Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-11-18

- q NC ~ isvOk VI mofe ktutrdl etate manage II
ment Of industry. 1t would not initiate against |
individual effort and ambition. In most cases /
where the government has already assumed /
control the work Is better done than when done /
by private corporations, labor is better paid |
and the prompt payment Of the wages is better /
assured and under the present civil service |
the tenure of Office il more certain.
REV. p W. sFRAeUE.
After the reading of the three written papers |
on the program the hymn. ''Sow in the |
Morn Thy Seed" was sung, and at its
conclusion Senator Edmunds introduced |
of the morning, Rev. p. W sprngue |
of Charlestown. Mass Mr. Sprague expressed /
himself OF the belief that the wretched- |
ness and the misery of poverty of today |
modern social system, but the natural outcome |
and logical result of it. The only outcome If
Christianity can be socialism and the speaker |
announced himself as a thorough and complete |
socialist This was not solely on account OF his !
study Of political enconomy. though political |
economy had corroborated his views. He was |
a socialist because he a servant of the Lord |
Jesus Christ The tenets of Christianity |
are the elements of socialism Social |
ism substitutes for the idea of
ice. Socialism substitutes the idea Of man
kind as one great family for the idea that Is |
now current From Christianity we have
reached the conception of the human family as
social system cannot be said to come up to that
conception. The chief opponent of socialism is
Herbert Spencer, who objects to 1t on the ground
that it substitutes for the great individual
struggle of the race for existence the concep-
ton Of the brotherhood of man. Yet this is
the very conception that is thought by Christ
himself. The fundamentals of socialism are
the ideals of Christianity, and socialism Is the
most practicable system for human life and
government.
SOCIALISM AND THE CHURCH.
Rev William Prall, Phi. d of Detroit, Mich,
the second extemporaneous speaker Of the
morning session, announced that he would
confine his remarks to the consideration of
socialism in its attitude toward the church,
The air is full of the spirit of dis
content. This is more the case in
Europe than in America, but it is
on the rapid increase on this side Of the At
lantic. The discomfort of the wealthy classes
is a trivial matter compared with the dis
content of the masses. There can be no doubt
that the wage-earners. the manual laborers OF
the world, are not satisfied with the condition
OF things as they are, and are clamoring for
change. What then of socialism as a remedy
for tie ills of the timer No matter
what the definition of socialism may be there
can be no denying the fact that Its aim and
purpose is justice. This is also the aim Of
Christianity, and socialism is in harmony with
the teachings of Him who said that as We would
have men do unto you do We also unto them.
The trouble is that many who profess and
call themselves Christians have lost all touch
and sympathy with the masses. This was not
the case during the feudal times. Then the
proprietor and his workmen frequently lived
together in the same house. Today the great
captains of industry are as far removed |
the Emperor of China from his
humblest subject The poor feel that they are
being pushed aside and ignored. Their de-
mands are claim for fuller recognition in the
things of this life quite AS much as for higher
wages. Compare the summer palaces of the
rich at Newport and Lenox with the novels OF
the poor in the slums and you must realize
that all things are not as they should be. And
yet the poor are compelled to pay higher in
terest the capital invested in their tai of
their tenements than do the rich in their pal
aces. Socialism may be hostile TO the church,
but it is not hostile to Christians.
WILLIAM PRALL
William Prall was born April 6, 1853, in the
city of Paterson, n. J. He is the third son of
the late Hon. Edwin L. Prall. After prelim-
mary education at Edwards Place School at
Stockbridge, Mass. he went to Europe with his
family, where he resided for several years. He
matriculated in the University of Heidel- |
burg, Germany. where he was gradu- |
ated in 1873 with the degrees Of NJ. A.
and PHI. u. Returning to America he
entered the Columbia Law School. New York |
city, where he was graduated in 1875 and was |
he took up his residence in his native city. In
1877 he was licensed attorney OF the New
Jersey bar, receiving his license as counsellor
in 1881. In the year 1888 DIR. Prall was elected |
a member of the New Jersey assembly. |
When in the assembly the following win
ter he had charge Of the railroad taxation |
measures, which brought him prominently be-
fore the people of his state. DIR. Prall also |
while member of the assembly drafted and |
had adopted the free public library act of New |
Jersey. He subsequently secured its accept |
ance by the people of his own city and was |
the first president OF the free public library in
the city of Paterson. Several other cities of
New Jersey have since accepted the act.
In 1856, after reverses of q private nature |
DIR. Prall admitted candidate for holy |
orders from st. Paul's Church, Paterson. where |
he and members of his family had been SO long |
vestrymen.
He was ordained to the deaconate in 1857 and |
raised to the priesthood in 1888. His first sery-
ice was as assistant in st. Paul's Church, AL |
bany. from where, in 1885, ne was called to the |
rectorship OF the Church of the Holy Com |
munion South Orange.
He was called to ST. Johns Church. Detroit |
February. 1891, and entered upon his duties the |
second Sunday after Easter.
DR.. Prall is a member of the Holland, the |
Huguenot and ST. Nicholas societies of New
York.
REV. DIR. KIRKUs.
The next speaker of the morning, Rev. DIR. |
kirkus of Baltimore. argued in favor of the |
social system as it is now and has been. He
based his claim on the argument that compe- |
tition is not essentially selfish. When man |
goes into a book store to purchase a book the |
transaction is mutually beneficial. The seller |
is not cudgeling his brains to see how he can |
get the best of his customer The sale does as |
much good to the buyer as to the seller.
DR.. Kirkus expressed himself as a believer in |
the laisseZ-faire system. He believed that |
none knew better than he what he wanted for |
himself, and there reason why the |
majority should be allowed to dictate in ali the |
matters of life. DIR. kirkus' address was the |
wittiest that has yet been made at the congress,
and was for the most part sarcastic picture of |
what life would be under a socialistic system.
REV. J. o. s. HUNTINGTON.
Mr.. Henry George was to have been the final
speaker of the session. but owing to a death in
his family was unable to come on for the con-
gre,s. His place on the program was taken by
Rev. j. o. s. Huntington, young man clad in
a long black cassock anda member of the order
Of Brothers of Nazareth In his ad-
dress he claimed that he was not
socialist, but that none should ignore
the discomfort of the time. The time was when |
the discontinued class was mainly made up of
the army OF the unemployed. Today it is the
young doctor, the young lawyer and sometimes
the young minister who is discontinued. At
fairs are in a very unsettled condition and it is
the university graduate who is restless. This