The Price of a Soul

by William Jennings Bryan

It is strange that anyone should attempt to defend a private monopoly, for its plan and operation can be easily understood by any one who knows either human nature or history. No judge would be permitted to preside in his own case; no juror would be allowed to serve in a suit to which he was a party, and yet the head of a monopoly arbitrarily decides, every-day, questions where his interests are on one side and public interests on the other. Can he be trusted to decide impartially and to exact only a reasonable profit? It is absurd to expect him to do justice to those whith whom he deals. The student of history knows that the monopolist has always been an outlaw. Three centuries ago, under Queen Elizabeth, the House of Commons protested against the monopolies which she had authorized, and I found, when in the Holy Land, that a very complete monopoly existed there some seventeen hundred years ago. Josephus tells how John of Gishala secured a monopoly in olive oil and charged ten times as much for the oil as he paid for it. For the benefit of those who think that all monopolies are traceable to the rebate, I venture to suggest that the oil trust of Palestine was successfully operated before railroads existed. But even tho John had nothing better than a fast freight line of donkeys and distributed the oil in goat skins, he showed as correct an understanding of the possibilities of monopoly as any trust magnate has to-day, and I have wondered whether our John secured his idea of an oil trust from John of Gishala.

We need laws making the private monopoly impossible, but we must have back of these laws a moral sentiment which will condemn the club wielded by the monopolist, as moral sentiment now condemns the highwayman's bludgeon.

The third temptation to which the commercial man is subjected is the corruption of politics. Just in proportion as a corporation secures a monopoly of the business in which it is engaged, in that proportion the necessity for government regulation increases, and I may add, the difficulty of securing regulation increases in proportion to the necessity for it. Municipal corruption has become a byword, and the lobbyist has made his evil presence felt at the national and State capitals. Bribery is becoming a fine art, and neither the voter nor his representative is spared. The one lesson that must be taught is that the man who gives a bribe is as wicked as the man who accepts it—I am not sure but that he is more wicked, for the necessities of the man who accepts the bribe—if need can palliate such an offense—are usually greater than those of the man who offers it. I appeal to you to assist, in every possible way, in the creation of a public sentiment which will ostracise the business man who purchases legislation with the profits derived from privileges already secured, or who advances corruption money in anticipation of the profits which governmental favors promise.

In the counting room as well as in the editor's library and in the lawyer's office one hears the heart-searching question: “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”—and happiness, honor and usefulness all hang upon the answer.

I would not be forgiven if I failed to apply my theme to the work of the instructor. The purpose of education is not merely to develop the mind; it is to prepare men and women for society's work and for citizenship. The ideals of the teacher, therefore, are of the first importance. The pupil is apt to be as much influenced by what his teacher is as by what the teacher says or does. The measure of a school can not be gathered from an inspection of the examination papers; the conception of life which the graduate carries away must be counted in estimating the benefits conferred. The pecuniary rewards of the teacher are usually small when compared with the rewards of business. This may be due in part to our failure to properly appreciate the work which the teacher does, but it may be partially accounted for by the fact that the teacher derives from his work a satisfaction greater than that obtained from most other employments.

The teacher comes in contact with the life of the student, and, as our greatest joy is derived from the consciousness of having benefited others, the teacher rightly counts as a part of his compensation the continuing pleasure to be found in the knowledge that he is projecting his influence through future generations. The heart plays as large a part as the head in the teacher's work, because the heart is an important factor in every life and in the shaping of the destiny of the race. I fear the plutocracy of wealth; I respect the aristocracy of learning; but I thank God for the democracy of the heart. It is upon the heart-level that we meet; it is by the characteristics of the heart that we best know and best remember each other. Astronomers tell us the distance of each star from the earth, but no mathematician can calculate the influence which a noble teacher may exert upon posterity. And yet even the teacher may fall from his high estate, and, forgetting his immeasurable responsibility, yield to the temptation to estimate his work by its pecuniary reward.

Let me turn for a moment from the profession and the occupation to the calling. I am sure I shall not be accused of departing from the truth when I say that even those who minister to our spiritual wants and, as our religious leaders, help to fix our standards of morality, sometimes prove unfaithful to their trust. They are human, and the frailties of man obscure the light which shines from within, even when that light is a reflection from the throne of God. The ministers have for years considered the liquor question a moral question, and I would not chide them for their activity; but I think too little emphasis has been placed upon the importance of total abstinence. Whether a Christian can drink in moderation without harm to himself is purely a physical question, and some Christians have overestimated their ability to confine their drinking within safe limits; but there is a moral question which is much larger, namely, can a Christian afford to indulge the appetite for drink if his example leads weaker men to ruin?

The great apostle said that, if eating meat made his brother to offend, he would eat no meat. It is a part of the minister's work to cultivate such a love of brother in the Christian heart that the Christian will paraphrase the language of the apostle and say: If drinking maketh my brother to offend, I shall not drink.

Then, too, we have not sufficiently considered man's social needs. Man must have communion with his friends, and we have left the saloon to furnish about the only meeting place in the cities and towns. Rooms should be opened where men can meet with wholesome surroundings and free from the temptations that are ever present where men meet in a room provided by one who has a pecuniary interest in cultivating an appetite for drink.

The ministers must deal with all questions that involve morals, and every great question is in its final analysis a question of ethics.