The wageworker., 1909-10-16
Church and Union Should
Work Hand in Hand

I = AOAxxNx HI i xoxxu
ing dividends on watered stock. The
railroad men and most of the great
industrial forces of the United States
have been unionized to the vast bene
fit of the laborer without any CORE
spending loss to his employer The
riots are largely the work of the law
less element which abounds in cities
Even if strikes are accompanied by
riots, the union, in the end, leads to
industrial peace and the common
good; just as the Reign of Terror,
with all its horrors, destroyed sys-
tenn under which the poor of France
had rotted for thousand years.
AS strikers they are not even given
the rights promised them by the CON
stitutio1s Of the state and nation. A.
peaceable assembly, being addressed
by Congregational minister, meet
ing on private lot, was recently
forcibly dispersed by the sheriff and
chief of police.
Which side had your sympathy on
the start? Which side is entrenching
itself firmly in your opinion every
day? Labor or capital? It is a more
important question than perhaps you
think, for, upon the equilibrium of the
answers depends the success or failure
of these parties in Omaha It is hard
to win or lose a strike against the
pressure of public opinion Probably
that is no more than asking to what
class you belong, but are you sure that
your class opinion is right?
What side should the press take?
OF course the advocates of special
privilege will have no hesitancy in de-
ciding- They have already spoken.
But how about the progressive press,
those who claim to be fighting for the
common good? Have they any sympa-
! thy to offer?
| And the church? Is the church in
terested in this question? Call Mr.
Wilson, president of Princeton uniyer-
sity, to the stand for moment:
@. What, in your view, is the mis-
sion of the Christian church ?'
| A. .tTo my thinking, the Christian
church stands at the center not only
of philanthrophy, but at the center of
education, at the center of science, at
the center of philosophy, at the center
Of politics.; in short, at the center Of
sentiment and thinking life. And the
business of the Christian church, of
the Christian minister, is to show the
spiritual relations of men to the great
world processes, whether they be
physical or spiritual. It is nothing
less than to show the plan of life and
mems relation to the plan of life.''
Has that church, founded by car
penter, who gave to the ambassador
of John the Baptist this proof of His
, divinity, that he brought good news
to the poor, any especial sympathy
! for either side?
It would be especially interesting
J for me to know what that particular
, branch of the church universal which
, claims as a minister the man who was
|, driven from the rostrum at Omaha by
the sheriff and the chief of police, has
] to say upon this question. / confess
with shame that there is no more ser
J vile apOlogist for the vested interests
, than it's official organ, which recently
: deliberately decided that the New
1 Testament was mistaken and that ex
treme wealth is favorable to Godli
ness. l know that union labor re
CARDS this church and all churches as
the bulwark of it's enemies. But, from
, the days of Cromwell, this church has
always boasted that it stood for the
I ESecty of the oppressed. If there has
been a partial eclipse perhaps the
J shade is passing. On which side does
the sympathies of the Congregational
church naturally fall?
!, OF course there are plenty of wrongs
and rights on both sides. This is no
] attempt to poise the balance of jus
tice. But hundreds will rush to the
} defense of Mr.. Wattles and his asso-
ciates. Who is willing to extend a
hand in sympathy to the man that
| works Newman Grove, Nebr, Re
porter