Although riches are not wrong, they are, nevertheless, dangerous. They are dangerous to the man himself, dangerous to his family, dangerous to his community.

Wealth is a danger to the man himself when it tends to monopolize his attention. This, however, is not peculiar to wealth, but applies to the pursuit of other purposes. Art and music are likewise dangerous when they lead a man to forget commonplace business obligations, decent self-support, and the rights of family. Theology, golf, statistics, politics, philanthropy, - any interest may be dangerous if allowed to become an obsession.

Wealth may absorb a man's mind to the exclusion of health, happiness, and home, - and he may lose all three. He may lose his home through neglect. It takes more than money to support a family. It takes love, thought, and time. There is poverty of soul as well as body. On this basis, the family of many a rich man has languished in a poorhouse.

The Community's Stake

The community also has a stake in all this. Riches are a danger to a community for many reasons. Chief among these reasons rates the power of example. It is lamentable that the rich should have so much influence in molding the principles and practices of all classes, - but such is the case. If you question this, mix with the people of any town - large or small - and find out their real feelings when not talking for publication. Note the salesman in the store, "This is what the Ownit-alls buy." Listen to the proud mother, "My boy is a great chum of Harold Heir." The rich man has a prestige beyond anything to which he is entitled. This intangible power imposes upon the wealthy a heavy obligation and becomes for the community a very definite danger until carefully used. If I may offer a mixed motto: - "Wealth oblige."

The Rich Set The Pace

More specifically: In any community the pace is set by the people of greatest wealth. Woe to a town, therefore, if its rich families - at least a few of them - do not have the good sense to set sane standards. "Doesn't it make you disgusted to see the Bluffers trying to put on all this style, when nothing of the kind is even thought of by the Solidsets, with a hundred times the income?" "I say it won't hurt our Willie to take care of the furnace, if the Realstuffs think their Ralph isn't too good for such work." In every locality there are hundreds of intelligent families who need only a little sanction of this sort to stiffen their spines and give them an excuse for the exercise of common sense. But if Mrs. Solidset ever puts a cut glass vase in the sedan or the Realstuffs get a lap-dog - the city is taken! Wealth is a potential danger of the gravest sort because it enables the possessor to give the community a pattern.

The writer started in business with no capital. Both in the office and at home, it took careful planning to meet expenses. He knows from personal experience the incessant pressure that is put on people of limited income to over-buy. Within recent years the business has grown to a point where the income is equal to all reasonable demands. He now knows the temptation to go his own way regardless of the reaction upon others.

Wealth Is Director Of Labor

More obvious - and therefore less to be feared - there is another danger. Wealth is a power to control labor. With $50,000 at hand, I can set labor to erecting a mill - provided there is no strike in the building trades. Or I can summon a gang to grade my lawn. I can put people at work decorating china, raising chickens, printing Bibles, studying microbes, excavating ruins, operating farms, embroidering garments. In fact, my $50,-000 will make people do almost anything under the sun. What infinite chances for error! What if I order my forces to butter parsnips when, for the good of society, they should be building bridges?

In the long run, of course, the abuse or the mistaken use of wealth is self-limiting. If I invest in an unrequired line, my capital is soon gone; but while it lasts, $50,000 can do considerable damage. Therefore, the great responsibility of making only enduring investments.

A True Perspective Of Values

Statistics have taught me a good many things. Statistics have taught me to take care of my health. Statistics have helped me in buying and selling. By statistics I have learned in a small way how to influence others. Recently, statistics have been changing my views as to the relative importance of the different phases of life. Statistics have changed my opinion regarding many things, including theology. The Bible now is to me a treatise on economics and psychology as well as a book of spiritual truths.

When studying the life of Jesus one is not impressed with that need of self-sacrifice which has been so prominently emphasized in the past. One even fails to find that Jesus used either the word "selfish" or "unselfish." Apparently Jesus appealed to His hearers to be long-headed and far-sighted. It was their short-sightedness to which He objected. He wanted His followers to look through to the finish and see what the ultimate result would be of certain courses of action. Jesus' great purpose in life was to get people to have a true perspective of values, - to know what is really worth while and what is not.

It makes me impatient to have people refer to Jesus as a "poor and wandering carpenters son." If you have any doubt as to Jesus' ability to make money, if He so desired, just read the story of His taking money from the fish's mouth, the story of His multiplying the loaves of bread so as to feed five thousand, the story of His turning water into wine, or the story of His calling His disciples to cast their net on the other side of the ship. Even those who question whether these things ever happened, must admit that the people thought they happened. Any man who could so impress the people regarding material things, could have become a great leader in finance, industry, or politics. If Jesus was poor in worldly goods, it was not because He could not make a business success. Jesus recognized the fact that when one gets enough to eat and wear and a place to live, "things" then lose their value. He realized that the enduring investments of life come first from a development of man's spiritual nature, and secondly from doing things which promote the health, happiness, and prosperity of others.