Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-09-04
SERMON ON LABOR
Rev. w. S. Marquis Discusses
Subject at Broadway Pres
byterian Church.
LABORING MAN IMPROVING
Condition Better Than Ever Before in
the United States-StiIl Room
for Much Advancement.

AT no time has the laboring man
been as well off in the United States
as he is today. and the United States
is far ahead of any other country in
the world in this respect" said Rev.
". S. Marquis. in his labor day sermon
at Broadway Presbyterian church Sun
dag.
The sermon. which was delivered in
accord with q resolution of a recent
meeting of the Presbyterian synod, was
scholarly discourse on the condition
of labor in the United States at the
present time.
DR.. Marquis took the morning les
son from the seventh chapter of Mat
thew, reading the sermon on the mount,
beginning Judge not that ye be not
| judged" and concluding with the gold
en- rule His text was Matthew 1912,
How much then, is a man better than
a sheep This verse is contained in
the account of Christ's reply TO the
complaint of critics thar he healed on
Sunday. He asked if one of them would
leave a sheep 10 die if il fell into 4
pit on Sunday. and concluded with the
argument given in the text.
Church and IabOrer.
Dr. Marquis. in opening his dis
course, said that it was generally
known that the church is not in close
touch with the laboring men. as a class,
and that It was 10 bring about harmony
that the synod had set aside one day
each year for the discussion of labQr
questions. He commented briefly on
the evident dissatisfaction of the Ia
boring man, and of the constant strug-
gle between labor and capital. And
yet" he said, How much better of
the laboring man of today is than i'll
the early days of this country. No
one truly wants the good old times .
DR. Marquis cited figures and incidents
in support of the statement that labor
is better compensated today than in
former times. In the earlier days OF
the United States, not 100 years ago,
in fact skilled mechanics. with trade
learned in long apprenticeship. worked
for 40 and 80 cents a day. He told OF
an incident of a conference held in JEFF
fersOn's time, when the heads of vari-
Gus departments met to discuss impor-
tant questions of the day. Wages en-
tered into the discussion. and Jefferson
himself made the remark that the high
wages were oppressive. He stated
| that a few years before he had been
able to secure first class men for $50
and board a year. while at that time he
was required To pay $3.50 for board.
Four dollars a week was common
wages for a man with trade, not a
common laborer.
What Dollar Purchased.
THE argument that the purchasing
power of dollar was greater does not
hold. Do you know what it would buy?
Four bushels of corn and two bushels
of wheat"
| One important point brought out BY
Dr. Marquis in his discourse was the
fact that in former days laboring men
were thrown into Jail for debt, while
now such a thing is unheard of. He
described the prisons used for such
purposes, the Newgate. Mass, prison
! being the worst. 1t was an abandone
copper mine, with the cells arranged
| SO that they could be reached only by
means of the long rickety ladder. The
prisoners were chained fast by their
feet, and more than that were kept in
standing posture by means of a
heavy metal collar attached above by
a heavy chain. They were kept there
, till they died of the filth and the dis
eases it brought on.
! The slavery of white laborers in 1871
in Virginia, when cargoes of laborers
bound out for long term of years to
pay for their passage to this country
were actually sold at auction. Tho