The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-06-24
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Second Discourse of the Series
On the Labor Question.
How Employers Ought to Treat Employees
Practical Suggestions Outside the
Question OF Better Wages and
Shorter Hours.

practical Suggestions Outside the
Question OF Better Wages and
Shorter Hours.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, in delivering
his second sermon on the labor question at
Brooklyn Tabernacle, took two texts from
which to illustrate his subject, as follows:
I've bite and devour one another, take
heed that We be not consumed one OF an
other Galatians ", IS
Look not every man on his own things;
but every man also on the things of others.
-lPhilippians II, I
The labor agitation win soon quiet. The
mills will again open, the railroads re-
sumo their traffic, our National properties
again start. or course the damage done
by the strikes can not Immediately be re-
paired. Wages will not be so high as they
were. Spasmodically they may be high
er, but they win drop lower. Strikes,
whether they are right or wrong, always
injure laborers more than they do capital.
lists. You will see this in the starvation
of next winter. Boycotting and violence
and murder never pay. They are differ
emit stages Of anarchy. God never blessed
murder. Theworst use You can put man
to is to kill him. Blow, up tomorrow all
the country seats on the banks of the Hud-
son, and all the fine houses on Madison
square, and Brooklyn heights, and Bunker
hill. and Rittenhouss square, and Beacon
street, and all the bricks and timber and
stones viii just fall back on the bare
hands of American labor. The worst
enemies of the working classes of the
United States and Ireland are their
demented coadjutors. The assassina-
tions of Lord Frederick Cavendish
and Mr.. Burke in Phoenix Park, Dub.
lin, Ireland, in the attempt to avenge the
wrongs of Ireland, only turned away from
that afflicted people millions Of sympa-
thizers. The. attempt to blow up the
House of Commons in Lond on had only
this efect-to throw out of employment
tens of thousands Of innocent Irish people
in England. In this country the torch put
to the factories that have discharged
hands for good or bad reason; obstruc-
tons on the rail-tracks in front of mid
night express trains, because the offenders
do not like the president of the company;
strikes on shipboard the hour they were
going to sail, or in printing offices the
aour the paper was to go to press, or in the
mines the day the coal was to be delivered,
or on house scaffoldings so the builder fails
in keeping his contract-all these are only
hard blow on the head of American la
Dor, and cripple its arms, and lame its
feet, and pierce it's heart. Traps sprung
suddenly on employers and violence,
never took one knot out Of the knuckles of
toll, or put one farthing of wages into a
callous palm. Barbarism win never cure
the wrongs of civilization. Mark thati
But gradually the damages done the la
borer by the strikes will be repaired, and
some important things ought now to be
said. 4rasr. se.s,T.8s
The whole tendency of our times, as you
have noticed, is to make the chasm be-
tween employer and employee wider and
wider. In olden time the head man of the
factory, the master builder, the capitalist,
the head man Of the firm worked side by
side with their employees, working some
times at the same bench, dining at the
same table; and there are those here who
can remember the time when the clerks of
large commercial establishments were ac-
customed to board with the head men of
the firm. ,si9ft4glyt .5HeTf
All that is changed, and the tendency is
to make the distance between employees
and employee wider and wider. The ten.
dency is to make the employee feel that he
Is wronged by the success of the capitalist
and to make the capitalist feel: IS
Nov my laborets are only beasts OF
burden; must give SO much money for so
much drudgsry, just SO many pieces of sill
yer for SO many beads of sweat"
In other words, the bridge of sympathy
Is broken down at both ends. That feel
ing was well described by Thomas Car.
lyle when he said:
Plugson, OF St.. Dolly Undershot, buo.
caneer.like says to his men: "Noble spin.
ners, this Is the hundredth Thousand we have
gained, wherein mean to tiweH and plant
my vineyards. ~ The hundred thousand
pound is mine, the daily wage was yours
Adieu, noble spinners; drink my health
with this groat each, which give you over
and above" r,es-sf
Ato" Wuht We WANT Is TO rebuild that
bridge of sympathy, and put the trowe]
to one Of the abutments to- days and ]
preach more especially this morning to
employers as such, although what have
to say will be appropriate to all who are in
the house. a
The outrageous behavior of a multitude
OF iaborers toward their employers during
the last three months, behavior infamous
and worthy Of most condign punishment
may have induced some employers to neg.
lect the real Christian duties that thew
owe to those whom they employ. There.
lore want to say to you whom confront
face to face, and those to whom thess
words may come, that all ship-owners, ali
capitalists, all commercial firms, all mas.
ter builders, all housewives are bound &c
be interested In the entire welfare of thei,
subordinates. Years ago some one gave
three prescriptions for becoming million.
aire:
1. Spend your life in getting and keep.
ing the earnings Of other people. Il
2. Have no anxiety about the worri.
ments, the losses, the disappointments Of
others.
U. DO not mind the fact that your vast
wealth implies the poverty of great many
people.
Now there is not q man in INV
audience who would consent to 60 ont