Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-01-19
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DTVINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: eThc Bread Question"

TEXT: "yr hare the poor aI,oays so;h
yo"."-Matthcw XVI, II.
Who said that2 Tho Christ VINO never
owned anything during His earthly stay His
cradle and His grave were borrowed. Every
tig y" ate was from some one else's tree.
Every drop OF watEr He drank WAS from
some one eis@'s we'll. To pay His personal
tax. which was very small only 3IA cents,
He hAi to perform n miracle and make n
fish pay if. All the heights and depths and
'enghts and broadfhs Of poverty Christ meas
Hr"d III HIS earthly experience and Hhen
u" comes to speak OF dastitutiOu He always
sDeaks sympathetcally, and What He said
then is as true nOw-''yt have the poor al
ways with YOU,
For 5000 Years the bread question has been
The artir" and absorbing question Witness
the people crOwdin@ up to JOseph'5 store.
nous" IN Egypt Witness the famine in Sa-
maria and Jerusalem. Witness the 1000 hum
cry people for whom Christ multiplied the
loaves. Witness the uncOunted millions Of
people now living. who, [ believe, have
never yet had one full meal Of healthful and
nutritious food in all their lives. Think of
the @54 great faminos in England. Think of
tho 23,OO0 300 people under the hOOf of
hunger year before last in Russia. The fail
ura Of the Nile to overflow for seven wears
IN the eleventh century left those regions
iepOpulated. Plague of insects in England
of mice in Essex. Plague Of locusts in China.
PIagU: Of @rasshOppers i'll America. Devas-
tatIon wrought by drought, by deIuge, by
irost, hy war. 10y hurricane. by earthquake
by comets lying too near the earth, by change
III tn" management of National finances,
by haieful causes innumerable I pro-
ce"d 10 give yOu three or four reasons why
my text is markedly AMI graphically true in
this year 1894.
The first reason we have always the poor
with MS is because OF the perpetual overhaul
ing OF the tariff question, or, | shall call
1t, the tarit1ic controversy. There is a need
for such a word. and so | take the RESPONSE
hliity Of manufacturing it. There are millions
ot people who are expecting that the present
Congress Of the United States will do some
thing one way or the other to end this dis
cnssOn, but it will never end. When
| was five years of age I remem-
her hearing my father and his neigh
hOFS in vehement discussion of this very
question. It was high tariff or low tariff or
no tariff at all. When your great -grandchild
ales AT ninety years of age, it will probably
be from Over-eXerI on in discussing the
tariff. On the day the world is destroyed,
there will be three men standing on the post
Office stcps-one high tariff man,
another low tariff man, and the other
tree trade man-each ono red in the face
from excited argument this sub
JcCt. Other questions may get quieted, the
Mormon question. the silver question, the
pension question, the civil service question.
All questions of annexation may come to
peaceful settlement by the annexation of ISL
andS two weeks voyage away and the heat
OF their volcanoes conveyed through pipes
under the sea made useful i'll warming our
continent, or annexation of the moon, de-
throninS the queen OF night. vino is said to
Gc dISSOiUte. AMI bringing the lunar p0puIa-
IOn5 under the influence Of our free institu-
ttOns yea. all other questions, National and
lnternItiOnai. may be settled. hut this traffic
question never. 1t will not only never be
settled, but it can never be moderately quiet
Tor more than three years at n time, each
party getting into power taking one of tho
four years TO fix it up. and then the next
party will fix it down, Our finances cannot
get we'll because OF too many doctors. 1t is
with sick Nations as with sick Individuals.
Here Is a man terribly GiScrderGa to his
body. \ doctor is called in. AMI he admin
IsterS u tebrifuge. a spoonful every hour.
But recovery is postponed. and the anxious
friends call in another doctor, and he says
what this patient needs is blood letting
now roll up your sleevcw and tho lancet
flashes. But still recovery is postponed, and
Il homeopathic doctor is called in. and he
administers some small pellets and says
'Ail the patient wants is rest"
Recovery still postponed. the family say
that such small pellets cannot amount to
much anyhow, and an alIOpathic doctor is
called in, and he saws, What this patient
postponed, hydrOpathic doctor is called in,
and he says What this patient wants is
hot and cold baths, and he must have them
right away. Turn on the faucet and get
ready tor the shower baths. Recovery is
still postponed. an electric doctor is called
In, AMI he brings all the schools to bear
upon the poor sufferer, and the patient, after
brave struggle for life, expires What
killed him? Too many doctors. And that
is what is killing our National finances. My
personal friends, Cleveland and Harrison
and Carlisle and Mckinley and Sherman, as
talented and lovely and splendid men as
walk the earth all good doctors but their
treatment of our janGuiShing finances is SO
different that neither treatment has a full Op-
pOrtunitY, and under the constant changes if
is simply wonderful that tho Nation still
lives. The tariff question will never be set
tied because Of the fact-which | have never
heard any one recognize. but nevertheless
the fact-that high tariff is best for some
people and free trade is best for others. This
tarittic controversy keeps business struck
through with uncertainty, an1 that uncer-
rdInry results IN poverty and wretchedness
Tor vast multitude of people. Ifthe eternal
CAB on this question could have been fash
toned into lOayeS of bread, there would not
be hungry man or woman or child on all
the planet. To the end of time, the words
OF the text will be kept true by the tariffic
controversy-"Ye have the poor always With
you"
Another cause Of perpetual poverty is the
cause alcoholic. The victim does not last
long, He soon crOuches into the drunkarTS
grave. But what about his wife and chill
dren? She takes in washing when she can
get it, or goes ont working on small wages.
because sorrow and privatiOn have left her
incapacitated to do n strong womans work.
The children are thin biOoded and gaunt
and pale and weak. standing around in cold
rooms. or pitching pennies on the street cor
uOInttnrp1
bread when they can Getit, sworn at by pass
ersby because they do not get out of the
way, ki"te,. onward toward manhood or
womanhood. for which they have no prep
aratiOn, except a depraved appetite and
frail constitution, candidates for aim
house and penitentiary. Whatever
other cause of poverty may fail, the saloon
may be depended on to furnish an ever in
creasing throng OF paupers. Oh, ye grog-
shops of Brooklyn and New York aud OF all
the cities We mouths of hell, when will We
cease to craunch and devOur? There is no
danger of the liquor business failing. All
other styles of business at times fail. Dry
goods stores go under. Hardware stores so
under. Grocery stores go under. Harness
makers fail, druggists fail. bankers fail
butchers fail, bakers fail, confectioners fall
but the liquor dealers never. 1t is the only
secure business | know of. Why the per
manence of the alcoholic trade? Because.
III the first place, the men in that business.
IL tiSht up iOC money, only nave TO put
into large quantities of water more strych-
nine and lOgw0Ol and nuX vomica and Wit
riOl and other cOngenial cOncomitants for
adulteratiOn. One quart of the real genuine
pandemOnaC elixir will do to mix up with
several gallons Of milder Gamnation. Besides
that these dealers can depend on an increase
of demand on the part of their customers.
The more of that stuff they drink, the thirst
ier they are. Hard times, which stop other
business, only increase that business for men
go there to drown their troubles. They take
the spirits down to keep their spirits up.
There is an inclined plane down which alco-
nOIISm slides It's VIcr1mS-cGareT. cnam p..2sHea
port. cognac, whisky, tom and jerry. sour
mash. on and down until it is sort OF mix
ture OF kerosene oil, turpentine, toadstools,
swill. essence of the horse blankets and gen.
eral nastiness. With its red sword of fame