, 1891-06-27
THg CLERGY AND LseoR.
A Few Thoughts m Theological Ideas
and Political Economy.

A Few Thoughts on Theological Ideas
aud Political Economy.
The discussion recently by the Baptist
ministers Of the relations Of employers
and employees shows quite clearly, judy
ing from the printed reports, that they
have devoted their studies 70 other sub
jects than social science. The best mod
ern social scientists point equal liberty
as a universal social law, and insist that
established institutions and customs that
do not meet the requirements Of this law
must p~erforce OF necessity give way be-
fore harmony can prevail in our social
industrial life; but the ministers said
nothing about this.
II is all very poetic to preach friendly
confidence and mutuallOve but the law Of
necessity governs in the industrial world
as rigidly rs it dnes in the astronomical
world. IND while we seem TO be a long
while getting there, the trend Of things is
toward greater economy in the eEpendi-
ture Of human energy, and 1t is barely
possible that conditions may be reached
under which a fairer distribution Of
wealth among those who participate in
its production will take place.
The mechanic class, or what is more
commonly called the ~"laboring class
what the French call the prolitaire-are
ahead Of the ministers in their conclu-
sions as 10 what is needed to attain
higher social ground They long ago
promulgated the doctrine that the
emancipation Of the working classes
must be accomplished by the working
classes themselves. and that the solution
Of at least the economic problems that
are now before N is the ownership Of
the tools Of production and exchange by
those who use them.
This Is not n declaration that there
should be a wholesale conGscation of the
capital now existing, but that there
should be a total abolition Of that that
Proudhon called property, and which he
said is robbery. Proudhon made u dis
tinction between possession and propri-
etorship He claimed that possession
was the only right 20 the natural means
Of producing wealth, and that therefore
the lahoror had a right TO the possession
of the products Of nature and his w in
dustry. Interest, profit and rent are
what Proudhon intimated were the re
suits Of property, and what made an
idle, u~on-producing class possible.
All classes Of social reformers, from
nv AAAeoN IAbAAAAAAAAFA NolllAAAhlAANNHs hAAlNl
as Baboeuf, CADET, Saint Simon, Fourier
and Louis Blanc, to the most extreme
individualists and anarchists, such rs
Spencer, Proudhon, Herbert, Warren
and Andrews, see the force Of a posses
sion and use title to the products Of nat
ure as a means of solving social indus
trial problems, something which seems
to have eyaded the mental vision of the
local Baptist ministers. But how to Sc
cure such a title is now the question the
reformers are trying to solve, but they
seem to get little assistance from the
ministers union.
modestly suggest that the reverend
gentlemen turn their attention TO the
subject Of freeing the land from the mo-
nopolist and speculator; Of giving the
country a sound currency, aud Of remov-
ing the barriers that prevent the laborcr
from spending his earnings where he can
get the most for them, if they are really
in earnest about BDlrng the nrnbI.rn Of
labor's rights and the capitalists Just
dues. These principles established, and
it is not much further to the reali .attion
Of the dreams of the most enthusiastic
Utopian-as near, at any rate, as it is
possible for human atu to get.
While they may not be the most scien-
tifc or the most effective means Of win
ming industrial conflicts, yet in the face
OF facts ascertained by tho statistical
bureau OF New York state and the ma
tional government it cannot be denied
that strikes succeed more times thar
they fail. The report of the national
commissioners of labor for 1887 shows
that out Of 22, 1904 strikes from 1881 to
1886 inclusive, 10,875 were successful,
5000 were partly successful and 500
failed
1t is known beyond question that the
cigar makers, st|onecutters, bricklayers,
German printers, glassblowers and
others nave established the eight hour
day through the fundamentally Of
strikes, and the building trades generally
have materially reduced the hours of
work by striking. The New York street
car men two years ago reduced their
working day of fourteen and sixteen
hours to twelve by a very bitterly con
tested strike. The building trades of
London years ago won the nine hour
work day by a strike that lasted six
months The great strike of the London
dockers last year was surely not n total
failure .-Anthony in Detroit News,