Blue-grass blade., 1903-06-14
PREACHER
GIVES THE PREACHERS THE HOT
END OF 1T.

Cincinnati, Ohio, June IA Morn
ing with the Preachers" AT the Vine
Street Congregational church, the pas
tor, Herbert S. Bigelow told of a
morning which he spent with the
members of a ministerial association
discussing social problems. Mr.. Bige
low said in part:
1T was in the city of -. I hap
pened to be there for course of lect
ures and accepted an invitation to
speak at the preachers Monday morn
| ing meeting.
MY theme was the labor problem
/ attempted to show that millions OF
our fellow creatures, by reason OF
their scant wage, are compelled to
work and live in conditions which
stunt the mind and discourage, if not
prohibit, the formation of moral char
acter / declared that it was the plain
duty of the preachers to encourage
every wise and just plan of economic
betterment, in order that the discour-
agements to right living may be di,
miniShed and more wholesome en-
vironment provided for he masses.
According to the custom in this as
ISOLATION the address of the day \ was
followed by a general discussion
Then 1t was my turn to listen. That
general discussion threw no light on
the labor problem. But it thrdw q
flood of light on the preachers.
r. Without The slightest shade oy'col'
oring | want to report the substance
of their remarks on this impov ant
theme.
"One preacher, with breezy optim-
ism, brushed aside my contention as
to low wages and bad conditions. with
the assertion that the miners in the
neighbOrhood of ! were getting
| $34 a week.
1T seems that he had heard OF
some miner who was said to have
made that much. He could not tell
how many weeks during the year he
had made that He could not tell how
many, if any, helpers this miner had
with whom he was compelled to di
vide his $34 1t is true that the spec
ial commission, appointed by the
President reported that the average
wage of the contract miner is from
fourteen to sixteen dollars week.
This commission ought to know. But
this preacher thought the commission
must have been mistaken because he
had heard of a miner who got more,
How trutstful men are of any evil
dence which justifies their prejudices
"The next speaker was still more
optimistic His assertion was that la
borers in and around j were max
ing from $3.50 to $40 a day. More
over said he, If there are a few who
do not get enough, we can't remedy
the matter. | believe Baer and Nor
gan and Carnegie and Rockefeller are
good conscientious Christians and are
doing as well as they can for the
workingmen. What do we know about
business? How can we give them any
suggestions? | tell you the preachers
are all right. The trouble is with the
people. They need more of Jesus in
their heart. That's what's the matter.
If the people will treat Jesus right, he
will treat the people right This re-
mark elected vigorous Amens from
the brethren.
Almost every precher who took part
in the discussion voiced this senti-
ment that the thing needed was not
economic betterment, but individual
salvation. One and ali they declared:
The great need of the workingman is
Jesus Christ and him crucified.'
What truth is there in this thread
bare phrase? If nottingham were
dissipated and conversion to Christi
anity made him a sober, to that extent
his economic condition would be i'm
proved. But suppose he is already a
sober and handwriting man. How
will his conversion raise his wages
There can be no general and perma-
nent increase in wages save through
legislation which destroys monopoly
and thereby increases the opportuni-
ties for renumerative employment.
But that cannot be done without a
knowledge of political economy. Will
conversion to Christianity teach
man political economy? Will it
teach him to run an engine? Will 1t
teach him to pilot a steamer? 1t re-
Quires thought to exercise intelligent
ly the rights of citizenship. The man
who does not give earnest thought to
the problem of improving the social
conditions of his fellowmen is a bad
citizen, although he may be good
church member or even preacher.
GAnAfbar nraa obar rafnrraH in hiy