The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-09-07

On III naruer ana ndrueT, White Ihc
water dropped from the grindstone,
and the edge of the ak, from being
round and dull, got keener and keener.
So | have seen men who were put
against the grindstone of hardship,
and while one turned the crank
another would press the unfortunate
harder and harder down until he was
ground away thinner and thinner-his
comforts thinner, his prospects thin
ner, and his face thinner. And Isaiah
shrieks out: "What mean We that ye
grind the faces of the poor?"
Let us take another look around to
see how we may serve our generation.
Let us see, as far as possible, that they
have enough to wear. God looks upon
the human race, and knows just how
many inhabitants the world has. The
statistics of the worlds population are
carefully taken in civilized lands, and
every few years officers of government
go through the land and count how
many people there are in the United
States or England and great accuracy
is reached But when people tell us
how many inhabitants there are in
Asia or Africa, at best it must be
wild guess. Yet God knows the exact
number of people on our planet, and
he has made enough apparel for each,
and if there be fifteen hundred million,
fifteen thousand, fifteen hundred and
fifteen people, then there is enough
apparel for fifteen hundred million, fif-
teen thousand, fifteen hundred and fif-
teen. Not slouchy apparel, not ragged
apparel, not insufficient apparel, but
appropriate apparel. At least two
suits for every being on earth, sum-
mer suit and a winter suit. A good
pair of shoes for every living mortal.
But, alas! where are the good clothes
for three-fourths of the human race?
The other one-fourth have appropriate
ed them. The fact is, there needs to
be and will be a redistribution. Not
by anarchistic violence. If outlawry
had its way, it would rend and tear
and diminish, until, instead of three
fourths of the world not properly at
tired, four-fourths would be in rags.
I will let you know how the redistri-
button will take place. By generosity
on the part of those who have a sur
plus, and increased industry on the
part of those suffering from deficit.
Not all, but the large majority of cases
of poverty in this country are result
of idleness or drunkenness, either on
the part of the present sufferers or
their ancestors. In most cases the
rum jug is the maelstrom that has
swallowed down the livelihood of those
who are in rags. But things will
change, and by generosity on the part
of the crowded wardrobes, and indus
try and sobriety on the part of the
empty wardrobes, there will be enough
for all to wear.
God has done his part toward the
dressing of the human race. He grows
a surplus of wool on the sleeps back,
and flocks roam the mountains and
valleys with burden of warmth in
tended for transference to human
comfort, when the shuttles of the fac
tories, reaching all the way from Chat
tahoochee to the Merrimac, shall have
spun and woven it. In white letters
of snowy fleece God has been writing
for a thousand years his wish that
there might be warmth for all nations.
While others are discussing the effect
of high or low tariff, or no tariff at all,
on wool, you and l had better see if
in our wardrobes we have nothing that
| 60 ha ~; snly
out some poor lad of the street and
take him down to a clothing store and
fit him out for the season. Gospel of
shoes! Gospel of hats! Gospel of
clothes for the naked!
Again, let us look around and see
how we may serve our generation.
What short-sighted mortals we would
be if we were anxious to olothe and
feed only the most insignificant part
of man, namely, his body, while we
put forth no effort to clothe and feed
and save his soul. Time is little
piece broken off a great eternity.
What are we doing for the souls of this
present generation? Let me say it is
generation worth saving. Most mag
nificent men and women are in it. We
make great ado about the improve
ments in navigation, and in locomo-
ton, and in art and machinery. We
remark what wonders of telegraph
and telephone and the stethoscope.
What improvement is electric light
over tallow candle! But all these
improvements are insignificant COM
pared with the improvement in the
human race. In olden times, once in a
while, great and good man or woman
would come up, and the world has
made great fuss about it ever since;
but now they are so numerous, we
scarcely speak about them. We put
halo about the people of the past, but
I think if the times demanded them,
it would be found we have now living
in this year 1898 fifty Martin Luthers,
fifty George Washingtons, fifty Lady
Huntingdons, fifty Elizabeth Frys.
During our civil war more splendid
warriors in North and South were de-
veloped in four years than the whole
world developed in the previous 20
years. l challenge the 1000 years be-
fore Christ and also the eighteen cen
turies after Christ to show me the
equal of charity on large scale of
George Peabody. This generation OF
men and women is more worth saving
than any one of the 1S0 generations
that have passed off. Where shall we
begin? With ourselves. That is the
pillar from which we must start. Pres.
colt, the blind historian, tells us how
Pizarro saved his army for the right
when they were about deserving him
With his sword he made long mark
ON the Ground He said. WMy men