Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-09-18

real estate first mortgages and take
life easy" What Is the result? Why,
this rich man builds no factory, as he
would have done, and masons, carpen-
tiers, gas filters and the plumbers lose
the contracts they would have had up
on that building, and great number
Of men and women who might have
worked there go without steady en-
ployment Then the commercial tray
elers and the merchants who would
have been able to sell goods of that
factory cannot sell them because the
goods are not made, and the people
who might have worked In those fac
tories have earned no money with
which to buy. Such evils are often a
direct result of that capitalist refusing
to build that one factory because of his
distrust of labor. 1t Is wrong dis
trust and arises from blunders and
lack of sympathy on both sides. All
these evils accrue from the fact that
neither the capitalist nor the laboring
man will practice the Golden Rule and
love his neighbor as himself.
The Dove of Peace.
L
have carefully studied the prevailing
conditions in Chicago during the years
In which l have lived in the Queen
City of the West. During the last five
years scores of manufacturers have
left our city and have transplanted
their factories into the little towns far
away from the labor ccnters because
they could not trust the laborng
classes.
Thus the white winged dove Of peace
today brings a practical gospel mes
sage to the capitalist and the laborer
alike. She brings the same kind OF
practical help as the falcon of chivalric
times did to his master. This knight,
being very thirsty, would have drunk
from a poisoned well. Again and again
when his master lifted the cup filed
with the deadly water to his lips the
powerful wing of the falcon smote it
out of his hand At last the soldier
examined the brook and found it filed
with the waters of death. So the white
wing of the gospel dove Of peace would
knock the chalice of selfish sin from
the white hand of the capitalist as we'll
as from the horny hand of toll.
Rich men, are you ready to have the
words Of my text translated and
brought home to your hearts? Are you
ready to cease lifting up the golden
chalice OF selfish sin? Are you ready
to be changed so that your lives may
become a blessing, like those of Peter
Cooper and William r. Dodge and
Baron Hirsch and Montefiore? If you
are, then you will look upon your mon
ey as a gift from God for the helping
of mankind. One of our presidents
defined public Office as public trust.
Your possessions you should regard as
a sacred trust held not for your own
qualification or indulgence. but for the
glory of God and the benefit of hui
mainly. If you are ready for the les
sons Of the text. then you are ready to
say: Here is my money which God
has given to me. BY this money | can
give many men employment and pay
them sufficient wages whereby they
can build comfortable homes. l can
surround them with books and instru-
ments of music. l can make it posi-
BILE for them, with the advantages
shall give them, to develop their boys
and girls into good men and good wom-
en-" Capitalists, are you ready to do
that? Workers, are you ready to feel
that you can never be true to your en-
ployers and give to them the best serv-
ice unless you do all in your power to
develop your physical, mental and splr-
itual lives? Are you ready to say, IL
will work and be true to my earthly
employer because | am ready to work
and be true to my Heavenly King" If
you are both equally ready to surren-
der your lives to the influence of the
Golden Rule, then the words of my
text will have accomplished their mis-
sion upon earth. Then the dark. wide,
yawning, fathomless gulf between the
employers and employees shall be
bridged over by the straight beam Of
the cross. Then this land shall see its
greatest era of temporal and spiritual
prosperity. Then the millennium shall
be ushered in. Then the capitalist and
the laborer shall clasp hands as Chris
tian brothers.
copyright. 1902. by Louis Klopsch.1