Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-06-28
CAPITAL AND LABOR.
Views of a California Clergyman Ex
pressed at the East.

views OK Cailorniii clergyman IN
pressed at the East.
Lowell Daily Courier, June 14thl
The following extract from the address
of Rev. DIR. BarrowS, of San Francisco, al
the great convention of the American
Home Missionary Society, has been sc
highly spoken of and favorably commented
upon by leading business men east and
| west that we ere glad of the opportunity OF
placing an abstract OF it before our readers
1t is very just tribute TO men too fire.
| quently misiudged and ign@antly censured
and is the presentation of the subject OF
| Capital and Labor in fair and discrim-
mating terms. We give the substance OF
! his speech:
! I'VE quite agree, Mr. President, with
! the remarks OF the gentleman from New
| York tins afternoon concerning the dan
gers that threaten our country from the
! great social issues Of this era, but there is
another side to the question which he did
| not present. We grant all that is due to
the poor man. but all rich men were not
always rich. They were once poor, and
have climbed to positions of power and
wealth through hard brain work and clear
sighted wisdom and persistent application.
There is still room at the top for brains
Those who have reached that summit hon
estly should never be traduced. What are
some of our rich men in San Francisco
doing? We do not say all of them. but
some of them. Let the facts answer. We
cannot allow all of them to be put in the
category of selfish monopolists, so-called,
without protest. In the town of Dan
vers-5eautiful and charming as we all
admit it TO be-Eved a man whose
small store was ill-dtted TO his broad
ening capacities. Leaving it he pushed
N n4y-x,
had little more than name.
and though not anticipating the result, did
enter upon railroading as brakeman upon
a night freight. The details of his begin
ming are interesting, but omit them here.
From brakeman he steadily rose under the
superintendency of that grand representa-
tive man. Mr.. Hitchcock. recently deceased,
until he occupied the position of his assist
ant To-day he is the Manager of the Cen
trail Pacific Railway and its leased lines, a |
place unsurpassed in executive business re-
quirements and brain capacity on the con- |
tinent. What does this man do with his |
money, and how does he act publicly =? |
When the debt of his church is to be raised |
he sends his check for 81 600 to his pastor |
for its removal, and is ready TO be one Of |
eleven men to pay the So, 900 at once He |
puts down $500 for the contribution to this |
Il
sociates send a large sum to the treasury
ship for the Superintendent work in Cali /
tornia, and in every possible way lie is !
pushing the cause of elevating and Chris !
TANNING California through the benevolent !
channels of his church. Not dollar did /
he inherit. Ii is the money of poor boy, /
earned by honest purpose and brains, that /
he contributes, and grander specimen of |
the unseltish rich man III position of trust
does not exist in the world than is seen in |
the character and acts of A. n. Towne,
Manager Of the Central Pacific Railroad.
No man can know him without admiring
and loving him.
Another man, literally turned from his
fathers doors in his boyhood and insisting
upon earning his living, even to the lodging
of night, developed such executive ability
and capacity that the East could not keep |
him, and by diligent effort he led the way
In many instances to the beginning and
successful completion of the railroad across
the Sierras His wealth is counted by mill
ions, but he earned and made it and to-day
his gifts to various charities are larger than
the world knows of Who would not hest
tate to give largely where gifts are not APP
preciated, and who can hope for the help
fulness which such man can render when
his most unselfsh deeds are criticised by
men and the press that ought to rejoice in
his wealth and his gifts. Charles Croker,
20 whom | refer, has been called Railroad
King, but many man in his place would
have been despot, and many man. too.
from the number of those who now so
plously howl with indiscriminate cries
against his riches. Let credit be given to
he rich, and appreciation rendered to men
who like him have done much and are
willing 10 do more. The name of Stanford
g not unfamiliar to any of you. But he
mixed his energy with brains, and from
poor boy has risen TO the nights of pos
SCISSOR of immense wealth. What is he do
ng with ii, you ask. IL part answer to
hat query let the fact of the gift of his
wife Of 5000 TO Mrs Cooper's Bible class
with my own church for her
memories, and the proposition from Gov
rnor Stanford to found "a school for the
'oung men of California, more thoroughly ]
quipped and endowed than Aly other
lmllar institution i'll America, be not for
often in your thoughts. Nor are our mer-
hants and business men one whit behind
hese examples. They are noble men.
Mr.. President, what men perceive is
7orthy of value they put price upon, and
nen who have pushed to the top by hon
rable means should not be considered
factors in our Republic, nor
heir names dragged in the dust under the
opular cry which emanates from dema-
ogues and political tricksters and dis
runtled office seekers-who fire the Door
18th the zeal and horrors of the commune.
nd seek to legislate for Others what. were
ne tables reversed, they would resent and
ppose.
Too much legislation, not too little. is
kelly TO be our ruin. Indiscriminate CEN
Ire Of men in position, rather than neg
ct Of the poor, is the threatening storm to
e averted. We are not pleading for the
CHI man against the poor. Indeed we are
lie poor mans advocate in these utter
ices. But we are protesting against the
of this question which arrays
lie poor against the rich, and which falls
Ito the public clamor which would sum
on our merchants, our railroad presidents
Id managers, TO the bar of ignorance and
and which would so interfere
18th the business enterprises and interests
this country as TO be immeasurably dis
tous. to the poor. Without this column
men who have accumulated and achieved,
I'd some of whom | can see from the East
I'd from the old Bay State III this house
night, this American Home Missionary
'ciety, with all its mission fields, would
obliged to stop its work within an hour"
FAITHFULNEss is necessary in all kinds of
'rk. Especially is it necessary, in treat i