The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-04-03
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. JOHN 2. CARSON.
Subject: Signs of Progress.

gress." The text was from Chron-
icles 1892: Men that had under
standing of the times. Here are
some of the things he said
Any student of our age will find in
existing conditions much that wars
against truth and righteousness and
honor, and that threatens manhood
and the social order In the political
world there is corruption. Votes are
sold 10 the highest bidder from the
Senate 10 the ward caucus; men,
whose only creed is greed, whose only
! patriotism is pelf, band themselves
together TO control political situa-
tons; certain public officials are
growing rich on harvests reaped from
the black fields of vice and crime. In
the commercial world there is dis
honesty. For personal gain of wealth
or power men sacrifice principle, COM
/ promise conscience, become reckless
operators, unscrupulous gamblers,
! bandits of banking. highwaymen OF
finance. In the industrial world there
Is unfairness and injustice. Corpora
tions ignore the Interest of and op-
press their workmen, crush competi-
tion, defraud the people; working
men band themselves together 10
:.
men 10 work except on terms fixed by
a union, limit apprentices and so deny
young men their rights, enforce their
demands by violence, pay homage to
criminal leadership. In the social
world there are wrongs. The rich
/ domineer in their swollen pride and
fiount their eXtravagances in the face
of the poor; the poor sin and suffer.
because herded in poverty and
squalor. In all our life is the spirit
of unrest and discomfort Safety
and languid weariness in parlor and
salon, suffering and signing in work
shop and in tenement.
If YOU tell me that there are un-
scrupulous men who operate schemes
OF high finance, | would remind you
that the sentiment OF the day is so
strong that many OF these men find it
convenient TO seek homes in other
| lands. If YOU tell me that there is
corporate theft and labor intolerance,
! would remind You that, as never
; before there is a demand for the play
! OF justice and equity in all relations
, If YOU tell me that the rich are def
/ antly eXtravagant and that the pow
/ erty OF the poor is appalling, | would
remind YOU that there never has been
time when the moLey OF the rich
was so readily at the services of the
people as IL is to-day through schools.
colleges, libraries, homes, hospitals
and innumerable agencies and institu-
tions; and when YOU call my atten-
tion TO the condition Of the sub
merged, | would remind you OF the
time when most people were slaves,
and | would challenge your thought
! to the fact that there never has been
a time when the middle class was so
well off as it is to-day. If YOU call
my attention TO the deplorable hous-
ing of the East Side poor, | will call
/ to your mind the report OF the Mis-
sionary Society for the Poor of New
/ York, issued in 1917, which deplored
the existence of small houses, each
! crowded with from four TO twelve
! families, often two and three families
living in room, and "of all colors. +"
| If YOU tell me OF the saloons and
brothels that are running manhood
and ruling in politics, patronized and
| protected by political influence, will
remind YOU that when the population
of New York was 900 there were
1889 licensed retail liquor dealers
and not less than 5000 abandoned
females added TO the vice and shame.
OF course, there is more actual sin
and shame in a city of four millions
! OF people than there was in city Of a
| hundred thousand, but ! am per-
suaded that an honest study OF condi-
tions will disclose that New York City
is proPortionately better to-day than
1t was hundred years ago. There
are dark, deadly things an our condi-
| ha.t h.
| ical standard is higher than it ever
was, and our black things appear all
| the blacker because they are viewed
in the light of a whittier background
| There are gigantic evils in our life.
but a gigantic battle is being waged
| against them. The struggle is bitter.
! but there are signs that ii iS not fruit
! less. The throes OF to-day are the
birth pangs of better tomorrow
The light of that tomorrow begins to
dawn. Its sun is piercing the dark
ness. The east is aglow The CLEANS
OF new radiance begin TO illumine
| the horizon.
First, | call your attention 10 the
! demand for the play OF righteousness
In all our life-political, social and
! commercial. There is a new and
wide ethical awakening in all our
| land. Never has the demand been
so insistent that men shall be honest
in the administration OF sacred trusts
| committed to them. And the great
| majority Of our financiers are nobly
meeting that command We are liv-
ing in a period OF investigation and
! criticism. II is well. 10 Is a health
full tone, II men are sane enough to
discriminate. But men are not al
ways that sane. In the presence OF
| these Investigations suspicion creeps
into the mind and men are tempted
TO think that all men are dishonest
because some men have been proved
thieves and robbers. IL IL a fatal mis-
take. ! am persuaded that there is
, more honest fiber in the life OF to-day
than there ever has been The very
Investigations which are being con
Quoted to-day are evidence OF a finer
and higher ethical sense than has
heretofore existed.
Second. call your attention 10 the
demand for the abolition OF such prac-