The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-09-28
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
aY TIE REV. FRANK DE WITT rALmAoe, Q. D.

E WI IALmAGEg Os Os
 the builders, strikes among the sewing girls. strikes up and down thls land in every direction. Strikes in times of f. nancial prosperity. Strikes in times of panic. What are the causes of all these strikes? The object of this sermon Is to try to adduce some reasons for the la Dor agitations, present and past and to show capital and labor that each has selfshly erred and sinned. My object is also to show that if the employers, as well as the employees. would equally live by the Golden Rule and love their neigh bors as themselves an era of national as well as individual prosperity, both finan- cial and spiritual, would result such as dhe world has never seen.
 Changed Social Conditions.
 Capital has sinned and helped to cause the present social agitation because 1t has ceased to make the laborer's Inter est it's own interest. Tho present social conditions prevailing between capital and labor could not have existed fifty or a hundred years ago. In olden times the employer associated with his employees The small factory towns of England nearly always had the manufacturer 8 homestead within a stones throw of the men and women who worked in his fac tory Tie result was that if a workman had sickness in his family he could go to nis employer and get financial help. If he was in trouble and did not know what to do, he could go to his employer and get advice. If he was an honest ener- getic employe. he could always feel that his employers eye was upon him and that he would be deservedly reward cd. And if he did wrong the workman also knew that his employers eye was upon him and that he would suffer ac- cordingly. The result was that the man ufacturer's mansion and the mcdaniel 8 cottage were In such close touch that the owners looked upon each other as brothers and members of a large family in which the employer was the elder brother, or head of the house.
 Employer and employe in olden times used to live together in community in the same confidential relationship that Andrew Jackson held toward the people of his plantation. One night at evening prayers the wife of his overseer hap pened to enter the room. Mrs. Jackson beclkoned to her to come ane sit by her side. An important national official, visiting there at the time. turned to one of the friends and asked, "Does Mrs. Jackson treat all her employees as courte- ously as that?" Yes" answered the friend "and if Mrs. Jackson had not done as she did the general would have arisen and given to the woman his own chair"
 But though the relations in olden times between the employer and the employe may have been very friendly and fratern- al. do not believe that the heart of the capitalist or today is naturally any less kind and loving and hopeful than that of his predecessor. I believe that most of the trouble between the employer and emp1oye is directly attributable not, as many suppose, to the capitalists hard ness of heart, but to the infinite misfor- tune that now the employer rarely if ever comes in direct touch with his em- ploye.
 By the time the capitalists money, which he gives for labor, reaches the employe the money as well as all the sweets that ought naturally to come as a result of that labor Is scattered right and left. The superintendent who can run the mill or foundry at the lowest cost gets the biggest salary. The big officers of the trusts get their millions. The little men, which do the hard work, receive pittances which are hardly enough to allow them to eke out bare physical existence. The capitalist ought to see that the money he pays for labor reaches the men who work and that 1t is not lost on the way to their pockets.
 Prosperity Must Be Shared.
 Men and women of the capitalistic class, these labor agitations and trou- bles will never be settled until you are willing to share your prosperity with those who are working for you so faith- fully to make a living. The labor trou- bles will never be settled until man willing to work can earn enough money not only to care for his children while he is alive but to fit them for becoming self supporting after he is dead.
 Hunger is demoralizing; 1t is madening when 1t is witnessed driving its fangs into those man loves. HowsoeVer honest a man may be- his principles are in danger of failing if his wife and ehil- dren through no fault of his are starv- ing. I heard of one case that must be typical of the impulses of many who are controlling them with difficulty. It oc- cured a few years ago, when the silver mines of the west were closed down. A man walked into the village store and drew a pistol. Then he flung bag Of flour across his shoulder as he pointed his revolver at the men, saying: When could find work, l was always willing to work, and then I paid my bills. But now I cannot find work, and my babies are starving. I am going to get them something to eat. I am going to take this flour home. If any man tries to stop me, l will put hole through his heart. That may be anarchy, but that will be the anarchy this country will have to face If the time ever comes when the laboring classes cannot earn enough to buy their daily bread The world does not owe a lazy, good for nothing loafer any lodgings better than the poorhouse or the county jail when he Is alive or any burial place better than grave in the potter's field when he is dead, but the world does owe every honest, faith ful man who is willing to work the op- portunity to work. and. furthermore. capital does owe this to its employees when the good times come and capital