The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-11-23
WEALTH VS. MORALS.
THE REV. WASHINGTON CLAD
 DEN

wards Persons Who Have Gained
 Their Vast Holdings by Modern
 Methods of Public Plunder.
 The Rev. Washington Gladden. of O., delivered an address be- fore the conference of religions on The Relation of Moral Teachers to Preda- tory Wealth" He said:
 Predatory wealth is wealth which has been gained by plunder rather than by legitimate commerce, and which is used to promote the facilities of plunder. It has not been won in open and honor able competition, but by getting unfair and generally unlawful advantages; by secret agreements and rebates; by the manipulation of railway and govern ment officials; by the liberal use of money to influence legislation and sub sidize the press; by using trust funds for private purposes; by arts which corrupt character and destroy the foundation of the social order.
 The existence oe a class of men who have gained vast wealth by such meth eds can hardly be disputed. At this moment, in several of the states of the union, a large number of persons be- longing to this class are under investi- gation by tho courts and the legislative committees; a score or more of them are under indictment in Chicago, and four of these have already come into court and pleaded guilty to an indict- ment whose penalty. if inflicted, would be imprisonment in a felon's cell. The astonishing revelations of the insur- ance investigations in New York and the rottenness that has been uncovered in the municipal governments Of st. Louis and Minneapolis and Grand Rap ids and Milwaukee and Philadelphia make it rather childish to deny the eX- istence of a class of rich men whose presence is a menace to liberty ana a blight upon the national life. . But the ordinary American merchant or manufacturer is not. in inent or in fact, a thief or plunderer. He does not wish to live by despoiling his fel- lows. He means to obey the laws of the land; he is not a briber or a cor ruptionist. We may admit that he IS not a saint, but he is not pirate and there are a number of things that he would not do to win a fortune. The great bulk of the wealth of this nation has been honestly come by, and is used with 8 decent regard for other mems rights. And it is of the utmost con- sequence. in the discussion now pend- l s-Lir ba lrp1At plpaT between lawless wealth and laW-abld1ng wealth.
 If, now. there is such a class of the predatory rich in this country, what should be the attitude toward them It would seem that it ought to be one of uncompromising hostility. If these are the worst enemies of society, as President Roosevelt says they are, to lift up standard against them must be a large part of the business of all moral teachers.
 But when, rising at this summons we go forth to holy war, we are met by a pseudo Christianism which repeats to us the words of Christ: Love your enemies" Judge not" We must in deed, love our personal enemies; the man from whom have received a per sonal injury must have my good will I must guard my resentment agains' him. But the enemy of the common good stands before me in differen relation; my indignation against him 1:
 not selfish; it is holy.
 | Judge not is a maxim of charity for the regulation of our personal in l tercourse. But, in a republic, every man is a judge. Every citizen in unde'
 solemn obligation to judge all conduc that affects the public welfare. w
 are bound to judge the acts, the poll cies, the tendencies, that are making l for veal or woe in the community-tt | judge intelligently and justly and t express our judgment. The man wht 1 sees great wrongs being perpetrated il | the community, the few grasping priv ileges by which they enrich themselve at the expense of the many, the stront trampling on the weak and shuts hi mouth and refuses to judge and con demn the wrong, is false to his highes | obligation. We have had too much 0
 this mushy Christianism that takes tn | fibre out of morality and stifles tn
 righteous resentnents of honest hearts which are the natural retribution o
 wrong doers.
 With respect to predatory wealth then, the function of the moral teach
 CTS is clear. It is their business to tes
 tify against it, to arouse the conscienc
 of the nation to resist it's encroach ments Has this function been full
 filled? Very imperfectly. This i
 proved by the fact that this particula kind of wealth has been growing o
 late, much faster than any other forn
 of wealth. When we seek for the req
 son of this failure, we are at once con fronted with the fact that relations 0 great friendliness have been graduall forming between a number of the clas of rich men of whom we are sspeakini and those who should have the leader
 ship of the moral forces. Large amount
 of money have been given by men o
 the predatory class to the churches an colleges and theological seminaries
 As a matter of fact, money coming into the hands of moral teachers iron
 such sources does affect their attitud
 toward those who bestow it. Not onl.
 are the voices of condemnation silenced
 the voices of apology, of defense, 0
 eulogy, soon make themselves heard