The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1899-08-15
DR.. Talmage DiseOurses Upon
the Laboring Man.
TRADES UNIONS ARE BENEFICIAL
"The Eye Cannot Say Unto the Hand.
Have No Need of Thee"-Laborers Are
the Highest style of Capitalists-Shert
Step Between FOOLS and Panperism-
Employees DO Not Know All tie StTaiIs
and Hardshfps Of Business.

thee, Rev. /. DE Wit IaImage said
yesterday:
Fifty thousand workmen in Chicago
ceasing work in one day: Brooklyn stun
ned by the attempt to fdlt its railroad
cars; Cleveland in the throes of labor
agitation; a powerful daily newspaper in
New York in resounding struggle with all
its employees. and restlessness among toll
ers all over the land have caused an epi-
demic Of strikes, and somewhat TO better
things 1 apply the Pauline thought of
my text.
You have seen an elaborate piece of
machinery with a thousand wheels and
thousand bands and a thousand pulleys
al controlled by one great water wheel,
the machinery so adjusted that when you
jar one part Of it you jar all parts of it.
Well. human society is a great piece OF
mechanism controlled by one great and
eyer-revolving force-the wheel of Gods
providence. You harm one part of the
machinery of society and you harm all
parts. All professions interdependent.
All trades interdependent. All classes of
people interdependent. Capital and labor
interdependent. No such thing as indie
pendence. Dives cannot kick Lazarus
without hurting his own foot. They who
tlalEH s0sldLld- iii'O gu llltiA
own bodies scorched. or to come back
to the figure of the text, what strange
thing it would be If the eye should say.
1 oversee the entire physical mechanism.
/ despiss the other members of the body
II there is anything 1 am disgusted with,
it is with those miserable, low-Iived
hands, Or. what If the hand should say,
I am the boss workman 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 forehead doing
nothing but look
Wave the Flag of Truce.
1--WE come In and wave the flag OF truce
between these two contestants, and de-
clare: The eye cannot say TO the hand,
Il have no need of thee
THAT brings me to the first suggestion
and that is, that Labor and Capital are
to be brought to a better understanding
by complete canvass of the whole sub
ject. They will be brought to peace when
they find that they are identical in their
interests. When one goes down, they
both go down. When one rises, they
both rise. There viii be an equilibrium
after awhile. There never has been an
exception to the rule. That which is good
for one class of society eventually will
be good for all classes of society, and that
which is bad for one class of society will
eventually and in time be bad for all
Every speech that Labor makes against
Capital pOstpones the day of permanent
adjustment. Every speech that Capital
makes against Labor postpones the day
of permanent adjustment When Capital
=
hand. When Labor maligns Capital, it
is the Land cursing the eye. AS far as /
have observed, the vast majority of capi-
talists are successful labOrers If the
capitalist would draw their glove, you
would see the broken finger nail, the scar
of an old blister, the stitfened finger joint.
The great publishers of the country for
the most part were book-bnders, or type
settlers. on small pay. The great carriage
manufacturers for the most part sand
papered wagon bodies in wheelwright
shops. While, on the other hand, in all
our large manufacturing establishments
you VIII find men on wages who once
employed a hundred or five hundred
hands. The distance between Capital
and Labor is not a great gulf over which
is swung a Niagara suspension bridge: it
is only a step, and the capitalists are
crossing over 10 become laborers, and the
4aborers are crossing over TO become cap
italists.
Lsborers Are the Capitalists.
would God they might shake hands
while they cross. On the other hand, la
bOrers are the highest style OF capitalists
Where are their investments? In banks
MOI In the railroads, Not Their nerve
their muscle. their bone, their mechanical
skill, their physical health are magnificent
capital. He who has two eyes, two ears.
two feet, two hands. ten fingers has ma
chincry that puts into nothingness CARPET
and screw and cotton factory, and all the
other implements on the planet The cap
italists were laborers, the laborers were
capitalists. The sooner we understand
that the better
Again: There is to come relief to the
labOring classes of this country through
cooperative associations. l am not at
this moment speaking of trades unions,
but of that plan by which laborers put
their surplus together and become their
own capitalists. Instead of being depend
ent upon the beck of this capitalist or
that capitalist. they manage their own af-
fairs. In England and Wales there are s13
cooperative associations. They have 3t0,-
900 members; they have a capital Of Sl8.-
000030, or what corresponds to our dollars,
and they 90 a business annually OF s63,-
most men in the British Parliament, on
the subject says, Corporation is the one
and the only relief for the labOring popu-
lations. This Is the path he says, by
which they are 10 come up from the hand
to-the-mOuth style Of living 10 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 question; believed in
cooperative Institutions. The cooper
atiye institution formed in Troy. y. T..
stood long enough TO illustrate the fact
that great good might come Of such an
institution II Il were rightly carried on
and nightly developed.
Great Movements Have Failed.
But says some one. have not these
insIitutions sometimes been a failureT
Yes. Every great movement has been a
failure at some time. Application Of the
steam power a failure, -telegrsphy
failure, railroading a failure, but now
the chief successes OF the world.
But says some one, 'why talk Of
surplus being put by laborers into coop
erative associations, when the vast null
titude OF tOileTs Of this country are strug-
Cling for their daily bread, and have no
surplus? / reply: Put into my hard the
money spent BY the laboring classes OF
America for rum aEd tobacco. and viii
establish cooperative associations IN all
parts of this land. sOm- Of tasm migh-ier
than any financial Institutions OF the
country. We spend IN :Ais country over
one hundred million dollars every year
for tobacco We spend over one billion
fve hundred million dollars directly or
indirectly fOr rum. The lab0ring classes
spend theiI snare OF this money. Nov.
suppOse the labOring man who mas been
sxpendins Ids money In those directions
should just add up how much lie nas *
pended during these past few years. and
then suppose that that money vas put
into cooperative association and then
suppose he should have all Eis frisuds
in toll. nho had made the zane kind OF
expenditure. do the same thing and :hat
should b. added 10 and pu; into a co..
operative association. And then take an
that money expended for Oyes-4ress and
oyer-style ard OVer-liying on the part OF
tolling people In order that they may
appear as well as persons who have more
income-Eather that all up and y0E could
have cooperative associations all over
this land.
Trade Unions Are Beneficial
II am not saying anything nov about
Kssrt NJ ~.