The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1906-12-06
Subject: The Message CT Christ to
Capital.

Capital.
Brooklyn, n. Y.-Speakirg at the
Irving Square Presbyterian .Churcn
on the theme, The Message OF Christ
to Capital the Rev. l. W. Hender-
son, pastor, took as his text Matthew
7:l2, Therefore, all things whatso-
ever We would that men should DO TO
you, do ye even so tc them. He
said:
Labor and capital. The great cor
related facts OF the economic life or
to-day, as throughout all ages they
have been, are labor and capital.
But though they are correlated, cap
ital is Of secondary Importance: IN
a simple society labor is central. IN
a complex society labor and capital
may with reason be allowed to pos
sess an almost equal position OF I'M
portance in the economic system.
But no matter how influential and
how powerful capital may become 1t
can never usurp the central, primal,
fundamental, ultimate position OF
labor in the economic affairs Of man.
The economic tendency Of to-day
upon the side of capital is toward
Capitalization, toward combination,
toward concentration. With this ten
dency toward Capitalization we have
the spectacle of immense corpora
tions gifted with chartered power
at the hands OF sovereign people.
And these corporations are engaged,
many of them, in the exercise OF this
power in enGeavors to control the
output of the necessities of life; dl-
rect and govern the markets of the
world, and dictate prices for the
necessaries of life without due re-
gard to fairness or to the universal
laws, very largely, Of supply and de-
mand. There are good and there are
5 evil results to be expected and to be
found in the economic trend of our
day.
The dangers of this economic ten
dency so far as capital is concerned
are many fold; and the first danger
is, that in the Capitalization OF wealth
and the increase of capital beyond
4 the bounds of safety, we shall have
two different and distinct classes in
the social life of our land. The dan
ger is, that, with a society in which
there shall be, in effect, but two
classes ,:of men, we shall have & re-
turn, in: an economic way, to the un-
healthy conditions Of the feudal re-
gime. The danger is that, upon the
one hand, we shall have the en-
pseyer, on the other hand, the en-
ploye; on the one hand. the men OF
money and, on the other, the salaTled.
The danger is that, on the one hand,
we Shall have a class Of Independent
wealthy men and, on the other, a
mass Of dependent retainers; on the
one hand, the wealth holders and, on
the other, the wage workers.
The second danger is from cor
porate concentration. BY virtue of
Governmental enaetments corpora
ton, though composed of PERSONAL
ties, is itself an impersonality before
the law. The sense OF individual re-
sponsibility is lessened and men are
released, by the Law itself, from that
lively sense of personal duty which is
incumbent and felt upon the part OF
the individual man with e. personal
relation to the law and to trade Men
become the engineers of a huge
: mechanism. Humanity is lost IN the
: machinery of commercial LIE.
Another danger Of the economic
tendency on the part Of capital to-day
is that, by virtue of its immense pow
ers, it shall grow up as State within
State. With the numberless and
increasing ramifcations and alliances
of our larger corporations there mas
nr, 10 N
Take, for instance, the most noted
corporation in the land. However
valuable the public services CT this
corporation may have been; however
important it's con -ributions to soci-
ETY., as leader in the march OF trade,
may be admitted to be: however
much we may praise it for the many
excellencies which it possesses, we
cannot escape the fact that it stands
to-day, as Go many other corpora
< tions, as a daager to the public well
fare and as possible enemy to the
common veal. The ramihcations, the
business alliances, the political coali-
fions of this one corporation are so
diverse, so Nation wide, SO stupen-
dous as to be almost past belief. All
Ills IS WISE 4iOG luS Std4oPS<AI VI q
I pure commercial life. There is nothing
Inherently wrong in such condition
of affairs if the correlative power
which it brings be exercised with an
eye single toward the light of right
s eousness. But if ever this enormous
influence and capacity for good or for
! i'll should become vested in the hands
of unscrupulous men the danger to
our civil liberty would be very real.
If, in the course of time, the power
of such corporations should become
the property Of unjust and ungodly
men, whose creed should be selfish
ness and whose commercial aim
should be directed toward the salts
faction of unbridled self-interest, i'm
mediate and intense iniquity would,
Of sequence, result. The danger to