The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-04-06
JOSEPH COOK,

|
Last evening the great popular lecturer,
! Mr.. Joseph Cook, of Boston, instructed
and entertained large audience at the
Presbyterian church, taking for his theme
Law and Labor, Property and Poverty
Rev. David Winters, pastor of the First
Presbyterian church. called upon Rev. s.
f. Millikan, pastor Of the Plymouth Con
! gregational church. for the opening prayer
| and then in few well chosen words intro
! duced the lecturer. Mr.. Winters paid the
lecturer well deserved compliments for his
abilities to speak upon the most difficult
! political. financial. social and theological
problems that present themselves to the
! intelligent public. But it needed. he said,
no extended remarks in introducing a
man who was so well known throughout
| the land as the foremost lecturer of the
day
The speaker on coming before the audi
ence introduced his subject by saying that
| there was in this country 30 hereditary
| Dives or Lazarus that the grandson of the
wealthiest might be poor, while the Grand
son of the poor might be RICH. The key
note of the relation of capital and labor
was, he said, the golden rule and iron rule.
| He did not reverence man on account OF
! the high position assumed by standing on
money bags, though the energy and ability
displayed in obtaing that wealth he did
respect. Two thousand capitalists owned
more than all the rest of us: but this did
not mean that these capitalist owned us
| What were some of the grievances Of the
working men? One was, he said, found in
the fact that physical labor in the extreme
southern states among the whites was
not considered honorable and the remedy
for this was justice 20 the colored man.
Another grievance was the concentration
Of the population in large cities where
they tread upon one another. The lowest
classes OF laborers he said were being sub
jected to sharper competition and being
made more and more like the very ma
chimes which they operated.
ShiftlessnesS is not the only cause of pow
erty. In the case of the widow left with
large family, and without means to sup
port them-Or that the young orphan girl,
unsOphisticated in the ways of the world
with no training in home school or church,
no one in particular is to blame-as there
are physical cripples so there are moral
and intellectual cripples. BY reason OF the
great freedom in our society, a sitting pro-
cess is constantly going on, resulting IN
placing the lower class still lower, until
finally we shall have III this coun-
try a class compared with which
the present population of Eu-
rope would be tolerable aristocracy.
Small remuneration forces the parents to
take their children from school and put
them at work to support the family, and
their illiteracy grows. The Blair bill
should have become law
The ignorant voter is at the mercy of the
INSCRIPTIONS in politics, and even the
great parties themselves know that to pass
into power, means first an alliance with
this element which holds the balance of
power, though it is made up OF dandles,
SneakS, thieves, thugs and fools
In general there are four remedies for
the working mans grievances. These are,
self help state help, school help and church
help. The labOrer should not follow
theories or fancies, but facts.
The plan proposed by Edward Bellamy
is visionary, complicated and revolution
airy.
1t would destroy all personal ambition
and bring the spirit of dependence into
the most necessary forms of industry In
regard to wages, 1T is fair for the laborerto
ask at leaste twic the cost of food and more
in proportion to his skill and the demand
for it,
The state should establish Labor
Bureaus as a source of information to all
classes but leave the regulation of wages
to the workman and his employer. Ameri-
can prosperity rests on the tripod Of free
schools free church and free state.
1t pays to educate the poor. An
educated mass can control the spirit Of the
mob and unless an unholy and restless as
piratiOn among the people, there will come
a reasonable cOntentment by virtue of that
knowledge which COnvinces mankind that
someevils are inevitable.and then they bide
their time.
Lastly the help of the church is of vast
Importance to the working lower classes.
The church and Christian community
being of the middle class are the best ar
biters on the rights of the lower classes
that can be found in all society.
1t would be impossible in this limited
space to give an adequate report of such
a grand lecture. The audience was held
in the closest attention all the way through.
Wichita people are warm admirers of
Joseph Cook not only as an author but
also as public lecturer.