Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1915-05-18
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT
AND SIN OF AMERICA
Gold Dominates and DemOralizes
the Industries and Commerce
of the Christian Land.
A FIENDISH ADVERTISEMENT.
Time for Christians to Act Upon the
Belief That Capitalism is Ripen-
ing to It's Own Destruction.

taking Tor his text the striking
words OF Zephaniah, SIS. ct the even
ing service at ST. Anne's Chapel sun
day evening. the assistant to the Rec
tor. the Rev. James L. Smiley. spoke in
part as follows:
This Sunday we are praying for
the great cause OF Christian Unity.
We must also work for it, and there
no better way conceivable to accom-
plish unity than to give forces in saw
ing the whole world II a man falls
among thieves and two men who had
been mutually estranged go stimuli
aneously to his rescue. the very act
Of joining their efforts to save the vic
tim. will draw them together by the
bonds of human sympathy So when
Christians Of every name join their
forces in rescuing this fallen and
bleeding world, they will be brought
together in a practical way that will.
perhaps, unite them forever.
Last Sunday we were speaking of
the crimes Of the European nations;
not merely their savagery in the war
fare, but their cruelties in the exploi-
tation Of their colonists in Africa and
elsewhere. We reverently suggested
the strong probability that the present
war was Gods judgment upon the in
justice of those erring nations.
To-day we turn the searchlight
upon our own country It is no lack
of patriotism to point out the sins Of
our native land True friendship will
point to faults for the sake of correct
ing them. Therefore we must scru-
tinize our own national conduct, lest
we. too, go on blindly in sin and merit
the Judgment of an offended God.
1--WE have not far to look TO dis
cover that Americans, like Europeans,
exloit their colonists in the mad rush
for money. The war in the Philip
pines was attended with excessive tar
III duties that doubled the cost ol liv-
ing to those much-ahlicted people.
Our gross injustice to the American
Indians is matter Of authentic his
tory And today the white man, as
Archdeacon Stuck informs us,is bring
ing into Alaska the curses" of civili-
cation which break down the morals
and physical health of the natives fast
er than the missionary can build them
up.
What is the real cause of all this?
It is the same which cursed Europe,
and involved those nations in this
frightful war. Likewise it is the same
which is cursing us and threatens us
with war. You may call it "compe-
tition," the profit System" Capital
ISM" or the religion of the god
Mammon.
Men love money so devotedy that
they have actually produced an indus
trial and commercial system, which
methodically robs the working class
and produces, as by-products, child la
Dor, the white slave traffic, involun-
tary unemployment, infant mortality
and host Of other ills. A noble effort
is being made to ameliorate the condi-
tons of the millions of victims, but ii
is an endless task. This week the Ma
tionalConference Of Charities and Cor
rection is meeting in Baltimore to dis
cuss ways and means Of social better
ment, but the more sincere thinkers
among them must know that the fund
amental difficulty is economic inius-
tice, and that we cannot have a really
Christian nation until we stop syste-
matically robbing the working class.
This is a severe indictment, so We
shall hasten to prove it. At least four
strong proofs are available. l.. The
fact that labor IS virtually sold at auc-
ton Men compete with other men
women or children for their means OF
living.and thus the employing class
buy them cheap This is robbery
more contemplate than that pracptic-
ed by the highwayn1an. because the lat
ter does not claim the protection 81
Law 2. The agitation for minimun-
laws is an open confession that the
worker is robbed, and it aims to les.
sen the degree Of robbery. 9. Moneyed
men can live in absolute idleuess
They produce nothing and yet, ike
Dives. they live in the highest degree
Of luxury. Any deep thinker could sec
that what the idle rich consume il
necessarily taken from the PRODUCING
class. st. Paul denounced this class
when he declared He that will no
work, shall not eat The idle able
bodied man who refuses to work a
some productive employment is a THE
and robber, and the system which up
holds him Is Christian. 4. Perhap.
the strongest OF all proofs that CAPT.
talism is robbery, is the palpable fac
that the producing class cannot bur
back the equivalent Of what they pro