Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-07
SAYS WHISKY is
.LABOR'S NEMESIS
DR.. LOCKE DISCUSSES ECO
NOMIC QUESTIONS
DECLARES DISSIPATION VEXES
WoRKMAN'S CONDITIONS
Clergyman Urges That Solution OF
Social Problem Depends on
Moral Regeneration of
the Masses

1.-THE rich and the poor are alike
cursed" said DIR. Charles Edward
Locke of the First Methodist church
last evening in the first of series of
sermons on 1.-THE Man with the Hoe"
"Vice is ga conspicuous factor in all
social problems. If all inebriety and
impurity could be stopped the nara
problems of social reform would be
nearly solved. Certain it is that dlssl-
patton greatly vexes the condition OF
the laboring classes. And 1t cannot be
denied that in many quarters the labor
problem is the whisky problem. A
brother clergyman says that he saw
a body of workingInen $4,000 strong
carrying through the streets of Chica-
go a banner inscribed with the words,
Our children cry for bread and they
marched to picnic and drank 400
kegs of beer"
DR.. Locke discussed social problems
from the religious point of view, urg-
ing that their solution depends on the
moral regeneration of the masses. He
spoke in part as follows:
1.-The paramount questions of the day
relate to the social conditions of men.
Jesus is the solution of these vexed
problems. Carlyle somewhat sarcas-
tically but with much discrimination
once said, All men are divided into
workingmen, beggermen and thieves
Mote first of all the dignity, honor,
sacredness and privilege of work. Work
is not a curse, but blessing; by It
man is to subdue the earth. The hoe
and the pen and the sword have been
the great instruments of civilization,
and there shall some day be but two,
for the sword shall be beaten into
plowshare; yes, the hoe and the pen
will more speedily achieve the subju-
cation of the earth. The man with the
hoe is the producer; he is a benefactor,
Greater, a partner of God. 1t is the
idle man without a hoe who is to be
pitied.
Christ a Workineman
Jesus Christ was himself working
man and is the workingman's truest
and most sympathetic friend. He said,
My Father worketh hitherto and I
work When the workingman forsakes
Christ he deprives himself of his best
friend. Much is being said in these
days about the wage earner's aversion
to the church. and much injustice is
being done both to the workingman and
to the church There are doubtlessly
tmo important reasons for any es-
arrangement which may exist. For the
first the church is responsible, and vet
is
charged against the church is positively
false and vicious. I do not deny that
church organizations may be found
where toilers are not invited, and where
class distinctions are always apparent,
but to call such societies churches is a
misnomer-they are exclusive social
clubs, and neither in spirit, in teaching
or in work can be classed as churches
of the living God. And it may have
been true years ago, before these sub
jects were agitateds that some churches
allowed breaches to widen between
them and the poor but it cannot be
successfully contradicted that all over
this land today it is the rule and not
the exception that the churches of
Christ are anxiously laboring to reach
the masses.
The. other reason why more work.
lngmen do not attend church lies with
the toilers themselves. 1t is the same
reason why people of anv work and
place in life are Indifferent to their
church obligations; I mean sin, sin in
its many phases. The Nazarene car
penter had these enemies of mans re-
l1g1ous nature in his thought when he
affectionately invited those tired foil
ers to come to him and find rest to their
souls.