The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-06-18
TALMAGE's SERMON.
Fourth Discourse of the Series on
the Labor Question.
The Dangers of Monopoly, Communism,
Infdelity and NihiIism-The Outlook
for the Future of the Republic
Overpopulation.

Rev. IT. Dewitt Talmage delivered the
fourth of his series of discourses on the
labor question at Brooklyn Tabernacle, his
subject being monopoly and Communism
Struggling for the Possession of the Coun-
try" His text was:
The Lord delghteth in thee, and thy land
shall be married.-Isaiah xii 4.
As the greater includes the less, so does
the circle of future joy around our entire
Y =-<id include the epicycle of our own re-
public. Bold, exhilarant, unique, divine
imagery of the textl So many are de-
pressed by the labor agitation and think
everything in this country is going to
pieces. preach this morning a sermon
of good cheer and anticipate the time
when the Prince of Peace and the Heir Of
universal dominion shall take possession
Of this Nation and "Thy land shall be
married"
| In discussing the final destiny of this
| Nation it makes all the difference in the
world whether we are on the way to
funeral wedding. The Bible leaves
no doubt on this subject. In pulpibs and
! on platforms and in places of public con-
course, 1 hear so many of the muf1ed
drums of evil prophecy sounded as though
we were on the way to National interment,
and besides Thebes, and Babylon and Tyre
! in the cemetery of dead nations our re-
! public was to be entombed, that I wish
| you to understand it is not TO be obsequies,
! but nuptials; not mausoleum, but carpeted
altar; not cypress, but orange blossoms;
not requiem, but wedding march, for "Thy
| land shall be married" Ipropose to name
some of the suitors who are claiming the
hand of this Republic. This land is so
fair, so beautiful, so aff1uent, that it has
/
| your advice whether this or that shall be
accepted or rejected.
In the first place, remark: There is
greedy, aIl-grasping monster who comes
| in suffer seeking the hand of this Re-
! public, and that monster is known by the
name of Monopoly. His scepter is made
| put of the iron of the rail track and the
wire of telegraphy. He does everything
| for his own advantage and for the robbery
of the people. Things have gone on from
bad to worse, until in the three Legisla-
lures of New York, New Jersey and enn-
| sylvania, for the most part, Monopoly
decides every thing. If Monopoly favor
| law it passes. If Monopoly oppose law
it is rejected. Monopoly stands in this
railroad depot putting into his pockets in
one year 5000, 900 in excess of all
! reasonable changes for service. Mo-
nopoly holds in his one hand
the steam power of locomotives, and in the
other the electricity of swift communica-
tiOn. Monopoly decides nominations and
slections-city elections, State elections,
National elections. With bribes he secures
She votes of egislators-giving them free
passes, giving appointments to needy rela-
tives to lucrative positions, employing
shem as attorneys if they are lawyers,
carrying their goods fifteen per cent. less
If they are merchants; and if he finds a
base very stubborn, as well as very inn
| portant, puts down before him the hard
cash of bribery.
But monopoly is not so easily caught
NOW when, during the term of Mr..
! buchanan, the Legislative committee in
| one of our States expressed and exposed
the manner in which a certain railway
company procured a donation of public
| land. 1t was found out that thirteen of
the Senators of that State received SITS, 900
/ among them, sixty members of the lower
house of that State received s., 900 and
! $4,000 each, the Governor of the State re-
| ceived SOC, 900, his clerk received Sc, 900, tb9
! Lieutenant Governor received $40, 900, all
the clerks of the Legislature received 50, 600
each, while $4,000 were divided among the
! lobby agents.
This thing, on larger or smaller scale,
IS all the time going on in some of the
! States of the Union, but it is not so blum
| dering as it used to be, and therefore not
as easily exposed or arrested.
! tell you that the oversh Allowing curse
! of the United States to-day is monopoly.
! He puts his hand upon every bushel of
wheat, upon every sack Of salt, upon every
ton of coal, and every man, woman and
child in the United States feels the touch
of that moneyed despotism.
/ rejoice that in twenty -four States Of
the Union already anti-monopoIy leagues
have been established God speed them
in the work of liberationl wish that the
| question might be the ques tiOn of our
Presidential elections, and that we compel
the political parties to recognize it in their
| platforms.
I have nothing to say against capitalists.
A man has right to all the money he can
make honestly. There is not laborer in
the land who would not be worth million
dollars if he could. have nothing to say
against corporations as such-without
them no great enterprise would be possi-
BILE; but what l do say is that the same
principles are to be applied to capitalists
and to corporations that are applied to the
poorest man and the plainest labOrer.
What is wrong for me is wrong for great
corporations. If l take from you your
| property without adequate compensation
am a thief, and if a railway damage the
property of the people without any ade-
uuate compensation that is a gigantic
theft. What is wrong on a small scale is
wrong on a large scale. Monopoly in
England has ground hundreds and thou
sands of her best people into semi-starva-
tion, and in Ireland has driven multitu-
/ dinous tenants almost to madness.
Such monopolies imply an infinite acre
age of wretchedness. There is no poverty
in the United States like that in England,
| Ireland and Scotland, for the simple rea-
son that in those lands monopoly has had
| longer and larger sway. Last summer in
/ Edinburgh, Scotland, after preaching in
/ Synod Hall, / stood on chair in front
| of the hall and preached to an audience
of 10000 people, standing in one of the
most prosperous parts of the city, and
reaching out toward the castle; as fine an
array of strength and health and beauty
as one ever sees. Three hours after I
| preached in the Grass Market and to
the wretched inhabitants Of the Cowgate
and Canongate, the audience exhibiting
she squalor and sickness and despair
/ that remains in One's mind like one of the
visions of Dante's Inferno.
Great monopolies in any land imply
! great privation. The time viii come
| when our Government win have to limit
/ the amount Of accumulation Of property.
Unconstitutional, do you say2 Then con-
/ stitutions wiz have to be changed until
/ they allow such limitation. Otherwise
the work of absorption win go on, and the
1 large fishes viii eat up the small fishes,
/ and the shad viii swallow the minnows,
and the porpoise swallow the shad, and
| thousand greedy men win own the ~hole
world, and 500 of these win eat up the
i other 500, and 100 eat up the other 400,
and finally there viii be only 80 left, and
| then 40, and then 30, and then 20, and then
| 10 and then 2 and then l.