The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-12-03
Do YOU ATT1ENDlCHURCh? ( |.
If Y0UD NOT, WHY NOT?
You Perhaps Would Attend
More Often IF You Heard
Sermon Like Following.
There are too Few References
to the Worship Of Mammon
and the Wrongs of Labor.

Do you attende church? If not, why
not?
At which church would you prefer
to worship, were you to attend?
The above questions have been pro-
pounded to many non-church goers
Of Duluth during the past few days.
This is part Of general move
ment by the churches Of our city to
ascertain why there is not more gen.
eral attendance at divine service.
It is a good move, and will, we be-
lieve, result in a better attendance,
and also more words in the sermons
for the down-trodden and the oppress-
ed. We believe it will be found that
many do not attend church service be-
cause questions of vital Importance to
the masses are touched upon but light
ly, if at all; there are too few refer
ences to the worship of mammon, and
not enough is said of the VIRGINS en-
dured by those whose labor creates
the dollar.
If some minister of our city will de-
liver sermon along the lines Of the
following quotations from a sermon
delivered by Rev. w. B. Thorp, South
Congregational church, Chicago, Nov,
18th, 1904. we will warrant good at
tendance, provided proper notice is
given-and denomination or place of
worship will cut no figure:
Dollars vs.. Manhood-Things are
SO organized today that the dollar, or
the want of it, stands between the soul
and it's life. On every side tn high
est ideals of life are being sacrificed
on the altar of money.
The right to marry and have chill
dren should rank among the inalien-
able rights. A far more serious prob
lem than that Of divorce is in the fact
that thousands Of young men and wo-
men are being kept from marriage
and parenthood by the conditions of
our Industrial life.
with all our boasted civil rights,
the poor man is at a serious disadvan-
tage in the courts today. The process
es of law are too expensive for him.
He stands helpless before the big cor
poration, which can appeal his claim
from court to court. And the latest
ton, makes it possible to deprive him
even of the fundamental right, guar
anteed by Magma Chhrta, of being
tried by jury Of hiss peers. - -, !. Z
1.-THE little store, in which there was
room for. the development of mdepen-
dence and self-respect is being sWal-
lowed up by. the big store where the
in dual orly = cog ILL., a IVA st# ma
:chine:and ST 1at5 store must
be the: law OF HIS life, Or else he may
step out and join the hungry crowd
waiting for the. first chance at + the
want ads in the daily paper. We talk
about freedom of contract. but when
| one man has a million and the other
has nothing ahead for next months
rent, that boosted freedom becomes
| largely imaginary.
"The laboring men have sought tc
organize, and have put an immense
amount Of energy and passion into
| their unions, and they have accom-
! pllshed amazing results. But the end
! OF that is in sight. Capital has formed
its counter-organizatio with the
aWoved purpose of reducing the labor
unions to mutual Improvement socie.
ties. And in the presence of that
|
stands no more chance than the Beers
against the British Empire.
But let no man imagine that thi:
means that money is permanently en-
throned above manhood. It mean
rather that we are approaching ;
struggle in comparison with which tn,
uprising of the common peopl
against the monarchs was small
thing. That Socialist vote which
astonished the country the other da,
prove to have been the most signific
ant thing about the election. And thu
meaning of it is not in any mer
theory Of social reorganization of tn
human soul against the golden shack
es that are being formed about it."
That's the kind Of a sermon that Ia
boring people want. And Wen venture
to say there's no lack of interest O,
the part Of the masses in the vicinit,
of Rev. Thorp's church in the services
Working men go and hear a. sermo,
like the above? Yes; and feel like EN-
bracing the man who preached it. 70
daring to be Daniel.