The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1908-01-03
The Mouthings of a
Ministerial Fathead

Jennings, manifest almost unbeliev
able ignorance on that question.
Rev. DR.. Jennings declares with
pious look of horror that he could
tell things right here in this book con-
cern" that would open your eyes,"
Horrible! And why doesn't he tell?
| Why doesn't he tell that he rated"
that big publishing concern because
the printers asked for an eight hour
day and decent wages?
+; This pious aristocrat on fat sal
| airy that men whom he denounced
help to pay, defends his stand against
the shorter work day and the Satur-
day half holiday by declaring that
the men benefited by these shorter
hours spend all the more time in the
saloons. Rev. Dr. Jennings bears
false witness. But even if he told the
truth-what of it? Would he make
men get up SO early in the morning
and work SO late at night for paltry
wage that they couldn't visit any
where. even if they had the disposi-
ton to do so? The Jennings argu-
ment has been overthrown time and
again by investigation.
| We deprecate the fact that so much
wage is spent in the saloons by work
ingmen, but the fact that this is the
case is no argument against the short
er workday or decent wages. BY the
same line of reasoning, and judging
by recent happenings within a few
miles of Lincoln-in which happen
ings a minister of Rev. DR.. jennings
| faith was mixed-it would be well to
protect Methodist ministers from the
results of their own folly by certain
procedure made popular several years
ago in Falls City, Nebraska.
"The wage question has been
crowded to the limit says Rev. DR..
Jennings. eff this thing keeps on
much longer the breaking point will
be reached"
And mind you. the man who made
this startling statement draws a sal
airy ten times larger than the annual
wage earned by the average mechanic
in the United States. His employ
ment is steady, his wage assured, his
| expenses paid, palatial Office room fur
nished him, fed on the fat of the land
by admiring constituents, clad in
broadcloth, travelling in Pullman
sleepers, petted and feted wherever
he goes-this is the ministerial gen.
~ in crr,lo n,
who averages less than $500 a year
that he has crowded the wage ques-
ton to the limit"
1T is the whisky bill that the
workingman pays that is his ruina-
tion," says Rev. DR.. Jennings.
1t must be admitted that the liquor
bill of the American workingmen is
big-too big. But that isn't what is
hurting him most. Trust extortion,
wage slavery, all the things which the
fear of alternating support by antagon-
izing the trust magnates in the pews-
that Is what hurts the American work
ingman most Of all.
tCN. LII. CCAuiA6S lAuuuSIS dS3dkuSL
the liquor traffic from pulpit and
through press. Ever hear him, or the
average city preacher, thunder
against child labor? Ever hear them
thunder against the sweat shops?
Ever hear them thunder against the
fat, prosperous pewholders out in
front who contribute so largely to
the support of the church in gold
coined from the blood and sweat and
tears of helpless chilnren. burdened
widows and hopeless men? Ever hear
them laundering thou art the man"
and telling the plain truth about busi-
ness corruption?
|, Not they.
Because the men employed in the
Methodist Book Concern, of which
Rev. DR.. Jennings is the we'll paid
, head, this professed preacher of the
doctrine OF the loving and gentle Car
penter OF Nazareth denounces work
ingmen as drunkards because they pre-
, fer other places than the church
whose most prominent preachers de-
nounce them. Because the men and
women in his employ asked for an
, eight hour day and decent wages he
, denounces organized labor says they
/ have crowded the wage question to
, the limit" and accuses them-all of
them-of spending the hours thus Sc
: cured for their own in the saloons.
Rev. DR.. Jennings, well paid and
well fed head of the great Methonist
| Book Concern, is one Of those gentle
flowing humble followers, of the Naz