Los Angeles herald., 1906-01-29
BATTLE WITH GRAFT IS
DESCRIBED FROM PULPIT
PREACHER TALKS ON ECONOMIC
AND SOCIAL HONOR
Rev. Mr.. Mills Pleads for the Develop
ment of Individual Character and
Establishment of the Cooperative
Commonwealth and Righteousness

Rev. Benjamin Fay Mills spoke yes
terday morning at the Fellowship serv-
ice in Masonic hall on 1.-THE Battle
With Greed and Graft" Mr.. Mills said
in part:
Last Sunday pointed out the ap-
parent reign Of gilt and greed and graft
in politics, industry, commerce, society
and the individual life But in spite Of
appearances am filled with confidence
and hope. Let me state some Of my
reasons.
1--WE may derive comfort from a sane,
evolutionary theory of life. All stu
dents of history can detect an actual
moral advance over former conditions.
In every former era, the slave has
played conspicuous part, but now
the slave and the master of slaves have
ceased. We are by no means at the
summit, but We are going up hill and
not down and should judge our age
accordingly.
again there are many encouraging
features manifest even in our present
disgrace. Not many men have descend
ed to the worst abasement and there
are tens of thousands who have not
bowed the knee to Baal. Considering
the temptations the wonder is not that
SO many, but so few have yielded to
the worst Decentralization.
eff many authors and economists ig-
more or apologize for the plutocratic re-
gime then Lloyds and Bemises and
Parsons and Tarbells and LawSonS and
Steffens and Bakers and Phillipses and
Russells and multitude of advocates
Of Justice become the heroes of the hour
and write the facts, without fear or
favor. Even a few pulpits, here and
there, blaze with righteous indignation
and exhortation.
again, note the sense of social
shame and the public arousement. The
people do not listen with dull ears to
the story of their betrayal and we are
nowhere corrupt, but contented.' The
popular heart believes, as the old Per-
sian said, that nature so abhors in
iquity that, if there be injustice any
where, she will shrivel to a snake skin,
but she will cast it out.
"Still further, we have in our own
hands the machinery of reconstruction.
The free ballot, which executes a free
mans WILL once gained, is gained for
ever, if we exercise the eternal vigil
lance which is ever the price of liberty.
"Above all, the heart of the people
is sound. When the issue is made clear,
the people always vote for freedom and
justice and progress. The voice of the
people is the voice of God.
Measures for the popular advance
ment are rarely defeated. The ballots
looking toward public ownership are
almost invariably triumphant ballots.
The boss grows weak and in many a
contest is utterly overthrown. Party
ties sit lightly upon us. For almost the
first time people are voting for prin-
ciples and not for parties.
"The actual gain for reform is great.
The number of able, powerful. honest
reformers is legion. Roosevelt, Hearst,
Folk, La Fallette, Dunno. johnson,
Jerome, Jones, Whitlock, Lindsey, Fa-
gan Dempsey Weaver Colby and host
of incorruptibles sit in the seats of the
mighty.
"Great measures ensuring the deliv-
erance of the people are being enacted.
Movements toward the abolition of war,
actual national and municipal owner
ship of public utilities, experiments ev-
erywhere along Socialistic lines and vol
untary economic cooperation are the
indicators of the hour.
"There are two demands upon the
people of enlightened conscience. The
first is social. The times seem out or
joint because we are in a great his
toric World-criss. The poison in the
blood is coming to the surface. which
is not discouraging symptom, but a
sign of returning health.
"The scramble for land is not so
much caused by innate human selfish
ness, nor because there is not plenty
of land for all, but by our unjust and
drLlIlCldl oybteIH OI ldHu lchutS, Wy
which one Californian owns 100000
acres and another cannot own 1-14,-
COO, 900 of an acre. So long as some men
can have no land, the title of any man
to any land Is vitiated. The righteous
distribution of land is a necessity In the
battle with greed and graft.
''Still further, our industry must be
reconstructed on the basis of brother
hood. The word profit is coming to
have a criminal sound. Let him keep
who justly earns, but the great fl
nancial increment is not earned by con-
tributions to human welfare, but is
absorbed from the multitude. through
the unearned increments OF advance in
land values, rent, interest and an un-
fair share OF the products OF industry.
The greatest of CRAFTS is the appropria-
ton OF unearned values in land and the
next In Importance is the so-called
profits from the industry OF the
masses.
"No man understands what is pro-
posed In the establishment of the CO.
operative common wealth, but he be-
"A. In, f,.k he fo. uaIfioh