DECLARED A DIVIDEND

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 4, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 14.

DECLARED A DIVIDEND.

ON March 15 the Standard Oil Company paid a dividend of $21,500,000. Of that tremendous sum, $20,000,000 was paid out as a quarterly dividend of the company, and the remaining $1,500,000 was paid by them for the Amalgamated Copper Company, which is controlled by the Standard Oil monopoly. That is an immense sum for just a quarterly dividend. It is almost four times as much as the interest on the United States national debt for the same length of time. Very little of the Standard Oil stock finds its way into the market, but such of it as was for sale, sold readily, after the announcement of that dividend, at 540 or 440 per cent above par. With the foregoing facts before you, please read carefully the following scripture:—

"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days." James 5:1-3.

You should be particular to note that the apostle says that this heaping together of treasure is to be "for the last days." And the Revised Version translates it "in the last days." Such figures as the Standard Oil Company presents, certainly show a heaping together of treasure that is not only remarkable but wholly unprecedented; for such dividends as that were never before declared by any corporation. And this heaping together of treasure by the Standard Oil Company represents only a part of what is going on in the world in this line. And the heaping together of wealth is only one of the signs which show that we are in the last days. The great array of evidence that we are in the last days is simply overwhelming in its strength and clearness. Every one should hasten to get ready; for the day is right at hand.