Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-08
LABOR DAY LESSONS
And Their Impression on the Mind
of an Allegheny Preacher.
SOME RADICAL PULPIT REMARKS.
DR.. Townsend's Discourse on the Subject
of the New Birth.
SEVERAL OTHER SUNDAY SERMONS

In the First Christian Church, ALLIE
gheny, last evening, the pastor, the Rev. W.
F. Richardson, delivered an interesting ad-
dress on "Some Labor Day Lessons; a
Sermon to Workingmen." An apprecia-
tive audience listened to the preacher, who
among other things, said: 1.-THE humblest
toiler is nobler than the grandest idler.
The one fills a useful sphere on the
earth, while the other is little more
than blot. Labor Day suggests
to me the dignity as we'll as the rights
of labor. The laborer is worthy of his
hire; worthy of fair remuneration and
Just reward for the fruits of his labor, and
he does not always receive it. He is some
times looked upon in the light of machine
from which a certain amount of work must
be ground ort, but falsely. He can make
his labor of as much value or as little as
he chooses, and he should be paid not
merely for his rigid product, but according
to the manhood he puts into his work.
Many employers recognize this, and observ-
ing mans disposition, reward him accord
ingly. The laborer has a right to fair
remuneration, and his share in a fair divis-
ion of the wealth which his labor has gone
to produce. He is entitled to fair partici-
patton in that wealth which is boarded up
in our midst, and piled up by his labor, and
which, but for his labor, would not be.
OCCASIONALLY RECOGNIZED.
"This is not an apocryphal statement; nor
is it communism. 1t is already recognized
as Just thing that the Iaborer should be
participator in the profits, as witness Mr..
John Wanamaker, who last year distributed
500, 900 among his employees. That money
came out of his pocket; he need not have
paid it, but he recognized it as Just act
toward his men, and he agreed with them
for participation in the profits of his es-
tablishment. Other large manufacturers are
similarly acting toward the men whose
brain or muscle made this wealth for them.
Look at these large corporations, like,
for instance. railroads, whose accumulation
is made, not by the managers and presidents
of the roads, but by the workers. Take this
railroad which keeps its men down to bare
living, while its president rolls in wealth,
and in addition to the dividend on his
shares, made valuable by the labor of the
workers, draws fat salary for acting as a
igurehead, and is it any wonder that the
laborer murmurs? This man draws his
salary, Dub IHe ldUOref ehIuS IL lOE ILL.,
say that labor does right to protest against
the wasting of such wealth by men who
toll not, neither do they spin.' Franklin's
rule of eight hours each for sleep, labor, and
enjoyment is a just one. Eight hours is
long enough for a man to work in this age
of machinery, when man can produce in a
few hours what he could before in week."
The speaker referred to the injustice Of
compelling men to work IA, 16 and IS
hours, and compared such men to slaves,
who were degraded. He said that the agi-
tation going on for shorter hours and the
demand of the worker for recognition as a
factor in society was sign of advancing
civilization. AS a man rises he wants
more, more comforts and more enjoyments.
A man must have time to enjoy his share OF
existence, and how can he do so if he is kept
long hours at work?
SUGGESTIONS OF LABOR DAY.
'Iabor Day suggests to me-" continued |
the preacher, ''the increasing power of
organized labor, and the tramp, tramp of
the marching toilers, the power to trample |
uuder foot the abuses that they are liable to |
be subjected to. Organized labor has done |
good work and is progressive, but it has |
danger to fear from the demagogue and |
from the saloon. Both it should guard |
against. Another thing it has to fear is |
anarchy and atheism. am happy to say |
that the wor kers of this country are COM |
paratively free from both, but they should |
still he on their guard against the teachings |
of those among them who brought an
archistic teachings with them from the old |
country.
"There is just as much fear Of Anarchy
from Capital as there is from Labor. AS
long as monopolies and trusts are allowed
to trample the rights of the people under
foot so long will the tendencies be in the
direction of Anarchy. The capitalists who
keep on raising prices are not alone un-
Just to their fellow man, but they become
lawless, and should be seized by the same
hands, and punished in the same way, as the
Anarchists of Chicago were, for their crime
is not one whit less. Capital tramples on
the law and exalts its own power on the
rights of the people"