Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-11-29


liz kskN proclamations from the pres
lE ~ ident down have been duly
IL %9M read, and in various ways OBJ
e7fsz served. From one end of the
land to the other, in quiet
country church or in great city catne-
dral, people have gathered to rendef
Thanksgiving unto God, the generous
giver of all. The annual day of FEAST
ing and rejoicing has been spent much
as others In days gone by. Again the
people have been told of the growth OF
the population, of how many mlllons
of acres we have, how many miles OF
railroad, how many smoking factories,
how many barrels of oil and carloads
of wheat have been produced, now
many millions OF dollars in gold and
silver, in copper and coal and iron ana
the rest have been dug from the bow
els of the earth. Everywhere have we
been reminded of the nations material
prosperity and our great causes to be
thankful for these blessings.
And 1t is pretty safe to say that with
the average human being these ma
terial blessings are considered very Mt
ting things to be thankful for, II is
difficult, to say the least, to manifest
any vast amount of spontaneous graft
tude when there is little or no food in
the 1arder, no money with which TO pay
the rent overdue, and no means with
cine when there is sickness of some
loved one in the home. And gratitude
for the bright family growing UP is
Weakened little If there Is next to
nothing with which to give them the
education for which they crave. These
may be very mundane considerations,
but they come pretty close to where
good many millions of people are living
for q few years at least.
60 fhncaa Ff1pfdFi0i
blessings are diffused has there been
one true, honest note in all this thanks
giving. 1t is sometimes said. to be
sure, that material blessings do not
amount to much when compared with
spiritual favors, and that freedom to
worship God as our consciences dictate
ought to make us supremely happy,
whether we possess many material
blessings or not. Earthly possessions,
we are told, burden and fetter the soul,
but we have noticed many times that
those who appear to worship God most
devoutly are often possessors of many
earthly encum brances and neither seem
to feel that they are handicapped in
their devotions nor especially DESTROYS
of Kidding themselves of those things
which are so many times said to re-
tard the spiritual progress. Very few
initiate st. Francis of Assist, and di-
vest themselves of their worldly pos
sessions that they may better enjoy
spiritual communion with their Gre
ator. While we do not believe that a
more perfect distribution of material
blessings and comforts would immedi-
ately bring about the millennium, we
have an idea that 1t would add spon-
taneity to the thanksgiving of many.
There have been times when we have
wondered If a great deal OF this So
called thanksgiving to God some
where up in heaven is not a cheap way
of paying our debts to our fellowmen.
Is it possible for q really selfish man
to be thankful Can a human being
supremacy absorbed in the business of
looking out for number one" know
the 10y of gratitude? Can praise to
God in splendid temple and synagogue,
or prayers waited to heaven on sweet
smelling incense, or throngs Of wor-
shippers clad in silks and satins, or
glorious anthems of alteration be genu-
inc II we forget the cry Of the poor
and needy, IL we pass by and leave the
slums on the other side, and take no
steps to remedy the wrongs which fes-
ter all about US? If the Hebrew proph-
cts knew what they were talking about
the one thing that God could not en-
dure was alteration and pretended sac
rifices from a people who had no love
for the weak and the needy. ITO what
purpose is the multitude of your sacri-
fees unto me, saith the Lord. I am
full of burnt offerings of rams. I de-
light not in the blood of bullocks or
of lambs or of he goats. Bring no
more oblations. Incense is an abomi-
nation to me. Your new moons and
your appointed feasts my soul hateth.
When We say many prayers I will not
hear them; your hands are full of
blood. Wash you, make you clean; put
away the evil of your doings from be-
fore mine eyes; cease to do evil, learn
to do we'll; seek judgment. relieve the
oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead
for the widow" says the great prophet
Isaiah, and John clearly taught that
the man who pretends to love God and
does not love his fellowman is liar.
What we need in this land today to
make our religion real and vital and
to cause our thanksgivings to rise like
a mighty anthem to the very throne OF
God and bring back his smile, is a
sense of responsibility to those who
suffer- a feeling of helpful sympathy
with those in need or sorrow, and a
sincere desire to assist them to bear
their burdens.
In our thanksgiving to God let us
remember what we owe to our Fellow
men who toll and die for us. I want
to protest against the vast and horrt-
BILE toll in human life which Is con-
stantly being paid to the mighty me-
chanicai and Industrial mechanism of
the day. Think for a moment OF the
thousands of brave men manned and
killed every year on our railroads, num-
bering in some cases more than 10000
every twelve months; remember the
hundreds who are every year smoth-
cred, crushed or buried in our great
mines, while digging metals for the en-
richment OF their fellows; consider the
vast numbers who lose life or limb
in our great factories, or whose lives
are more slowly sacrificed as the result
of improper conditions in warehouse
and factory; call to mind the army of
brave men who every year offer their
lives on the altar of the worlds ad-
vancement as structural iron workers,
because there were no adequate safety
precautions; take into consideration the
appalling fact that a round half mill
lion of men and women, boys and girls
annually surrender life or limb for the
enriching of their fellows, and tell me
If We have any right to talk about
thanksgiving to God until we have done
two things for these heroes: first, re-
move forever to the fullest extent of
our national resource all possibilities of
these terrible and painful casualties,
and, second, when they do occur, share
to the last possible limit the loss, suf-
ferlng and burden entailed. When we
have done this, then we may with