The weekly examiner., 1891-08-01
A CHRISTIAN MINISTER.


 The Rev. Louis A. Banks, of Boston, Is
 Undoubtedly One of the Right Kind.
 Rev. Louis A. Banks. of St. Johns M. B. Church, South Boston, recently de- ivered sermon on ssThe White Slaves of Boston Sweaters, , which attracted at tention all over the country. During the week following the delivery of the sermon MT. Banks received letter from "a distinguished writer on social ques- tions," whose name he did not announce because the letter was personal. This gentleman took issue with the state ments made by the reverend gentleman and objected especially to the title of his sermon. Of the latter he said:
 In the sermon which you preached yesterday the title given in the newspapers is .sThe White Slaves of Boston Sweaters" Under the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States there can be no such thing as slave" in this country. Under the decision of Judge Parsons there has not been slave in Massachusetts since the adoption of the con- stitution.
 Rev. Banks, not daunted by the pro- tests of the conservative Bostonians, of whom the author of the above is fair sample, preached again on the subject, and the following extracts are taken from his second sermon to show that he did not weaken, but remains the same genuine Christian:
 Wonderful Judge Parsonsi who is able, by the magic wand of his decision, to unshackIe all the slaves who, under the cruel whip of necessity-more unmerciful than any slave drivers lash-haye sweated under the bonds imposed by avaricious taskmasters in every city of the commonwealth.
 Can you make men free by constitution sim ply2 Are theEe no slaves except those who, like the African of generation ago. are bought and sold at the auction block2 Aye, indeed. For every black man liberated by President Lincoln's proclamation there is to- day white man robbed, degraded and brutal ized by some gigantic trust or other equally soulless, unfeeling corporate power.
 For every mother whose heart was broken by having her children wrenched from her arms in the African slave market there is a white mother whose very soul is crushed at the sight of her hungry, ragged little ones
 For every black babe torn from its mothers breast by the iniquitous system of negro slavery, the slums of our great cities have white child whose future is equally dark and hopeless.
 But my critic continues: If there were no sweater, the woman would get no work ? The sweater is a comparatively recent institution, and, devoptly believe. an institution of the devil.
 The incoming of the sweater has not resulted in more work, but in less wages. But says my conservative friend, 9'suppose this woman had not come here with her children, and had stayed perhaps in Italy. or in Russia, instead of coming here. Is some work here better than no work in Italy Very likely it is true that the woman is as swen of here as she would be in Italy. But is Italy to be the stand ard of our American civilization?
 No matter where people came from nor what they have suffered in their native land, if we permit them to come to us we are compelled in fairly and justly, and receive sufficient com pensation for their toll to support them in cleanliness. intelligence and morality.
 But my critic raises another question: "Is it better to give aims to these people in their at tic or to give aims to them under the condition of the almshouse? What course would be most sure to pauperize them Htterly?'
 j My answer is, l do not want to give aims to them in either place, but to treat them so just ly that they will not need aims. There is noth- ing wholesome in the question whether it is better to panperize people little in the attic or to pauperize them altogether in the aims house. We ought not to pauperize them at alE It is not charity these people need or want, it 2 is justice. sf My critic concludes his letter with this re- markable inquiry: Are you justified, as a Christian minister, in creating prejudice and arousing malignant passion by the use of the term 'slave? Can you defend or justify this term, under the conditions as they are stated in the printed report of your sermon2 ven- ture to put these questions to you because think the dangerous class of this community is to be found among persons who. without intel igence, create animosity, and by their HasIhod of preaching tend to retard, rather than to promote, the progress of the poor and ignorant in this country.'' lts
 My answer to all that is, that as a Christian minister. I am followeF-of him who. stand ing in the midst of the self satisfied and wealthy oppressors of his time, exclaimed, "Beware of the scribes which devour widows houses, and, for show, make long prayers; the same shall receive greater damnations" who cried aloud, Woe unto you also, ye law
 
 be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the bur dens with one of your fingers" am the fol- lower of him who "caLne not to send peace on the earth, but sword.
 am not alarmed that this critic as type of conservatism, regards me as member Of the most dangerous class in the community. It was ever thus. The old antislaYery agi- tators were considered the most dangerous men in the republic. and I remember that very distinguished minister once bitterly re- gretted the agitation on the evils of slavery, because he feared it would destroy the pros pect for a revival of religion in the city where he lived.
 If to be a Christian minister is to stand as a policeman to hold back the righteous indig- nation of the robbed and degraded laborer or preach patience and, contentment to empty stomachs-empty that the sweater may grow rich and fat on the toll of orphans and widows then spurn the title as beneath the dignity of my manhood; but if, take it, to be a Christian minister is to be like my master, the brother of all men, rich or poor. standing for ever as the undinching enemy of oppression and injustice wherever found, as the friend and advocate of the defenseless and the weak. then am proud of the title, and thank God for its unspealzable privilege.
 A Good Official.
 Mrs. Alexander Bremen, deputy fac ], tory inspector of the state of New York, may sleep sometimes, but when she is
 o1~o 111a Bremen knows more about the ma chinery used in factories than half the men who run the factories, and she de x,o+oc oil ,f bo,. +;,,,a oy,d O ry,-oo% f dno1 ,f