OCR Text |
Show VOICE OF THE PEOPLE BY SYLVESTER EABL It was just a slip of paper laying near the curbing that attracted my attention as I strolled leisurely down the street of a neighboring town recently, and a mere coincident coinci-dent that impelled me to pick it up and scan its contents. "Second Notice" at the top, in big red letters and the substance as follows, omitting names, amounts, etc. "Your note, the principal of which amounts to with interest, is past due, on which there is interest accured, still due. Banking Bank-ing regulations prohibit our carrying carry-ing paper that is past due. It simply must be taken care of, for past due paper, no matter how good cannot be carried. We must, therefore, there-fore, insist that you arrange to take care of this matter immediately, im-mediately, etc." The man to whom the notice was sent was a dear friend of mine; an honorable, hard-working, frugal, industrious man whose character was above reproach. I was familiar with the circumstances circum-stances under which he was forced to mortgage-his home to pay expenses ex-penses at the passing of his beloved be-loved wife. I know the banker, who also is familiar with the circumstances. cir-cumstances. The banker holds an exalted position in the church of which the mortgager is a member, which fact impressed me rather strangely, strange-ly, and I fell to wondering on the matter of "my brother's keeper", and man's inherent duty to man in general. From a "Christ-Doctrine" view point we are here impressed with a vivid reflection of the predominance pre-dominance of the camal desires over the Divine attributes of the soul of man, which lends credence to the philosophy that all who profess pro-fess to be Christians are not of His teachings. Evidently the banker has brushed brush-ed peremptorialy aside the last semblance of his religious ritual to satisfy an instiable appetite for worldly lucre: has forfeited his sacred obligations to both God and his fellow man: has sacrificed his soul upon the altars of mammon, and then he raises his eyes Heavenward in solemn supplication supplica-tion and proclaims from the pulpit his sincere love for all mankind. man-kind. I am not unmindful of the fact that the banker is a slave to the banking institution and must oloy orders, neither am I ignorant of the fact that the banker is a party to the institution by consent con-sent and desire and not by compulsion. com-pulsion. My sympahty to the banker God's blessing on the mortgager. Now draw your own conclusions. |