The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-01-23
DR.. Rainsford and the Bradley Mar
tIp hall.

DIR. Rafnsford and the Bradley Mar
tin Ball.
Accustomed as the public are growing
to vicious and asinine comments from
the pulpit upon current topics, they were
yet u~nprepared for. the extraordinary ut
terances of the Rev. DIR. w. s. Rainsford
of ST. Georges Church, yesterday
apropos of the Bradley-Martin ball. In
volving as they do, almost every pos
sible offence against public decency and
common sense. his remarks may in the
long run prove useful by a-ousing a stern
public opinion against the wanton inter-
ference of the clerical caste in the affairs
of life which are none of their business.
The gross rufianism of dragging a
social event of this sort into the realm
of ecclesiastical discipline is enough, IN
itself, to shock people. The brutal ana
unwarranted insult to the givers Of the
entertainment, the effort at coercion OF
the hidden guests, the vulgar panderlng
to the unthinking passions of the ignor-
ant. these are things to excite the Ire
and disgust of every independent spirited
man.
But this is not all. The folly of the
economic doctrine embodied in the Ralns-
ford diatrfbe is stin more outrageous
The idea that the expenditure of money
on this ball is a waste and an injury and
insult to the poor would be grotesaueiy
comical, If it were not perniciously mis-
leading. The fact is, in giving a great
ball. at this time, the Bradley-Martins
are great public benefactors. They set
money in circulation; they stimulate the
business which is stagnant; they Civ
work to the hands which were idle and
put food in the mouths of the hungry.
And it is honestly earned food, too. and
that is where the blessing of it comes in
The most hideous curse of this or any
other age is the giving of aims to those
who have the ability to work. 1t is a
blow at their freedom, their citizenship.
their SelI-reSpecI, lHeHr SldLhAiiiS % S
zens. which is more deadly than the
setting up of a dictatorship in the halls
of government.
If the Bradley-Martins. instead of CIV
ing this ball. should distribute its cost
in food and clothing to the unemployed,
they would commit a social and political
crime beyond justification or forgiving.
What the laborers want is work, and
what the merchants and manufacturers
want is trade. 1t is the expenditure of
wealth upon the necessities and the
pleasures of life that keeps the world
moving. If all the rich people of New
York could be induced to follow Mrs.
Martins lead, and il the moderately
placed people would follow suit, according
to their ability, the hard times would
not last long. Trade and industry would
be well fed and the dollars of the rich
would flow in a steady stream into the
purses of the poor, and in an honorable
way. too.
There is another aspect to the question,
also, which is worth considering 1t is
the effect which such events as this
have upon the general standard of pro-
duction. It is thus that the artistic sense
and the artistic skill of the community
are developed. High grade workmanship.
was never cultivated in the production
r--
of slop goods.9nIt takes the luxury of
just such people as the Martins to de-
velop the highest mental and manual
capabilities of an army of workers-de-
signers. decorators; uphoIsterers, florists,
cooks and caterers. dressmakers, ~tailors,
jewelers. and at longer range the manu-
facturers of all sorts of articles of beauty
and comfort, from carpets to bric-a-brac
and from carriage builders to glass work
ers. Thus the poor man. the manual
operator. gains a double benefit from the
amusements and enjoyments of the rich.
First they afford him a living, and Sec
cultivating the higher walks of his art,
whatever it may be. and through his art
his own intellect and soul
If Mr. Rainsford did more true think
ing regarding the conditions, the pros
poets, the thoughts of the mass of work
ers, he would probably indulge in less
hysteria over the expenditures of the
rich.
~