The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-02
CAPITAL AND LABOR, |DR, WH|TTEN'S TOPIC !ATST.JOHN'S CHURCH Boaz and the Reapers Fur nish Theme Made Appli-
 cable to Every Day
 Problems RELATIONS BETWEEN
 CAPITAL AND LABOR "Wealth and Labor Are Mutually and yitally Equal and Eternally In- terested In Each Other"
 Says Preacher

Methodist cEurcn pfeacneQ SpieHulu
 sermon yesterday morning on Capital
 and Laboi," taking his text from Ruth,
 ii:4, "Boaz said unto the reapers. 'Tne
 Lord be with you and the reapers an-
 swered him, The Lord bless thee
 The beautiful relations between capital
 and laoor were brought out in the ser
 mon in a forcibie manner.
 This is to my mind one of the pret
 tiest pictures ever drawn by a skilifui
 painter. Boaz,- the owner of a very large
 wheat farm, comes out to see how these
 splendid workers are reaping his wheat.
 He is no vain egost or proud aristocrat
 He, in a brotherly wa,. says to the men
 at work, 'The Lord bless thee'-four briet but loving words, pregnant with interest
 in and affection for the laboring men.
 And these splendid working men are jus.
 as big hearted and unselfish as then
 employer, and their reply is, The Lord
 bless thee?'
 .sWe see all parties in a good humor,
 their faces wreathed with smiles in place
 of frowns. This question of capital and @labor is ss old as I4aban and Jacob, ns
 Pharaoh and the Israeltes, as Moses and
 Jethro, as Boaz and his reapers. Labor
 is gigantic virtue, idreness is tremen-
 dous vice. Labor secures health, happi-
 ness and blessings untold. Likeness
 causes sickness, misery and curses. God worked when He made all things, and
 rest was good to Him because of work.
 'The sleep ot q laboring man is sweet .Cyrus, son Of Darius. the Persian
 King, showed Lysander, the great Lace demonian, his garden of his own plant ing and cultivation, in which he found great delight. Dionysius. the tyrani. found faule of his soup-'too black, ne said, whereupon he was told by his host. It lacks seasoning with labor, joined with hunger and thirst A little that & righteous mar hath is better than the riches of many wicked, says SolomoA who further says: Tn all labor there IS profit
 MONEY CAN BE USED .sIt has been said: Labor is not a Sin. and capital is not a crime. Dives was not daunted because he was rich, nor was Lazarus saved because he was po..' Dives rated Lazarus as wild dog-neVer saw his opportunity to make Lazaf us happy--was not good to him, spurned aud neglected him.
 And while money is not the hlghess ideal of life, yet it may be So used a s to make ideal livess The greatest thing in the eyes of Boaz, the capital ist was not his fine and splendid farm, hut the fine and splendid men and women who were his employees. Ana happy will it be for the whole world when capital shall regard labor m that light-when cordiality, Kindness and superb appreciation of each other shall be the memorable rule of con- duct on the part of labor and capi- tai. Both wealth and labor are mu- tually and vitally, equally and eter- nally interested in each other. Men of wealth may plant rolling mills, tit- naces, steel plans, coal mines and fac tories; but without workers all these are valuelesS.
 ITO illustrate the value of co opera ton, let me give you this story: Some time since little child estrayed off in a western wheat field and was lost. Her mother and some of the children ran wildly about in vain search Ter her She should not be found, But tue neighbors soon gathered, joined hands and marched through that vast field together After marching half mile with hand joined in hand, loud shout went up from one of the company which told that the. lost was found Capital is not independent, neither is labor And the golden rule is the only certain and positive rule by which both capital and labor are to be gov- erncQ. DO uHlV VtHSTo do yC WodAh that others should do unto you.' THE GOLDEN RULE
 "By that both shall have sufficient both shall have success-and both shall be satisfied. Division of profits. sharing mutually the benefits of iii- vested capital and splendid physical man power, will work marvellous things for both and do away with strife, shutting down plants and hatred of each other. The truth IS men are foolish who undertake un- fairness who are jealous of each other and are always on the lookout to take undue advantage uY each other. "We are brothers, we are Americans and now while this great war unitcs us in one common cause--that of giv- I ing freedom to the whole world-le. us shake off class hatred as we would 1 venomous viper. and let love ruin l through every act and every contract l and all our contact with each other. 1 Let there never be any more strife between American men of money and l men who work to make money out or money invested, John D. Rockefeller once worked as hired boy. Marshall Field worked for so much per week, The vice president of a great Alabama corporation told crowd of us; I started at tAe bottom and as l worked my way up promotion came to me- "Boaz and his employees looked up