The Penn's Grove record., 1899-08-18
DR.. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE Blythe NOTED
DIVINE


When They Cease to A~ntagonlse Baen
Other Strife VIII Cease.
copyright, Louis Klopseh. 1891
WAsHfNdToN, D. Gin this discourse DR..
ralmage suggests how the everlasting war
between capital and labor may be brought
10 a happy end. The text is l Corinthians
Kill, 81, THE eye cannot say unto the
hund, l have no need OF thee"
Fifty thousand workmen in Chicago
ceasing work 10 one day; Brooklyn stunned
by the attempt to halt its railroad cars;
Cleveland In the throes OF a labor agtta-
lion, and res lessness among tollers all
over the land have caused an epidemic OF
strikes, and, somewhat TO better things, 1
apply the Pauline thought of my text.
You have seen IN elaborate piece of ma
chinery, with n thousand wheels and n
thousand bands and n thousand pulleys all
controlled by one great waterwheel, the
machinery so adjusted that when you jar
one part OF it you jar all parts of 1t. Well,
human society is a great piece OF mechan-
ism controlled by one great and ever re-
volvlng force-the wheel Of Gods proyi-
dence. You harm one part Of the 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
scorcbed. Or, to come back to the figure
of the text, what a strange thing it would
be II the eye should say: l oversee the en-
tire physical mechanism. l despise tho
other members of the body; IL there is any
thing | am Disguised with, it Is with those
miserable, low lived hands. Or, what II
the hand should say: l am the boss work
man OF the whole physical economy; l have
no respect for the other members OF the
body. II there is anything 1 despise, 1t 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, and I say,
The eye cannot say to the hand, 4 have
no need OF thee"
Tint brings me to the first suggestion,
and hat Is, that labor and capital are to
be brought to a better understanding by II
complete canvass OF the whole subject.
They will be brought to peace when they
Ind that they are identical in their inter-
ests. When one goes down, they both go
down. When one rises, they both rise.
There will be an equilibrium after awhile.
There never has been an exception to the
rule. That whic., is good for one class OF
society eventually will be good for all
classes OF society, and that which is bad
Tor one class of society will eventually and
in time be bad for all. Evety speech that
labor makes against capital postpones the
day OF permanent adjustment. Every
speech that capital makes against labor
~postpones the day of permanent adjust
ment. When capital maligns labor, 1t Is
the eye cursing the hand. When labor
maligns capital, it is hand cursing the eye.
AS far as l have observed, the vast major
ity of capitalists are successful laborers.
II the capitalists would draw their
glove, you would sec the broken finger
nail, he scar of an old blister, the
attHanpt fnUnr Joint frba grant mn n.
fishers OF the country for the mos: part
were bookbinders, or typesetters, on small
pay. The great carriage manufacturers
for the most part sand-papered wagon
bodies in wheelwrlght shops. While, on
the other hand, in I'LL our larga manufac-
turing establishments you will find men on
wages who once employed a hundred or
Eve hunAred TIE distance pet1ISSn
capital int labor is not a great gulf over
which is swung u Niagara suspension
bridge; it Is only a 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, laborers are the highest style of capt
talists. Where are their investments? In
banks2 MOI In the railroads? MOI Their
nerve, their muscle, their bone, their me
chanical skill, their physical health are
magnificent capital He who has two eyes,
two ears, two feet, two hands, ten fingers,
has machinery that puts into nothingness
carpet and screw and 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 pan by which laborers put their sur
plus together and become their own cap
~italists. Instead OF being dependent upon
the beck of this capitalist or that capital
list, they manage their W affairs. In
England and Wales there are S13 co-opera-
tive associations. They have $40 900 men,
bers; they have n capital of $1S, 900 900, or
what corresponds to our dollars and they
do a business annually of S63, 900 600.
Thomas Brassey, one OF the foremost men
in the British Parliament, on the subject
says; ~"Co-operation is the one and the only
relief for the lahoring populations. This
is the path" he says, ''by which they are
to 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-
ton, believed in cooperative institutions.
But says some one, "haven't these In
situations sometimes been Il failure?" Yes.
Every great movement has been u failure
at some time. Application Of the steam
power q failure, electro telegraphy u fail
ure, railroading a failure, but now the
chief successes OF the world.
But y says ZONE one, why talk of sur
plus being put by laborers into co-opera-
tive associations when the vast multitude
of toilors of this country are struggling for
their daily bread and have no surplus?" |
reply, put into my hand the none spent
by the laboring classes OF America for rum
and tobacco. and I 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 S100, 900, 900 every year
for tobacco. We spend over 81 500 900 900
directly or indirectly for rum. The labor
ing classes spend their share of this money.
Now, suppose the laboring man who has
been expanding 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
a cooperative association, and then sup
pose he shout have nil 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 a cooperative
association. And then take all that money
expended for oyerdress and oyerstyle aud
everything on the part OF toiling people in
order that they may appear as we'll as per-
sons who have more income-gather that
a up and YOU could have cooperative as
sociations 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 n specific object, and in this day,
when there are vast monopolies-a thou
sand ~monopolies concentrating the wealth
Of tho people into the possession of IA few
men-unless the laboring men of this coun-
try and all countries band together they
will go under. There is q lawful use of a
trade union. II it means sympathy in time
OF sickness, II 1t means finding work for
people when they are out of work, IL 1t
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
ministers OF religion band together in con-
f~erences and associations? There is not in
all the land II city where clcrgymen do not
come together. many of them once a week
to talk over affairs. For these reasons you
shOuld NOT blame labor guilds. When theV