The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-20
REPORT ON LABOR.
Bishop Potter's Committee Tells of II
 Investigntfons.

| l~-F&"R OVmmlAtce IGAh1 VA aN8 Investigatfons.
 Boston, Oct. i9.--rn the House of
 Bishops of the Convention of the Epis-
 copal Church today the Committees on
 Relations of Capital and Labor, of | which Bishop Henry C. Potter Of New | York, Is chairman, presented it's re-
 port. The committee Ia. appointed by the general convention of 1901 to study
 the purposes of labor organizations; to
 investigate the cause of industrial dis
 turbances and to hold themselves in
 readiness to act as arbitrators should their services be required.
 | The report says the committee has
 not as yet succeeded in studying In common the occasions of current dis- lturbances.
 we are agreed, however,v tie rsport says, fin the conviction, that the bause of the violences of the past three years in Pennsyivanfa, Colorado and h Illf- nois are not So economical as moral. The strike commonly begins in dis trust. The reason at the heart of 1t Is that the master has as little confidence of the good will of the men as the men | have faith in the master. Where dis l trust and antagonism are we'll founded | there is nothing for it. so far as the | church is concerned, except conversion. bCy 'Who. atp 0t tduit ottO4Ru oo eeaAACe- ished on the one side against prejudice and passion and on the other side against covetousness and the sins which proceed from the tnordihate love of riches. The capitalist and the la borer are alike sons of the church. There is as much loyalty to the church and to the divine head Of the church In the one class as in the other. The church hopes to remove the moral causes of industrial strikes when she brings these different members of her family into better acquaintance.
 We perceive among our clergy and laity alike, much ignorance tfrankly confessed and deplored) as to the prin- ciples which are involved in the con- fiicts of the industrial world. Every industrial dispute involves three par ties--the employer, the employed and the public; and the public generally | casts. the deciding vote. Thus a seri- ous responsibility rests on every Chris- | tion citizen and more especially upon the Christian minister. We call attention to the analogy between certain offenses of the Union and like
 offenses. past or present of both the
 capitalist and the church man. Thus the employers blacklist corresponds to Il the Unions boycott and there are akis to the major ex-communication. The lockout and the strike are of the same
 nature. The question of the closed
 shop Is like the question of the closed | State. Men whose puritan ancestors l strove to maintain State whose privi-
 leges should belong only to members
 of the church ought to be able to un. | derstand the struggle of their breth-
 ren to maintain a shop in which no
 man shall serve except member of
 the Union. They may not agree with these brethren but they ought to ap- preciate their self sacrifice. The lac borer has learned from the capitalist to despise order and to break law He has learned from the church to pursue the dissenter with a menace and vengeance. The recent tragedy at Colorado do not follow at far | distance the massacres which in the sixteenth century ensued on the with | drawal Of the Holland from the
 ecclesiastical union. While, then we condemn the tyranny and
 turbulence of the labor union and call upon law to preserve the l liberty of every citizen to employ whom | he will and to work for whom he will. we deprecate the nasty temper, which
 In condemning the errors of the Unions condemns at the same time the whole movement with which they are connect ed The offices of the union are as dilitent of the case for which. the organization of labor stands as the inquisition Is distinct from the gospel. In the face of a prejudice and an hos- tility for which there are serious reasons. we are convinced that the organization of labor is essential to the we'll being of the working people. Its purpose is to maintain such a standard of wages. hours and conditions as shall afford every man an opportunity to grow in mind and heart. without organization the standard cannot be maintained in the midst of our present commercial conditions.
 "This report is designedly general in its term but there is one matter which we are constrained to commend in par ticular to the consciences of Christian people. The employment of children in factories and mills depreBses wages. destroys homes and Appreciates the hu- man stock. Whatever interferes with the proper nature and education of a child contradicts the best interests of the nation. We call. then, on Chris tian employers and on Christian par- ents, to endeavor for the betterment of local and general laws as shall make the labor of children impossible in this Christian country"
 The report was accepted and the committee continued.
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