The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-06-06
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE YTHE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: Labor StrIkes-A Question of
Present Import Treated in Way
Aimed to Bring About Better Feeling
Between Employer and Emp1oye.

Present Import Treated in Way
Aimed to Bring About q Better Feeling
Between Employer and Employe.
Copyright 1suOl
WASHINGTON, D. Cat O time when IL
various districts labor troubles are exist
ing or impending the efforts DR.. Talm age
makes in this discourse to bring about q
better feeling between both sides Of this
| difficult question Is we'll timed; texts, Gala.
tians, v, Is, "But il 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 is q great
! labor agitation. There are violent ques.
tions now in discussion between employers
and employees. The present "strlkss" will
60 into the past. or course the damage
done cannot Immediately be repaired.
Wages will not be 30 high as they. were.
Spasmodically they may be higher, but
they will drop lower. Strikes, whether
right or wrong, always iDJure laborers as
we'll as capitalists. You will see this in
the starvation OF next winter. Boycotting
and violence and murder never pay. They
are different stages OF, anarchy. God never
blessed murder. The worst use you can
put man to Is to kill him. . .
The worst enemies OF the working classes
In the United States and Ireland are their
demented coadjutors. Years ago assas-
uination-the assassination Of Lord Fred
erick Cavendish and Mr.. Burke In Phoenix
Park, Dublin, In the attempt to avenge the
wrongs OF Ireland, only turned away from
that afflicted people millions OF sympathiz.
ers. The attempts to blow up the 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, distractions on
the rail tracks in front OF midnight express
trains because the offenders do not like
the president Of the company, strikes on
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
house scaffoldines 80 the builder fails in
keeping his contract-all these are only q
hard blow on the head o; American labor
and cripple its arms aud 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 put
a farthing OF wages into callous palm.
Frederick the Great admired some land
near his palace at Potsdam, and he res
solved to get 1t. It was owned by miller.
He offered the miller three times the value
of the property. The miller would not
take it because 1t was the old homestead,
and he felt about as Naboth felt about bis
vineyard when Alab wanted 1t. Frederick
the Great was O rough and terrible man.
and heSerdered the miller into his pres
sssepce, and the king, with stick in his hand
"a stick wItiiwhtch he sometimes struck
I{the officers ofstate-sald to the miller,
SNOW, i have, offered you three times the
value Of that property, and IL you won't
sell It I,ll takeit anyhow" The miller said,
.'Yoar majesty, you won't" .,m, mmYes," said
the miller, tlf your majesty does take 1t
I will sue you In the chancery court" At
that threat Frederick the Great yielded his
Infamous demand. And the most imperi-
!. GUS outrsge against the working classes
! will yet cover before the law. Violence and
defiance Of the law will never accomplish
anything, but righteousness and suDmis-
I sion to the law will accomplish 1t.
sSs But gradually the damages done the
siaborer BY the strikes will be repaired, and
Some important things ought now to be
|ssaid., The whole tendency OF our times, as
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 at the same bench, dining ut the
same table, and there are those here who
can remember the tune when the clerks Of
large commercial establishments were ac-
customed to boa-d with the head men OF
the firm.
All that Is changed, and the tendency Is
to make the distance between employer
nnl x,,fT nt,a A.~
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. I must
give 80 much money for 80 much drudgery;
Just 80 many pieces OF silver for so many
beads of sweat" In other words, the
bridge of sympathyis 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 spinners, this Is
the hundredth thousand we have gained,
wherein 1 mean to dwell and plant my
vineyards. The hundred thousand pound
fs mine; the daily wage was yours. Adieu,
noble spinnersl Drink my health with this
groat each. which I give you over and
above.'"
Now what we want Is to rebuild that
bridge OF sympathy, and put the trowel
to one OF the a5utments to-day, and
preach more especially to employers rs
such, although what have to say will be
appropriate to both employers and en-
ployes. ,e.,E5-
The behavior OF multitude OF laborers
toward their employers during the last
three months may have induced some en-
!oloyers to nekleet the real Christian duties
that they owe to those whom they employ.
Therefore want to say 20 you whom
confront face to face and those to whom
these words may come that all shfpowners,
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 prescrip-
tlons for becoming "a millionaire: "Flrst,
spend your life In getting and keeping the
earnings OF other people; secondly, have
no anxiety about the worriments, the
losses, the disappointments 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
consent to go into life with those three
principles to earn a fortune. It 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 unbearable.
The right OF a laborer to tell his employer
what he must pay implies the right OF an
employer to compel man into5sa service
whether he will or not, and either Of those
ideas Is despicable. lt9sG,ssst@
When any employer allows iaborer to
say what he must do or have his business
rninad and thA am pInvar an hm ta ta it ha