Pacific roads is a steal,
for the roads could be con
structed for half what the govern
ment would have to pay on the first
mortgage bonds, which our ever
memo: able , , ,, n Credit Mobilier” .... ., congress
granted. The loan is a total loss.
Why try to deceive the people any
longer? If they would condemn the
roads for national use and pay what
it would cost to build them now and
let the bondholders do what they
please with the money, that would be
the correct thing to do. It is really
all that can be done, unless they
would act on Gov. Pattison’s report
and recommendation, take them for
what they now owe. This would be
right.
I am so glad the Populists have you
approval, and I expect it is well that
you, as we say here, saw wood and
vote as you think best. As you would
be called crazy, and it would cause
more or less prejudice against you to
openly espouse our cause. It is al¬
ways so in the country and small
to vns, and yet the country is where
our strength is
Uncle Henry is well fixed and living
in the city, they chide him good
naturedly, and it is all right, but
when they get to throwing rotten
eggs at our speakers it shows they
have no argument to meet us with,
and like the Chinese, resort to “stink
pots,” and really for the time being it
| is a knock-out argument.
We must have government railroads
and government greenback money, or
{ we are lost The usury of transnor
tation money and land has eaten up
millions of homes and will certainly
get our children if we should escape
Best love to yourself and brothers
and sisters, your son
| J. IL Moreland.
IVhat Gov. Seymour Did.
In this day of railroad strikes it will
he of interest to read the manner id
which Gov. Seymour of New York
settled a railroad strike in that state.
Tlieafollowing tells the story:
“When Horatio Seymour was gov
ernor of New York state, a striae oc¬
curred od the New York Central rail¬
way. The road was tied up and
business was suffering Seymour was
equal to the emergency. He sent for
the officials and said to them: ‘Gentle¬
men, this road was chartered to do
the brsiness of a common carrier for
the benefit of the people of the state.
I will give you just twenty hours
to settle this strike and resume busi¬
ness, or I shall seize the road and
operate it in the interest of the state.
In less than the stated time the of
ficials had made terms with the strikers
and business was resumed ’’—Spirit of
Reform, Belmont, N. Y, "
ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR.
REV. DR. TALMAGE.
rHH BBOOKLYN DIYmK»S ___ SUN
DAY 8KRMOY.
Subject: “Hitdasssali.*'
_ Text
And he brought up ifadaSSah,”
Esther if., 7.
A beautiful child was born In the canifn
ofTersin. She was an orphan and frnmth«^ a canHve
her par-nfs having been s(o’en
Israelitish home and carried to qhnahun
had die >. leaving their daughter poor and
in a strange land. Rut an Israelite who had
been carried into the same captivity was at
irnoted by the ense of the orphan. H« edu
ented her in his holy religion, and under the
roof of that good man this adopted child be
gan to develop a sweetness and excellency
of character, if ever equaled, certainly never
surpassed. Beautiful Hadnssah' ' Could
that adopted father ever spare her trom his
household? Her nrtlessness, her girlish
sports, her innocence, her orphanage, had
wound themselves thoroughly around Ills
heart, just as around each parent’s heart
iv,rmg us there are tendrils climbing and
fastening and blossoming and growing
stronger.
I expect he was like others who have
loved ones at home—wondering sometimes if
sickness will come and death and bereave
ment. Alas, worse than anything that the
'’ x P 0<, ts happens 1° his adoptod child?
, pr !“ tfl< e0 D'’ [utrest scoundrelI, demands
\ one in all the
U ?! wife. Worse thnn
‘A. was marriage i losuch a monster of in f -
* How great the change when this
woman leffthc home where God was
. tped nnd religion honored to enter a
i; ; U V ,, rr 0tP r°J > r ,,lf :- kkdatrynndsonsu
) As a lamb to the slaughter!”
.
' T„?J' ? : ‘ SUf ' r At l ’r., the n T instigation ’ lot t,mt of his the wifo infamous was a
' ‘
prime minister . the king decreed
that all the
10 an< * s hould be slain. Hadnssah
cause of her people, breaking
. r ugh the rules of the court nnd present
mg herself in tho very face of death, crying,
I perish I perish:” Oh. it was a sad
tune among that enslaved peoplo ! They had
a n hoard the decree concerning their death,
. rrow, gaunt and ghastlv, sat in thousands
tiBxi
in" ‘ in>l 1)111 pen9h "
in the
•™l .Ith^sh for tho he could nifrcUohr,?;:
crce slaying ol tho .Tows he sent forth
an for°dpfensp*^ On''l-nraoK 1 ' 1 L. arm °? thoai9e,veH mUC if’*K U
dromedaries li'.nrint S ,,< 1 throug.i 1 , the
1 'in(1 J dispatches, v and a
shout of iov went i.!Tr.A fr m tllnt ea9 J av ® < J
Dconle nMhe r 0f f 9 : ,C Ce8S 1 doub
not ot muni n u - a rusty nw h blade . was taken , down :, and
sharpened. Unbearded youths grew stout as
giants at the thought of defending mothers
! ^ sp< w ati o n strun k U P *'ownrd3
isav^sjjassajsa; into herons f
impatient for them to strike the blow in be¬
half of household and country.
The day of execution dawned. Govern
jbra taftmufe shout oTtlie*oppre^ed people.'
: The cry of defeat rang back to the palaces,
1
j the triumph of tho delivered .Tows, and their
i < npPlus ' as ,m was as when the highlanders
i came to tho relief of Lucknow, and the Eng
j ]ish army, which stood iu tho very jaws of
j death, at tho sudden hope of assistance and
rescue lifted tho shout above belching can¬
non and tho death groan of hosts, crying
. “We are saved ! We are saved !’’
I My subject affords me opportunity of il
. lust rating what Christian character maybe
j under the greatest disadvantage. There is
1 no Christian now exactly what he wants to
^ our standard is much higher than any¬
thing you have attained unto. If there be
any man so puffed up as to bo thoroughly
! satisfied with the amount of excellency he
has already attained, I have nothing to say
to such a one, but to those who are dissatis
■ fled with past attainments, who are toiling
j u Q,p3r disadvantages which are keeping
them , from being what they ought to be, I
| ' ha labor ve a under message difficulties. from God. Thero You is each something of you
in your temperament, in your worldly cir¬
cumstances, in your calling, tiiat acts pow¬
erfully against you. Admitting all this, I
introduce to you Hadassah of the text, a
noble Christian notwithstanding the most
gigantic difficulties. She whom j’ou might
have expected to be one of the worst of wo
men is one of the best.
In the first place, our subject is an illus¬
tration of wliat Christian character maybe
under orphanage This Bible line tells a
Jong story anout Hadassah. “She had
neither father nor mother.” A nobleman
become her guardian, but there is no one
who can take the place of a parent. Who so
able at night to hear a child’s prayer, or at
twilight to chide youthful wanderings, or to
soothe youthful sorrows? An individual will
go through life bearing the marks of orphan¬
age. It will require more strength, more
persistence, more grace to make such a one
the right kind of a Chhris'.inn. He who at
forty years loses a parent must real under
the blow. Even down to old age men are
accustomed to rely upon the counsel or
bo powerfully influenced by the advice of
parents, if they are still alive. But how
much greater the bereavement when it comes
in early lilt*, before the character is self re
unui, aim nunu uaiuinnj' iu« nttttri IS unso¬
phisticated and easily tempted !
And yet behold what a nobility of disposi¬
tion Hadassah exhibited! Though father
mother were gone, grace had triumphed over
all disadvantages. Her willingness to sol'
sacrifice, her control over tho king, her
her humility, her iaitbful worship oLGod. show
to have been one of the be3t onhe world ’3
Christians.
There are those who did not enjoy re¬
markable beautiful early privileges. Perhaps, like the
captive of the text, you were an
orphan. You had huge sorrows in your lit¬
tle heart. You sometimes wept in the night
when you knew not what was the matter.
You felt sad sometimes even on the play¬
ground. Your father or mother did not
stand in the door to welcome you when you
came home from a long journey. You still
feel the effect of early disadvantages, and
you have sometimes offered them as a reason
for your not being «b thoroughly religious
as you would like to be. But these excuses
are not sufficient. God’s grace will triumph
if you seek if. He knows what obstacles you
have fought against, and the more trial the
more help. After all, there are no orphans
in the world, lor the great God istho Father
of us all.
Again, our subject is an illustration of
what religion maj’ be under tne pressure of
poverty. The captivity aud crushed condi¬
tion of this orphan girl and of the kind man
who adopted her suggest a condition of
poverty. poverty, Yet from the very first acquaint¬
ance we had with Hadnssah we find her the
same happy an t contented Chri-ti3n. It
was only bj' compulsion she was afterward
taken into a sphere ol honor aud affluence.
In the humble home of Mor.iecai. her
adopted father, she was a light that il¬
lumined every privaticn. In some period
in almost every man’s life there comes a
season of straitened circumstances, when
the severest calculation and most scraping subsist
economy are necessary in order to
ence and respectability, At the commence
ment of business, at the entrance upon a
profession, when iriends are .ew and the
world is afraid ot you b-cause there is a
possibility of failure, many of the noblest
hearts have stiuggted against poverty and
ar<- now struggling. of good
To such I bear a message oaeer.
You sav ir is a hard thina; for you to lie a
Christian. This con-fanc auxiety. this un
resting calculation, wear out the baoy.mcy
of 3 ’tnir spirit, and altbour.i you have told
perhaps no on* jibpui it cannot I tell Dial
NUMBER 20
tM3 is the very trouble which keeps you
from being what you ought to bo? You have
j no time to think about laying up treasures
in heaven when it is a matter of great doubt
' whether you will bo enabled to pay your next
quarter’s rent. You cannot think of striving
after a robe of righteousness until you can
get means enough to buy an overcoat to keep
out the cold. Yon want the bread of life, but
Y°h-think you must get along without that
until you can buy another barrel of flour for
your wire and children. Sometime* you sit
dead. j° w , a discouraged and almost wish you wero
Again, our subject illustrates what religion
mft Y hH under the temptation or personal at
,ra< d ,ve . ™ fle - TIl « inspire! record says of
l he nP mv “She was fair and
* ,wuitiru '. Her very name signified .“a
myrtle - Yct lh * admiration and praise and
o f the world did not blight her lm
The simplicity of her manners and
,,,,l ' nvior equaled her extraordinary attrac
tions - rt is the same divine goodness whioli
l >u, sthe lingo on the rose’s cheek, and the
w kitenaM . int0 the lily, nnd the glean on the
waw< nn d that puis color in the check nnd
p P ar ' <,wl utheoye,andrnaje8tyinthoforc
anfl symmetry into the form, nnd
k racef ulness into the gait, but many,
through the very obarm of their personal
appearance, have been destroyed. What
simperings ineu, nnd affectations and import -
’es have often been the result
oP that which God hn» sent ns a
h’e«sing! .Taponicas, anomones and hel
i of rope- never swagger at the beauty
which God planted in their very leaf, sepal,
!l *h nnd stamen. There are many flowers
that bow down so modestlv vou cannot see
the color in their cheek until you lift up
tlieir head, putting your hand under their
round chin. Indeed any kind of porsonal
attractions, whether they bo those of the
body, the mind or the heart, arbitrariness may become
temptations to pride nnd and
foolish assumption. The mythological story
of a man who, seeing himself mirrorod in a
stream, became so enamored of his nppear
nnce that he died of the effects illustrates
the fatalities under which thousands of both
sexes hnvo fallen by tho view of (heir own
superiority. Extraordinary capacities cause
extraordinary temptations. Men who have
good moral health down in the valley on the
top of the mountain are seized of consump*
tion,
Monimia, the wife of Mithrldates, was
strangled with her own diadem. White the
most or us will not have tho same kind of
temptation that Hadnssah must have felt
sssss'ssii’sr.'s 11 oar- bo
utility and earnestness of disposition to the
SL^thSr viole” ‘ Tuev^l«rS.°“ r“t U
a
Again, ; our subject exhibits what religion
ma > 1)0 under bad domestic influences.
Hadnssah was snatched from the godly
homo into which she had been adopted and
introduced into the abominable associations
of which Wicked Abasuems was the center,
what Vnd a whirl centiousnSs! of hlnsnhomv and drunken
ness “ 1 No aUar cap“?ve?iri no n ,
r no RabbaUi no God ! If this
can be a Christian there, then it is possiblo
* *»» Th «™«
many of the best people of the worl I who are
obliged to contend with the most adverse
domestic influences, children who have
grown up into the love of God under the
frown of parents, and under the discourage¬
ment of bad example. Some sister of the
familv subject having professed unbounded the faith of Jesus
is the of satire inflicted
by brothers and sis'ers. Yea, Hadassah
wiis not tho only Christian who had a queer
husband ! It is no easy matter to maintnin
corroet Christian principles whon there is a
companion disposed to scoff at them and to
ascribe every imperfection of character to
hypocrisy. Wliat a hard thing for one mem¬
ber of the family to rightly keep tho .Sabbath
revelry, whoa others are inculcate disposed to make It a day-of
or to children propriety of speech
in the minds of when there are
others to offset tho instructions by loose or
profane utterances, or to be regularly In at¬
tendance upon church when there is more
household work demanded for the Lord’s
day than for any secular day. Do I speak to
any laboring under these blighting disad¬
vantages? My subject is full of encourage¬
ment. Vast responsibilities rest upon you.
Be faithful, though you stand as much
alone ns did Lot in Sodom, or Jeremiah in
Jerusalem, or Jonah in Nineveh, or Hadas¬
sah in the court of Ahosuerus. There are
trees which grow the best when their roots
clutch among the jagged rocks, and you ver¬
ily have but poor soil in which to develop,
but grnce is a thorough husbandmnu and
can raise a crop anywhere. Glassware is
molded over the Are, and in the same way
you are to be fitted as a vessel of mercy. The
best timber must have on it saw and gouge
and beetle. The foundation stone of yours
and every other house eame out only under
crowbar and blast. Files and wrenches and
hammers belong to the church. The Chris¬
tian victory will be bright just in proportion
as the battle is hot. Never despair being a
thorough Christian in any Household which
is not worse tliun the court of Ahasuerus.
Finally our subject illustrates what re¬
ligion may be in high worldly position.
The last we see in the Bible of Hadassah is
that she has become the queen of Persia.
Prepare now to see the departure of her
humility and seif-sacriflce and religious
principle. As she goes up you may expect
grace to go down. It is easier to be humble
in the obscure bouse of her adopted father
than on a throne of dominion. But you
misjudge this noble woman. What she was
before she is now-~the myrtle. Applauded
for her beauty and her crown, she forgets
not the cause of her suffering peoplo, and
with all simplicity of heart still remains a
of the God of heaven !
Noble example lollowed only by a very
few. I address some who, throughtho good¬
ness of God, have risen to positions of in¬
fluence in the community where j’ou live in
law, In merchandise, in medicine, in me¬
chanics and in other useful occupations and
professions. You hold an influence for good
or for evil. Let us see whether, like Hadas
sah, you can stand elevation. Have you as
much simplicity of character as once you
evidenced? Do you feel as much depend¬
ence upon God, as much your own weak¬
ness, as much your accountability for talents
intrusted, or are you proud and overde
mauding and ungrateful and unsympa¬
thetic and worldly and sensual and dev¬
ilish? Then you have been spoiled by
your success, and you shall not sit on
this throne with the heroine of my text. In
the day when Hadassah saall come to the
grander coronation, in the presence of
Christ and the bannered hosts or the re¬
deemed, you will be poor indeed. Oh,there
are thousands of men who can easily endure
to be knocked down of misfortune who are
utterly destroj-ed If lifted up of success.
Satan tak^ them to the top of the uinuaole
of the temple and shoves them off. Their
head begins to 'whirl, and they lose their
balance and down they go.
While last autumn ail through the forests
there were luxuriant trees, with moderate
out branch and moderate height pretending
but little, there were loliage shattsthat shot
far up, looking down with contempt on the
whole iorest. clapping their hand* in the
breeze and shorn ing, “Aha, do you not wish
you were as high up as we are?” But last
w*-ek a blast let loose Iron the north cam*
rushing along, and grappling the boasting
oaks burled them to the ground, aud as they
weut down an old tree tnat had
been singing psalms with the thun¬
der a hundred summers cr.t I out. “Pride
goeth be,ore distinction and a haugaty spirit
be ore a fal 1 .” And humble hickory an.i
pine aud chestnut that had never sail their
yrav*-rs nctore l owed their be.ida ss much as
to vty. ••Amen!' proud,
My rieaue. -Goo I resist**» tue
lut givetn grace to humble.” Take trom
my subject -ucoti.-g^meat. Attempt the
stjv.ceu v od w -atever your di-a lv intage?,
auj wmtuwr our .«A kt seek to u grave
w inch oiiUiiitie «J| t tie ^lettiiufs o. the px’.
ncr> o gnush.n.. -hcbESE*®-. -me