The wageworker., 1906-03-02
BROTHER ORR MISSED THE POINT.

Rev. Mr.. Orr, of this city, in last week s issue
took exceptions to the Chicago Publics indict-
ment Of the pulpit, and proceeds to show what
every unbiased man will admit-that ministers
as a rule are deeply in sympathy with the work
ing man. But we greatly fear that Bro Orr
missed the point. We have heard hundreds
yes, thOusands-Of ministers denounce wrong
doers in the aggregate We have heard them
denounce corporate greed and rapaclty as a
whole, and we have heard them denounce po-
litcal corruption an abstract proposition.
But up to date have heard only one or two
ministers who were specific in their denuncia-
tions. Fifty years ago there were thousands OF
preachers who upheld slavery as divine lnstl-
tuition, and thousands of others who opposed
slavery system. But how many preachers
did? Has any one in Lincoln ever sat i'll the
pew of rich and fashionable church and heard
the minister denounce greed and corruption
and while pointing his finger at the corrupt
financial gamblers in front of him shout Thou
art the man, and thou, and thou, and thou!
We have heard preachers denounce violence
perpetrated by workingmen, and that too
when the denunciation could apply locally to
men who were crazed by injustice. But up to
date we have never heard minister specif-
caly denouncing the crookedness OF some well
known members of the congregation whose
whole business careers strewn with hopes
they had wrecked and lives they had blighted
ii is easy enough to denounce wrong in the
aggregate, but what the Chicago Public meant
was that the ministers a whole had never
dared to be specific when the object sof denun-
citation were the liberal corporationists who
occupied the most prominent pews.
We do not blame ministers as whole. They
are creatures of environment like the rest OF us.
The average minister leaves the public schools
at an early age and enters theological semln-
ary There he is practically secluded from the
workaday world. His study carries him away
from everyday affairs, and after he actively
enters the ministry he gets still further and
further away from the matters which materl-
ally concern the men who must toll with their
hands in order to obtain a livelihood. Very
naturally he becomes more concerned about
the life to be than about the life that is. This
is not through inclination or considerations OF
sef-interest but wholly through environment.
The editor is not very old. but he can remem-
Der the time when preachers specified when
they went after wrong and wicked men. They
grabbed the evildoer by the nape of the neck
figuratively speaking-and held him the
yawning pit of hades. And those We're days
when religion meant something, weren't they,
Brother ORR
Nowadays it 's different The rich, snug and
self-complacent manipulation. of public funds.
or the gambler in the necessaries of life, sits in
front pew, drops ten dollar bill in the bas-
ket and then lolls back comfortable cush-
ion and listens to a sermon that wouldn t rufHe
the breast Of any human being
Remember, please, that we speak generally,
not specifically We have hundreds Of minis
ters, and some of them right here in Lincoln,
who do not do that sort of thing. They are
plain and outspoken, and among them is
Brother Orr.
But it is not true general proposition
that the ministry has seldom been in the lead in
the accomplishment of great economic and So
cial reforms? Is it not true that the ministry
has produced the staunchest defends of existing
abuses9 1t was so in the days of slavery. 1t
was so in the days of the revolution. 1t is so III
these days of so-called 'vested rights.
There are evils right here in Lincoln that our
ministers could root out if they had the nerve
1t would rejoice us to see one minister espe
cially, right here at home, get down to brass
tacks and denounce specifically one sweat
shop manager who is loud in prayer and then
pays a woman $242 for fifty-nine hours work
with a sewing machine.
What. we want, Brother Orr. is specific, not
general, denunciation of existing abuses We
hope we have made meaning clear.
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