The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1906-12-06
Subject: The Message of Christ to
Capital.

Brooklyn, N. Y.-Speaking at the
Irving Square Presbyterian Church
on the theme, The Message of Christ
to Capital" the Rev. /. W. Hender-
son. pastor. took as his text Matthew
1912, Therefore, all things whatso-
ever ye would that men should do to
you, do ye even so to them" He
said:
Labor and capital. The great cor
related facts of the economic life OF
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 inn
portance in the economic system.
But no matter how influential and
how powerful capital may become it
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 a chartered power
at the hands of a sovereign people.
And these corporations are engaged,
many of them, in the exercise of this
power in endeavors to control the
output of the necessities of life; di-
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
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
the bounds of safety, we shall have
two different and distinct classes in
the social life of our land. The dan
ser is, that, with a society in which
there shall be. in effect, but two
classes of men, we shall have a 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-
ployer, on the other hand, the en-
ploye; on the one hand, the men of
money and, on the other, the salaried.
The danger is that, on the one hand,
we shall have a class of Independent
wealthy men and, on the other,
mass of dependent retainers; on the
one hand, the wealth holders and, on
the other, the wage workers.
Tho Gprnnd dauuar 10 from, cNr-
porate concentration. BY virtue of
Governmental enactments a corpora
tion, though composed of personali-
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 a personal
relation to the law and to trade. Men
become the engineers of a huge
mechanism. Humanity is lost in the
machinery of commercial life.
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
a State. With the numberless and
increasing ramihcations and alliances
of our larger corporations there has
grown up an alarming situation.
Take, for instance, the most noted
corporation in the land. However
valuable the public services of this
corporation may have been; however
important its contributions to soci-
ETY., as a leader in the march of trade,
may be admitted to be; however
much we may praise it for the many
excellencies which 1t possesses, we
cannot escape the fact that it stands
to-day, as do many other corpora
tions, as danger TO the public well
fare and as a possible enemy to the
common veal The ramifications, the
business alliances, the political coali-
ttons of this one corporation are so
diverse, so Nation wide, so stupen-
dous AS to be almost past belief. All
this is wise from the standpoint of a
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
eousness. But If ever this enormous
influence and capacity for good or for
i'll should become vested in the hands
OF INSCRIPTIONS men the danger to
Jul NAflA AAbNA ~ NbhAA re NElg lGals
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
these American people lies not in the
strength Of military force, not in an
unseltish Imperialism which strives
for the amelioration of the peoples
of the islands Of the sea, but in the
unholy use Of dishonest power by i'm
moral and conscienceless men of
wealth. Then viii be realized the
prophecy of the State within the
State Then will come the test of
capital, made arrogant with wealth.
in the lists against the Governmental
authority.
1t does not necessarily follow,
whatever may be our fears, that com
bination per Sc is evil. Combination
is a natural and a logical result Of
the conditions under which we live
Anything, whatever its name, which
lightens labor enlarges efficiency, and
increases the impetus of commercial
life, is Of value to humanity at large
Impersonality before the law is not
in itself an unmitigated evil If so be
the men who manage corporations do
not forget humanity and God. Com