Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-08-31
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE By THE NOTED
DIVINE

subjects The Flag OF Truce-Interests of
Capital and Labor Are Identical. and
When They Cease to Antagonize Each
Other Strife viii Cease.
Copyright. Louis Klopsch. 1891
WASHINGTON, D. Gin this discourse DR..
Talmage suggests how the everlasting war
Letween capital and labor may be brought
TO q happy end. The text is Corinthians
XIII, q, "The eye cannot say unto the
hand, l have no need OF thee"
Fifty thousand workmen In Chicago
ceasing work in one day; Brooklyn stunned
by the attempt to halt its railroad cars;
Cleveland in the throes OF labor agita-
tion, and restlessness among toilers all
over the land have caused an epidemic OF
Nrlkes, and, somewhat TO better things,
apply the Pauline thought of my text.
~ You have seen an elaborate piece of ma
chinery, with thousand wheels and
thousand bands and thousand pulleys all
machinery 80 adjusted that when you jar
one part OF it you jar all parts Of it. 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 the machin-
professions interdependent. All trades in
terdependent. All classes of people inter-
dependent. Capital and labor interde-
pendent. No such thing as independence.
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 strange thing 1t would
be II the eye should say: oversee the en-
tire physical mechanism. I despise the
thing am disgusted with, 1t Is with those
miserable, low lived hands. Or, what II
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, 1t Is
the eye seated under the dome OF the fore
head doing nothing but look.
come in, and I wave the flag of truce
between these two contestants, and say,
1.-The eye cannot say to the hand. 4 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 a
complete canvass OF the whole subject.
They will be brought to peace when they
find 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 bcen 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
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
ment. When capital maligns labor, 1t Is
the eye cursing the hand. When labor
maligns capital, 1t Is hand curslng the eye.
AS far as I have observed, the vast major
ity OF capitalists are successful laborers.
II the capitalists would draw their
glove, you would see the broken finger
nail. the scar Of an old blister, the
stiffened finger joint. The great pub
fishers OF the country for the most part
were bookbinders, or typesetters, 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 larga manufac-
turing establishments you will find men on
wages who once employed a hundred or
five hundred hands. The distance between
capital and labor is not great gulf over
which Is swung 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. laborers are the highest style of capt.
talists. Where are their investmentsf In
| banks2 No! In the railroads? No! 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,
carpet and screw and cotton factory, and
! all the other implements on the planet.
The capitalists we're laborers. the laborers
were capitalists. The sooner we under
| stand that the better.
Again. there is to come relief to the la
| 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
plus together and become their own cap
italists. Instead OF being dependent upon
the beck of this capitalist or chat capital
ist, they manage their own affairs. In
England and Wales there are s13 co-opera-
! tive associations. They have $40, 900 mem
bers; they have capital OF S1S,0OO,000. or
what corresponds to our dollars and they
! do a business annually Of S63, 900 900.
| Thomas Brassey, one Of the foremost men
N the British Parliament, on the subject
says: "Co-operation Is the one and the only
I relief for the laboring populations. This
is the path" he saws, "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-
tion. believed in cooperative institutions.
"But," says some one, "haven't these in
stitutions sometimes been failure2" Yes.
! Every great movement has been a failure
at some time. Application Of the steam
power q failure, elsctro telegraphy Il fail
ure, railroeding II 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 ure struggling for
their daily bread and have no surplus?" 1
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 Of them mightier than any financial
institutions of the country. We spend In
this country over S100. 100000 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 expending his money in those direc.
tions should just add up how much LIE has
expended during these past few years. and
then suppose that that money was put into
a cooperative association, and then sup
pose he should have all his friends In toll,
who had made the same kind Of expendi-
ture, do the same thing, and that should
be added up and put into cooperative