The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-12-21
Dr. A. J. Dickinson Delivers a
 Stirring Sermon
ADVANCES ECONOMIC IDEAS
The Minister Discusses Certain Phases of the Wage Question and Speaks of the WelI-Being
 of Society.


 eloquent sermon yesterday morning at the Il o'clock service on "The Equity of Wages"
 The weather was ideal and the congre- gation filled the high school building and gave the closest attention to the preacher Dr. Dickinson announced that the Sun day school room of the new church would be ready for the congregations use Sunday after next. The church will not be completed, 1t Is estimated, until next June
 Dr. Dickinson's sermon follows:
 If others possess this right over you, do not We yet more.' l. Corinthians 9;3-l2.
 The Apostle Paul was accustomed to receive compensation or wages for his apostolic services as we'll as 'the other apostles and brethren of the Lord and Caphas" But when he came to the oommercialized Greek cities he did not use this right but preached the gospel to them for naught lest they might class him with the Sophist lecturers of his day who preached solely for pay.
 It got him in trouble for enemies dis counted his apostolic standing by charg- ing that he was not a true apostle since he did not receive an apostles pay So he found it necessary to write the de- fense in the lesson and therein not only claimed his right to his pay but was to give reasons for his not collecting it and elsewhere he acknowledges that he wrought these Corinthians by this course.
 Spiritual Service.
 In his argument he sets forth the grounds for the equity of wages and shows that they apply but the more to spiritual service. After asserting his apostleship and the proofs of it he takes up his defense in the text. The equity of theswage is to be determined
 l. As a matter of human rights.
 CD A right to eat and drnk"---labor is the quid pro quo we give for our share in the products of society. Our appetite is q condition of an equitable wage that none be in want. The extent of one's demands is a principle in the determina- tion of a wage.
 The standard of living fixes the amount of the wage. It is therefore the interest of the employer to make good living tiitaps All lHuuSlIldl DldHt SHOulu 0DI only look after it's dividends but the liv- ing of it's employees. To this end both capitalist and laborer should strive. Cheap wages, when 1t infringes upon the living of wage -earners, is in the end to injure the effcenry of the enterprise as well as an outrage on human rights.
 Cotton mills do not in the end make for the profitabeness of their products by paying wages insufficient to maintain UhO1pgonna 1iVippr a thait Every workman has a right to eat and to drink "Only If any will not work neither let him eat" It Is good politics and good piety to keep the workman's dinner pail full He has a right to de- mand 1t.
 d.) But. that is not all. He has right not only to maintain himself, but to main tain himself in social relations; to have and support a wife. It is not for the good of society to reduce any man to celibacy. He has a right to lead about a wife and pay her travelling expenses as he goes; to have a home with comforts and con veniences necessary to its being a health- full home to those who live there.
 Misfortune to Society.
 It is a misfortune to society to have poor or expensive homes as compared with the wage rate in the community. Taxes on homes are too high, and the tenant has to pay too much. It is the tenant, and not the landlord. who payes the taxes, though it's landlord usually makes the fuss about it.
 When you tax the home you tax a man for exercising his inherent and in- alienable right to maintain himself as the head of family, and make him pay for doing his duty in the preservation of so- ciety. which is perpetuated mainly in the
  social being, and craves a place in so- ciety. and has the natural right to se- cure such wage as will enable him to exercise his social function.
 CD But, he has the further natural right to specialize himself for the service of society; |" to forbear working" as Paul puts 1t. He has the right to receive ser vice in other lines to the extent of his needs from the hands of others who serve in those lines so that he may give him self entirely to his chosen craft or pro- fession.
 Well-Being of Society.
 The well-being of society depends on this principle of specialization. The law yer, the physician, the preacher, the banker, the merchant, the mechanic, the mason, the miner, the farmer the clerk etc, each has the right to devote him
 
 which he adept and receive the products of the labor of specialists in other lines for the supply of his own wants. and to pay a quid pro quo therefor. Hence he has the right to a wage adequate for the compensation of those who serve him. So the general price of necessary ser vice in the industrial community is a factor in fixing the amount of an equita- ble wage And this, because of the prin- ciple of specialization in society.
 An equitable wage. therefore, involves q sum sufficient to maintain the workers in good hygienic condition, social stand ing, and efficient specialization This, of course will vary with varied economic conditions and environment. I do not know where you will find so much good sense and equity in all the world of la- bor discussions in our day. The em- ployer does not wish to pay a wage which will cover the bar room bills and gam bling debts of his employees.
 Standard for Wage.
 The standard of living must fix the Hence. wages rise and fall with the grade of living demanded by the community. The cost of healthful life should fix the wage.
 ?. The apostle tells us who ought to pay this wage, viz. those who are served and it is pointed out of the products of the labor. The soldier charges his war expenses to the government or general, the vineyard planter gets his out of his fruit, and the herdsman from the milk of the flock
 The principle that the source and war rant for the payment of labor is to be