p. 16 | HARD TIMES by William N. Glenn

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, Cal. · Nov 12, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 45.

"HARD TIMES."

By William N. Glenn

It is surprising that this world knows anything else than hard times. The causes are legion. The "farmer-poet" of Scotland well said:— "Man's inhumanity to man Makes countless thousands mourn." The apostle James says to his "beloved brethren" of the last days: "Ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress the poor, and draw you before the judgment seats?" Solomon says: "The poor is hated even of his own neighbor; but many are the lovers of the rich." And again: "The poor useth entreaties; but the rich answereth roughly."

But it is not alone the oppressions of one class by another that causes hard times. Wanton extravagance is perhaps one of the greatest causes; the desire to "keep up appearances." The poor young man with but eight or ten dollars a week wants to dress like a millionaire, "take in" all the amusements, and indulge all "fast" habits. The poor laboring girl, on her few hard-earned dollars, must appear on the street or in church in apparel that vies with the wealthier ladies of fashion. The poor mother, laboring night and day to meet even necessary expenses, strives to dress her girls and boys in the latest styles, lest their associates deem them poor. Thus, instead of becoming helps, they become spendthrifts. The families of wage earners with moderate incomes think they must eat, dress, and adorn their houses after the manner of the more opulent. They deem it very humiliating to be behind in the style. But by and by, with all these classes, sickness comes, accidents happen, employment ceases for a time, or some other of the various vicissitudes to which all are liable arise, and "hard times" is waiting at the door.

Another potent cause of hard times is foolish credulity, a credulity born of a desire to become suddenly rich, to make money without work, or to know what it is to be one's fortune in life. The lottery, the stock exchange, or some other gambling device, holds out the flattering inducement to invest a little and gain much. Vast sums are paid into these ventures, not only by the well-to-do but by the poor, and the practice, in the end, almost invariably begets poverty, negligence, want, discouragement. Not only are large sums invested in these unprofitable schemes, but much more is paid in efforts to gain information as to how fortunes may be made easily. In the city of Paris alone, more than two thousand people gain their living by telling fortunes, and their aggregate incomes are estimated at more than two million dollars. The schemes of wily tricksters to entrap the unwary the credulous seekers after sudden fortune are manifold, because they have learned that a "fool and his money are soon parted."

Nor would we overlook that giant evil, intemperance, which stalks abroad day and night, like Satan himself, seeking whom it may devour. Its victims are afflicted with every malady, led into every vice, divested of ordinary strength, reason, and judgment, robbed of their earnings, and unfitted for remunerative occupation. What could be the result but hard times? When the people of this nation spend twice as much for the two poisons, alcohol and tobacco, as for necessary food and clothing, what could be expected but hard times?

One more suggestion: The people of the earth must live from the products of the earth; yet the masses are forsaking the most honorable of all secular callings, the farm, and flocking to the cities and towns to live by their wits and upon one another. While in these great aggregations of people in one place we find the extreme of business activity on the one hand, we find the extreme of indolence on the other.

Where do we find the lowest depths of want, degradation, and crime?—In the large cities. Where are devised the great political corruptions and financial schemes for public robbery?—In the large cities. The devil can always influence the people to better advantage when they crowd together in vast concourse. Here the intemperate sight-seeing constantly creates artificial wants. The poor as well as the rich feel that they must have this, that, and the other unnecessary thing because they see others have it. Then follows the conjuring of schemes, credit or crime, to obtain what the lusts of the eye or the appetite crave. It is always in the great cities where the police find most work.

It was when the people congregated together en masse, contrary to God's order, in a plain in the land of Shinar, that they concocted the great scheme of building a tower to heaven. From that nucleus in course of time there arose the great city of Babylon, whose extravagant indulgences and vile practices have been by Inspiration used as a symbol of all that is corrupt and abominable unto this day. By thus congregating into towns and cities, which obtains more and more as the years go by, the masses become consumers rather than producers, dependent rather than self-sustaining, burdens upon their fellow men rather than colaborers. This persistent reversal of God's order can not fail to result in hard times. W. N. G.