Workmen's advocate., 1889-11-09

aggrandiZement and Tor the suDJection of his fellow creatures. Our system gives continually more to those who already possess an abundance, while 1t deprives the poor of incentive, and makes inherited weakness or disability 8 crime to be punished with lifelong deprivation. There are rich men in this age who feel the cruel injustice of this state of things, who have given up their property to the poor, and have joined the ranks of the workers for daily bread. There are bodies of men, the trades unions, who recognize the principle of equality of need, and so demand for the hours occupied an equal rate of pay for the unskilled and indifferent. as for the skilled and earnest laborer. These signs of the times indi- cate the new point of view to which they are tending. that which recognizes true brotherhood in humanity; that which demands from all contribution to the common stock of productive or helpful effort; that which will make all gifts, whether largeness of mind, strength of body, or the power to accu- mulate wealth, Trusts-to be rejoiced in, but to be used for the common good.
 That there is no pleasure or satisfac- ton in selfish acquisition, the intelli- gence of the world is beginning to un- derstand. A curse attends the posses
 sion of wealth or power in any faculty that is not put to good uses. We are devoured by ambition, by dissatlsfac- tion, by ennui; our hopes crumble, our desires fail of realization, and we say that all is vanity and vexation, because we have cultivated these and have grown full crop. The nev' gospel is the old one systematized and applied to practical everyday life: "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them." This does not mean the giving up of tastes or incli- nations, but the cultivation of them through means which are open to all, and of which all can avail themselves, whose gifts are worth cultivating in this direction. The three most common | things are the three most valued and valuable: air, movement, water. One may love and desire warmth, refine ment, luxury and the softness of blended colors, the genteness of fine stuffs and | fabrics, the freedom from the rude in- fuences of life environed by material l beauty and comfort; yet would heaven be heaven if one human being were for
 ever shut out? l think all heaven would set to work to rescue that poor one ! In the meantime, under present conditions, it seems better to share the lot of the poor than the temptation to pride and arrogance of the rich To be a worker is to be part of the useful life of the world-to be good worker is to be part of the ministry of God. To be idle is to be a cumberer of the ground; and to be idle and luxurious is to take the fruits of the toll that other hands have titled and which do not be- long to us.
 The highest point that the new gospel has reached is the recognized right to the participation of all in whatever life has to bestow. simply on the score of their humanity. There are only men and women in this world, and neither of them, individually, deserves any credit for the natural endowments with which they come provided. It is matter for | which king or beggar is in no way re- sponsible, and which should not be vis- ited upon them, either with praise or blame, reward or punishment. But that is what we have done and what we do. We punish poverty, weakness, or the absence of desirable qualities as crimes, thus adding to the misery of those who are unfortunates by birth, and we put strength upon pinnacle, re- lieve it from all necessity for practical exercises and pile it's burdens upon the shoulders of the weak This is not the | IL. ol> thus fulfill the law of Christ. It does not seem, in the light of MT. Bellamy's inspired book, as if the day of redemp- tion need be so very far off. It is only a near application of an already known principle. It is applied to our postal system, which makes strong, populous cities like New York and Philadelphia pay for the equal facilities extended to outlying towns and districts in the terri tories. Once our present system of individual accumulation and pauperiza- ton is abandoned, many difficulties which now seem insurmountable will disappear. There will be infinitely less individual strain. Every one will be employed according to capacity and become more healthy and happy. Pau
 per institutions, penal institutions, and charitable institutions will be largely done away with, and those that are re. quired will be conducted on more nat ural and common, sense principles, and sustained from point of view that will render them less obnoxious and better fitted to perform their work. It ought to be a joy, not a burden, to take care of the helpless young and the helpless old. It ought to be privilege to rescue those upon whom the weight of unex- pected misfortune falls; yet these duties cannot be left to individuals, for single shoulders cannot bear the weight i'm posed upon them already. It is the State to which belongs this responsi-