The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1886-03-04
CHRISTIAN COMMUNISM
Az a Remedy for the Social Distress Of
the Hour.
A sermon on Labor Troubles froaohsd
sunday Evening by REV. d. E'
Platter at the First Presby-
terian Church,

ton, Sunday evening, by the pastor,
Rev. d E, Platter;
FExf-sO returned and considered all the oppres
aiOna that arc done under tho SUM- Ani behold tho
teara O such AA were oppfeaa, hnu INV hha no oon
fOrter, anu on tho Bde VI her Ol preaaOf thofe was
pOwerl but they had no comforter kooehlaalea "
II we would obtain just views OF hu.
man life, In any age, our survey must
include, not simply the foremost, for
tunate few, but the maaaes-n0t simply
the tOp.layers, but the underlying strata
OF s0ciety-thOse millions who IN every
age have had 10 bear the 6runt OF the
Injustice, and hardship, and oppression,
which have resulted from defective gov
ernment, or false social systems.
The text Is the beautiful and appro'
pirate allualOn OF Solomon TO the 0pprea'
slOn of the masses, as no saw II In the
Hinvaoms contiguous to his own In his
day.
Human society has been steadily ad'
vanclng through the ages, but " mas
further to 90 than II has yet come, be-
fore II will have reached that Ideal state
Ofwhich men Ia every age have dreamed.
"Utopia," where unsellshntss IL King,
and where an evenly distributed abund-
ance brings happiness and content 10
all, and poverty, ana misery and all
their train OF Ills are banished, isas yet
only an imaginary republic, an airy
Vtion OF the brain,
With all our bOastlng OF 10Th century
prOgTeas, the present industrial, an0
commercial, aud social state, IL Charac
ter Zpd by very much that is deplOrable,
and however hedged about by the tech
nlcal forms OF justice, the evil In " may
be, the Tumtling thunder OF the protest
of the eternal laws OF righteousness can
be diatinctly heard. A condition OF no.
ciety IN which great masses OF the peo-
Die are born TO the Inevitable Inherit
ancp Of ignorance, poverty and squalOr,
and vet other great masses TO con
ditlOn marked by ceaseles', and often
times, illrtQuitted toll, whose very ex'
istence Ia Que long continued struggle
for the bare necessities OF life, whose
lot has few alleViati0ns Cf Its hard hips,
and another chosen few are born the
special fayorltes OF fortune, aud have
ease and wealth and luxury; q condition
which shows colossal fortunes casting
their baleful shadow over great masses
of men aud women pinched by poverty
and worried by Want-such IL not an
ideal state Of society. When such things
can be- said Of society, II has not reached
q complete d state,
In apite OF the roae-cOlOr which
optimlsta, Christian and secular, have
fairly daubed upon the picture OF these
tlmes,' the outlook gives few Indications
of the millennium" ~ we speak OF II
In religious phrase or the Ideal state OF
society, dreamed OF by secularista, from
Plato TO Henry George.
The race has had such an Ideal, and
has been, aud Il still struggling towards
II, with "groanings which canuot be
uttered" The spirit Of the gospel OF
Jesus Christ IL In harmony with such an
ideal, and works toward II, In that "
teaches that the intercourse Of man
with man, In all the relations Of life,
shall be 10 tempered with justice, aud
goodness, and mercy, aud disinterested'
ness, and brotherly kindness, that much
OF the present inequality aud hardship,
shall be eliminated,
A look At the condition Of mankind In
any previous age, Will reveal much the
SAM features that we sea to-day. "Phe
thing which Ia, Ia the thing which has
been, and there IL no new thing under
the sun" Some OF the features do not
look 70 bad as they once did; something
OF their harshness has been Lost IN the
lapse OF ages, aud some OF the better
features have been more distinctly
brought out. The picture OF the con
ditiOn Of the race was never 10 good as
II IL In this l0h century, but that Is
only saying that there Has been progress
and that n state of completion has not
yet been reached by long distance.
Look when you will, you see the con-
trasls Of wealth and poverty, happiness
and misery; the proud, the rich, the
powerful, Opnre9siUg the humble, the
weak, the poor.
lat. The evil, Where lies the trouble
IN this world? What IA the reason that
the race IN continually baked In its
struggle 10 realize its Ideal, and In
spite Of oil its eif rts, lts condition after
all these thousands OF years, can only be
described Ut Its best estate as "deplor
ablpW
When the physician ands his patient
sick no makes u diagnosis OF the case, TO
discover what Ia the matter. There isan
evil In the system, and II must DO dis
covered and the treatment directed
against II.
Society Ia the patient. Society IL sick,
In some parts OF the world more than In
others. In Asia more than In Europe
In Earope more than America, In the
old world, 40 sick as TO be bordering on
oonyulslons. The GROUND there swells
aud rocks. Thrones tremble and t0tter,
The dissolution OF the existing social
order IL threatened The Car OF oil the
Russiaa, a prisoner In his own castle, IL
momentarlly afraid, lest the earth open
and swallow him up.
In America, the case is not 30 bad. 30.
ciety " not 10 sick. II IL younger and
has more Of the robustness and healthy
blood that belong to youth. But with
increasing age the symptoms begin to
appear, and they show the disease to DO
the same which III society In the
old world. Already we are becoming
familiar with the phrases "the very
rich" and the "yeIy poor" OF colossal
fortunes overshadowlng masses Of mis-
cry and poyery,' Of powerful and un.
sciupulous corporations endangering
the beat interests Of society" We hear
the mutterings OF dl content, growing
out of misery and q sense OF wrong, we
gee the prem0nit0ry symptoms OF the
impending conflict between organized
capital aud organized labor.
There IL one word which expresses the
nature OF the sickness from which 80
ciety IL suffering to-day, q word which
In often heard, ahd which is coming to
have an Ominous and almost hateful
meaniDg--m0n0p0ly.
II comes from two Greek words, mo
nos alone, and pollen 10 sell, and II prl-
marily signifies having the exclusive
right 10 sell; aud II comes TO mean TO
get the exclusive or controlling interest
In anything, To monopolZe IL TO get
the lions share OF anything, and to dis.
ranard tha riuhtu and intnraata M