The Intricacies of Finance

From the Rock Island Argus, June 5, 1913.
 By S. E. Kiser.
 

 Finance is something that appears
     To be away beyond my ken;
 I’ve studied it for years and years,
     In common with my fellow men;
 But there are things about it which
     Are deeply mystifying yet;
 How is it that some men are rich
     And at the same time far in debt?
 
 My place in life is rather low,
     And I may never cease to strive;
 I’m poor, although I do not owe
     A cent to any man alive;
 The luxuries that come to me
     Are very few and very small;
 Things may be as they ought to be,
     But I can’t understand at all.
 
 They say that old man Billingsworth
     Owes money almost everywhere;
 His people travel o’er the earth,
     And never seem to have a care;
 With eighty thousand dollars less
     Than nothing he is living high,
 And looks with splendid haughtiness
     Down on such humble ones as I.
 
 He has a long, low, rakish car
     In which he proudly rides about;
 He smokes a large and good cigar
     And always has his chest pushed out;
 The house in which he dwells is grand,
     His wife wears gems that cost a pile;
 His son has never turned a hand,
     His daughters dress in queenly style.
 
 He does not labor day by day,
     As I and those around me do;
 He’s very deep in debt, they say,
     And always sinking deeper, too;
 Yet, worse than merely penniless,
     He shines where I would have no chance;
 The simple truth must be, I guess,
     That I can’t understand finance.