The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-07-03
LABOR and CHURCH.
FULL TEXT OF L. w. ROGERS
NOTED ADDRESS.

of GAINESVILLE Are Invited to State
Their Grievances, and Show Wherein
the Church is Not the Friend Of Labor
LFrom the Railway Times.l
Labor had an inning at the annual
banquet of the Congregational club,
recently held at the Grand Pacific,
Chicago. Probably 400 or 500 people
were present. Thirty or forty of them
were ministers and the remainder
churchmen, many of whom count their
wealth by the hundreds of thousands
of dollars. Three lone representatives
of labor sat at the eastern side of the
hall, sampling the viands and trying to
feel at home in the flashing of so many
diamond shirt studs. l. T. O'Brien
and L w. Rogers had been asked to
criticize the attitude of the church to-
ward labor, if it could be done, and
their prompt acceptance of the chal-
lenge seemed to imply that they
thought it could.
After the usual preliminaries the
chairman introduced the first speaker.
Mr.. Rogers was received with lively
applause, but it was the last he got.
When he began to speak the audience
settled into solemn silence, and, as it
became plain that the speakers inten-
ton was to expound naked and unpal-
atable truth, there were sideloDg
chances between pastors and wealthy
laymen which seemedto inquire, "who
is responsible for this blunder9" The
speakers had been urged to ''speak
their minds" and they did it to the
limit. The audience were evidently
surprised and startled, and listened in
tently, but silently, to the unpleasant
facts. Mr.. Rogers said:
Mr.. Chairman and Gentlemen: Ihave
no quarrel with the church about it's
theology. We will not carry this dis
cussion beyond the clouds. Let us keep
close to the earth to night. 1 don't
want to find out whether the rich man
will embrace the poor man in paradise,
but whether he will give him justice
here. Labor is less anxious to learn
how to lay up treasure in heaven than
to know how to get bread upon earth.
So, in this discussion we will be pain
fully practical. Whether the miracles
are facts or fiction, whether Jonah was
a reality or a MYTH, has nothing to do
with the feeding of the hungry. And
so in the beginning, I lay down this
proposition: Whatever may be the
knowledge of the church about the
future-whatever may be its power to
help humanity in the world to come
it can only add to its usefulness by do
ing something to help it in this.
We are a nation of classes. The lines
of social caste are drawn with heart
less cruelty. That class known as the
'~'laboring people" is struggling for
equality, is asking for simple justice.
And what, your committee asks, does it
wants It wants an honest share of the
wealth it creates. It wants such con-
ditions as shall permit a fair distribu-
ton of what is produced. 1t wants to
abolish the conditions that enforce
idleness. 1t wants free access to the
resources of nature. 1t wants a return
to the primitive rights of man.. 1t
wants to abolish the monopolistic
privileges which stand between it and
prosperity.
It wants a reconstruction of our land
system, which is a relic of the barbar-
GUS past-which is formed upon the
bloody conquest of royal robbers, which
grew out Of the ability Of the strong to
trample upon the weak, and which to-
day guarantees a continuation of that
Infamous principle. 1t wants the use.
less fortunes of the few replaced by the
prosperity of the many. 1t wants COT
tages instead of palaces, it wants homes
instead of huts. 1t wants adjustment
of our wretched inequalities. It wants
an equal chance. It wants to escape
from this vast prison-house of poverty.
1t wants a shelter besides the sky; it
wants something to eat besides crusts;
it wants something to wear besides
rags!
The struggle is between capital and
labor, between wealth and poverty.
Where on this question does the church
stands I do not speak of the ideal
church, but the church as it is. I know
where it started. I know where Christ
stood. He was for the poor. He
warned the rich, he denounced force
and wealth and usury. He toadied no
monopolist, he preached from no pal
aces, he sold no pewsl He was of and
for the people. He mingled with the