Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-07-11
TIL, Bishops, TRUMPET Call.

Tho Bishops Trumpet Call.
From the Philadelphia North American.
There are some people In his coun-
try who believe the Tory lie that the
industrial and social unrest in this
country is the result OF agitation by
what they describe as d~emagogues and
yellow wspaper The high and
mighty attitude of the r%eactionary Is
that the people do not know what is
good for themselves; that they do not
know when they are we'll Off.
The Tory belief is that this nation.
It's government. it's courts. its ommer-
cial welfare, its industries and its social
conditions should be regulated by the
desires and opinions of n few select
souls. who, put of their great bounty,
will see to 1t that the common people
will not Starve to death.
To the Tory mind. the constitution
OF the United States and the cOnstitu-
tions of the several states were formed
to prevent popular rule. rather than to
promote 1t. The system of checks n
balances. about which the Tories talk.
means to them a system which Will
check the desires OF the people and
of the select few. These, through the
force of aggregate wealth. shall be the
real influence In the government.
The Tories fout the Idea Of popular
primaries. because under the old sys-
tenn the select few named the candt-
dates for the people to vote for. The
people merely elect those that their
masters put up for them to elect.
IL is the select governing class who
denounce the deliberate judgment of
the people exercised In orderly election
as the gusty passions OF the mob"
The real alarm nf the Tories iS not
that the people will gain political con-
troll itself. but that through political
control they will regulate the economic
and Industrial affairs of the nation. SO
that the select few will no longer be in
a position to prey upon the many.
This power TO prey upon he many
is what is described as special privil-
& 1t is What has caused the social
and industrial unrest. The
and the political leaders who have
voiced that unrest have been but mere
instruments Of expression.
but the people nave no real griev-
ances." say the Tories. 1.-The people
are deluded. The demagogues and the
yellow journals deceive them for their
own base purposes"
We ask what base purpose was
served in the publication OF the follow
ing: ,
w live in an age in which the vast
enterprises essential to the progress OF
SIC WIN ISIOiIc lie dSSOCIdtlOu OI
men Of large means under corporate
management. Out of this necessity
have grown serious wrongs and con-
sequent resistance.
"Organized capital stands indicted at
the bar of public Judgment for the
gravest crimes against the common
welfare. Among the counts in that in
dictment are such as these:
Il. Conspiring to advance prices on
the staple commodities Indispensable
Aa So lE- ,-11 a.
the people.
foods. fabrics and materials in order to
increase profits already excessive.
.. Destroying the competition in
trade through which relief might be
expected under normal conditions.
"A. Suborning legislation, and thus
robbing the people of the first orderly
recourse of the weak against the strong.
These are sins against humanity. If
Coo hates any sin above another. it
must be the robbery OF the poor and
defenseless. Otherwise his love fails
when 1T is most needed and might find
it's largest opportunity. There is no
betrayal more base than that which
uses the hospitality of a house to plum
der its inmates. unless it be that form
of treason which SO erverts the pur-
pose n machinery of popular govern
iment as to turn its power against the
people who trust and supper 1t. This
is NOT saying that all corporations deal
treacherously with the people. There
are honorable exceptions. But enough
is known of the heartless greed that
fattens off of the h~unger-driven mil
lions to warrant the strongest protec-
tive associations on the part of the peo-
pie"
Who was the ~demagogue who put
forth this stirring appeal? In what
yellow publication did 1t find a medium
to the popular mind?
Let us tell our Tory friends. The
passage which we have quoted is an
excert from the q%uadrennial address Of
the board OF bishops of the Methodist
Episcopal church.
From its inception. the Methodist
church has been peculiarly a church Of
the masses. No other church has en-
tered more deeply into the life of the
American people. No other church
knows the social conditions of the aver
9 family more intimately.
Its entire board of venerable bishops
cannot be indicted as emagogues.
They cannot be stigmatized as n
tionalists. not even by the united clam.
or OF all the drabs in the pay OF tory.
ism.
In sounding the call for social and
economic Justice the Methodist church
has done for the American people one
OF the greatest services in its great
career. And In lining the church uD
with the forces that are lighting the
peoples battle against the tyranny OF
m00Sp6 mnnov tho h1Shnnc hove S>->