Newspaper Page Text
The Presbyterian
Vol. 96. No. 31. RICHMOND, VA.
r 11 JLILJULJ
- - JM[ AUG 2 " ^ 1
of the South
August 2, 1922
STRIKES are probably at this time occupy
ing the thoughts of more people in this
country than any other subject. The right, in
the abstract, of any man to quit work or of any
organization of men to agree together to quit
work, cannot be denied. A strike is generally
entered into to compel the employer to grant cer
tain demands of the employes. But it should
always be borne in mind that there are many
others involved in every strike. If the fight
between the coal miners and the mine owners
affected only themselves, the public might have
no right to say anything. But when settling
some grievance of their own, no matter how
real it may be, they ought to consider the ef
fect upon the rest of the people. When 600,000
miners stop wcrk the shortage of coal will ef
fect directly at least 50,000,000 people and in
directly as many more. Railroads and steam
boats must stop running, so passengers and
freight cannot be carried. Power plants and
manufacturing establishments must close down,
SUMMER RESORTS, ill somo cases at least,
and the number is increasing, seem to be
developing into the devil's resorts. One of our
correspondents, writing from one of the most
famous resorts on the Atlantic const, says:
' 4 Weather, water, accommodations fine; people
wicked mostly, wantonly so. The place grows,
but all wrong." Our correspondent is there to
preach and we arc sure he will preach a sound
gospel, but we are afraid he will not reach
many of the people, who are doing so much to
lower the moral tone of the place. One of the
strange things is that so many Christian people
go to this and similar places in search of
pleasure, when there are so many places where
God's people are gathering every summer and
where they have unalloyed pleasure mixed with
a spiritual development, that will afford pleas
ure and profit all through the year. The eall
i9 being sounded out louder and louder each
year : "Come out from among them and l>e ye
separate, saith the Lord."
crease the numb. /J**qrj 9)V1 "<r??0? "$ke ^or
the papers. It wfifoP>*mr*j . or ami
congregation all the effort putmf^^F to put
the paper into homes that are now without
one. We hope that there are many who will
render this help to ns and to the Church.
NEGROES are increasing in numbers in this
country. During the decade 11)10-1920
the increase was over (>00,000. An interesting
fact is that the increase iti the North and West
is far greater proportionately than in the
South. The increase in the South was 1.9 per
cent, in the North 411.3 per cent, and in the
West 55.1 per cent. This shows that practi
cally all of the normal increase in the Negro
population in the South has migrated to the
North and West. The greatest home mission
tield in this country is among the Negroes. It
is far easier to reach them with the gospel in
the South than any where else. So the Church
ought to increase its efforts to evangelize thein.
so their products cannot be furnished to sup
ply the needs of thousands, and their employes
must be thrown out of work. They are anxious
to continue at work. When railroad men go
on strike, they stop the movement of passen
gers and freight. All the multitudes of people,
who are dependent upon what is moved on the
railroad for the supply of food and other ne
cessities, must suffer more or less as long as
the strike continues. "None of us liveth to
himself." When any man thinks of leaving his
job, whatever it may be, and under whatever
circumstances, he ought to consider very care
fully the question as to what effect his course
may have on others. He should ask himself
the question, "Will what I may gain by going
on a strike justify me in being the* cause of
giving discomfort and suffering to others?"
There are times when a man may do certain
things that may be an injury to another. A
man would be justified in destroying the prop
erty of another, in ordnr to save his life. But
as soon as possible, so far he has the ability,
he should make reparation. On the other hand
no one has the right to injure another only
that he may have more of comfort or pleas
ure.
F!W people realize flow fortunaie I lie Soutli
ern Presbyterian Church L- in the matTer
of Church papers. It has three papers which are
entirely devoted to the advancement of its in
terests. Yet it has not a dollar invested in
any one of them, nor does their publication
oost the Church a dollar. Their pages are al
ways open to the agencies of the Church to pre
sent any matter that will advance the interests
of the work for which they are responsible.
The Northern Church has good papers, but,
judging from their usual contents, the agencies
of that Church cannot make much usr of them
in advancing their work. Wc have just seen
the statement that the paper which is I he or
gan of the Canadian Presbyterian Church is
being published by the Church at a consider
able loss each year. A short time ago it was
reported that the Church papers of the North
ern Methodist Church, and which are owned
by the Church, had been published at a loss of
$400,000 in four years, and yet the General
Conference was reported to have felt that the
papers were worth that much to the Church.
The papers published in the interest pf the
Southern Presbyterian Church only ask that
pastors and people will do all they ean to in
REBELLION against lawful authority is
taught some times by those who ought to
teach only obedience to the laws of the laud.
"America" (a Jesuit organ), says in a recent
issue, "The first duty of every Catholic to llie.
Public School is NOT to pay taxes for its
maintenance. Justice cannot oblige the sup
port of a system which ye are forbidden in con
science to use. The first duty of every Catholic
father to the Public School is to keep his chil
dren out of it." There is no law requiring a
parent to send his child to a public school, so
whether he does or not, is for him to decide.
Hut there is a law that everybody must pay
taxes for the support of the Public School sys
tem, because it is for the good of the whole
country. He who refuses to pay this tax is in
exactly the same position as the man who re
fuses to pay any other tax or to keep any other
law. Men wore sent to prison during the war
for teaching others to refuse to obey law. It
would be a good thing for the country, if the
same practice wore enforced in times of pea(;o.
No man has a right to say that he will not
obey a law properly made by^his country. lie
may feck to have it changed, bnt%s long as it is
on the statute books, he must obey it;