A MILLION-DOLLAR FEE by T.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 11, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 15.

A MILLION-DOLLAR FEE.

By T.

THE wonderful possibilities as well as achievements in the way of suddenly coming into the possession of large fortunes in these times is quite strikingly illustrated in the bit of news that was sent out a few days since in regard to the size of the fee that Attorney James B. Dill received for the services rendered by him in bringing about the Carnegie-Frick steel combine. He received, so it is reported, $1,000,000 for that one transaction. Mr. Dill is still a young man, and began his career as a reporter.

These great combines and corporations give wonderful opportunities for a few men to grasp fabulous sums of wealth in a very short time. But how about the great mass of humanity who are left to one side to suffer, while these few are surfeited with an over-abundance? Men may theorize and speculate upon the subject, but the correct light in which the matter should be viewed is very plainly set forth in the Word of God. Hear His words, as recorded by James:—

"Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." James 5:3-8.

Observe that the foregoing scripture not only speaks of the heaping together of treasure in the last days, but it also speaks of the cries of the laborers. This is a most striking prophecy of the capital-and-labor troubles that have been the vexation of the closing years of this century, and that promise to bequeath to the incoming century the most terrible troubles that the world has ever known. The oppression of the rich, as well as their heaping together of treasures, is most clearly pointed out in this prophecy. But the Lord does not direct us to any political or social remedy for the evil. There is none to offer. But the bright hope is held out, "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord." It is to the coming of the Lord that we are to look for relief from the evils of this present time. That great event is the one hope before the world. It promises complete deliverance for every one who receives it.

Injustice and crimes of every sort and description will continue to increase, and it will soon be impossible to be relieved from the oppression and perils that will hover about us on every hand, except as we are kept by the all-powerful hand of Jehovah. And in the midst of these evils and oppressions let us heed the admonition, "Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned; behold, the Judge standeth before the door." James 5:9.