The record-union., 1891-06-22
nder class in our large cities confirms this


rewarded toll. Amid the hughest accumula-
tions of wealth men sicken and die of starva-
tion and puny infants suclxle dry breasts of
want
Tennyson, in 'tLocksley Hall, Sixty Years
After" deals with these sad facts of life as
they are TO be found in the large cities across
the sea. Some people say he is growing old
and is pessimistic, but l contend that sober,
honest criticism must admit that he Is as
severely truthful as he is sublimely poetical
when he says in that poem:
" Is 1t well that while we range with science,
glorying in the time,
City children soak and blacken soul and
sense in city slime?
There among the gloomy alleys, progress
haltS on palSied feet,
Crime and hunger cast our maidens by the
thousand on the street:
Ihere the master scrimpS his haggard seam
stress of her daily bread,
There q single sordid garret holds the living
and the dead,
There the smoldering fire of fever creeps
across the rotted floor,
And the crowded couch of incest in the
warrens OF the poor"
That great social inequalities exist no one
can deny. That these inequalities should exist
no humane man will affirm. It was surely
never the intention of the Creator that a few
OF his creatures should hoard and hold the
bulk OF the worlds wealth, while the vast
multitudes were piniDg in penury, and dying
in want. To say that these social Inequalities
are of divine decree or appointment is q libel
on the cross of Calvary. TO lay on God the re-
worst possible form of blasphemy.
believe 1t is Gods will that the necessities
and conVen1ences and comforts oflife should be
more evenly distributed and shared than they
are to-day. 1t is against the will of God that
Dives should revel in luxury while Lazarus,
at his gate, dies in poverty. If a man is a
Christian, and has wealth, he will use his
wealth to ameliorate the condition of those
who are below him. For it is written: "Whoso
hath this worlds goods, and seeth his brother
have need and shutteth his bowels of compass
n nNVnl thn lnNynn Of 1nd
In h1m?" II We possess the spirit of Christ, if
we follow His example, we Will give our
strength TO the weak, our culture to the ignor-
ant, our wealth to those in want We viii
take men by the hand and lift them up to our
own level.
The author of "The Message of Jesus to Men
OF Wealth" reminds us that the cross is more
than historic event. "It is the law by which
God acts and expects men TO act. AS the
Father sent Christ into the world to sacrifice
himself IN the service of men, so Christ sends
the corporation manager, the merchant, the
mill owner, the mine operator, the Street-rail-
way President, to be living sacrifice in the
service of men,"
What better prayer could we daily offer
than this:
"Give me the power TO labor for mankind,
Make me the mouth of such as cannot speak
Eyes let me be to cropping men and blind.
A conscience to the base, and to the weak
Let mes be hands and feet, and to the foolish
mind"
1t is a fundamental truth of Christianity
that COD Is no respecter of persons. He sends
the rain and the sunshine indiscriminately to
all. There Is enough of everything to go
around. There is plenty for everybody. But
the greed of man thwarts the generosity of
God. Mans greed is such that if he could he
would get corner" on the sunshine, organ
tze trust" to control heavens pure air, and
thus make few rich at the expense
sumed to question the right of these bloated
monopoliSUs they would piously sniveI out
that it is evidently the VIII OF the Creator
a an 11oI,C ,Ct pN ,sia
that the rest" 1t is fortunate for US that the
sun is 100000 of miles away from the
earth. II 1t were nearer and men could set to
| IL, they would organize company, board 1t
up, bore gimlet-holes through the boards put
a meter on and sell it at so much per raw
The same greed that has gobbled up the land
would gobble up the sunshine. 4 corporation
already controls the lightning, and charges us
what they will for electricity to carry our
messages over land and sea.
God has made this world so that there is air
enough TO go around, and sunshine enough to
| go around, and acres enough TO go around
| The right to sunshine, the right to air. and the
| right to land are inalienable rights. God has
not created more people on the earth than the
earth can comfortably support. The reason
there is starving want i'll one home and
sumptuous wealth in another home, is to be
found in the ignorance and idleness of men on
the one side, and in the greed and grab OF men
on the other side The reason some men have
uncounted wealth Is because they have been
magnificent plunCerers. The worlds wealth
| has been earned by the many, and stolen by
the few. The few are enriched at the expense
OF the many.
We proudly point to the amazing increase
OF wealth in this nation. We say that our
country is rich, and 1t is. But as Lyman Alb
bott recently asked, 'who made it so?' We
have been digging coal and iron out of the
hills of Pennsylvania and out of its rock re-
servoirs we have been pumping oil. We have
been gathering cotton from the fields of Texas
wheat from the prairies of Dakota, oranges
| from the valleys of California, and furs from
| the seas of Alaska. We have been digging
/ 10 inc nF
| from the gulches of the Sierras. We have
| harneSSed into our service water-power steam.
| power, electric-power, but from whom came
| this wealth. and 20 whom do these treasures
| belong?
| Who gave to electricity its marvellous pow-
| ers OF light and motion? Who "culleth out
| rivers among the rOcks?" Who created the
! ocean as highway for the ships of the ma
! tions TO sail on? Who stored the minerals in
| the mountains? Who gave the soil its fertil-
| ity? BY whose labors have these riches been
| gathered from mountain and plain and sea?
| Did our Father in Heaven intend these rich
| possessions for all his children or for only
| favored few? If the Bible is true, these ne
ceSsitieS of life belong, of right, to the whole
| family. If Paul is orthodox, the laborer
should be the first TO enjoy these blessings for
| 1t Is written, 1.-The husbanuman that laboreth
must be first partaker Of the fruits" AS it is,
| the capitalist gets the fruit and the laborer
| gets the rind and the core.
The social unrest that exists TODAY arises
| from the fact that the toilers the real pro-
| ducers OF wealth, are waking UP to the truth
| that they have been untustly deprived of
| their God-given rights. This age needs John
the Baptist TO lay the axe of equity at the root
| OF the tree of injustice. 1t needs a Moses a
| God-inspired man, to come to the front and
| by his energy and eloquence take the tollers
| by the hand and lead them from the Egypt of
oppression into the Canaan of liberty fra
| ternity, righteousness. This deliverer will
come. 1t Is not Gods will that men made In
| his own image should be forever trampled
! upon by the iron heel of wrong. The reign of
| the Pharaohs will come to an end.
q VI GNNggFsr fol
see ana succor human souls smothered and
| dwarfed by the greed of the millionaire
sweater. He, who when on earth had not
where to lay his head, will not forget the
homeless outcasts of to-day. He who heard
the cry of the oppressed toilers in the brick
kllns OF Egypt 5000 years ago, is not deaf to
the cry of the over-woTked and under-paid
toilers in the factories and fields of Christian
England and America, and will come to their
help. Relief will come, if not by gradual
growth, 1t will come by violence. Revolution
is delayed evolution. Things refuse to be for
ever mismanaged. Some day, by laws as fair
and fixed as guide the planets, the heirs of
the worlds wealth will come into possession
of their inheritance. Earth's monarchs are
her people, and some day these myriad mon
archs Will mount the throne and take their
crowns. some day there will be on this earth
in truth and fact, a government of the people
by the people and for the people.
We have been praying 'God save the King"
and God save the President" Let us begin
TO pray GOD save the people"
"When wilt Thou save the people,
. God of mercy, when?
The people, Lord, the people.
Not thrones and crowns, but men,
Flowers of Thy heart, o God, are they,
Let them not pass like weeds away
Their heritage soulless day,
God save the people"
If / understand the temper and mind of the
workingman to-day, it is not charity that he
wants. 1t is justice, simple Justice. He is
not mendicant with hat in hand, asking
capital TO give him penny. He is a free
man demanding his rights. nequity is in
iQuitY. At the hOttOm of this cnnfi let het ,rnnn