The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-09-30
MONEY. SAID NOT TO Be I
THE ROOT Of. ALL EVIL
Herbert s. Bigelow Does Up
Some Old Wine and Sends
It Out in New Bottles.
Gets Deeper into Sociological
Question That Is the Habit
of Most Preachers.

Cincinnati Ohio, Sept. 2s.-Last
Sunday evening the Rev. Herbert s.
Bigelow delivered stirring discourse
in the Vine Street Congregational
church on The Root of All Evil He
said:
THAT famous saying Of Paurs is
ambiguous. The love Of money is not
the root of all evil. The world cares
nothing for money. 1t is not to finger
crisp bank notes or to hear the chink
Of coin that men spend the strength Of
their days. They do not love money,
they love the, things for which they
spend their money. A man may want
money to buy bread for his children.
or he may want 1t to outshine his
social rivals. The moral question up
on the use to which q man puts his
money and the method by which he
gets 1t.
'Paul's language was flgurative.
The fear Of poverty and the love of
luxury are responsible for most of the
evils for which the love of money Is
blamed. To these tap roots we may
trace the evil Of graft" which is
becoming so serious for the republic.
A Black Art.
"Our dictionaries tell us that graft
ing is an art of the torticulturalist
by which shoot having one or more
buds upon it is inserted into the bark
of tree. The shoot has no root Of
it's own. does not depend upon itself
for support. is. In fact, a parasite,
thriving upon sap drawn from anoth-
or organisms
But 50 completely has this word
graft been Appropriated to it's new use,
that when we see 1t in the papers today
as we so often do, we do not thing Of
the useful art Of the fruit grower,
but only Of that black art Of the poll
tician and the corporation lawyer by
which they attach private interests to
the body polite, enabling their mas
ters to suck the wealth Of the public
and fatten on the common misery.
Some Orators.
"Graftery no doubt appreciate the
Shame Of their calling. The man who
sells to dupes patent medicine he
knows to be worthless: the manufac-
turer who demands higher tarifr for
dear labor's sake; the politician who
serves In secret the enemies Of the peo-
pie whose confidence he has won; the
attorney who makes his ypecious plea
for franchises which were conceived in
treason: the merchant who conspires
with railroads to drive brother rner-
chants into ruin; the landlord who
sees every increase Of tho population
and every forward stride Of the race
adding to the value Of his land: these
men, to the degree that they are in
telligent, must despise their ways Of
getting money and they must have
some intin1ations Of that larger hap
piness Of having less and getting it
honestly.
A Diagnosis.
But If men had rather be honest
than dishonest, If they had rather be
useful citizens than parasites and rob-
bers, why is it that grating has spread
like a plague among US?
The reason Is obvious. It is not
because men love money. It is because
they love luxury and fear poverty.
The fear of sinking into the social
morass with those at the bottom, or
the effort to live on an ascending
scale Of self-indulgence with those at
the top-by one, or both of these mo-
tives men are led astray.
Economic betterment will diminish
temptation In these directions; but
for this economic betterment we must
look to the moral energy of those
whose souls are virgin of greed, who,
for the sake Of the common veal, are
willing TO deny themselves the luxuries
Of life and, If need be, to endure pow
erty."