The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-05-24
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE EMINENT DIvnNE'S SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.


copyright 1901
WASHINGTON, d. Cat time when In
various districts labor troubles nre exist.
Ing or impending the efforts DR.. Talmage
makes In this discourse to bring about n
better feeling between both sides OF this
difficult question Is we'll timed; texts, Gain
tians, ", Is, "But II ye bite and devour one
another, take heed that ye be not con.
sumed one OF another" and Philippians
H., 4, Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things
of Others"
About every six months there IL a great
labor agitation. There are violent cues.
tions now in discussion between employers
and employees. The present STRIKES" will
go into the past. OF course the damage
done cannot Immediately be repaired.
Wages will not be so high as they were
Spasmodicnlly they may be higher but
they will drop lower. Strikes, whether
right or wrong, always inJure laborers as
well as capitalists. You will see this I'm
the starvation Of next winter. Boycottlng
and violence and murder never pay. They
are different stages Of anarchy. God never
blessed murder. The worst use Won can
put q man to Is to kill him.
The worst enemies OF the working classes
IN the United States and ireland are their
demented cOadi iutors. Years ago nssns-
sination-tho assassination OF Lord Fred
erick Cnvendish and Mr.. Burke in Phmnix
Park, Dublin, in the attempt to avenge tho
wrongs OF Ireland, only turned AWAY from
that afflicted people millions of sympathlz.
ers. The attempts to blow up tho house OF
common, In London, had only this effect
to throw out OF employment tens Of
thousands Of innocent Irish people IN
England. In this country the torch put to
the factories that have discharged hands
for good or bad reason, obstructions on
the rail tracks In front OF midnight express
trains because the offenders do not like
the president OF the company, strikes Oh
shipboard the hour they were going to
sail, or in printing offices the hour the
paper was to go to press, or In the mines
the day the coal was to be delivered, or on
house scaifoldiDgs so the builder fails in
Keeping his contract-all these are only "a
hard blow on the head o; American labor
and cripple its arms and lame its feet and
pierce its heart. Traps sprung suddenly
upon employers and violence never took
one knot out of the knuckles OF toll or nut
iarthing OF wages into n callous palm.
Frederick the Great admired some land
near his palace at Potsdam, and he re-
solved to get 1t. 1t was owned bya miller.
He offered tho miller three times the value
of the property. The miller would not
take 1t because 1t was the old homestead,
and he felt about us Naboth felt about his
vineyard when Ahab wanted It. Frederick
the Grent was rough and terrible man
and he ordered the miller into his pres
ence, and the king, with stick In his hand
IA stick with which he sometimes struck
the officers of state-said to the miller
Nov, / have offered lyou three times the
value of that property, and II You won't
sell it I'll take 1t anyhow" The miller said
Your majesty, you won't" yes" said
the king; ~ will take it." "Then," suid
the miller, "if your majesty does take It
will sue you in tho chancery court" At
that threat Frederick the Great yielded his
| Infamous demand. And the most imperl-
Gus outrage against the working classes
will yet cover before the law. Violence and
| defiance OF the law will never accomplish
anything, but righteousness aud submis-
sion to the law will accomplish it.
But gradually the damages done the
| laborer by the strikes will be repaired, and
| some important things ought now TO be
| said. The whole tendency OF our times, rs
| you have noticed, is to make the chasm
between employer and employe wider and
| wider In olden time the head man OF the
| factory, the master builder, the capitalist,
| the head man of the firm, worked side by
| side with their employees, working some.
| times Mt the same bench, dining at the
| same table, and there are those here who
| can remember the time when the clerks Of
| large commercial establishments were ac.
| customed to board with the head men Of
| the firm.
All that is changed, and the tendency IL
| TO make the distance between employer
| and employe wider and wider. The ten.
| dency Is to make the employe feel that he
| is wronged by the success Of the capitalist
and to make the capitalist feel "Now, my
| laborers are only beasts OF burden. must
| give so much money for so much drudgery;
| just so many pieces OF silver for so many
| beads of sweat" In other words, the
bridge Of sympathy Is broken down at both
| ends.
That feeling was we'll described by
| Thomas Carlyle when he said: "Plugson
OF st. Dolly Undershot, buccaneerlike,
| says to his men: Noble spnners, this Is
the hundredth thousand we have gained,
wherein I mean to dwell and plant my
| vineyards. The hundred thousand pound
is mine; the daily wage was yours. Adeu,
| noble splnnersi Drink my health with this
groat each, which / give you over and
| above"
Now what we want Is to rebuild that
bridge OF sympathy, and l put the trowel
| to ono OF the abutments to-day, and ]
| prench more especially to employers as
| such, although what / have to say will be
! appropriate to both employers and en-.
| ployes.
The behavior OF multitude OF laborers
| toward their employers during the last
three months may have induced some en-
ployers to neglect the real Christian dutle.
! that they owe to those whom they employ,
| Therefore 1 want to say to you whom !
| confront face to face and those to whom
these words may come that all shipowners,
! all capitalists, all commercial firms, all
master builders, all housewives, are bound
| TO be interested in the entire welfare Of
! their subordinates.
:. Years ago some One gave three preserip'
! ti0ns for becoming millionaire: "Flrst,
spend your life In getting and keeping the
earnings of other people; secondly, have
| no anxiety about the worriments, the
| losses, the idlsappointments .of others
thirdly, do not mind the fact that your
vast wealth Implies the poverty OF great
many people,"
Now, there Is not man here who would
conseutto go into life with those three
principles TO earn u fortune. 1t is your de,
sire to do your whole duty to the men and
! women in your service.
First Of all, then, pay as large wages as
are reasonable and as your business will
afford; not necessarily what others pay,
certainly not what your hired help say you
must pay, for that Is tyranny ON the part
OF labor unbearabe.
Therlght OF a laborer to tell his employer
| what he must pay implies the right OF ~
employer to compel man into service
| whether he will or not, and either OF those
ideas is despicabe
When any employer allows n laborer to
say what he must do or have his business
ruined, and the employer submits to 1t, he
does every business man In the United
States wrong and yields to tho principle
which, carried out, would dissolve society
Look over your affairs and put your
selves in imagination in your laborer's
place and then pay him what before God
and your own conscience you think you
| ntttgh In him