Not Money but Men
"Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it." -- Isa. 13:17
Senator Capper in his weekly newspaper article tells us that "the biggest pile of pure gold in the world is under a little square building in Wall Street in New York City, 4,000 tons of the yellow metal in bars like bricks. Each weighs twenty pounds and is worth $6,000."
That building holds 8,000,000 pounds of solid gold, worth $2,400,000,000.
Commenting on this in his To-day’s column, Mr. Arthur Brisbane says: "There is one comfort for New York, in case we never have an air fleet, and in case a real air fleet should ever visit the city. There will be enough money to load a ship and pay the price to save our biggest city from destruction."
Reading this, my mind turned to a prophecy Isaiah made concerning ancient Babylon. Babylon possessed huge treasures of wealth, and in her wealth she trusted. In case the city was attacked by an enemy, and in case there were not enough men to defend it, she had gold enough to buy off her enemies. But Isaiah warns Babylon that she is resting on a false security. He prophesies the coming of the Medes against them. These hordes from the mountains were not to be bribed or bought over. "They shall not regard silver; and as for gold they shall not delight in it."
No amount of gold can guarantee the security and permanency of a nation. In the last resort the thing that counts in making a nation safe and sure of its future is not wealth of gold but wealth of manhood, not money—not even airships—but men.
