The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-10
LAB0R'S HATRED OF LABOR.
4 SERMON on UNIONS ~ THE
REV. DIR. HILLS.

lie Has quietly Visited the Anthracite
Coal Region within Two MOnths-The
r. spirit That Would club Wen Out OF
Their Right 10 Earn an Honest Living
The Rev. DR.. Newell Dwight Hills de-
.lvered a sermon in Plymouth Church.
Mpoklyn, yesterday morning, his sub ject
being National Righteousness and Justice,
With an Outlook Upon Labor's Hatred Of
Labor and Plea for the Poor and Weak 4"
He said among other thing,
In tais discussion Of the laws Of God
and the country We are not concerned
either with organized capitals struggle
for larger dividends or organized labor's
struggle for a larger w0ge. Those are the
two giants and need no sympathy OF justi-
fication Every sensible man believes IN
capital and It's honest combination. and
every sensible man believes III not simply
the right Of labor 10 organize. but its duty.
in the interest Of self-defencc against OPP
pressive employers And the history of
trades unionism, its gain III wages, the
ieAsening of the hours Of labor, its gains
IL intelligence and the character Of many
u It's leaders have justified and vindicatcd
tho labor movement. nor will | yield to
any one in my enthusiasm for tho union,
when righteou-ly conducted. Neither capt.
tal nor the labor union. therefore asks
for sympathy. Tho capitalist is all but
umnipOtent. having money for comforts.
oonvenlenccs, travel, equipage. Organ
lied labor. also is trust almost as inhu-
ential.
Perhaps organized labor is more power
full than organized capital. Corporate
capital to-day owns its ship or engine,
fac las ha Ri IN a..
administer them. Organized laLor owns
itself. plus the right to administer the
mine and locomotive OF the capitalist. Ii
organized labor can administer another
mans property better than its owner can,
then that property ought to increase in
value. And when corporate capital. ia
factory or shop, understands that it can
no longer administer itself. will II not fall
in value at the rate OF 10 and 20 per cent
year? And that veg lies panic. industrial
depression, little work. little wage. lean
years for iat, But organized labor's
power over the property of the capitalist
il the least Of its power.
"The unions control the politicians Of the
country. In Albany their lobby has passed
thirty laws giving union men special privi-
leges over non union men, the first of " hiCh
has been and the rest will be- declared un-
constitutional, yet th" politicians had to
IL
wage. In the anthracite coal country, the
bchoolteachers, aggregdting over two
thousand, and going To the sChoolhouse
at 8 O'Clock 10 remain until 5. receive one
dollar and twenty cents a day, for only
two hundred days, le-s than the miners
helper and less than one-half what the
miner himself receives, while tha priests I
and the Protestant pastors average two
thirds the miners wage. Al present this .
country Is producing something more than /
"A thousand Dpr
Of this the farmer receives less than $500. |
the average teacher, physician and lawyer !
less than $500, the trades union, the car /
renters, at the rate OF 81 a day. and the /
capitalist often an enormous excess. But
owning he wage. the union also can con- /
troll the hours
When the United States Government J
was building it, new post office in Chicago,
The union forbade hammer 70 be lifted {
upon the building for year and a half ,
because IL wished union men TO quarry |
stone for the Government building eight !
hours a day for forty-tive cents an hour.
while another group of men in the same |
quarry quaIried stone ten hours a day for
lhiTty cents an hour. But the union has
even greater power.
"When our late President went 20 Chicago
10 lay the cornerstone of the new post
Office, he accepted invitations to peak At
TWO OF the great educational institutions.
When these students and faculties and
friends were assembled they waited for
the appea rance OF the President. After
ward events developed the fact that the
union had forbidden the mason to mix the
plaster, the engineer To hoist the corner !
stone in place, until the President of the
United States joined the labor union.
Unable TO be IN TWO places az once. his
counsellors advised the union hall. rather
than the university. II seems, therefore
that no one need any longer shed tears
over the woes Of the hillion-dollar Steel
Trust or the woes Of the labor uiion But
the non.union men, who represent 50 per
cent. OF the trades. whose SOILS are for
hidden to study. the right to become APP
prentices, and whose wrongs are above all
other wrongs whatsoever, Justify plea.
Organized capital has deserted non-uuion
men. Organized labor malteais them
Let me say | am not speaking "a a
theorist. but only giving The results of
long experience, patient study and sftod
facts. In my own experience ! first knew
n sympat hetic strike of carpenters in my
. village, where the carpenters did not wish
20 strike where the walking delegate came
70 order the strike, where the walking
delegate sent them To another building
That they might not witness the event,
while he pounded into insensibility and
injured for life boy who, perhaps in his
misguided courage and ignorance, was
toiling for his wife and his new ly born
babe. Within five miles from that house
two years later a beautiful home was
nearly completed When a strike was
ordered, and months had passed, The owner
put In a non union man to polish the floors.
The union men gouged the house with
chisels running every door, every panel
every stair step, every mantel represent
ing loss of several thousand dollars
And when the contractor was believed
to be running down the criminals with
detectives he was attacked at night on
mis- way home from church by three of his
own men, W no wore masks, but were after
ward discovered. Recently when a mlIsi-
clan died leaving his widow and children,
his wife secured the position But the
musicians union put on a brave frsnt
and dared the enemy in his den WIN
true chivsilry, these heroes Of toll and Of
tlown-trodsdsh labor waited on the widow -
employer, threatened a strike and boy
colt, finally compelled her discharge and
replaced her by one u their own members
You all know the story OF the last two
years in Chicago.
sTbs story Of tn eouying of houses,
The murder Of non union men, the riots in
tho street. is such n story of bloodshed
ann slifre ring as has scarce ever b zen known.
And ever month are nov eliminating
some OF III, events Of the b hiding strike.
One non union carpenter was especially
objectionable. After the long strike was
over the unon delegate followed this nom