The Globe-republican., 1894-01-12
THE BREAD QUESTION.
DR.. Talmage DiscOurses on the
Needs Of the Poor.
Ibe Poverty OF the Saviour Of Man
The Alcoholic Habit . Cause Of
Misery and Want-Improvi-
dence Another.

timely subject, taking his text from:
Matthew xiv. IL: ''Ye have the poor
always with you" Dr. Talmage said:
Who said that? The Christ, who
never owned anything during his
earthly stay. His cradle and His grave
were borrowed. Every fig He ate was
from some one else's tree. Every drop
OF water He drank was from some one
else's we'll To pay His personal tax,
which was very small, only 314 cents,
He had to perform a miracle and make
fish pay it All the heighths and
depths and lengths and breadths of
poverty Christ measured in His earthly
experience, and when he comes to
speak of restitution He always speaks
alphabetically, and what He said then
is as true now: Eye have the poor al
ways with you"
For 5000 years the bread question
has been the active and absorbing
question. Witness the people crowd
ing up to Joseph's storehouse in Egypt
Witness the famine in Samaria and
Jerusalem. Witness the 1000 hungry
people for whom Christ multiplied the
loaves. Witness the uncounted mil
lions of people now living, who, l be-
lieve. have never yet had one full meal
of healthful and nutritious food in all
their lives Think of 354 great famines
in England Think of the %, 600. 900
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 insects in En-
gland. Plague of rats in Madras Pres
idency. Plague of mice in Essex
Plague of locusts in China. Plague of
grasshoppers in America Devastation
wrought by drought, by deluge, by
frost, by war, by hurricane, by earth
quake, by comets flying too near the
earth, by change in the management
of national finances. by baleful causes
innumerable. l proceed to give you
three or four reasons why my text is
markedly and graphically true in this
year 1894.
The first reason we have always the
poor with us is because of the per-
petual overhauling of the tariff ques-
ton. or, as 1 shall call it, the tariffic
10 al uCcu lOI SlCl
word, and SO take the responsibility
of manufacturing it. There are mil
lions of people who are expecting that
the present congress of the United
States will do something one way or
the other to end this discussion. But
it will never end. When l was five
years of age l remember hearing my
father and his neighbors in vehement
discussion of this very question. 1t
was high tariff or low tariff, or no
tariff at all. When your great-gr.nd-
child dies at 80 years of age it will
probably be from over exertion in dis
cussing the tariff. On the day
the world is destroyed there will be
three men standing on the post
Office steps-one high tariff
man, another low tariff man, and the
other free trade man-each one red
in the face from excited argument on
this subject. Other questions may get
settled, the Mormon question. the sill
yer question, the pension question, the
civil service question. All questions of
annexation may come to peaceful set
Element by the annexation of islands
two weeks voyage away and the heat
of their volcanoes, conveyed through
pipes under the sea, made useful in
warming our continent. or annexation
of the moon, dethroning the queen of
night, who is said to be dissolute, and
bringing the populations under the in
6uence of our free institutions: yea. all
other questions. national and interna-
tional, may be settled, but this tariffic
question never. 1t will not only never
be settled. but it can never be moder-
ately quiet for more than three years
at time, each party getting into
power taking one of the four years to
fix it up. and then the next party will
fix it down.
Our finances cannot get well because
of too many doctors. 1t is with sick
nations as with sick individuals Here
is man terribly disordered as to his
body. A doctor is called in and he ad-
ministers febrifuge. spoonful every
hour. But recovery is postponed. and
the anxious friends call in another doc
tor, and he says: What this patient
needs is blood letting: now roll mp
your sleeve!' and the lancet flashes
But still recovery is postponed. and
homeopathic doctor is called in, and he
administers some small pellets, and
says: 'All the patient wants is rest"
Recovery still postponed. the family
says that small pellets cannot amount
to much anyhow, and an allo-
pathic doctor is called in, and he
says: What this patient wants is
calomel and jalap." Recovery still
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 the
shower baths" Recovery still post
Poned, an eclectic doctor is called in.
and he brings all the schools to bear
upon the poor sufferer, and the patient,
after a brave struggle for life, expires
What killed him? Too many doctors.
And that is what is killing our national
finances My personal friends Cleve-
land and Harrison and Carlisle and Nc
Kinley and Sherman. as talented and