The Portland daily press., 1886-05-19
Bishop Potter on the l Labor Question.

Assistant Bishop Henry G. Potter has ad-
dressed to the clergy Of the diocese Of New
York pastoral letter upon the opportunities
and duties of Christians in the present un-
easy and, in many places, turbulent csndi-
tions of society. The Bishop does not doubt
the triumph of common sense and law over
the turbulent elements such turbulence will
recoil disastrously upon the demagogues who
instigate it and their dupes. But at such
moment the Church has a special charge to
counsel moderation and magnanimity upon
the part of those who are placed by circum-
stances in the position OIL Vlctors; Mere mon
ey generosity will not suffice, however, TO
reach the heart of the grievance. What the
disappointed laborer wants from his employ
er is fair and fraternal dealing rather than
almsgiving. The letter continues as follows:
''The growth Of wealth among us has is
sued not in binding men together, but In
driving them apart. The rich are further
from the poor, the employer from his work
men, capital from labor, now than ever De-
fore. Too many know less and less now the
the poor live, and give little time or none az
all to efforts to know. The wage OF the Ia
borer may be, doubtless in most cases it is,
larger than it was thirty years ago; but his
wants have grown more rapidly than MS
wages, and his opportunities for gratifying
them are not more numerous, Dut less. ne
home is not often more decent, and daily
grows more costly. His mental horizon has
been widened, but fit food for it IS no more
accessible. Instincts and aspirations nave
been awakened in him which are certainty as
honorable in him as in those more favorably
situated, but wealth does little either to dl-
rect or to satisfy them. The manners OF the
poor, it is said, are more lnsolent and ungra-
cious than of old to the rich, and this dis
courages efforts to know and serve them. L
do af Whv nnVprfy ShOnld cTInG9 TO
wealth. which is as often as otherwise an ac-
cidental distinction, and quite as OFTEN con-
dition unadorned by any especial moral or
intellectual excellence. But we may be sure
that the manners of the poor, II they be lnSo-
lent, are learned from those of people whose
opportunities should at least have taught
them that no arrogance Is more lnsufteraDle
or unwarrantable than that of mere wealth:
And if we are reaping to-day the fruits OF
these mutual hatreds between more and less
favored classes we may well own that the
fault is not all on one side, and that 1t IS time
that we awaken to the need OF SaerlhceS
which alone can Danish them.
We may cover the pages OF our statute
books with laws regulating strikes ana IN
flicting severest penalties on those VINO or
ganiZe resistance to the Individual nDerUy
whether of employer or workman; we may
drill regiments and perfect our police the
safety and welfare of State is not IN tnese
things it is in the contentment ana lOyalCy
of its people, And these come by dlfferene
road. When capitalists and employers OF
labor have forever dismissed the 1allaey,
which may be true enough In the CONAN OIL
political economy, but Is essentlaLy dsiSe an IN
laborer are alike commodity, to be bought
and sold. employed or dismissed, paid OF un-
derpaid, as the market shall decree; when
the interest of workman or master shall nave
been owned by both as one, and the snare Oh
the laboring man shall be something more
than mere wage; when the principle of
Joint interest in what is produced of all the
brains and hands that go to produce 1t is
wisely and generously recognized; when the
Well-being Of our fellow men, their homes
and food their pleasures, and their higher
moral and spiritual necessities, shall be seen
to be matters concerning which we may not
dare to say, ''Am | my brothers keeper ?,
then, and not till then, may we hope to heal
those grave social divisions concerning
which there need be among us all, as with
Israel o, old, great searchings of heart.
beg of you, reverend gentleman, to set
| these things before your people with great
| plainness of speech. In New York centers
the capital that controls the traffic and large
| ly the manufactures of this new world. In
your congregations are many of those who
control that capital. In all our parishes are
| people who employ labor or reap the bene-
| fits of it. To these it is time to say that nc
| Christian man can innocently be lndlHerenl
| to the interests of working men and women
sibility first to know how best to use It % %
| serve others as well as ourselves, ana tnen
has its decent limits, and that we in this
land are in danger n many f5af cass Churches
and class distinctions of kindred kinds nave
nearly DESTROYED in the hearts oi many nf re- ei
ii igidRn INV whose m founder declared, All ye are
bTethren.' but whose disciples more often
seem by their acts to say, Stand thou there,
Trouble me not when their brethren re re;
| mind them not merely OIL tnelI ni"iilAol0
needs, but of their just rights.