The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-02-10
CAUSES OF POVERTY.
REV Or. rALNAGE breaches UPON
THE PRESENT HARD TINES.

The Everlasting Tarir Discussion Life In
surance Urgcd-rhc widespread im-
providence-r Gospel of Helping oth-
ers--A Paid Up Policy For Eternity.
BRooELYN, Jan. 1T seemed npproprt .
ate that Dr.. ralmagc should preach this
sermon after his personal contribution Of /
5000 pounds Of meat aud 1000 loaves Of .
bread to the poor who gathered shivering .
IN the cold around the bakery and meat .
store Of Brooklyn, where the food was dis .
tributed without tickets and no recon- /
mendatiou required except hunger. The .
text was Matthew XVI, II, "Ne have the /.
poor always with you'
Who said thatY The Christ who never
owned anything during his earthly stay.
His cradle and his grave were borrowed.
Every fix he ate was from some one elsc's
tree Every drop Of water he drank was
from some one else's well To pay his per
sonal tax, which was very small, only BIZ
cents, he had to perform miracle and
make n fish pay it, All the heights and
depths and lengths and breadths of poverty
Christ measured in his earthly experience,
and when he comes to speak Of restitution,
= y
what he said then is as true now, aye have
the poor always with YOU
For 5000 years the bread question has
been the active and absorbing question.
Witness the people crowding up to Joseph's
storehouse in Egypt. Witness the famine
in Samaria and Jerusalem. Witness the
1900 hungry people for whom Christ null
tiplied the loaves. Witness the uncounted
millions Of people now living who, be-
lieve, have never vet had one full meal Of
healthful and nutritious food ia all their
lives Think Of the 354 great famines in
England Think of the 5000 people under
the hoof of hunger year before last in
Russia.
The failure of the Nile to overflow for
seven years in the eleventh century left
those regions depopulated. Plague OF in
sects in England. Plague Of rats in Ma
dras presidency. Plague of mice in Essex.
Plague of lucusts in China. Plague of
grasshoppers in America. Devastation
wrought by drought, by deuge, 10y frost,
by war, by hurricane, by earthquake, by
comets flying too near the earth by change
in the management of national finances, by
baleful causes inuumerable. | proceed to
give you three or four reasons why my text
is markedly and graphically true in this
year 1894.
THE TARIFF CONTROVERSY.
The first reason we have always the poor
with us Is because of the perpetual over
hauling of the tariff question, or, as | shall
call it, the tariilic controversy. There is a
need for such a word, and so take the re-
sponsiblityo of manufacturing it. There are
millions of people who are expecting that
the present congress of the United States
will do something one way or the other to
-. q H. - Ill 4
When | was years of age, | remember
hearing my father and his neighbors in We
hement discussion Of this very question. 1t
was high tariff or low tariff or no tariff at
all When your great randchild dies at 90
years of age it will probably be from over
eXertion in discussing the tariff.
On the day the world is destroyed there
will be three men standing on the postoflice
steps-one high tariff man, another low
tariff man, and the other a free trade
man--each one red in the face from excited
argument on this subject. Other ques
tions may get quieted-the Mormon ques-
ton, the silver question, the pension ques.
ton, the civil service question. All ques-
tions of annexation may come to peaceful
settlement by the annexation of islands
two weeks voyage away and the heat OF
their volcanoes conveyed through pipes un
der the sea made useful in warming our
continent, or annexation of the moon, de
throning the queen of night who is said Il
be dissolute, and bringing the lunar popu
lations under the influence of our free in
situations; yea, all other questions, ma
tional and International may be settled
but this tariflic question, never.
1t will not only never be settled, but Il
can never be moderately quiet for more thar
three years at time, each party getting
into power taking one Of the four years tC
fix it up, and then the next party will fix il
down. Our finances cannot get well be
cause of too many doctors. 1t is with SICK
nations as with sick individuals. Here il
man terribly disordered as to his body
A doctor is called in, and he administers
febrifuge, a spoonful every hour. But re
covery is postponed, and the anxious friends
call in another doctor, and he says, What
this patient needs is blood letting; now rol
up your sleeve" and the lancet flashes
But still recovery is postponed, and home
opathic doctor is called in, and he admin
listers some small pellets and says, AL
the patient wants is rest
Recovery still postponed, the family say
that such small pellets cannot amount tC
much anyhow, and an allopathic doctor i.
called in, and he says, What this patient
wants is calomel and jalap." Recovery still
postponed, a hydropathic doctor is called
in, and he says: NV hat this patient want
is hot and cold baths, and he must hav
them right away. Turn on the faucet AM
get ready the shower baths Recover
still postponed, an eclectic doctor is calle
in, and he brings all the schools to bea
upon the poor sufferer, aud the patient
after a brave struggle for life, expire.
What killed himi Too many doctors. An
that is what is killing our national finances
My personal friends, Cleveland and Hal
rison and Carlisle and Mckinley and Shel
man, as talented and lovely and spend
men as walk the earth, all good doctors
but their treatment of our languishin
finances is so different that neither treat
ment has full opportunity, and under tn
constant changes it is simply wonderful
that the nation still lives. The tariff ques
ton will never be settled, because of tn
fact, which | have never heard any on
recognize, but nevertheless the fact, tina
high tariff is best for some people and FIRE
trade is best for others.
This tariflic controversy keeps bushes
struck through with uncertainty, and tina
uncertainty results in poverty and wretch
edness for vast multitude of people.
the eternal CAB on this subject could hav
been fashioned into loaves of bread ther
would not be hungry man or woman q
child on all the planet, To the end of tim
the words of the text will be kept true b.
the tarifiic CONFERENCE.-THE have the poo
always with you"
THE CAUSE ALCOHOLIC.
Another cause of perpetual poverty is til
cause alcoholic The victim does not las
long. He soon crouches into the drunkard
grave. Butwhat about his wife and chi
dranP She takes in washing when she ra
get it, or goes out working on small wage
because sorrow and privation have left he
incapacitated to do a strong womans worl
The children are thin blooded aud gauT
and pale and weak, standing around
cold rooms, or pitching pennies on the stree
corner, and munching "A slice Of unbuttere
bread when they can get it, sworn at /
passers by because they do not get out