Too Much Money

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · May 27, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 22.

"Too Much Money."—Not long ago the son of one of the great Standard Oil magnates of the country was locked up in a felon's cell in a city in Pennsylvania. He stated the cause of it in three words: "Too much money." He had nothing to do but spend money and gratify selfish propensities. The end of it was prison. If he had had to earn his living or make his own way, he probably would have been a sober, industrious man. Millions are longing for wealth, and are seeking to obtain it by every get-rich-quick scheme possible, thinking that wealth will bring happiness. Happiness does not come in that way, as is evident from the sad record of the rich. Those who have had all the wealth which they could spend upon their own selfish ambitions and desires, are constant witnesses that money does not bring happiness. Better the prayer left us by the wise man than an inordinate desire for riches: "Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny Thee and say, Who is Jehovah? or lest I be poor and steal, and use profanely the name of my God."

A Successful Air-ship.—A despatch from Manteo, N. C., states that the Wright Brothers of Ohio have perfected an aeroplane, or a war air-ship, which will fly, and is under the perfect control of those who manipulate it. On May 8 it flew out over the sea for a distance of eight miles; made many evolutions with the wind, against the wind, arose, descended, made sharp and decisive turns in all directions, and showed that the machinery was entirely under the control of its master. At one time it was said to be at least three thousand feet in the air. France has made an offer for it, it is said, of $250,000, but this has been refused. The Wright Brothers desire to sell it to the United States Government. Mr. Hiram Maxim, an inventor, tells us that the war-ship of the future will be the air-ship; and certainly, if it can be manipulated in this way, it will be one of the great determining factors.

April 29 the Japanese training cruiser "Matsushima" met with a terrible disaster off the Pescadores Islands. Only meager details have come of the catastrophe, so that it is not possible to tell how it occurred. This only we know, that the cruiser went down with about four hundred persons on board. Of these four hundred, only one hundred and seventy-five persons were saved. There seems to have been a fearful explosion which rent the cruiser asunder. Two sons of titled Japanese were among the dead. Her tonnage was five thousand.

Often Compared.—Joaquin Miller, the poet of the Sierras, writing of the marching of the marines at the reception of the men and fleet at Los Angeles, says:

"The boys, with their swords and guns, stepped quick and strong. The beauty of California was looking on, cheering, applauding, breaking their parasols and bursting their gloves. It was like the final great day of the carnival in the city of Rome."

Rome is frequently used as a striking simile of the United States. That great republic had many features of this great republic, and the dominant elements of greed and luxury and pleasure and corruption which carried that first great republic to destruction are operative now.

A Newport (Ore.) despatch of May 4 states that the "Minnie E. Kelton," a passenger steamer, met such terrific storms that twelve of her crew were swept from her decks to death, and others were greatly injured. The deck cargo, an immense quantity of lumber, shifted, a bulkhead was started in the fire room, fires were put out by the water under the boilers, and the ship was left to the mercy of the storm.

Despatches from New York, April 30, tell of one of the most terrific storms that ever occurred in the city, and all thru the Middle West there have been heavy falls of snow which have greatly injured crops and impeded traffic. May 4, Colorado was having the heaviest snowfall of the season. Trees have been broken down, and telegraph and telephone poles have fallen. Great damage has been done on account of frost.

Alcohol is not alone in its grip on humanity. Cocain victims are said to be constantly increasing, and its devotee becomes a veritable slave. A purveyor of the drug in Chicago recently had in his possession a baby's locket and twenty wedding rings which had been exchanged for the enslaving drug. Many of the French navy are said to be addicted to the drug.

A despatch from Butte, Mont., May 1, states that passenger train No. 6 was dynamited one mile west of there that night. It is supposed that the engineer is dead. One man riding on the blind baggage was rescued with both arms and legs broken. Who is responsible is not known. Desperation is one of the things which characterize the criminality of to-day.

Foreign Minister Pinchon has announced that France is supporting the proposals for Macedonian reform advanced by Russia, considering them preferable to those made by Great Britain. The minister further stated that France has joined Russia and Italy in supporting the Servian demand for a railroad concession from the Danube to the Adriatic.

The St. Louis express on the Pennsylvania Railway was held up near Pittsburg and $10,000 in gold taken from the messenger. Ten masked men were said to have accomplished the robbery. These train robberies were supposed, largely, to be confined to the West. This incident illustrates how bold and desperate and numerous criminals are becoming.

May 3, at the burning of a hotel at Fort Wayne, Ind., ten lives were lost, and many others were injured for life, some fatally. As a common thing, it was found that there were very few fire escapes, and the hotel itself was a regular fire-trap. The same day a large tenement house was burned in Brooklyn, N. Y. Six persons were consumed and four others seriously injured.

Storms in Texas.—A letter from Elder C. Santee of Fort Worth, Texas, informs us that the daily papers greatly exaggerated the reports of storms, and hence our statement, based on this news service, was also inaccurate. We are glad to make this correction, and glad also that there was no such destruction of property in the "Lone Star State" as was reported.