St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-05-02
MAY DAY AND DYNAMITE.
Rev. Fl. NJ. Simmons breaches a
Sermon ON Them.

Sermon on Them.
Yesterday morning at the First
Unitarian church, Rev. H. NJ. SIM
mons preached on MAY Day and
Dynamite" The following is all alb
stract of his serman:
Bulwer's Vril, by its very destructive.
ness, was going TO put an end to vlo-
lence and bring universal peace. But
dynamite, SO often compared to it, hard
ly seems to be doing this. Six bomb
manufacturers were recently tried in
England whose prOfeSsed object was to
destroy public buildings and lives in
order TO arrive at complete emancipa-
ton of humanity. Less than month
ago two men were arrested at the en-
trance of the Spanish cOrtOS, carrying
bombs powerful enough to blow up the
building. There have been series of
such attempts in Paris from the
explosion of the Labou Cas-
erne, to that of the past week.
kavachol coolly tells how he muir
dered all old man to get money to make
bombs to murder more. and tells with
evident pride how he placed them and
intended to kill the policeman. Many
a city in Europe this morning has been
filled with fear lest May day may be
desecrated by some great destruction Of
this kind. And Mr.. Hubbard. in his
Coming Climax last fall, pictured Chi
cagO as threatened with such annihila-
ton that the city hall would be hard to
find.
"Still, the strangest thing about dyna-
mite is the fact that it has wrought SO
little destruction. With anarchists said
to be so abundant, and with each able
to carry enough in his pocket to blow
up building, and with no little
supposed danger of being found out,
there is yet seldom damage enough done
to deserve noticing in paper. And
if some great damage should be done in
Europe today, we may be sure it would
react against the dyGamiterS and
strengthen the cause of order. For the
great mass of every community want
security, and, when once aroused to feel
that it is in danger, rally to Its defence
with unanimity and zeal. Mighty as
dynamite is, public sentiment is might
Ter. and manages to punish and prevent
its use, as the last few years have so
we'll shown. And dynamite is not only
thus made much more harmless than
was feared, but will doubtless
help civilization in many ways.
By making war more destructive
it will help to hasten the abolition
of war. 1t also brings statutory terror,
and will make kings and capitalists and
all persons in power, more just toward
the people who have obtained this new
weapon against them. 1t is powerful
exhOrter to rulers and the rich to re-
dress old wrongs; and much as we dep
recate its deadly work, we see that the
dread of this work will help to make
our laws and social system more just
and humane.
"But this is no reason to make our
labOring classes countenance its use. 1t
might be eXcusable under despotic gov
ernments. where the people have no
power. Wendell Phillips advocated its
use in Russia and called nihil-
ism righteous and honOra-
BILE resistance But there is no
need of 1t in any land where the people
vote and have the majority of votes, and
can annihilate any wrong without dy-
Mantle. Mr.. Hubbard claims there are
eight million men in this country hating
our social system and wishing to change
it. Well, why don't they then? Pres
ident Harrlson'S votes altogether were
less than six millions and those eight
millions, with all the help they can get
from others, could do anything they can
agree upon. The gentler ways are the
mightieSt-and this is lesson of May
day too. Silently, on this spring morn
ing, and through channels too small
to see, nature is sending into the
tree-tops high above our heads,
floods of water that make the noisiest
pumps soon feeble, land so gains luxuriant
growth and fruit. May day teaches that
the best work is not by earthquakes and
volcanoes, but by the most silent move
ments and the gentle influences of
light, and teaches that social growth
also must come, not through explosives,
but through the light of intelligence
and circulation of ideas. Let reformers
abandon volcanic methods, which leave
only lava and desolation behind them,
and by votes and voices, and OrganiZa-
tons and literature. work for a juster
public sentiment, in the method of May,
aud they will bring growth of right
that cannot be uprooted.