The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1893-11-23

Ls-a Z
/ slect <liy.
As the machinery Of ciNIi8a'''u
/ comes more complex with esch heN -
ysrtion the strain upon our sts'eA' a
,xoli,ical government becomes more anu
more severe. The let alone PohcE P'o-
| muIgat~d in the eighteenth century ~
the cure all for every political III mss
| been tired and found wanting Anu ''''
| food gates Of social legl>i si"n nave -
| lifted high. and the pressure al ''.s
| Of a yaster life hft rh-Iu higher ea' d
| moment Let the t-aliuona' statesman
! see 10 II. The foundations "f ali hr NOUS
| dear are being threatened by ms move
/ rnsut. Let traditional parties So |" IL
| The party cries that have held liie i"'
| BILE of ignorant followers IN the past ar
| not be depended upon in the future. ne
| aeople are becoming less and less d"clie
| under traditional leadership. IL th'H
| are ignorant and mlslod by arrant oeih
| ayoyues. il j. high ma" they were is'trE
| Informed by better men. See Ia II!
/ Fonrth-The organic life Of the chnrch
| is also threatened. Thrty-two millions
| of people ia America attend no church
| at all OF the remaining 3o.Voo.VV0'
not half of them are of any practical ac-
count financially or spiritually Ia the
| chur,.ls life They are utterly lndlffer-
ent lille nominally loyal to some sort
| of church life. They have some sort OF
| religion. hut il Is mostly on the surface.
| 1t not only does not go SKIN deep-lt
does not get through their clothes. IL
never reaches the pocket. An evangelist
the other day requested everybody IN the
audience who had paid his debts to stand
no. They rose in mass Then he SAID,
Sit down. and every man here who has
not paid his debts stand mp. One man
raised his arm aloft. My good man,
said the evangelist, have You not paid
your debts:" No" said he, Il have
not paid them and cannot. l am the
editor of religious periodical, and near
| " every member of this congregation
owes me for my paper. This Is a far
sample of the religion of one-half the
the nominal adherents of the modern
church The modern church that Is
powerful, that pays its debts and is able
to take care of itself is the church of the
rich pewholders.
| THE NONCHURCHGOERS.
The $4,000, 900 of our people who dc
not attend churches at all are many OF
them bitter in their hostility to all
| churches. They have grown to believe
that the priest and preacher are their
enemies and the churches the stronghold
of their allies and supporters. Church
after church in our rural districts die.
Church after church in our cities die as
the rich conservative classes move W
town and out into the suburbs. The
church has neglected the mass of poor
people until they have lost faith even in
its friendly pretensions. It's invitations
are regarded bait with which they are
to be swindled. Right or wrong, this ii
their attitude. If it is mistake. it il
high time they We're taught better. The
attitude of these millions bodies no good
to cushioned pew, capdled altar, solemn
arch and cleric frock. Shall we have &
century Of atheism, as with France
and then after hundred years of stag
gering in darkness grope our way bach
to the point of departure and begir
again-a hundred years lost? Believe
me, the power and authority and organic
| life of the church is at stake in the pres
ent threatened social revolution. The
church must ever lead or die. Is it lead
ing2
On the part of the restless and radica
masses, what are the issues for them In
volved?
Whether they are right or wrong il
matters not. The restless masses believe
and believe with conviction deep anG
sullen that will not stop to parley or t.
reason:
First-That the right to life for then
is at issue. The specter of starvation
haunts hundreds of thousands of thes.
people from years end to years end
The possibility of being thrown out Of
work and tramping the weary, hopeless
round for days and weeks and months
and begging for the privilege of the
hardest labor in vain hangs now owe,
them. 1t saps life. 1t takes the hear
out. 1t kills. The specter of shame
haunts thus a thousand girls dreams
day and night. An honest life to host.
of girls seems each day more and NOR.
hopeless
The conviction that the right to live i,
involved in some sort Of social move
ment presses today upon the souls o.
millions with the crushing weight of de
spair. They have grown to believe tina,
the right to life is becoming matter Of
inheritance; that millions are born tt
die an untimely death, crushed beneath
the upper and neither milestone Of an un
Just social organism. We read that Goa
miners in England ''hew coal in seams
foot 10 inches and feet thick, Twins
for hours on their side, all hut naked, il
seven inches of water and under a sort
of shower bath frCm the roof, picking
and shoveling as best they can. 1t be-
ing impossible to eat lunch in such
quarters; they take only cup of cold
tea or bit of bread and butter and work
on until time to leave the pit" That mer
who rise at in the morning to go Il
such work are ''Queer IN the legs" from
young manhood and broken down at 81
Is not strange. Eighty thousand of thes,
wretches struck in the spring of lS9:
against reduction of wages. Can an,
man dare to say they We're not strikine
for life?
CASES OF EXTREME HARDSHIP.
We read Of man 80 years old, ono,
prosperous, but ruined in the panic o
1873, WHO works u hours day on 1
street railway. He had Sunday off Il
. months ago and hoped he might get an
other in FIVE or six months"
My church is helping to keep a woma,
from starvation whose business is t.
make coats at Is cents each. This WON
an is the representative of hundreds O
thoppsands whose right to life is involved
In the hoped for reformation Of society
Alongside this fight for life we read of ,
fruit market which has existed for 81
years upon the whims of the rich. Ham
burg grapes at 81 a pound are regularl,
10 stock. In winter straw berries and as
paragus at $3a box OF bunch. First Flor
ida berries. IS in cup, 81 cup, AM
! parties supplied at that rate"