The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-07
A BAD STATE OF AFFAIRS.
THE CAPITAL VS.. LABOR STRUGGLE
THE TOPIC AT ST. JOHNS.

Situation That Now C0nfrOnts the
COuntry--Thinlxs There should BE
Greater Restrictions ON Foreign
Immigration, and Laws Against
MOnOpoIies and Trusts--Capitalfsts
Should Not Control the Law of SUPP
ply and Observation-Disclosures, lie
Says, should BE Debarred From
the Ballot Box-Churches and
school Houses the Best Solution of
the Situation.
Rev. Charles H. Strong presented some
interesting views in the social and eco
nomic questions confronting the country
in his sermon at st. Joints church last
night. Bear We one another's burdens,
and so fulfill the laws of Christ" was
his text, from Galatians vi, 3 and he be-
gan with the proposition that minister
should take broad view of the gospel of
Christ, and that he should take an inter-
est in the social questions of the day,
questions which have to do with the wet
fare of all humanity and the enrichment
and enlargement of all nations.
Within the last few years. he said
new. state of affairs has sprung up, and
socialism has become a very decided feat
ure of our national life. The gulf be-
tween the rich and the poor is growing
wider and more fixed. The rich in GER
tain quarters are becoming richer and
richer, and the number of those who live
from hand to mouth is increasing, and the
hand is getting farther from the mouth.
He compared the horde of dema gogues
of the French revolution to "such as were
seen here lately who are seeking to go
into office on the social discomfort of the
masses.
There is something decidedly wrong in
the affairs of the country he said. He
then spoke of the various classes which
had sought Office by playing upon the con-
dition of those in want. He referred to
the Farmers Alliance and various other
alliances of this nature, and especially of
the increase in the populist party and of
demagogues. THE country" he said,
has just passed through four years of
the most troublous times the world has
ever known" He spoke of the formation
of clubs in New York by boys,
even, who debated the question as
to whether the wage-earner in
New York to-day was worse off
than the negro of slavery times. He did
not exactly agree with the Secretary of
the Interior, who said unless prosperity
returned within the next four years, there
would be bloody revolution, like that of
France, but l do believe with all my
heart and SOUL he said, I'VE have coun-
try and institutions which we cannot af-
ford to throw away. There are certain
things which every man of loyalty and of
Christian charity should study and decide
for himself, and when the time comes he
should register that decision absolutely
against iniquty."
"Why should this condition of affairs
exst?" he asked. with men and women
in every large city starving to-day and
hundreds upon hundreds of men unem-
ployed, when we have a land rich in un-
told wealth and resources? ?"
There ought to be mills enough and work
enough for all the unemployed who want
to work. he said. Every honest days toll
should receive an honest days living, Rev.
Mr.. Strong then spoke of the causes of
these conditions. God has arranged, he
said that the great law of supply and de-
mand should regulate our commodities and
our labor.
zone great underlying trouble he said,
SIS that men have the presumption to
Interfere with this great law of supply
and demand" He spoke of the artificial
combinations and speculative influences
in Chicago and New York with which he
said the farmer had to contend, and by
these the price of wheat, for instance,
was raised or lowered, until the farmer,
even with the best of improved machin-
cry, does not receive the fruits of his Ia
bor but is the prey of some man in one
of these large cities.
Not only the farmer, but the consumer
lie al Of cd hn
is entitled to live upon goods as cheaply
as they can be made with a proper inter-
est for capital, and proper wages for the
farmer. Yet during the recent blizzard.
though wages were not increased the
richest trust levied upon the laboring men
an extra % cents on every ton OF coal.
This extra amount was not for the wage
Garner, nor was there any greater interest
on capital needed, but ii was LEVIED 10
increase the millions of those VINO are al
ready milionaires. The same is true Of
the 5S1 other trusts and monopolies in our
country. They will no doubt soon control
the gas with which our homes are lighted
they do control many of the articles of
food and clothing, and they regulate the
price. not for the benefit of the wage
Garner, but because the rich men nuet
nave more interest on their capital than
they had before; they must crafty that
which is the vanity of their lives.
Rev Mr.. Strong then took up the SUBJ |
Ject of foreign immigration, which he bol,
should be restrained. Pauper laborers
from countries of the old world are |
brought here. he said, TO aid the capltal- |
list to grind down the American laborsr.
stronger line should be drawn. ne |
thought, and immigrants should not be
taken out OF the pauper class simply he |
cause they had enough to live on for a
week or two.
He spoke briefly Of the currency oues-
he
currency of which every dollar should l,a |
equal in value and secure, but one which |
rises and falls with the demands OF bus,. /
ness. When the crops are raised hera |
he said. the money should be sent here !
to pay for them, and the farmer should
not be vietimized by the price men in |
Wall street want TO put on his product. 4
lis it any wonder?" he asked. "tha,
these causes produce an unstable state az
affairs? II has got to be cured. IT nifst |
be cured soon, or there viii be IN the
country ere long, not a bloody revolution
hi Nv fb.ah stf1 mn.