The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-11-23
TIMES OUR
OWN FAULT, SAYS
kEARNY PASTOR
Rev. R. S. Dawson Finds No
Reasonable Excuse for Year
of Depression.
STILL BLESSED ABOVE
ALL OTHER NATIONS
Should Organize Business and
Politics on Higher Plane
Than Self-Interest.

A sermon of thanksgiving was
preached before a big congregation in
Knox Presbyterian Church, Kearny,
yesterday, by the Rev. Roland 8. Daw-
son, pastor. He said in part:
1--WE are drawing neal the close of a
grumbling year. For twelve months
We have heard complaints from work.
ing men who were out of work: from
merchants whose business was poor;
from capitalists whose stocks had de-
preciated and whose accustomed .diyi-
dends had been omitted. Business has
Jagged, capital has hesitated, industry
has halted or moved at half time, and
the cry of hard times has been a gem
eral chorus.
And vet as we approach Thanks
giving two important facts are to be
noted. First, the hare times are our
own fault. They are not due to any
act of nature or natures God. Not
war, not famine nor pestilence has be-
set us. We have enjoyed peace with
all mankind. The crops of fruit and
grain were never richer. Nature vas
never more generous n beneficent.
The health rate is higher and the death
rate lower than eve before In our
history. The laws of life and hygiene
are better known and better followed
than at any other time.
"Our troubles grow directly from our
present crude and unjust system of
government and business. The govern
ment protects us from foreign agrees
sion, but not from domestic rapacity.
We nave tamefy subjected ourselves to
a financial feudalism which withholds
prosperity from the general public, just
as the insolent aristocracy Of an earlier
age denied liberty to h people.
1.-The principle that might makes
right still prevails in the business
world, as it once did in the social world.
Fabulous fortunes for the few and
pinching poverty for the a are not
only an evidence but a cause of hard
times. There is no natural, reasonable
or honorable excuse for the year of de-
preston through which we have passed.
We have not been fair and just our
selves, and We have not insisted on
fairness and Justice in others. Until
we organize business and politics on a
higher plane tina mere self-interest
we will inevitably be subject to similar
iClSC6 eo RNOPhO. 0AANo
and hard times will come again as
surely as they came this time. It Is up
to us, the people Of America, to set our
house in order and arrange a safer,
saner, sounder system Of business from
top to bottom, especially at the top,
or we shall be compelled to eat the
fruit of idleness and need again.
I'm the second place, we should note
that Notwithstanding all our difficulties
and disappointments we are better off
than any other nation. The wealth per
capita Is greater, the standard Of liv-
ing higher, the promise of h future
brighter than anywhere else on earth.
Other nations, too, are cursed by In
equality of justice and opportunity.
and most of them in far greater de-
gree. Nowhere has nature been more
varied and lavish in hor gifts.
I'VE are not all we ought to be; our
wounds are Of our own inflicting. We
suffer by u own neglect, but still we
hav more to be thankful for than any
other nation"