The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1912-05-08
GETTING TOGETHER

| Mr.. Winston Churchill the novelist,
| writing in the January number of the
Atlantic Monthly under the title
Modern Government and Christian
| ity," put forward striking fnterpre-
! tation of the course of history since
| the reformation and of the signEi-
canoe of the present confused move
ment in politics. In his opinion the
! conception of divine and human re-
! lations, which is the heart of the
| Christian religion, is working down to
the roots of the social and political
| relations of men and women, and
| what we are now seeing Is genuine
religious movement. The waters are
| being stirred by an angel, and not by
/ an agitator Mr.. Churchill is right.
! The movement of today I'm public af-
| fairs is not Fundamentally political,
/ not even fundamentally economic: 1t
is Fundamentally moral; in a very
true sense it is fundamentally re-
! ligious For a long time past the
mind of society has been opening to
a new idea of social justice; now its
heart is opening to a new passion for
Justice. 1t is impossible any longer to
deal with men and women simply as
factors in an economic system; 1t is
| impossible not to take into account
their conditions as men and women.
Society no longer thinks of itself as
an abstract organization, but as a liv-
ing and growing organization. And
1t is now beginning to understand that
justice is not an abstract principle,
but the only safe foundation on which
social and industrial organization can
rest. This movement is not destruct-
i've; ii is constructive in the truest
sense of the word.
1t is only an attempt to make social
and economic conditions conform to
the demands of the more sensitive
conscience of the world---it is also an
expression of the instinct for safety.
The old sources of authority are gone;
the divine right of kings Is a fiction
of the past; the rule of a selected
few, either oligarchy or aristocracy,
has faded into a social tradition. 1t
counts in society; it does not count in
! the larger world. The thunders of
the church fall on Indifferent ears;
the armies of the world are no longer
the blind instruments of tyranny. So
ciety rests for the first time on the
| moral ideals and discipline of it's
members TO this it was bound to
come under the law of evolution, and
here is its only real safety. The re-
ligious conception of life is the only
conception that will save society from
| some form of tyranny-social, indus
trual. individual or colective--from
the iron rule OF wealth. UNANIMOUSLY
used, or from the fury of mobs; from
organized graft on the part of bosses,
or from the despotism of unthinking
majorities. Under the forms of law,
with only incidental violence. this
great change in great affairs is TAX
ing place in all parts of the western
world. 1t Is a revival of religion
an attempt practically to apply
Christianity to the political and eco
nomic relations of men and women.
In the past, changes so fundamen-
tai have been called revolutions, and
have been accompanied with such
violence and hate that the word reyo-
lutionary has come to have a second
airy and disturbing meaning. But if
the principles Of religion are to be
applied in public affairs, the methods
of religion In securing those principles
ought also to be applied. Bitterness
and class hatred are out of date; they
| belong to an age when men could
not differ without destroying one an
| other. Enormous sacrifices have been
! made in order that society might
reach point of civilization at which
! great changes can be brought about
without brutality or wanton destruct-
iveness. The labor leaders who are
preaching class hatred are traitors to
the cause of labor; the capitalists who
are attempting to organize those who
control great industries as against a
! common enemy are traitors to their
! own cause. The great majority of
workingmen want only what lies well
within the right of a human being to
claim--a decent share in the prosper
ity they have helped to earn. An in
creasing number of men and women
of means are coming to recognize
their obligations to the society which
makes the acquisition of wealth pos
sible. There are many plutocrats
/ whose wealth represents not brains
and industry, but special favors from
the law and brutal disregard of the
rights of othe.'s; there are men hold
ing wealth honestly acquired who do
not read the signs of the times, and
who see, not a reorganization of So
/ ciety, but only the unrest of a class
! led by ambitious leaders. But there
| Is larger class of employers and of
: men and women of means who have a
/ deep sense of personal obligation 10
society and are eager to know what
TO do in order to make social justice
the rule of life; whse hearts and
! hands are busy in the service of the
!
not had fair chance; who are eager
/ to bind up the wounds of those who
have fallen by the roadside. In this
great movement no class Is wholly in
the wrong; no class has closed Its
mind to the appeal for social justice.
II is time for mutual forbearance and
co-operation; not a time for anger
1 and fear and denunciation either of
labor or capital. The day OF destruc-
| ton as a means of reform ought to
be past; it is high time for all classes
of people TO get together" The
railways are beginning to consult and
inform their passengers. Let the
manufacturers take their employees
into their confidence, and the labor
leaders urge their just claims and not
stir up class hatred. No one class is
to rule this country IN the future
the whole people are to rule it. If
they are to rule wisely they must