The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-10-22
REV. DIR. MILLS on CLASS HATRED.
He Says the Attempt TO Array the Poor
Against the Rich l. a Crime.


The Crime Of Stirring Up Hatred Between
the Rich and Poor" was the subject Of the SER
mon delivered by the Rev. DR.. Newell Dwight
Hills In Plymouth Church. Brooklyn. last
night. He said, In part.
Since the increase Of property means tho
increase Of happiness Of all classes. men who
love their country and their kind will view
with apprehension and profound alarm the
attempt 70 array the poor against the rich.
the farmers against the bankers, the manu-
facturers against professional men. the classes
against the masses. The class hatred that pre-
walls In countries where the hereditary Glasses
rule has no excuse In this free
land. In our country there Is no position
40 high that the vUy .om the forge. the factory
or the farm may not aspire 70 and achieve L..
The artificial nobility Of the old nations is an
order fixed and separated from those below,
no matter what their intellectual excellence or
moral culture. But In the republic there IS a
natural sristocracy that includes the bot and
the wtscst. and any one may Join the noble class
who chooses to become worthy and wise.
Midst institutions like ours, therefore. the
attempt TO stir up hatred and prejudice among
the people l. un-Ancrican and vicious, Class
hatred can rear no factories, but 1t can ruin
those already existing: oasis no new Treasure
into sOoiety's grauary but can hurl a tirobTaud
into the grnnary already flied, Mankind is
out upon "a march ava IRON. dirt INTO divinity
But hatred can stay the advancing ChariOts
and turn all the hosts back toward BART NJ.
IL the rich do well to remember socluty's
Indebtedness TO the poor, the poor also do well
20 consider that much Of the wealth Of field and
factory has been produced not by land, not by
labor. not by capital applied 70 both. but by
ability, Among many men the Impression
prevails that labor alone has produced the
wealth, that the large fortunes of the rich have
been created by and belong to the poor, that
he who amasseS q large fortune has done so
By holding back the wage that belongs to his
worktnen or by corruption and the purchase
"fho logical result Of this idea Ia that all the
wealth In the hands Of the rch in Justice be-
long to the poor who produced IL 1t is Glass
hatred and class warfare. An age fruitful
In foolish and false ideas has produced none
more erroneous than this idea that lab n has
? odnoed all wealth The great majority Of
through fraud or oppression, but through
ability that has done far more Tor the poor
man than for the pOssesorE thereof.
"A recent work contains q study fora hundred
millionaires Of New York city. These rich men
discovered certain wastes that We're going on
III refractory and the workshop. and the saving
OF the remnants that others had thrown away
made them rich and society far richer. Where
they made one dollar out Of their invention.
society has received ninety-nine. Indeed.
the great, Deed OF our day is not land, nor cap
tai, but ability
coal burned passes out Of the chimney some
day some MECHANICS boy, after long toll with his
blast furnace. will teach rs hoW to consume
smoke and 80 add s25 a year 70 the income
each average family. Let u, hope that this
young mechanic will become rich through
his discovery, and let US express hope that
will not reward the inventor with
the words 'plutOcrat', money baron 'robbeT'
and 'Oppressnr OF the poor
To-day the wastes In the field. The remnants
in the factory and the shop ami the iirt under
mems ieet represent untold wealth. But the
young men Of the next generation viii save
these wastes and their future savings VIII
large fortunes. For making the most
the ability given us the people have founded
the common schools and made them rich and
In their equipments, There the
rich mans, son anu the poor mans son 81 u0on
the same bench. They receive the same IN
that each may shoot up NJ high rs
his talent will permit. To-day no single fact
more hope than the f'Ct that the ability
Df poor boys. eiucatet in our common schools.
Is bringing them into prominence and Use
fulness Anarchy and socialism propose 10
run a moving machine over the top ~ society
cut on the tall mems heads. until all are
equal. Tie common school Levels, not by
the rich, but by lifting the poor.