The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-06-01
THE FIELD OF LABOR
DIR. TALMAGE ON RELATIONS OF EN-,
PlOYER AND EMPLOYEE.
A Timely Discourse Aimed to Bring
About More Friendly Relations Be-
tween the Two-The Christian Rem
edy For Industrial Troubles.

labor troubles are existing or 1mpeno-
ing the effort DR.. Talmage makes in
this discourse to bring about a better
feeling between both sides OF this dif-
fcrlt question is well timed; texts,
Galatians V, Is, But if We bite and de-
YOUR one another" and Philippians, ii,
4, Look not every man also on the
things Of others.
About every six months there is a
great labor agitation. There are Vlo-
lent questions now in discussion be-
tween employers and employees. The
present strikes will go into h past.
Of course, the damage done cannot
Immediately be repaired. Wages Will
no be so high as they were. Spasmod-
ically they may De higher, but tney
will drop lower. Strikes, whether right
or wrong, always injure laborers as
we'll as capitalists. You Will see tnls
in the starvation of next winter. boy-
cotting and violence and murder new.
er pay. They are different stages OIL
anarchy. God never blessed murder.
The worst use you can put a man 10 is
to kill him. Blow up tomorrow all the
COUNTRY seats on the banks OF the Hud-
son and the Rhine and all the me
houses on Madison square and BrooK-
lyn Heights and Rittenhouse square
and Beacon street and all the orlcks
and timber and stone will just faIl
back on the bare hands OF AMERICAN
and European labor.
The worst enemies of the working
classes in the United States n Ire
land are their demented coad1utors.
Years ago assassination-the assaSsl-
nation of Lord Frederick Cavendlsn
and Mr.. Burke in Phoenix park Ire
land. in the attempt to ayenge the
wrongs of Ireland only turned away
from that afflicted people millions OF
sympathizers. The attempts TO DloW
up the house of commons in LONDON
had only this effect-to throw out OF
employment tens of thousands OF IN
nocent Hrish people in England. IN
this country the torch put TO the 1ac-
tories that have discharged hands 1or
good or had reason, Instructions on
the rail tracks, in front of midnight
express trains because the
do not like the president OF the conn
pany: strikes on ~Shipboard the nour
they were going to sail or in printing
Offices the hour the PAPER was 10 go
to press or in the mines the day the
coal was to be delivered or on mouse
scaffoldings 50 h builder fails in keep
ing his contract-all these are only a
hard blow on the head of American
labor and cripple its arms and lame
it's feet and pierce its heart. Traps
sprung suddenly upon employers ano
violence never took n knot out OF
the knuckles of toll or put n farthing
of wages into a callous palm. Barba-
rism will never cure the wrongs Oh
civilization. Mark that.
DEFIANCE OF LAW.
Frederick the Great admired some
land near his palace at PotSdam, anC
he resolved to get it. 1t was owned
by a miller. He offered the mlllel
three times the value of the property
The miller would not take 1t because
it was the old homestead, and he fell
about as Naboth felt about his vine
ward when Ahab wanted it. Frederick
the Great was a rough and terrible
man. and he ordered the miller into
his presence, and the king, with q
stick with which he sometimes Struck
the officers of state-said to the miller
Now, / have offered o three times
the value of that property, and II you
won't sell it I'll take it anyhow Inc
miller said, Your majesty, you Won
Yes" said the king, Il will take it.
Then said the miller, eff you maJes-
ty does take it I will sue you IN the
chancey court" AT that threat
Frederick the Great yielded his infa-
nous demand. And the most imperl-
GUS outrage dSdlIS IL Ia NS
ses will vet cover before the law. Vio-
lence and defiance of the law will new
er accomplish anything; but righteous
ness and submission to the law will
accomplish it.
But gradually the demands lone the
laborer by the strikes will be repaired
and some important things ought now
to be said. The whole tendency of our
times, as you have noticed, is to make
the chasm between employer n en-
ployee wider and wider. In olden times
the head man of the factory, the mas
ter builder, h capitalist, the head
man of the firm, worked III by side
with their employees, working some
times at the same bench, dining al
the same table, and there are those
here who can remember the time when
the clerks of large commercial estab-
lishmentS were accustomed to board
with the head men of the firm.
All that is changed, and the tenden-
cy is to make the distance between
employer and employee wider and wid
er. The tendency is to make the en-
ployee feel that he is wronged by the
success of the capitalist and to make
the capitalist feel; Nov, my laborers
are only beasts of burden; / must give
so much money for so much drudgeryt
just so many pieces of silver for Sc
many beads of sweat In other
words, the DTluSe Ol sympathy Is UIOh'
en- down at 10Th ends. That feeling
was we'll described by Thomas Carlyle
when he said: "Plugson of St. Dolly
Undershot, buccaneerlike, says to his
men: Noble spinners, this is the hun
dredth thousand we have gained
wherein I mean to dwell and plant my
vineyards. The $1,000 600 is mine, the
daily wage was yours. Adieu, noble
spinners Drink my health with Thu
goat each, which I give you over anc
above" Now, what we want is t6
rebuild tina bridge Of sympathy, anc
I put the trowel to n of the abut-
ments today, and I preach more espe'
cially to employers As such. although
what 1 have to say will be appropriate
to both emploers and employees.
NEGLECT OF CHRISTIAN DUTY.
The behavior of a multitude of Ia
borers toward their employers during
the last three months may have Undue
ed some employers to neglect the rea
Christian duties hat they owe tC
those whom they employ. Therefore
I want to say to o whom I confront
face to face n those to whom these
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