Living on the Instalment Plan

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · May 23, 1907

Living on the Instalment Plan

In response to a toast at a Chicago banquet, Congressman F. W. Cushman, of Washington, made the following striking remarks, which are worthy of our consideration:—

I regret to say that there are some signs, social, economic, and political, appearing upon our national horizon to-day that might indicate that the only thing on earth that will ever approach the suddenness of our rise may be the swiftness of our downfall.

A great many of our citizens just now seem to be possessed by a feverish desire to live on the instalment plan, so to speak. They want to become immediately possessed of everything they desire, in the fulness thereof—and to pay for it at any time in the future. Too many people live swiftly, and not enough live properly.

I would like to see the American people come back to sane and simple methods of life, unmarked by business chicanery and unmarred by vulgar ostentation.

But the tendency is all in the other direction. It is well to note that all the great fallen nations of earth came to their end when opulence was seen on every hand, and the love of pleasure extinguished the lamp of reason and overruled the remonstrances of purity. Concerning the labor question, he said:—

There are two kinds of slavery in this world—one kind which forces an honest man to labor without pay, against his will, and the other variety which denies to an honest man the opportunity to labor when he will. These two are equally odious and abominable.

To those who are seeking to make men religious by law, and thus remedy all the evils of the land, and bring in the righteousness of legalism, we commend the following portion of the address:—

There seems to be a notion abroad in this republic to-day that all the ills that this nation is heir to can be cured by law.

It ought not to require anti-trust laws to prevent combinations of capital from plundering the people. It ought not to require a federal injunction to restrain labor leaders from murder and violence. The cause and cure for these evils can be found in the hearts of men, and not on the pages of the statute-book.

And yet every time the corrupted morals of some individual or combination of individuals comes to light, up goes a perfect howl from the multitude for some new law to cover this particular case.

Let me say to you that the lawmaking machinery of this government can not by any human ingenuity be enlarged or accelerated so that it can move as quickly or in as many directions as unrestrained individual crookedness.