The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-09-02
ROOSEVELT AND CORPORATIONS
THEME OF REV. MR.. INGLIS

The Rev. Robert Scott Inglis, in a
labor sermon last night in the Third
Presbyterian Church, declared that the
ministers were President Roosevelt's
stanchest hackers in his crusade
against law-violating corporations, and
in his resume of the laboring element
as a class declared that If all the rich
men withdrew their support from the
churches in this city that he differ
ence would not be felt to any great eX-
tent, stating that in all the churches
not ten per cent. of all the funds were
contributed by men worth $4,000.
The clergyman said that the church
had given the laboring class the. oppor-
tunity to organize and demand their
rights; in fact, that the church was the
fountain head of unionism. and to
prove this he pointed out the d~eplorable
condition of the working class where
there was no religious influence. In
part, Pastor Inglis said:
There are certain wrong impressions
River, by some agitators as to the attltuue
OF the church to the working people II Is
% often asserted that the cnurch IS out
Of touch with the w4rki na1n clasS 5e ont Of
touch with its constituents. 1t Is out OF
touch with some agitators, or rather they
are out of touch with II. But the churcn
founded by u ~workineman and ministered
to by such workmen as ST. Paul, VINO was
a fellow-craftsman is still ministered ny
workingman. L mean that the ministry, OF
the Christian church comes overwhelm-
ingly from this class, Our rich pews fur-
nish paucity of preachers, whlie our pow
erty furnishes pastors Oplenty. -.
The vast majority of men in the pulpit
know labor in the family. Again the, con-
stituency OF the church is largely labor.
The rich in the land are too few and the
poor too many to have a church as large
as the Christian Church is In this country
not made up of a majority OF WORKING
pAnother wrong impression that prevails
is that the few Is afraid of the rich pews'.
in Newark very well. / think It is a fair
representation OF all the churches. III an
the rich men In our three richest churches
were to quit paying tomorrow the result
would not be noticeable on those three
endowed churches, And in all the churches
not 10 per cent Of all the funds is paid
by men worth $4,000.
The majority Of the money in our Pres
byterian Church Is paid by working men,
Some OF our churches have a large elesr
ment of rich. None have a majority of
wealthy, while many OF our churches are
almost exclusively churches of the common
Whatever utterance the average pulpit
makes, it Is not made at dictation. the
church has no opposition to organized labor.
In fact, / believe that the vast majority
OF preachers are ready to render encour-
We do not question for a mo-
ment the absolute necessity Of orSaniaa a
ready to confess that for his own good and
that OF his fellows IT would be a good thihs
for every man to be In organization.
Rut there are certain things the church
cannot be expected to do. 1t cannot recog.
nize a portion of men to the exclusion OF
others. The church Is here FOR all men,
not for the majority. 1t has a majority
now. But the. church is here for the
minority as we'll.
working men of the country. Organized
labor and organized capital together have
not as large a percentage OF the men OF
the coentry as the church has. The churcn
cannot be limited to any industrial class,
capitalist. laborer or loafer, II the non
union man and the nscabp Is all the lsooi
OF the church for him.
What has the church done for the work.
ing man? 1t has made him intelligent
enough to organize and demand his rights
and the best proof of what the cnurch
has done for labor 10 the condition Of labor
where the church Is not. 1t Is the church
that teaches a man that he is a son of God
and has a right to the privileges OF sonshiT
and citizenship. But there are certain
things that In the strife the church must
do. 1t must always council against VIC
lence. 1t must always regret the cost OF
strife.
who are sympathetic with labor, and one
OF these is the compulsion Of organization
With the proper Idea OF liberty no mar
any laborer to join an organization. Make
the benefits of the organization so apparent
Kat ihat d msn %uf tod 1Sin No II m nas IS Sn eo@pe iSs.
g., ioin It. but . majority of Americans
have Joined 1t, The churches cannot lool
lavorably upon the oppression OF organi'
zasion either of labor or capital. The rea
son we say nothing of the latter Is that Il
GOO without saying.
There lis no class of men today standing
more pronouncedly behind our popular
President in his prosecution of the preda-
tory corporations than the preachers
Predatory wealth is corporate wealth. MeI
do in arDrDOrHfP Can1Citi0G what they WOuil
never think of doing in Individual capaci
ties. and this Is true not only of corporate
wealth but Of corporate workmanship also
Between these ~contending forces tn
church stands saying. 'fet us have NJ
strife
As 10 the contention for higher wager
and shorter hours labor hiss my sympathy
But tina is what we all want. We al