The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-08-31
I, the bread of heaven, am broken IN the
sacrament of life"

q ulS W tS
While there is never any bitterness in
the Masters utterance regarding wealth,
His views may be readily gathered from
such parallels as that of Dives and Lazarus
duke xvi:l9).
Again, we have the same attitude IN the
passage on the camel and the needles eye
Matthew SiX:23)..
Not only was the Lord poor, but His
| apostles were all poor men, who placed no
value on wealth. Paul, the greatest of
| apostolic preachers, supported himself by
manual labor, and taught "They that will
be rich fall into temptation and a snare,
and into many foolish and hurtful lusts,
which drown men in destruction and per-
dition. For the love of money is the root
of all evil" II. Timothy vi:9-l0l. On the
whole, the attitude of the New Testament
is one of warning against the seductlons OF
wealth.
The evangelical churche. stand upon the
word of Scripture, and so IN sympathy
with labor. In fact, of SOM 7,OO9,eW, OF
male members in the evangelical churches
of our land, not less than 6,GcO,00O are
wage earners or manual laborers. So that
the claim that the modern church has de-
parted from the position occupied by the
apostolic church is not well founded.
What. then, from the letter and spirit OF
the Bible in connection with the teachings
of experience is to be suggested as a means
of curing the quarrel between labor and
capital? on,, ,o,,-
tions between the rich and the poor. Let
them meet together in the fellowship OF
Gods house and the Divine Fatherhood.
Out of mutual acquaintance will come mu-
tual respect, and a recognition OF o com
mon humanity.
You may remember Emerson's story Of
the quarrel between the mountain and the
squirrel, where he says:
"The mountain and the squirrel
Had a quarrel,
And the former called the latter Little
prig.'-
Bun replied,
You are doubtless very big,
But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken in together
TO make up a year
And a sphere
And I think it no disgrace
To occupy my place.
If I'm not as large as you,
You are not so small as !;
And not half so spry.
III not deny you make
A very pretty squirrel track.
Talents differ, all is well and wisely PIT;
= l Nall NeA1y ~
Neither can you crack a nut"
Then there should be a deeper interest
taken by capital in the financial well-being
of labor. Such devices as, profit sharing,
old age pensions and the like will give the
workman a sense of greater security and
Of partnership with capital.
Interest taken in the proper housing of
labor, although not always appreciated, is
in the right line. So, too, the introduction
Of the social secretary as an intermediary
between the corporation and the employe.
Another thing needed, not so much in
the interests of labor OF capital, but in the
interests of the innocent non-combatants,
is compulsory arbitration, applied at least
where the public suffers intolerable incon.
venicncr, as in the case Of q RAILROAD, tele-
graph CT coal strike. Compulsory arbitra-
tion may not always be satisfactory to the
combatants, but it is essential to the peace
and comfort of those not involved in the
controversy. This remedy, or military coz
troll, as in the recent railway strikes in
Holland and Austria, should be used to
protect the public.
The sovereign remedy, however, must be
not by recourse to legal means, but by the
application OF the royal law. James (ii:8),
after speaking OF the relations between the
rich and the poor, says: IF We fulfill the
royal law according to the Scripture, thou
shalt love tny neighbor as thyself, ye do
we'll" This is the aqua regia, the royal
solvent, in which we may solve all the hard
asperities of conflicting interests.
Only as men com to know God through
Christ, whom He has sent, and so come to
love their fellow men, will it be possible to
solve these questions Of controversy in a
way that will insure the permanent pro-
gress of our civilization.
What we need, after all, is not measures,
but men.
"The world wants men-large hearted,
maEly men;
Men who shall join in chorus and prolong
The psalm of labor and of love.
The age wants heroes-heroes who SHALL
dare
To struggle in the solid ranks of truth;
To clutch the monster, error, by the
throat;
To bear opinion to a loftier seat;
To blot the error of oppression out,
And lead a universal freedom in"