St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-02-14
JOHN LAMBS VIEWS.
A Minneapolis s'GroundIings, wres-
ties With the Church Question.

A Minneapolis ''GronndIings' wres-
ties With the Church Question.
To the Editor of the Globe:
If the GLOBE is not tired of pOlemics.
will venture to say few words more on
the relation of the church to labor societies.
believe there is a Misrepresentation as to
the cause of estrangement between the
church and the workingman. While there
is no doubt that the ostentation of the rich
and the elegant furnishings of the churches
have tendency to make the poor man feel
out of place in the house of worship, yet
the main cause of his diStrust will be found
in the fact that the church, however
sincere in its efforts, is hopelessly
mistaken in its methods, and as
a consequence very barren in its results.
The church proceeds on the theory that by
mere eXhortion, men, and therefore society
can be perfected, even when surrounded by
social conditions which tend to degrade
We deny this, and assert that the physical
influences surrounding men act upon them
with more force than any mere moral sua-
sion can counterfeit or neuIraliZe. If the
theory of the church were correct the main
functions of civil government would be
done away with, since men could be
prevented from doing wrong by per-
suasion without resort to force. But expe-
rience teaches that men need the constraint
of authority to make them do right, and
when government ceases to exercise this
constraint in proper manner some move
ment of the people is necessary in order to
bring the central authority back to a sense
of its waning utility.
Some distinguished writer has said that
men Judge US by the success of our efforts,
A,,@ C.I -
is substantially true that whatever succeeds
is lauded; whatever fails is condemned. Al
lowance is seldom made for adverse condi-
tions and circumstances. This is an
UNFORTUNATE PERvERsIrY
of the public mind, but individuals must
submit to it, and, alas, so must the church.
The starving workman points to the church
and says: "You claim to have the be all
and end all of wisdom and virtue. What
are the results? If You are really in ear
nest in this battle against wrong; if you have
been fighting monopoly from the first, with
all the doughty courage of formidable right
eousness, then we call time on your lilli-
putian antics, for you have not made a
knock-down for l, 800 years" With all due
respect for the clergy, believe the labor
organizations and labor agaitators of the
country have more intelligent conception
of what is needed than the ecclesiastics.
There is one sweeping fact. which the
clergy would do well to work into their
heads: That under the wage system the
reward of labor must of necessity fall TO
the lowest point at which the labOrer can
live, work and raise another laborer. This
is the identical law which governs the ex-
istence of the horse. the OK and
the mule. No evasive palaver; no
crocodile invocations; no miserable
compromises, or half-hearted patchwork
of right and wrong will nullify the opera
ton Of this destructive social force. 1t
sounds well no doubt to talk of spirituality,
mutual sympathy, and all that; but every
sensible man knows that these are not the
sentiments which govern the relations of
employer and employee. Spiritual fiddle
sticks! We must take actual men, not i'm
aginary ones, and adjust their relations, so
that no man will dare to impose on another.
To do this radical change must be made
in present social arrangements, and it
might as well be understood. once for all,
that evasion, and sophistry, and dalliance,
and shutting are of no use, for the change
has to come.
THE WORK OF LABOR UNIONS
need not antagonize or be COMPOUNDED with
the work of the church. 1t is calculated to
supplement theology with little healthy