The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-02

s"The Relation Of the Chureh to the
| Labor Movement was the subject OF
| an address delivered by Rev Charles
| Stelzle yesterday in the chapel Of the
| First Presbyterian church. His audi
| ence was large and consisted almost
entirely of members of the local labor
organizations.
Mr.. Stelzle, formerly pastor Of the
Peoples church in ST. Louis, is now
| engaged in work for the Presbyterian
!, board Of home missions in the interest
| of the workingmen. He has been IN
| st. Paul for several days and has ad-
! dressed meetings of members of labor
| unions at their headquarters. In the
| course Of his address of yesterday he
said: 49, sE
| 81 have heard OF a man who for the
| purpose of finding out whether the
| churches want the laboring man, put
| on overalls, took dinner pail and WIS.,
tied some of the leading churches in
the city in which he lived. I believe
he also omitted to wash his face be-
fore going; and then because he was
| not cordially received he concluded
that the churches did not want the
laboring man. I think his plan and
his conclusion were both wrong. My
experience with laboring men is that
when they goiot to church they wash
| their faces and put on their good
clothes, andt in the audiences I have
addressed int this city it would be hard
| to tell froIn9cfhe dress Of the men
whether they were laborers, clerks or
millionaireS.nJL -
81 have been travelling over the
country for nearly a year now telling
the churches what they should do for
! the working people, and have found
! that my message has been earnestly re-
/ ceived and met in the right spirit.
Church Wants Laborins People.
"The church does want the working
people. Some think the church is
merely scheme to increase the popu-
lation Of heaven, as one man has ex-
| pressed it, The ideal Christian is one
who is not only trying to get to heaven
himself butt is also striving to get
others there, and more than that, is
| trying to bring a little of heaven here.
Some one has said that the church
has nothing to do with a mans empty
stomach or his bare back, but is mere
ly to save souls. That is not true;
Christ took heed of mems empty stom-
achs and their bare backs and minis
| tered to their physical needs. Our
philanthropic institutions are the
church at work fulfilling the commands
of Christ. Have we any philanthropic
institutions. supported by inidelity
You can't show me any.
"Tt has been said that the church Is
composed Of hard hearted employers.
Well, there are 100000 members of
Protestant churches in this country and
very large number of Catholics
don't, know, how many. These cannot
all be members of the employing class,
and I tell you that the churches are
supported by Christian men and wom-
en- of small means. When some very
wealthy man gives $4,000 to a church
or a benevolent object the fact is print
ed all over the country and thus peO-
pie get the impression that the
churches are supported by $4,000 do
nations. That is mistake; 1t Is the
people of lesser means who keep up the
| churches. The hard-hearted employ
ers are some of them in the churches,
but they are there for the good society
that they find there. And they are not
the church, but the parasites on the
church. It is to be hoped that they will
get some real benefit out Of it.
| Church and Social Reform.
"You sometimes hear it said in criti-
cism that the church stands for the
present social system. That is not the
forms inveigh against the church be-
cause it does not embrace and advo-
cate their particular ideas; but none
of them can eshow that his reform is
complete in itself;
"Theoretically,Aso communism
and even anafehfsm have their good
points. When speak of anar-
chism it is not the creed of the bomb
thrower or he who uses the pistol, but
theoretical anarchism. Advocates OF
each Of these and many other isms
will tell you that they are right and
will quote you scripture to prove it
And within certain limitations they are
right. Socialism is founded upon the
principle of dealing with each man ac-
cording to his ability, and life of con-
tinued industry, which is a fine idea
communism would merge all owner
ship, and that. would entail great self
denial; anarchism would do away with
all law, and that would require that
all men should be good enough to get
along without law.
Josh Billings once said that to have
an honest horse race you must have
an honest human race, and thus it is
with all of these reforms. Christ in
His work sought to change men rather
than methods, and that is why His
principles are applicable to the twen-
tieth century as much as to the time
when He was on earth.
zone hundred. years from now So
cialism, communism and anarchism
will probably never be heard of. They
will be back numbers then, and there
| will probably be something even bet
ter than the labor union ideas of to-
day. The principles taught by Christ
are the only ones that are never out
of date.
"The labor question will not be
solved in this generation or in any fu-
ture generation. 1t will be solved aft
er the last days work is done and we
meet in life in which we can under
stand one another better than we car
here. sl
"The great trouble with the working
men is Indifference. I am told by those
who know that it has even been nee
essary to force thousands of men into
the labor unions which are founded
upon the idea of benefiting them, an6
many of them are in the same atti-
tude toward the church They should
arouse themselves from this fndif-
| ference" =