The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-08-11
BzEcHER as an AEr1-xoHoPoIIsr.

Pts mouth pastor was a rank monop-
list, and like them sll, be made it
pay. He held monopoly on senss-
tional preaching. and pretty nearly
crushed out OF existence the slow
going, orthodox ministers who be-
lieve in doing good TO sill msDkiL3.
But there came q time when rivals
came into the Beecher field, and bis
monopoly vas overcome. Tslmage
and others went into the business Of
sensational preaching, and broke the
back of tbs monopoly on which the
old man had fsttened and grown
rich. Having about squelched
Beecber IN that line, Tslmage ap-
pears to be the monopolist now, and
Brother Henry Ward very naturally
falls into the crowd that is yelling
down monopoly. II Gould and Van
derbiIs could be psuperiZed and cast
among the common herd, it is almost
certain that they would be loud
lmouthed in their denupcistions OF
! the hard-besrted Wretches who COM
bine their capital and brains to op-
press, rob and crush the masses.
| However, as an anti-monopolist
Beecher talks we'll. He hits some
hard blows, just as he could hatter
and fawn upon the rich monopolists
when they wers liberal contributors
to the Plymouth Church fund. Here
is portion of what he said in a re.
cent sermon:
There were two dangerous tendencies
developing in our tine, Mr. beecher con-
tlnued. There was great peril and
danger from the com binations of capital.
Money wss power. We had found that
no man could be trusted enough to be
given too much power. Another ele-
ment was now coming up-the power Of
property. The development OF wealth
was now greater in amount, greater in
scope, aud greater in extent than everI
before, and now came the com bination
of wealth. That which was dangerous s
in individual hands became Goubly so t
in combination. Gigantic monopolies
were created by the force of accumulated
wealth. Suppose q man wanted TO go 7
into the oil business, and put 500. 900 t
into the venture. The Standard Oil
Company would say to that man, "You
ust ont n rIU II q /
PERCENTAGE Of all your profits. II you
don't we will crush you" If the man {
should say that this is free country,
hey would reply, ''Yes, and it is IS free
Tor ombined wealth as for a single indi-
7idual" The Standard Oil Company,
aid Mr.. Beeeher, is like % Egyptian :
pyramids il bunch, with a Pharaoh on
op of each. It is one OF the greatest P
on the face Of the earth,
md it is lot one whit better, because one
IF the best men in it is member Of a !
eading Baptist church in Brooklyn. :
Then there were the railroad com bins-
ions, with five or ten men controlling :
70, 900 miles of railroads and billions on
1illisEs of property. They had their
lands on the very throat of commerce.
4 they should need to have a man in NJ
with them in the Executive
hair, it would require only five pockets 7
o put him there. There were going out
Of New York City at least three or four
'oads that were IS yet undeveloped dan +
yerS to the very existence OF incorrupt
central government.
The venerable pastor never uttered
.ruer words than the above. It is q
pity that he did not declare himself
IN snti-monopoliss ten or twelve years 7
ago when MS voice carried more
weight than it does now. Then 4,
everybody listened to and in a
needed his words; now, very )
lew people listen to Bsecher and
fewer still care for what he gays. In ]
me course of the same sermon from
which the above extract is taken,
8eecher had something to cay of the
.abor question and labor troubles.
AID encouraged the organization of
abor to oppose the aggressions OF
capital. when capital organizes, t
&c said. Labor must also erganize Tor
The question o. wages e
hat used TO be discussed at enc end U
d society was now discussed a. both :,
ends. Organized labor was the J
Drosdest sind of an academy, in I
shich men could educate them {
selves" 4 man cannot always keep a
oG toe popular wave and be con- c
.istent. In mis- instance NJ. Bescher s
S particularly unfortunate. Il is yet q
.re8s in the memories of t5e telling d
masses how the Plymouth pastor, g
years ago, wsged +
8ordy war against the lsboring
classes. It was popular to do SO then,
or times were hard aid the poor :
workers were protesting in the form T
II violent strikes against some op
9ressions by capital. Beecher eaid
hat dollar day was enough for
man; that the ls0orer should 7
,e Nore economical and nos squander =