St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-05-17
THE BATTLE FOR BREAD
DR.. Talmage Begins Course of Sabbath
Morning Sermons on the Labor
Question.
He Says There Will be No Revolution,
and Advises Workmen to Stick
to Their Work.
emit, and Relief to Come Through
Better Understanding.
Cooperative Associations, Open
Books and Religion Mile Stones on
the Road to Prosperity.
DIR. TaInnage,s sermon.


BROOKLYN, n. Y, May 16-Rev T. De-
Witt Talmage to-day began a series of Sab
bath morning discourses in the Brooklyn
tabernacle, on the all-absorbing labor ques-
ton. He discusses the following subjects
in the series: The Battle for Bread; The
Rights of Capital and Labor; the Hardships
of the Working classes; How Employers
and Employees ought to Treat Each Other,
and the Greatest Foe of Labor-five in ALL
The text was Genesis l., 2: ''Che earth
was without form and void; and darkness
was upon the face of the deep. And the
Spirit of God moved upon the face of the
waters" DR.. Talmage said: Out in space
there hung great chunk of rock and mud
and water and shell, thousands
of miles in diameter, more thous-
andS of miles in circumference.
A great mass of ugliness, confusion and
distortion, uselessness, ghastliness and hor-
ror. 1t seemed like a great commons on
which smashed-up worlds were dumped
1t was what poetry and prose, scientist and
Christian agree in calling chaos. Out of
that black. rough, Shapeless egg our beau
tiful world was Matched. God stood over
that original anarchy of elements and said:
Atlantic ocean, you go right away and
lie down there! Pacific ocean, you sleep
there! Caucausian range of noun
tains, you stand there! Mount Wash
ington, you be sentinel there! Mont Blanc,
you put on your corOnet of crystal there!
Mississippi, you march there. and Missouri,
you marry it there!" And He gathered in
His Almighty hands the sand and mud and
rock, and
ROLLED AND HEAvED
and nodded and dented and compressed
them into shape, and then dropped them in
four places; and the one was Asia, and
another was Europe. and another Africa,
and another America, North and South.
That original chaos was like the confusion
and anarchy into which the human race
ever and anon has tendency to plunge
God has said: "Let there be light of law,
Sight of justice. light of peace, light of
lOve!' mo! now say anarchic voices; let
there be darkness, let there be cut-throat-
cry, let there be eternal imbroglio. let there
be chaos" Such social condition many
are expecting because of the over
shadowing contest between labor and
capital; there has not been an intelli-
gent man or woman during the last two
months has not heard the question: ''Shall
we have bloody revolution in this country?"
L have heard many answer the question in
the affirmative; l answer it in the negative.
My brotherly counsel is to three classes of
laborers. First, to those who are at work
Stick to it. Do not amid the excitement of
these times drop your employment, hoping
that something better will turn up. He
who gives UP work now, whether he be
railroad man, mechanic. farmer, clerk or
any other kind of employee, will probably
give it up for starvation. You may not
like the line of steamers you are sailing in,
but do not
JUMP OVERHEARD
in the Middle of the Atlantic Be little
clearer than usual at your post of work
while this turmoil lasts and attend to YOUR
occupation with little more aSSiduity than
has ever characterized you. My brotherly
counsel in the second place is to those who
have resigned work. 1t is best for you and
best for everybody to go back Immediately.
Do not wait to see what others do. Get on
board the train of national prosperity be-
fore it starts again, for start it will---start
soon and start nightly. Last year in the
city of New York there were forty-flve
general strikes and TT shop strikes. Sue
cesSful strikes, ninety-seven; strikes lost,
thirty-four; strikes pending at the time
the statistics were made, fifty-nine; strikes
compromised, thirty-two. Would you like
me to tell you who will make the most out
of the present almost universal strike?
can and will. Those will make the most
out of it who go first to work. My third
word of brotherly advice is to another class
of laborers; namely, those who have been a
long time out of work. How many of
them? Before this present trouble began
there were nearly 1000, 900 people in this
country out OF work and could not get
work. Ihave for the last ten years been
busy much of the time in trying to get peo-
pie work who asked for it. l have worn
myself out again and again, as many of you
have, to
GET EMPLOYMENT
for those who besought it. In some cases
we succeeded, in others failed. My
brotherly counsel is to the nearly two
million people who could not get work be-
fore this trouble began and who have them
selves and their families to support, to 90
now and take the vacated places. Go in
and take those places a million and half
strong. Green hands you may be now, but
you will not be green hands long. My sen-
timent is full liberty for all who want to
strike to do so, and full liberty for all who
want to take the vacated places. Other in
dustries will open for those who are now
taking vacation, for we have only opened
the outside door of this continent and there
is room in this country for 800, 600, 900
people and for each one of them a
home and a livelihood. This day
L declare the mutual dependence of
labor and capital. An old tentmaker put
it just right mean Paul-when he de-
clared: The eye cannot say to the hand.
| mr.
amined some elaborate machinery-a thou
sand wheels, thousand bands, a thousand
levers, thousand pulleys, but all con-
trolled by one great water wheel, all the
parts adjoined so that if you Jared one
part you Jared all the parts Relief will
come to the working classes of this country
through better understanding between
capital and labor. Before this contest goes
much further it will be found that their
interests are identical; what helps one helps
both; what Injuries one Injuries both. Again
relief Will come to the working classes of
this country througha
COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION,
am not now referring to trades unions.
We may hereafter discuss that question.
But refer to that plan by which laborers
become their own capitalists, taking their
SURPRISES and putting them together and
carrying on great enterprises. Again, l
remark that relief will come to the working
classes through more thorough discovery on
the part of employers that it is best for
them to let their employees know Just how
matters stand. The most of the capitalists
of to-day are making less than per cent.
less than per cent, less than 4 per cent
on their investments. Here and there is an
anaconda swallowing down everything. but
such are the exceptions. 1t is often the
case that employees blame their EMPLOYERS
because they suppose he is get
ing along grandly, when he is
oppressed to the last point of oppression. I
knew manufacturer who employed more
than thousand hands. 1 said to him:
do you ever have any trouble with your
workmen? Do you have any strikes?n
NO" he said. What! In this time of
angry discussion between capital and labor,
no trouble?" None at all-none." said:
''How is that?" well" he said, 81 have
way OF my own. Every little while