Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-04-25

a sermon delivered yesterday at1
the 8 o'clock mass at the immaculate
Conception church by Father Slocum
has occasioned "a good deal of favor
able comment in all parts of the town.
SO much so that 1t was the principal
topic of discussion last night and to-
day land many suggested that it
would be we'll to have it in the news
papers for the benefit OF people who
did not hear 1T. But the papers have
TO catch Father Slocum on the first
bound, as the ball player said. He
does not write his sermons and is too
busy to go over them later ON. The
Democrat has got the gist of his re-
marks, however, which were to the eff
feet THAT the wage earners of Water
| bury should study their own and their
employers interest a little more and
those of the professional agltator a lit
| tie less than they have been doing
for some time past. He referred to
st Joseph. who although an ordinary
| laboreG, attained such a high state of
perfection that he is one of the great
est saints In the Catholic church and
! held his life UP as model for the
working men of to-day. Father Slo-
cum also talked upon local matters
and pointed out to his congregation
| the fact THAT at the present time many
ablebodied men are walking the
streets of Waterbury hooking in vain
for somebody to give them employ
ment. These men had lost the con-
| fidence of their employers not because
they were incompetent mechanics, but
on account of their blindiy following
the leadership of irresponsible parties
| who had succeeded in deluding them
to such an extent that they actually
thought they could not be got along
without in the shops where they
worked and became SO conceited that
i they thought they could lift them
selves by their own boot straps. AS
q sample Of the injury men can intiict
upon themselves and their families, TO
saw nothing of the communities they
live in. Father Slocum said he remem-
bered when practically all the opera
tives of the Corbin company in New
Britain belonged to one nationality
and the management preferred them
to others, but owing to folly on the
part of the hands, who We're led 10
believe that their employers were not
| using them right and that by concert
ed action they could force the concern
to do better, these same people for
feited the confidence of their employ
!, ers and from that time on they have
Been studfous1y excluded from the
plant, and at the present time and for
many years past the number of hands
on the payrolls of the Corbins suspect
ed of being of the race that first COM
posed the bulk of their help is few and
far between. He warned the people
Of Waterbury against the danger of
bringing about such condition of af-
I fairs as existed at Corbin's because
nobody would profit by it. The same
class of people who suffered on ac-
count of the trouble at New Britain
would be the principal sufferers in
this town and the whole community
would also lose by the introduction of
such tactics
Not long ago, he said you laughed
at some people whom you saw look
ing in through the windows of the
factories and contented yourselves by
saying that they never would amount
to anything. You thought it impossl.
bic that such people could fill youa
places, but they are doing it and more
than that they are making good use
of their money. Look over the grand
list and see the hundreds of names OF
men who came here but a. few years
since and began life under serious
handicaps that own property. IL they
have made such rapid strides in a
short time what may we not expect
of them dn the future?
In brief, Father Slocum wanted his
people to be the judges of what was
best for themselves and thought that
the methods by which the early Irish
settlers of Waterbury acquired prop
erty and built up "a reputation which
even now is q proud legacy for their
children and their grandchildren the
models they should pattern after In
stead of being the blind followers of
designing men who prosper in propor-
tion to the number OF upheavals they
can create between labor and capital.
1t was the most remarkable dis
course ever heard ON a subject of that
kind in Waterbury and cannot fail no
set thoughtful people thinking with
the result that those who have been
chasing shadows and imagining that
they were under every mans thumb
will wonder where they are at. 1t
xyaa no attack MpOn organfZed labor,