The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-01-14
.|[G;IH]||U|RGHMEN LISTEN TO
REMARKABLE ADDRESS
Some Painfully Practical
Questions Asked as to the
Here and Now.
Does the Church Look on On
moved While Great Social
Chasm Widens.

0lnce the great strlke ne has devoted
most of his time to newspaper work,
but occasionally he gets an oppor-
tunity to express his views on the ros-
trum. Recently he was invited to ad-
dress convention Of churchnnen on
the subject: What has the Church
done for Labor" He said: Il have
no quarrel with the church about it's
theology. We shall not carry this dis
cussion beyond the clouds. Let US
keep close to the earth tonight. I do
not want to find out whether or not
in paradise, but whether he will give
him justice here. Labor is less an
xious to learn how to lay up treasures
in heaven than to know how to get
bread here. So in this discussion we
will be painfully practical.
whether the miracles are fact or
fiction, whether Jonah was reality or
NTH, has nothing to do with the feed
Ing Of the hungry. And so in the be-
ginning lay down this proposition:
whatever may be the knowledge Of the
church about the future-Whatever
may be its power to help humanity in
the world to comet can only add to
it's usefulness by doing something to
help it in this.
I'VE are a nation of classes. The
lines of social caste are drawn with
heartless cruelty. That class known as
the laboring people" is struggling for
equality, is asking for simple Justice:
And what, your committee asks, does
1t want? 1t wants an honest share of
what it creates. It wants such condi-
tons as shall permit fair distribution
of what is produced It wants to abol-
1sh conditions as enforce tdleness. It
wants free access to the sources of
nature. 1t wants a return to the prim-
tive rights of man. It wants to abol-
ish the monopolistic privileges that
stand between it and prosperity. It
wants reconstruction of our land sys-
tenn. which is relic of the barbarous-
past, which is founded upon the bloody
conquest Of royal robbers, which grew
out of the ability to trample upon the
weak, and which to-day guarantees a
continuation of that Infamous princi-
pie. 1t wants the useless fortunes Of
the few replaced by the prosperity of
the many. It wants cottages instead
wants the adjustment of our wretched
inequalities. 1t wants an equal chance.
1t wants a shelter besides the skies. It
wants something to eat besides crusts;
it wants something to wear besides
rags The struggle is between the cap
italists and the laborer, between wealth
and poverty. Where on this question
does the church stand? 1 don't speak
of the ideal church, but of the church
as it is. Christ denounced the wrong
when he found it. He did practical
work for this world. He built no ca
thedrals, made no artificial display.
He made the church imposing only by
its moral grandeur. He preached from
the pulpit Of the hills, beneath the blue
of heavens dome. He was never ac-
cused Of sympathizing with wealth and
power, but was hated because He told
the truth about the hypocrits Of His
time. lie he lived to-day there is no
reason to suppose that he would not
hold the same position, preach from the
corners, denounce the wealth. worship
ing classes or our times, and draw upon
himself the cold dislike Of the church
established in His name.
The church to-day gives no evidence
of a genuine sympathy with the labor
movement, which is only another phase
for the cause of the common people
against the oppression Of accu-
n1ulated"weafth. 1 know that many of
it's members are filled with compassion
for the poor, that hospitals are built,
that aims are given, that charity funds
are raised. and that occasionally a
special effort is made to relieve dis
tress. And what does it all amount to?
Simply pouring a little balm on the
heart. You might as we'll try to cure
the small pox by the application of
court plaster. After centuries and CEN
turtles the rich are richer and the poor
are poorer, and misery is keener than
ever before.
What we want is not the relief of
paupers, but the condition that pre-
vents their manufacture. What, now,
is the church doing to secure such
conditions? Where is the pulpits with
preachers like Christ denouncing the
oppressors Of the nasses7 Whsno aRo
the preachers declaring to their
wealthy pew holders that it is easier
for the camel to pass through the
needles eye than for the rich to en-
ter the kingdom of heaven?
Where are the ministers who are
denouncing the progress by which the
Carnegies and Rockefellers absorb from
the common product countless millions
and leave the aching void Of property?
The complaint Of labor is that the
spirit of a Christ is absent from the
modern church. It looks quitely upon
the wretchedness of the people and.
makes no sympathetic attempt to reach
the real cause. If ever there was a
time when a real crusade was needed
1t is now. No holy sepulcher has fallen
1t into the hands Of infidels, but the
privileged classes have robbed the
common people of their liberties and
are rioting in luxury while their VIC
TINS starVe. :: ..::- 49,: ::
But the church asa church, will
make no war on the predatory rich.
because it is believer in the system
from which labor suffers. What do you
expect labor to think of the church.