The Advocate and news., 1898-08-03


as secular; but it is probably the most
concrete social expression of Jesus idea.
BY the term Christian conscience | mean
that quality Of conscience and sympathy
which suffers not man to rest short
Of some altar, however rude, on which
he offers his life for the common SER
vice, the social good. He refuses to
drink of the fruit of the vine until he
can drink it in fellowship with all his
brethren in the full-come kingdom Of
God. Therefore doth the Father love
him, because he lays down his life for
the sheep.
The best faith Of the world offers no
method by which the individual can
obey its principles Without regard to
his conscience, the economic system in
wolves a man in the guilt Of the moral
and physical death Of his brothers: their
blood cries to him from the adulterated
and monopolized food he eats, from the
sweat shop clothes he wears, from his
educational advantages, his special priv
ileges, his social opportunities. Civiliza-
tion denies to man that highest right
under the sun-the right to live guilt
less life.
For instance, cannot come from Iowa
College to the State of Kansas to speak
to you Of this college against the existing
order of things, without riding upon
railway system, the capitalization Of
which is largely watered stock. Now
watered stock is method Of high trea-
son by which corporations forcibly tax
the nation for private profit, and by
which they annually extort millions
from American tOilers and producers.
1t is as essentially system Of violence,
spoil and robbery as would be the over
running Of the nation by Tartar hOrdes,
laying hands on whatever they choose
for their own. Altho large part Of
American industry is organized by this
system of watered stocks, and we con-
sent to it tamely and ignorantly, 1t is
yet the most mOnstrous historic form
Of indirect usurpation and tyranny; and
1t renders our national wealth in large
part purely fictitious. Again, this rail-
way system practically administers the
government of the United States, in all
things that concern the system, and Of
the several States of the Union. The
majority Of the United States Senator's
recently elected have been mere ap-
pointees and lobbyists Of the railway
system, and other corporate properties.
1t took shameless horde of railway
attorneys to elect a United States Sen
ator to represent the people of the State
of which am citizen. In all this cor
rupt exploitation of the nation by the
most degrading sort Of economic force,
in this debauchery Of every citizen of
my commonwealth, am Obliged to par
ticipate, in order to travel anywhere
upon the national highways whether I
go upon Gods errands or go in quest Of
evil to do. 1t is my divine right as
son of God, and as a free born citizen,
to travel national highways built by the
social service and political purity Of the
people, by good will, virtue and the COM
mon love. The only possible innocence
that remains to me, while pay forced
tribute to the system, while l profit by
its corrupting influencies and agencies,
while bear my part in the culpable pub
lie ignorance and guilty moral apathy,
is that of protest and exhaustless effort.
l cannot deliver the people from the sys-
tenn by choosing to ride in the stage
coach with Mr.. Ruskin, or by deciding
to walk with Thoreau.
But the railway system is not all; it
is but the beginning. If put sugar in
my coffee, / support trust that prac-
tically administers the finances of the
United States for personal profit; that
threw the national government into tie
hands Of a Wall-street receiver; that
presented, in its relation to the United
States Senate, one of the most shameless
and unconcealed spectacles Of national
debauchery in political history In or
der to send my children to the free pub
lie school, that holy of holies in the
temple of American freedom, must buy
the books ordered by private corpora
tion that has forcibly assumed the func-
tion of administering the public school
system Of the United States as private