Improvement Era, June 1928

Improvement Era* Vol. XXXI JUNE, 1928 No. 8 Men Who Tithe* By William G. Shepherd The names of the men who tithe, whose experiences are described in this article, have pur¬ posely been omitted, because the subject we wish to stress is tithing and not mere material success. Tithing is a spiritual exercise, or a psychological experiment, or a religious duty, as you will. The material rewards, extraordinary as they are, nevertheless are accounted only as secondary benefits by the men who practice tithing. Any reader who is sufficiently interested to ask us for the name and address of any or all of the men mentioned, can get them from us upon applica¬ tion, provided he assures us he makes the request in search of further light on the subject and not out of idle curiosity. — Editors The World's Work. Me walked slowly through the empty rooms of the little factory. He was alone in the building. As yet the machin¬ ery was not in place. He was starting over in life; his first attempt at business had not been a success. The tiny string of credit which he had to depend upon in his new venture was made up of the faith of a few close friends rather than the calculated, mathematical confidence of banks. When he came to a remote corner of one of the upper floors he knelt and closed his eyes and prayed. Then he got up and went out into the world again and began his hard business fight. The machinery came, at last, and he started to make furniture. He borrowed and borrowed; his improving business records strengthened his credit. But there was a mystery about him in the fields of credit. Al¬ though he began to look more and more safe to the credit men, he seemed to insist on giving money away. While he was borrowing, he gave. Sometimes he said “no” to those who asked for financial aid for religious or philanthropic purposes. But when he did say “yes,” he said it with an alacrity that astonished the recipient. He did not give money to foolish ventures or to unsound enterprises, but it was a puzzling thing to the bankers to have him borrow from them while he was giving money freely to help others who were finding the world a hard place to live in. But his business grew; within a few years it became well- established; his furniture became known to the trade for its honest ♦From The World's Work of July, 1924. Copyright by The World's Work, Doubleday, Doran 8 Co., Inc.