The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-06-19

the congregat ton remaining standing
until he had taken his seat. After. an
organ prelude, the college choir sang
an anthem, and Rev. DR.. w. M. ia
cobus of the Hartford theological semi
nary, read from the scriptures, the
tenth chapter of St. Luke's gospel A
baritone solo by Mr.. Fred Goodwin, and
the evening anthem, Angels of light"
by the choir, comprised the musical
part Of the program, which was fol-
lowed by prayer offered by Rev. DR..
A. B. Patten of the South Hadley Con-
gregational church.
Rev. DR.. Jacobus then delivered his
baccalaureate sermon, taking his text
from Luke, X25-37 (which now of
these three, thinkest thou, was neigh
Dor unto him that fell among the
thieves?"
After expatiating at some length
upon the incident referred to in the
text, he said: This incident is of special
Significance to us today; for we stand
on the border land of the great world
| of real life-the life of effort and strug
| gle, of achievement, of failure, of sue
cess-the life in which some of US have
been living these years past-into
which some of US are soon about to
enter.
For this reason, am going to take
this afternoon the truth which Christ
gives us in this incident and place it
before you for your practical help.
/ 1t is a truth which touches three
lines along which this life is quite like
| " to move for you
| First of all, the line of work. 1t tells
US that in all the relations between
employer and employed the one right
| principle is the principle, not of self
| serving duty, but Of unself-serving
/ love. OF course, 1t will be said: Those
who are graduated from college are
not likely to become capitalists, which
| Is doubtless true; nor will they prob
J ably be laborers which also may be
| true; so that it will be asked: Wha
| has this question of capital and labor
to do with such an audience as is seat
| ed before me now?
Yes, but this question of capital ard
! labor is not confined to those who are
the chief actors in its drama. This is
! not a problem which exists only in tne
| great mills and factories and corpora
! tions of the land. 1t is a question and
| a problem which comes into every sit
uation where work Is done for wages.
| 1t enters the store of the country cross
| roads, as well as the department store
| of the city We find it in the manage
ment of the individual home, as we'll
| as in the management of the all en-
! bracing and engulfng trust. We touch
| 1t along the street and on the farm,
|
| business everywhere. If we would real
lie how much 1t means in the life
around us today we need simply to re-
| member it has impressed itself upon
| politics, as we'll as upon commerce. and
| how largely it has come into citizenship
| as well as into trade. We may not be-
| come capitalists in the greater sense Of
| the word, nor laborers in the popular
understanding of the term; but we
cannot escape contact with the ques-
| ton of employer and employed, of work
and wages, of butter and bread
Now the truth of this incident is
| that, wherever the problem finds it
self, the one right principle of its So
| luton is the principle, not of selfish
ness, but of love.
You will understand me, surely. am
| not here to deny the rights of proper
ty, nor of remunerative toll. The en-
ployer, whoever he may be, has the
| right to make rules for the service rem
dered him, and insist that they be lived
| up to; but the principle of right en-
| ployment is not to burden and Cypress,
and sweat and grind, and cheat and re
and starve and drive to desperation aid
death. The workman, whoever he may
| be. has the right to make conditions
| for the hiring of his labor, and insist
| that they be lived up to; but the princi-
ple of true work is not to grumble and
groWl, and suspect and SlandeF ana
/ strike and beat and burn and riot and
murder For employer and employed
alike. the one right and true principle
of human kindness toward each other
| is the principle of human kindness to-
ward each other and of love.
! Now am well aware that it is ans
wered to what l have said that all thJs
NAV be so; but it is so only ideally,
| that practically it cannot be done; that
as matter Of fact, cooperation be-
tween employer and employed has been
! tried and failed; that community OF IN
! terest between master and workman
| has been attempted-and no success; |
| that this is the history of great cor
| porations and of small firms. and of
| individual contracts between man and
man. and that no summer goes by but
| gives US in its labor troubles lurid OBJ
iect lesson of how impossible il is.
| But. granting these attempts have
| failed. the reason of it is, not that the
| law of love has been too well applied, |
| hut that il has not been applied well
| enough. 1t We could only look behind
| the scenes when these failures come
| into the working world; If we could on
| w read the secret history OF all the
| Strikes and lockouts and disputes and
| controversies-read it as God reads it
we would see that, somewhere, some |
| thing went wrong, and then human
| irJndness was forgotten and love went
J 70 the winds. and so resentment came, |
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