The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-09-23
AS in THE OLD DAYS
PASTOR SAYS WORLD IS
GETTING BETTER.
In Prosecution of Law-Breaking Trusts,
DR.. Martin Sees Return to Honest
Business Methods.

That we are gradually returning to thu
honest and upright business methods OF
| old is the belief of the Rev. DR.. Daniel
II. Martin. who in the Clinton Avenue Re
| formed Church last night delivered a stir
ring sermon in the course of which he said
that an indication Of that was to be found
in the fact that big corporations that were
once thought to be too colossal to be
caught in the leash of the law were now
being brought to justice. In this eonnec-
ton DR.. Martin said: AN octopus oil cor
poration, for years a menace to Legitimate
business, has beer brought trembling 10
the bar of Justice"
DR., Martins text was your young men
shall see visions and your old men shall
dream dreams" In part DIR. Martin spoke
as follows:
Young men live in the future; see Wis
ions. Old men live In the past, dream
about their former days. dwell on the good
old times and tell us that the former days
were far better than these. They COM
pare present day morals and manners with
the past, and insist that things are worse
now. and getting still worse. One Of the
signs that a man is growing old Is his ten
dency TO take doleful views. The prophets
of the Bible were men of optimistic out
look.
''There is much need for us all to read
over these Ok Testament chapters, espe-
clally those in Isaiah. when we grow dis
outraged with the apparently slow prog
ress of better conditions. The progress of
civilization is spiral, sometimes the move
ment seems TO be backwards, but all the
time II is onward and upward"
The minister gave several illustrations of
the upward trend Of morals.
Nevertheless" said he, 1--WE hear good
people praying for a great revival. Some
are asking why we see such great awak-
ening as at Pentecost, which is much Ike
the Jews who kept looking for their long
expected Messiah, when He was already
among them.
1T seems to me we are now experiencing
in this nation of ours n mighty revival In
the best sense of that term, not in mass
meetings and religious street parades and
people joining the churches in droves, but
in a deep stirring up of the public con-
science. a widespread return to the old
fashioned virtues Of honesty and justice
and fairness in business transactions, in
unselfish relief of the sufferings of the
poor, In providing refugees for the afflicted,
in generous giving to free libraries, and in
caring for the aged, and in various philan-
thropies which place their sheltering arms
around even the dumb animals.
And surely, we are seeing such a shak-
ing up in matters of civic and commercial
righteousness as we have never witnessed
before. Big corporations that we once
thought too colossal to be caught In the
leash of the law are now brought undo
the whip of justice. Our railroads, really
our servants. had become imperious,
doing out special favors to one and not
to mother. are now brought to book and
promising to be good, that is, just and fair
to all.
"An octopus oil corporation, for years a
menace to legitimate business, has been
brought trembling to the bar Of Justice.
A dishonest Mayor and rich bribetaker
and other rich bribegivers have already
gone to Jail. Most significant of all, can
didates for office in most States run on
the open platform of righteousness In the
administration of public affairs. Rebates
have been stopped, all people paying alike
on the railroads, meat packing establish
ments have been cleaned up, adulterated
food put under legal ban, and medical
preparations must have the amount of al
cohol and other poisons they contain print
ed on their labels. The whole business
world may be said to be regenerated."
DR.. Martin predicted a day not distant
when America would be the land of no
saloons.