The weekly examiner., 1901-04-06
GOSPEL OF WEALTH.
HOW TT COMPARES WITH THE cos
 PEL AS GIVEN BY JESUS.

PEL AS GIVEN BY JESUS. Social Banditism and What It Feeds
 On-The Sordid Spirit In Church
 and Nation-Wrong Will Perish
 From Its Own Excesses.
 Especial Correspondence.1
 Most people of our nation have heard of a certain Gospel of Wealth." writ ten some time ago by certain man who at the time had only managed to accumulate the bagatelle of $4O,000,- 900. Only a few weeks ago the world heard that in a single industrial con- cern the same man was worth $215,- 100000. Besides that snug sum, it is well known that he has immense terri toria1 possessions in Great Britain, some in this country, and no doubt he owns piles of millions of government bonds, English consols, etc. Considera- ble fun has been indulged in by some in regard to that gospel, while other people consider that gospel about as good as the one preached in JudRa 10 centuries ago by Jesus. A certain weekly that halls from New York city contains an editorial in the issue of March 9 which in forms most em- pei on a level with the old one, and all because the former exhorts the rich people to occasionally drop a mill lion dollars or so for some public pur- pose out of every ten or more millions piled up and snatched from the wealth producers under laws of monopoly and injustice, and hence piratica1 in the highest degree.
 The gentleman who stands for his Gospel of Wealth" recognizes that to bequeath large sums in favor of wives and children is often injurious to them, hence 1t is better to scatter the wealth in charitable purposes. Ah! So it is dangerous for some to have great wealth, and yet it is all right for some to pile it up in hundreds of millions! And what about the social system un- der which the piling process goes on? Is that all right? That Gospel of Wealth" does not say anything about it. That alone proves its own incompleteness, its own force. That alone condemns the Gospel of Wealth" as one of the, greatest alterations of the wise and the powerful-wise after their own con- ceits, powerful because of the oppres- sions of a wrong industrial system which repudiates the order of Gods universe and all principles of human brotherhood.
 Social banditism on scale never seen before, legalized by human enact ments, by agreements in legislative halls, agreements among men who don't know and don't want to know anything about conscience, human duty, love toward all, peace on earth or anything else; social banditism and charity or philanthropy with which to hide the gangrene of a vitiat- ed social organization-there we have the alpha and omega of the modern gospel of wealth, gospel which is bound to destroy civilization and is de- stroying it as fast as it can or else preparing a reaction with which to save civilization from it's own excesses as soon as we have enough brave men to stand by right and truth, by the gospel of Jesus.
 And what did Jesus say to that rich man who wanted to know how to have eternal life? As that fellow was satisfied with his own righteousness and could see nothing wrong in the social fabric that gave him piles of wealth, while the producers of all wealth got simply piles of poverty, taken all in all under such peculiar mental conditions Jesus could only find a remedy for that dreadful sick rich man, sick in mind and soul, the worst kind of sickness we can have. The remedy was that he should get rid of all his wealth right off and should stand by the brotherhood of men-that is, by the sound, honest, social conditions embodied in the gos- pei of Jesus. That was the spirit of Jesus answer, to abandon all wealth, or, rather, all desires for wealth accu- mutation, and to work not for the con- tinuation of injustice in wealth pro- duction and distribution, but for con- ditions which would give wealth to all, and hence practically wealth to no one, because what is wealth to- day but the power to keep most men in poverty?
 1t looks, then, as if there was con- difference between the gos- pei of Jesus and that farcical gospel of wealth approved by our modern pIutocracies. And the worst is that such plutocracies control the sordid spirit of churches and nations. The weekly above mentioned approving the gospel of wealth is principally controlled by an eminent divine. Most of such eminent fellows seem to be sold to Mammon in our days of aber- ration, in politics, religion, industrial ism, etc.
 Never mind, wrong cannot last for ever. Sooner or later it must perish through its own excesses. In the there is a great work that somebody must try to do-the work of reasoning through correct processes, with but one grand aim in view-viz,