Norwich bulletin., 1911-11-02
FIRST SHOP MEETING
 UNDER Y M C. A. AUSPICES.
Address by Rev. C. H. Ricketts at
 McCrum- Howell Co.'S Plant.

At the AfcCrum- Howell plant on Wednesday, between 12-S5 and 12.55, noon. a shop meeting attended by 150 men was conducted under the au- spices of the Y. M. C. A., and at Its conclusion those in the audience voted una nimouSly in favor of having the
 '. M. C. A. conduct one of these every week. Another one will consequently
 be conducted at the same hour next Wednesday, with the same speaker and musicians appearing.
 The meeting was held in the foundry. Mrs. Louis O. Potter sang two num- bers in fine form. with Miss Elizabeth Grove as accompanist. The brief talk was by Rev. C. II. Ricketts on The Greatest Union in the World, applying this to the brotherhood of man.
 This topic. ne said. has merit in it, being live subject, born in an up- to- ca te atmosphere and filled with up- to- date suggestions The tendency to get together is becoming universal and now. all sorts of combinations are fouYfd throughout the world which would have been considered the wild est kind Of dreams fifty years a2o. Industrial plants have grown up all would have been staggering to our an cestors-
 Referring to visit to the plant of the Gener4I Electric company, he said he was most impressed when he saw the 17.5G0 employees leave the 149 workshops of the company and scatter to their homes. being a seething mass in the broad avenue of about a mile in length. Outside the gates steam cars and trolleys were waiting to take them to Albany. Troy and other nearby cities and towns. Somehow l felt strangely drawn to that great mass of humanity. I felt that I belonged to them. and they to me. That crowd stood represents of the biggest union in the world, that of the Human. Brotherhood. Of course the individ- 11Qf They represented many nationalities, sTOke many languages. and their views and aims were diverse as their personalities Among them were the good and tho bad. the strong -a the weak the prosperous and tie thrift less. differences that you will find in any treat crowd. Still could not hslD feeling that these were shallow dis invisible power that had welded them into one common human oneness. The things that brought them into com mon brotherhood were more numerous and potential than those things that separated them into individual units. They had To struggle against the oD- st2cles that all men are up against every day. Tn these days of expensive living they all had to plan how 10 feed. cIothe and decently educate the children they had begotten. They all had to devise ways and means not to exist as vassals in the dark ages but
 
 the twentieth century civilization. And they are beginning to see. all of them. that they must not sleep if they are to enjoy to the full the political rights that are guaranteed to them in the of the United States And they are beginning to see. all of them. that there must be a mighty struggle against what is worst in their natures 1T they are even to approach the moral and spiritual ideals to which they all have access. These are sor~o of the things that make men one in the eX- al+ed sense of brotherhood There are other things that belong to men in that tend to make this the biggest union in the world. All men are equally liable to tho common acci- dents of life. If brought under the same the various machines that men run would as quickly kill or maim the poorest tramp. There is no re- specter of persons here. Cut into the veins of any one or every one of those 17,500 mon and women I saw last sum mer- and in every case you would strike warm. red blood, which under the strictest chemical analysis. would reveal absolutely the same qualities. Where is there q human spirit any where on Gods broad enrth who does not suffer or has suffered pain 2 Point to me a singie human being now living who is not liable to injury, Has the being ever lived who was immune from any of the calamities of which the earth is full2 Strip from the hu- man soul all The artificial things bv which society distinguishes op@ human heinz from another and what have we? Simply one man just the same as any other man in the sight of God. in whose image all men are created: the same in general appearance and functional activities; the same as subject 10 sick ness and sorrow, struggling and dvins. Put the begsar's tears into retort and