OLD MAN of the SEA -- PART 4

Old Man of the Sea (Part 4)

     Once again we return to our interview with the Old Man of the Sea who
witnessed the life and times of America over nearly 100 years, and was part
of changes in the religious movements. He studied scripture mostly alone,
but was self educated in many academic subjects.

  Pastor: You had returned from your cross country trip, followed the Scopes
monkey trial, and were now saving up money to start or buy a business. This
apparently was not such a good idea had you known the finances of the nation
would crash in a matter of months and the Great Depression would begin?

  Old Man of the Sea: This is another yes and no answer. When the market
crashed, it seemed a total financial disaster. For many it was. There were two
kinds of savers in those days. One kind believed in banks and the money
advisers who traded stocks and bonds. They made big profits, especially after
corporations took advantage of labor. The other kind didn't trust banks and
more wealthy people. After the end of the war, we rushed into the Roaring
Twenties, and people considered excesses normal. On the one hand we had
the strict church people, and on the other hand we had people using money
like water to satisfy desires of all kinds.

  Pastor: Are you saying there was a division of people over money?

  Old Man of the Sea: In a way, yes. The people with money just dived into
the market. The upper crust of America was loaded with money, and they
began the division between the haves and the have nots. They got their huge
amounts of money by taking advantage of labor and much of the middle class.
If anybody doubts that, all they have to do is look at the history books. In the
cities, corporate leaders paid laborers an amount leaders chose, virtually nothing
for children, and not a living wage for adults. It was especially hard on women
who had to work, because they weren't paid much more than children. This was
true for many years afterward. If you are familiar with the Molly Maguires in the
Pennsylvania coal region, you know that's how corporate America worked.

  Pastor: I doubt many people today realize how bad those conditions were at
the turn of the century and into the 1930s. But what about the middle class and
the poor?

  Old Man of the Sea: The poor were more poor than today's poor, if you can
imagine that. They had nothing and little hope for anything. Unless they were
connected to a caring church, it was very, very bad. The middle class did have
some material things; a sizable number owned homes, cars, and were saving
some money. These people were small business people--we called them Mom
and Pop businesses, who sometimes employed a few people, and the skilled
workers who received a wage quite above regular labor. Many in the middle class
did not trust banks and kept most of their savings at home. Some saw the great
profits of stockholders and invested in stocks in a small way. I recall two young
women who worked in a Five and Dime discussing their stock investments when
I shopped there one day. It was only a few shares, but they considered themselves
in the chips.

  Pastor: So much of the middle class was suspicious of the financial system?

  Old Man of the Sea: The level headed ones seemed to sense that the whole
system was too good to be true. And they were right.

  Pastor: How did the crash begin?

  Old Man of the Sea: Communications were very sketchy at that time. The general
public knew little about finances, banks, stocks, how the market worked. There was
a top layer of what we call insiders, but even many of the "quick" millionaires were
not aware of the dangers. You went to sleep one night, and your money was safe.
The next morning when you went to the bank, it was closed. It was more dynamic
in the big cities, where the big investors held court in the skyscrapers. There, people
on the sidewalks got a preview of 9/11, as now broke millionaires came plummeting
from the towers.

  Pastor: Did you lose your savings, too?

  Old Man of the Sea: No, I didn't. By this time, I had learned enough about economics
and finances that I knew something was terribly wrong. My parents had always been
thrifty, and they only lost a small amount of savings. Hiding your savings under the
mattress or elsewhere turned out to be a good idea.

  Pastor: So, what was the effect of the banks closing and chaos on the economy
for you?

  Old Man of the Sea: Well, I thanked God that I hadn't fallen into the trap of greed we're
now into. I don't call it Capitalism anymore; I call it Greedism. I didn't lose my savings,
and the beginning of the Great Depression was a giant favor to me.

  Pastor: Would you mind explaining that statement?

  Old Man of the Sea: Course not. You see I had my savings. The economy tanked.
Lots of people lost jobs, homes and everything. Lots of small businesses came onto
the market. People needed money, and real estate sort of tanked in many areas. I
found a nice, little country business, house, and a few acres offered at a very
reasonable price. I didn't have all the money, but most of it. I got a small loan without
interest from my in-laws, and bought the property. It was difficult, but I had a steady
group of customers. A small country store at that time was really a small gold mine,
because people couldn't afford to travel far and there were no supermarkets. The
previous owner didn't have a good handle on how to operate the business. I offered
very little credit. Most stores offered none. The people I offered credit were owners of
land, buildings and/or businesses. Even with the hard times, they had steady income.
I kept prices as low as possible, making only a small profit. I tried to be generous,
especially with my poorer customers. giving 13 ears of corn for a dozen, adding a
little bit of weight on the scale, and giving poor children penny candy. It paid off,
because I developed a loyal clientčle right up to the day I sold the business.

  Pastor: You seemed to have followed the Golden Rule of doing unto others as you
would have them do unto you. Were the churches helpful in the rural areas?

  Old Man of the Sea: Not only the churches, but farm families as well. The area I
lived in was basically an area of dairy farms and some truck vegetable and fruit
farming. Dairies in those days were small with most having a dozen or less cows.
There were lots of rural families that had only one cow. Growing vegetables or fruit
was done on a small scale. Remember, most things were done with hand labor.
Farmers and truck patch owners were generous with what they considered left
overs. They were following in the footsteps of Boaz, who we read about in the
Book of Ruth. I'm not going to quote from that book, but I encourage everyone to
read that short book and understand the principle it teaches. That principle is
the forerunner of Christian redemption.

  Pastor: It's interesting you would mention the Book of Ruth and redemption,
because that was my first sermon at Christmas time. The Lord directed me to
use that example rather than the usual Bethlehem story. Was it really as wild
as the stories and movies we've heard and seen?

  Old Man of the Sea: After the Roaring Twenties, how could you expect things
to continue to be so wild? But they did, only in different ways. Desperate people
do desperate things, and people got really desperate after the market crash. Laws
take second place to the need for food and shelter. Crime was bad, but instead
of gangster shoot outs, we had more petty crimes and common violence--not the
serious injury type, but more like mugging and thievery. There were also the
more spectacular crimes, the Bonnie and Clyde type stories. We also saw the era
of hobos begin. Most people today don't know what a hobo was.

  Pastor: So you weathered the storm of the Great Depression and actually
emerged much better than before the crash?

  Old Man of the Sea: My, yes. The buildup to the Great Depression was caused
by the ungodly acts of the people of America. The social excesses of the Roaring
Twenties, the greed, the oppression of the common man by wealthy businessmen
and leaders, and the general decline of morality brought about the hardship of
Americans. Some of the population, such as myself, farmers and small business
owners came through it scarred, but healthy.

  Pastor: History tells us the depression and recovery so distracted us that we
didn't realize much of the world was using the 1930s to prepare for world
domination and war. What happened in America while so many foreign countries
were preparing for war?

  Old Man of the Sea: There was no instant fix, so it was up to our government
to pull us out of the tailspin. As usual. there was a lot of disagreement among our
leaders. Apparently unnoticed by our leaders was the rise of the Nazi party in
Germany, where wealthy German industrialists financed its growth to close to
a million members. They also ignored Japan's invasion of Manchuria.  Solving
our money problem was important, but a little more attention to what was going
on in the world would have been helpful. It is noteworthy for us to remember the
Nazi party rose to power on the bountiful money of wealthy industrialists. When
any segment of society unjustly influences a nation, very serious problems are
created.

  Pastor: Are you by chance warning us that recent action such as the Supreme
Court ruling that permits corporations to contribute funds to political campaigns
was a bad idea?

  Old Man of the Sea: As the wise man says, follow the money trail. Corporate
donations are provided in an amount and to those politicians who will do their
bidding. The money and recipients are decisions made by a small group of people
that includes top administrators and shareholders. Small shareholders have no say
on the matter. We would be pretty naive to think corporate leaders would consider
anything but the bottom line.  Corporate decisions are based on dollar signs, not
the bible. For a long time they didn't include ethics in the business schools of
America. In fact, they are just now  adding ethics classes in our colleges. How far
into the pit have we fallen that ethics has to be taught to college students? How
did Christians allow this to happen?

  Pastor: Now the depression has to be checked by our federal government. If
politics then was as gridlocked as now, that would seem a super human task.

  Old Man of the Sea: We had two important things going for us. The end of the
Roaring Twenties sobered up the population. Christians grasped the evangelism
of preachers like Billy Graham, the churches were helping the poor and jobless,
and people realized those previous years had been a fantasy. We also had some
fine minds in some of our political leaders. I am disappointed to hear young people
today trash the men who brought us out of the depression. They were brave to
chart us through an unknown ocean to recovery. I lived through it, I experienced
it first hand. We said many a prayer, and God answered. There is a carryover for
us if we read and understand the books of the Old Testament written by the
prophets. A general theme runs through them that clearly illustrates the folly of
mankind. We see over and over a cycle. The people listen to God.The people
prosper. The people become lax and forget who has blessed them. God has to
straighten the people out, and they go into captivity. Then God has mercy on
them, and they are restored. He was especially merciful on America, because,
although we suffered in World War II, we were not taken into captivity.

  Pastor: You are saying we don't read, study or understand what God tries
to teach us in the bible, especially in the Old Testament. Why do you suppose
that is?

  Old Man of the Sea: Same reason some school kids have trouble understanding
subjects like math. They don't put together basic math and its use in the real world.
They don't realize adding and subtracting is a principle in money. Leaders don't
understand biblical principles are principles of life.

  Pastor: I want to return to the actions by our leaders that pulled us out of the
depression. There were some major changes for our society that have proved
instrumental in quality of life.

  (We'll continue this interview in the next message.)

Rev. Walbear