The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-04-28
WHAT IS THE CHURCH DOING TO
SOLVE THE LABOR PROBLEM?

the final eruption. At present they
lead people astray, because the great
mass of humanity never looks far be-
low the surface. Can, then, such enc
mics Of church activity as these last
mentioned be said to hep solve the
labor question? They only serve to
deaden the noise of it, or to divert it.
But We must come round again to our
, original conclusion, that to really
solve the labor problem the church is
doing absolutely nothing.
She is dealing with symptoms in
stead of with causes. 1t is not TO her
interest to deal with causes. But it is
TO the interest of the labor question
to have causes dealt with.
One of the great mistakes of the
times is the want of discrimination
between cause and effect The church
is not the cause of any great sociolog-
zeal reform. In so far as she has
opened her doors to modern influences
it is because she could not keep them
closed any longer. In other words, the
church does not take the initiative
That must come from the outside. If
left to herself, the church would not
advance one step. 1t is because the
world is moving on that the church
moves on, too, though at a respectful
distance" l mean that modern
thought outside the: church makes 1t
possible for the church to grow broad
er. But as the church is only an effect
of outside or non-church thought she
cannot move on unless she first re-
ceives the cue from the outside. This
is why the church is doing nothing,
and can do nothing, to solve the labor
question. She is not a Self-acting, in
dependent Institution. She is not ac
cuStomed to taking the lead; only the
leading-strings. The church. then,
does not swing society into line, but if
she moves a all, is swung into line by
society. And more often than not, 1
regret to say, because she cannot help
There are a few churches that are
abreast of the latest thought, but only
a very few. / know of only two that
avowedly make the labor problem a
matter of the first concern, and these
are the Labor church, of Manches-
ter. England, and the First Secular
church. of Portland, Ore. There are
a number of what are called liberal
churches" that which l have the hon.
or TO preside over being one, whose
pulpits are wide open to the discus
sion Of the labor question, or any
other question. But such freedom as
this is not as common in even liberal
churches as it ought to be.
The labor question is said to be a
moral one. and it is therefore as
sumed that the church ought TO take
it up. Personally, 1 take this ground.
But [ see that the church cannot take
it up, for the reasons 1 have already
given. The labor question is moral
question, it is true; and so is every
great question. If the church dealt
more with moral and less with spirit
ual questions she could find time and
opportunity to deal with the labor
question. But so long as she concerns
herself with what are called spiritual
matters she will certainly not find it
to her advantage to deal with strictly
moral or sociological questions. This is
the internal trouble with the church.
She has Disseminated SO long between
the spiritual and the moral that the
world has at last come to believe
there is difference between them. I
believe there is. But if there is, the
moral holds the place of first import
ance. The spiritual is but the eff1or-
essence of the moral, and as is the
quality of the moral SO will the quality
of the spiritual be. The church, then,
if she is to help solve the labor Ques-
ton, must concern herself with the
moral, or ethical, interests of human
ity-the spiritual will then take care
of themselves.
In conclusion, LET me sum up the
cou. IS against the church in support
OF the Indictment that she is not help
ing to solve the labor question. First,
she is exempt from taxation, thus in
creaSing the assessment elsewhere.
Second, those ministers who wish TO
help humanity have their hands tied
by the man with the money-bag.
Third, and last, the church is teaching
too much spirituality and not enough.
if any, true morality.
That the church could do something
to solve the labor question l am free
TO admit, and gladly do; but only when
she is emancipated-and then she Will
not be the church she is today. At
her best, her influence cannot be that
of an active participant. 1t must be
that Of a moral, ethical, persuasive in /
fluence, elevating and squirting on hui
mainly to the most unselfish achieve |
ments.
Today we find that most of the
great labor-leaders are outside the
church; or, at least, outside the pale |
Of conventional Christianity, and sure
ly this speaks for itself. If the church
were helping them, they would not
leave her. No! They must look else
where, for most assuredly they will
not find encouragement there. The
labor reformers must look to their
leaders, and their leaders must look
to their followers, fer the church SIM
ply cannot help them.
In this arraignment I have not
blinked the truth. I have faced the
facts. The truth is not always pleas
ant, and much pleasanter would It
have been for me if ] could have told
the truth by answering in the affirma-
tive the question with which I set out.
But falsehood enslaves; truth alone
makes free. And we are not. 1 am
sanguine enough to believe, very far
from the time when the truth alone
shall be heard.
STANLEY NJ. HUNTER.