Los Angeles herald., 1892-07-25
STRIKES AND STRIKERS,
A Mastery Sermon by Rev. ].
III. Collins.
"Ye Shall Not Oppose One Another
His Text.
The Able Review of the GIFTED Congre-
gationalist Upon the vital Ques-
tion of the Hour, Labor
and Capital.

auuleHCo iast evening al Lne IulIu OOu-
gregational church on the subject Of
Strikes and Strikers, or Capital Deied.
He took his text from Lev. 25:14. Ye
shall not oppose one another. The di-
vine said.
At no time since the great civil war
has this country been overshadowed by
more threatening clouds than during
the past few weeks.
The laundering echoes OF great labor
troubles, wrung from working people
because individuals who compromise
soulless corporations are violating this
text, have awakened an interest in
almost every American home. Upon
the street corners men have gathered in
knots to give their version of the affair.
In the store, as the purchaser waits for
the wrapping of his groceries, the ques-
tion is discussed. In the hotel corridors
and waiting rooms it is the theme of
conversation. Newspapers, secular and
religious, are devoting columns of space
to the all absorbing topic, and the
Christian pulpits of our land have de-
clared themselves in no unmistakable
tones. In fact, the whole country has
been stirred from center to circumfer-
ence, and whether we believe it or not,
we are, as nation, resting on the
slope of burning, Eeething volcano.
The fiery lava of discomfort on the
part of labor set in motion by the cruel
oppression of moneyed corporations is
Just beginning to reach the point OF
eruption, and Baltimore with it's tied
mp street Car lines, whose men were
compelled to work seventeen hours per
day, Pennsylvania with its tied up rail-
roads OF TT; Massachusetts with its
factory lock-outs OF 1872 and 'S3, Illinois
with its tied up @. B. & O., New York
with its Central trouble, and the in
famously outrageous conduct of the
Pinkerton thugs, for the employment of
whom the company officials stand guilty
of murder before the intelligent judg-
ment of America today, all these en-
phasized by the recent outbreak of OPP
preston at Homestead in refusal to
meet, recognize and treat with the rep
resentatives of organized labor and the
lockout resulting from this refusal and
the still more recent trouble in Idaho
and Wyoming are but indications OF
the fact that the volcano is in q danger
Gus condition. All these troubles are
but bits of the burning lava, and if these
bits are go powerful in their entailments
what need we not expect if, as nation,
we continue to recognize the right of
one class to oppress another, and no
legal obstruction in their way of so do
ing.
The time has come when we should
do one of two things, either make an at
tempt to live up to the divine COM
mands, or else cease to call ourselves a
Christian nation.
God says, eye shall not oppress one
another" and yet as nation we have
stopped orr ears to the cry of the poor
and have not only refused legislation
which would recognize their rights, but
we have permitted moneyed corpora
tions to employ standing, or better, if
you please, tramping armies of Pinker-
tons bandits-men lost to all sense of
honor-I say we have permitted capital
to employ such armies to shoot down
defenaelesH and weaponless laborers, as
was the case on the New York Central.
But let it be remembered that this ag-
gregation OF blood thirsty tramps exist
ing under the flag OF detectives have
met their Waterloo, and as much as we
may look in horror upon the sad affair
at Homestead, let us not lose sight of
the fact that from patriotic standpoint
every invader on that boat was guilty of
an ATTEMPT to commit insurrection and
treason, and was worthy of death. and
Judging from the New York Central af-
fair should have been killed upon the
spot. They unlawfully attempted to
aid one class OF men to oppress an
other class.
the Importance of these strikes let us
look in the history of our nation.
have stood beside the monument erect
ed in honor OF the minute men at Con-
cord, Mass, and my heart throbbed as l
thought of their patriotism in resisting
the armed invaders of their homes
Their cry was "We shall never allow
ourselves to be oppressed by taxation
without representation" England at
tempted to violate this text and she
was defeated. For what did
the men at Homestead strike
Not for higher wages? Not against
cut down. But it was because the
company, through its managers, refused
to recognize the right Of labor to repre-
sentation in the council which declared
the ''cut down." and they have since
persistently refused to meet or treat
with any committee representing their
labor organization. Ii that ie not op-
preston then England never attempted
to oppress the colonies. If that is not
oppression then there was no shade of
oppression in African slavery. If that
is not oppression, then in the name OF
high heaven what is? In anti-bellum
days the liberty seeking slave was
hunted by the bloodhound, in post
bellum days the liberty seeking laborer
is hunted by Pinh erton sleuth hounds.
And all this in christian nation, and
that in the face of Jehovah's command !:
Ye shall not oppress one another"
l regard these strikes as battlefelds,
where labor and its wrongs are pitted
against wealth and its power! deplore
them with all my heart. Yea, 1 am
possessed OF the same feeling as when
] read OF Lexington, Concord and
Bunker Hill; yet results have justified
those bloody scenes. The only path to
American independence and freedom
from English tyranny and oppression
lead through their dark shadee. l de-
plore these strikes as l deplore the rec
ord OF Bull Run, Petersburg, Gettys-
burg, and score Of other battlefields,
including the slaughter Of one hundred
thousand soldiers and the destruction
of millions of dollars worth of property,
bat the only path to the preservation
OF our union and the emancipation of
African slavery. seemed to lead through
these bloody fields, and who, today,
doubts the wisdom Of that path?
What Lexington, Concord and Bun
ker Hill were to the independence of