DEBASED MORAL STANDARD

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 22, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 21.

DEBASED MORAL STANDARD.

A MAN by the name of D. H. Lewis in Vergennes, Vt., wrecked the Farmers' National Bank in that place. For fourteen years he was systematically robbing the bank, so that no dividends were paid. It is said that on the very eve of exposure, after the reports of his roguery were abroad, he “not only took deposits, but solicited them.” But, according to the Springfield Republican, “Despite all this cold-blooded rascality, it is said that the cashier still retains the respect and sympathy of many of the men who have done business with him.” The moral condition of men who could thus look upon such conduct must indeed be at very low ebb. The Republican remarks, and the words are worth pondering:—

“It seems to be one of the penalties of this time of material domination, ruling all, inspiring all, and deadening the public conscience, that thieving is not so badly thought of. It is not yet quite true that the crime has come to consist in getting found out, but something akin to that might be truthfully said. When men of business, speculation, and politics come to talk in millions, whether in governmental affairs or in trade combinations, as the commonplace of the hour, the effect seems to be to daze the moral sense and to weaken the popular standards of common honesty. Little matters in stealing under or among the hundreds of thousands do not seem to count for much. That this fever to be rich that is sweeping the country from end to end is a great peril to trust funds and to moral standards, no sane observer will dispute. Human rights and property rights are in some confusion just now, and clear thinking and plain speaking are needed as at no previous period in the national experience.”

What this condition means, the Word of inspiration has told us in Isaiah 59. Read the entire chapter. It is a graphic picture of these days.