The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1905-03-29

! Injustice done by a complicated
method is just as rank and wicked
as when it is done by more trans
| parent method
Theft and robbery that are accom-
| plished by a network of commercial
schemes are just as heinous as when
they are practiced by the sneak thief
| and footpad, and the more occult this
wrongdoing is, the greater is the
need that moral teachers should fer
ret 1t out and expose it.
A good many of them are pleading
the baby act, and pretending that
they are not able to understand such
| questions. If it is true that they are
not able, they had better retire from
the Christian ministry.
This is day when men are wanted
| who can understand the ways of the
workers Of iniquity and are not afraid
| to speak their minds about them.
But it is absurd to say that they
| can not be understood. No intelligent
| man can read Miss Tarbell's history
| of the Standard OIL company without
| knowing that the truth is told and
that it is the history of a gigantic
iniquity, that good many millions
| of people have read this story and
have made up their minds.
| Here is a man who represents,
more perfectly than any other man
in America, the spirit and the methods
of constituencies capital. He Is a
man who has been absolutely ruthless
in his destruction of rivals and com
petitors.
He has grasped the vast power of
the railways, which is a power that
rests on public law, and has made it
an instrument of outrageous oppres-
sion.
All that is Characteristic of the
ethics of Christianity-its Justice, its
mercy, its kindness to the weak-he
has trampled under foot at every step
of his career. BY this means he has
| built up an enormous fortune.
He possesses today the power of
levying tribute on a nation, and he
is employing this power today as re-
| lentlessly as he ever did. The people
| of the country, especially the poor
people, the working people, regard
| him rs the incarnation of all that
is relentlessly oppressive and cruel
/ in the capitalistic regime.
# the Christian church has any
business in this world today, it is to
| testify against the thing which this
man stands for. If 1t has no power
to bear such testimony it is recreant
to it's trust. But If it accepts his
money it disables itself from telling
the truth about him.
In the holy war against corporate
greed to which the trumpet is even
now sounding, it can take no part. It
has bandaged its eyes and tied its
hands.
Against this, in the name of all
that is precious in Christianity and
all that is glorious in Congregation
al history, I protest.
We want nothing to do with this
man or his money
Let his money perish with him.
We can build our churches and
| carry on our missions without his
aid. We can not afford to compromise
| ourselves by any such alliance.
| / observe that ministers of the de-
nominations have been volunteering
advice to our board that the gift
| should be accepted. Perhaps they
| will take the money off our hands.
/ should be- sorry to believe that any
other body of Christians would wish
to form such a partnership. How
ever that may be, l profoundly trust
that the Congregational people will
set their faces sternly against it.