Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-15
The Way to The Gross.

Mir Editor: Daniel Webster once said that the greatest thought he ever entertained was that of his individual responsibility to God. That is enough 1 to solemnize the greatest mind. Let us remember, that, while we should 1 love God with our whole heart. we should also love our neighbor as our selves. The two greatest thoughts l for the human mind are responsibility l to God and fe1lowmen. The condi- tions that exist today are direct vii olation of the Gospel of Love. While humankind in Europe staggers along I with their cross of blood, humanity in America stunables along bearing the cross of commercial duplicity, a new definition of murder. However we may look at the situation. we may be sure that we are a long way from the l.pronlised land of industrial content and happiness that surely is desired by all; a long way from the promised land that might be ours were 1t not l that some devoted thing lies hidden in the temples If our prosperity: so call ed: some devoted thing that is as | much a hindrance to our progress to- 1 canaan's fair and pleasant land: as was that which Achan hid in his tent. We may well Say today. "why Gost thou trouble us or. we art thou I of our modern civilization makes this l a complex question. No man; no set of men; with 8 good conscience can take the products of modern civiiiza- sponsible for. the conditions under which they are produced. The social conscience of the twentieth century says they cannot; and the social con- science Of the twentieth century has its source and abiding inspiration in the gospel of our Lord. Commer- cial duplicity an instrument of greed has involved many men. in murder to- only weapons used were the bow and arrow and tomahawk. many years ago. Conspiracies in restraint of eating are found on every hand. such as ade- quate food supply at a premium.
 manipulating the markets, holding enormous tons of ed!bles and fuel in storage, and exporting provisions which the American people immediate ly require to foreign countries; greed has created a false famine in a land of plenty, thereby, brazendy defying the law of humanity. and the law of the land. Avaricious schemes have neutraIized the most prodigious op- portunity for general prosperity that the United States ever had As wages advanced. basic necessities were advanced to absorb the difference in the pay envelope. Without charity or discretion. they loot the tenement and the 1aborer's pail. Governmental crop reports and Investigations of others the continent over hurls back the lie that there have been such national shortages as to justify current quo- | tations. Another link in the chain is to charge all the traffic will hear. They exact illicit toll from every dom | icile. If they were Robin Hoods de- predating the well-to-do it would be bad enough. hut it appears pov erty's penny is as precious to their Shylock souls Dives dollar. No conmodity chas escaped their usury. The martE of the land have been driven into a cor ner, and now they have cornereG the people. What power can smash this
 l menace that is poison to the very soul of the nation? will the offering
 of the dinner plate and the robbing
 of the coal bin continue? What has the worker. unable to subsist upon the maximum wage. to say? The em-
 | ployer, already paying the most that
 his enterprise will stand. state and federal workers whose salaries are fix ter times. now have little for funda- | mental decencies; professional folk
 l harassei by unbearable bigger house
 ] hold budgets. and on the other hand.
 put off by their debtors because they l cannot settle with the butcher. the
 baker, and candle-stick maker, doc
 tor and apothecary. old people with 1 limited principals hoarded for inac- 1 tive years, widows and spinisters, de-
 pendent upon minimum fixed incomes, | the grower forced to accept your ar
 | bitfary purchasing terms, or have his | products go to waste. and the retail | CT threatened by bankruptcy, because 1 impossible exactions leave him with the slenderest of margins. What have they to say? Trade is upset from sea
 to sea. cur entire programme is in a | tangie. The spirit of discortent l stalks the by,Na,ys of fife. while a mis- chievous cor F,ined clique ere fatten-