The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-09-05
DR. ThLHAGE'S SERMON.
HOW EMPLOYERS OUGHT TO
TREAT EMPLOYEES.


"Look not every man on his own thing7
but every man also on the things of others.
philippians Ii, 4.
The labor agitation will soon cease, and al
the mills will be reopened, and all the rail
trains resume traffic, and all our natlona
prosperities start again. OF course it will be
some time before the country recovers from
the damage of the strikes Strikes always
damage laborers more than they do capital
lists. During this strike the laboring classes
have loSt-never rtorecover-one hundred mil
iiop dollars. 1t does not make much differ
ence to every successful capitalist whether he
has fifty thousand dollars less or fifty
thousand dollars more; but when a
man is dependent upon the days
WAGES it makes the difference be-
tween bread and no bread, between home
and no home. Spasmodically wages may be
higher, but as result of such things wages
get lower. Boycotting, violence and murder
never pay: They are different stages OF an
archy. The poorest use you can put man
to is to kill him. Tomorrow, blow up al! the
fine residences on the Hudson River. and all
the great houses on Brooklyn Heights and
Brooklyn Hill and Ritteriouse Square and
Beacon street. and all the stones and timber
and brick will merely fall back on the bare
head of American labor. The worst enc
mics Of the working classes s;nts are their s;ar
of Lord Cavendish and Mr.. Burke in Phoenix
Park, Dublin, Ireland, to avenge the wrongs
of that unhappy country, had no result eH-
cept to turn away the sympathies Of millions
Of people from that afflicted land. The at
tempt two or three years ago to blow up the
Parliament Houses Of England had only one
result, and that to turn out OF employment
thousan Is of the Irish who had work III
England In this country the torch applied
o. g. hat lo,
whether for good or bad reasons; obstacles
put on the rail tracks in front of midnight
express trains because they do not like the
President of the company; the. sudden
throwing up of work on shipboard just be-
fore they are going to SAIL or in printing
Office, jus. before they are going to press, or
in the mines just before they are to deliver
the coal, or on the house scaffolding so that
the builder cannot meet his contract-all this
only cripples American labor and pierces its
heart. All the sudden traps set for employ
ers never yet put one farthing in the callous
palm, never yet united one knot from the
knuckles of hard toll. In other words,
barbarism can never cure the wrongs
Of civii,a alton. Mark that, my brother,
my sister. Frederick the Great
admired a farm near his palace at
Potsdam. The farm was owned by miller.
The King offered him three times the value
u,
because it was the old homestead, aud he felt
about it just as Naboth felt about the vine
yard when Ahab wanted it. The King or
dered the miller to come into his presence.
Tha King with stick in his hand with which
he sometimes struck his officers Of state. said
to the miller: "Now, if you don't sell that to
me Ill take it anyhow" 'No you won't,
your Majesty" said the miller. no
you won't" eyes I will," said the
IT ND q
right to take it.n "No, you won't" said the
miller. IF your Majesty takes my farm, III
sue you in the Chancery Court" And the
law loomed up and the King backed down.
But have to tell you that the most out
rageous wrong inflicted upon the working
classes will yet come before the law. Vio-
lence and against the law achieves nothing,
but righteousness ard according to law will
achieve everything. 1t is most important
at this point in the discussion, in this series
Of sermons which am preaching on Sab
bath mornings, and which I shall continue
for three or four Sabbath mornings more to
set forth the fact that the honest, industri-
Gus workingmen of this country have no
sympathy with anarchy or outiawry, and
to prove it read from the newspaper organ
of the Knights of Labor. I read from the
first rage in large letters this vehement dis
claimer:
."Let it be understood By all the world that
the Knights Of Labor have no affiliating as
sociation, sympathy or respect for the band
of cowardly murderers. cutthroats and rob-
bers known as anarchists, who sneak through
the country like midnight assassins, stirring
up the passions Of ignorant foreigners, un-
furling the red flag Of anarchy and causing
riot and bloodshed. All their followers, SYM
pathizers, aiders and abettorS shall be sum-
marily dealt with. They are entitled to no
more consideration than wild beasts. The
leaders are towards and their followers are
fools"
So declares the chief organ Of the Knights
Of Labor. Well, all the agitation, as say,
will soon be gone, but there are some very
important things to be uttered. Now, all
this discussion Of the philosophy of the sub
jectdoes not touch me bit. I simply want to
know what is my duty and what is your
duty in the crisis. The vast majority are
divided into two classes-employers and en-
ployes. The chaSm between the employer
and the employe is getting wider and wider.
You know the time was when the master
builder, the boss workmen and the capitalist
toiled side by side with the laborer at the
same bench, and there are many people in
this house who remember the time when
the clerks Of great commercial establishments
boarded with the head man of the firm; that
the chasm between the employer and employe
is getting wider and wider. and the tempta-
ton Is for the laborer to say: "My boss
workman, my capitalist. is wronging me by
all that he succeeds" and the tendency is for
the employer to say: "Now, thee men in
my employ are merely SO many beasts Of
burden. and it is my business to give so much
money for so much labor, so many dollars
salary for so many beads Of sweat" and the
trouble is that the bridge is broken down at
both en's Thomas Carlyle, in his quaint
but for eful way, put it when he said:
"Togson, Of st. Dolly Undershot, says to
his men: "Noble spinners, this is the hun
dred-thousandth we have gained wherein I
mean to drill and plant my vineyards. The
hundred-thousandth pounl is mine The daily
wage was yours. Adieu, noble spinners.
drink my health with this groat each which !
give you over and above"
Now, what we want is to rebuild the bridge,
and put the trowel this day to one of the
abutments. while tell employers how they
ought to treat employees. AS many laborers
during the past three months have maltreated
their employers and deserve condign punish
ment for their behavior, the tendency is now
that employers shall forget their duty to
their employees The old recipe, that some
of you have heard. for getting wealth was
this: Three rules. First, get all the earnings
Of others that you can get, end keep them.
Second rule. Go right on without regard to
the hardships or sufferings OF other people.
Thirdly Have no apple cation Of the fact
that your accumulation may e the impover
ishment of many others Now, l will under.
take to say there is no employer in this house
who would want to start out and achieve O
fortune upon such an outrageous theory:
You want to know what your duty is, and
am here in the name Of Almighty God and
as a religious teacher to tell you.
First. 1 charge you, oh employer. pay a:
large wages as are reasonable and as you car
afford Not necessarily what others pay
certainly not what an employe demands yor
shall pay, for that is tyranny unbearable
70 foil tyla