Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1899-08-23
SERMON
Rev. DR.. CaIn1ag(

Subject: Tho Flag OF Truce-Interests OF
Capital and Labor Are Identical. and
When They Cease to Antagonize Each
Other Strife Will Cease.
Copyright. Louis KIopsch. 1891
WASHINGTON, D. Gin this discourse DR..
Talmage suggests how the everlasting war
between capital and labor may be brought
| to happy end. The text is Corinthians
XIII, 81, "The eye cannot say unto the
hand have no need OF thee"
Fifty thousand workmen in Chicago
ceasing work In one day; Brooklyn stunned
| by the attempt to halt its railroad ears;
Cleveland in the throes OF a labor agita-
tton, and res.lessneSs among toilers all
over the land have caused an epidemic Of
! strikes, and, somewhat TO better things,
apply the Pauline thought Of my text.
You have seen an elaborate piece OF ma
chinery, with a thousand wheels and a
thousand bands and thousand pulleys all
controlled by one great waterwheel, the
machinery SO adjusted that when you jar
one part OF 1t you jar all parts Of 1t. Well,
human society is great piece of mechan-
ism controlled by one great and ever re-
volving force-the wheel of Gods provi-
dence. You harm one part OF rhe machin-
, cry OF society, and you harm all parts. All
| professions interdependent. All trades in
terdependent. All classes OF people inter-
| dependent. Capital and labor interde-
pendent. No such thing as Independence.
Dives cannot kick Lazarus without hurt
| ing his own foot. They who threw Shad-
rach into the furnace got their own bodies
scorched. Or, to come back to the figure
OF the text, what a strange thing 1t would
be II the eye should say: 1 oversee the en-
tire physical mechanism. I despiss the
other members of the body; II there is any
thing am disguised with, It IA with those
miserable, low lived hands. Or, what IL
the hand should say: am the boss work
man Of the whole physical economy; have
| no respect for the other members of the
body. If there is anything despise, it is
the eye seated under the dome OF the fore
head doing nothing but look.
come in, and l wave the flag of truce
between these two contestants, aud say,
''The eye cannot say to the hand. L have
no need OF thee.'"
That brings me to the first suggestion,
| and that Is, that labor and capital are to
be brought to q better understanding by a
| complete canvass OF the whole subject.
They will be brought to peace when they
| find that they are iden ical in their inter-
ests. When one goes down, they both so
down. When one rises, they both rise.
There will be an equilibrium after awhile.
There never has been an exception to the
rule. Tnai Wi:icc.. as IS s2Gd for one class OF
society eventually will be good for ali
classes OF society. and that which is bad
for one class Of society will eventually and
| in time be bad for all. Eve.y speech that
labor makes against capital postpones the
day OF permanent adjustment. Every
speech that capital makes against labor
postpoDes the day Of permanent adjust
ment When capital maligns labor, it is
the eye cursing the hand. When labor
maligns capital, it Is hand cur5ing the eye.
As far as have observed, the vast maj jor-
| ity OF capitalists are successful laborers.
glove, you would see the broken finge<
| nail, the scar Of an old blister, kne
stiffened finger joint. The great <yPup-
! fishers OF the country for the most part
were bookbinders, or typesetter:, on small
pay. The great carriage manufacturers
bodies in wheelwrighD shops. While, on
| the other hand, ysali our larga manufac-
turing establishments you Will find men on
wages who 9hce employed hundred or
I've hundred hands. The distance between
capital and labor is not great gulf over
which is swung n Niagara suspension
bridge; 1t Is only step, and the capitalists
| are crossing over to become laborers. and
the laborers are crossing over to become
capitalists. Would God they might shake
hands while they cross. On the other
hand, lGbprers are the highest style of capt.
| talists. Where are their investments2 In
banks2 MOI In the railroads? Mol Their
| nerve, their muscle, their bone, their me
chanical skill, their physical health are
| magnificent capital! He who has two eyes,
Il
has machinery that puts into nothingness
carpet and screw ana cotton factory, and
| all the other implements on the planet.
The capitalists were laborers, the laborers
| were capitalists. The sooner we under
| stand that the better.
Again, there Is to come relief to the Ia
boring classes of this country through co.
| operative associations. am not at this
moment speaking of trades unions, but OF
that plan by which laborers put their sur
/ IL
ltalists. Instead OF being dependent upon
the beck Of this capitalist or that capital
| ist, they manage their own affairs. In
| England and Wales there are S13 co-opera-
tive associations. They have SIC. 900 men,
| bers; they have capital of S1S 200, 900, or
what corresponds to our dollars and they
| 10 n business annually Of S63 000, 900.
Thomas Brassey, one OF the foremost men
| In the British Parliament on the subject
says: Go operation is the one and the only
relief for the laboring populations. This
Is the path" he SAYS, "by which they are
| 20 come up from the hand to the mouth
| style Of living, to reap the rewards and the
honors Of our advanced civilization" Lord
Derby and John Stuart Mill, who gave half
their lives to the study OF the labor ques-
tion, believed in cooperative institutions.
"But," says some one, haven't these in
stitutions sometimes been a failure2" Yes.
Every great movement has been failure
at some time. Application of the steam
power failure, electro telegraphy fail
ure, railroading a failure, but now the
chief successes Of the world.
But" says some one, "why talk OF sur
plus being put by laborers into co-opera-
| tive associations when the vast multitude
Of toilers of this country are struggling for
their daily bread and have no surplus?" /
reply, put into my hand the money spent
by the laboring classes OF America for rum
and tobacco. and will establish co-opera-
tive associations in all parts Of this land,
some CT them mightier than any financial
Institutions of the country. We spend In
this country over 500 900 GOO every year
for tobacco. We spend over II 500, ,O0O, 900
directly or Indirectly for rum. The labor
Ing classes spend their share OF this money.
Now, suppose the laboring man who has
been expending his money in those direc-
tions should just add up how much he has
expended during these past few years, and
then suppose that that money was put into
O CO. Operative association, aud then sup
pose he should have all his friends in toll,
who had made the same kind CT expendi-
ture, do the same thing, and that should
be added up and put into cooperative
| association. And then take all that money
expended for overdress and overstyle and
overliving on the part OF toiling people in
order that they may appear as we'll as per
| sons who have more income-gather that
q 1 up and YOU could have cooperative as
| sociattons all over this land.
am not saying anything now ABOUT
trades unions. You want to know what
think of trades unions. think they are
most beneficial in some directions, and
| they have a specific object, and in this day,
when there are vast monopolies-a thou
sand monopolies concentrating the wealth
| Of the people into the possession of few
men-unless the laboring men OF this coun-
try and all countries band together they
will go under. There is lawful use of q
trade union. II 1t means sympathy In time
| of sickness, II 1t means finding work for
people when they are out of work, II II
| means the improvement of the financial
the moral or the religious condition of the
| laboring classes, that is all right. Do not
| artists band together In an art union? Do
| not singers band together in Handel and
Hadyn societies? Do not newspaper men
| band together in press clubs? Do not