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THE TULTIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
BISHOP H. C. POTTER.
Subject: The Church and Labor.
Brooklyn. N. Y.—The Rt. Rev.
Henry C. Potter, Bishop of New York,
preached in St. Ann's Church on the
Heights, Sunday. His subject was
"‘The Church and the Labor Ques
tion,” and for his text he took the
two passages: St. Luke 3:10 to
14 (R. V.): “And the multitude
asked Him what then must we do?
He answered and said unto them,
"He that hath two coats let him im
part to him that hath none; and he
that hath food let him do likewise.’
And there came also publicans to be
baptized and they said unto Him,
"Master, what must we do?’ And He
said unto them, ‘Exact no more than
that which is appointed you.’ And
the soldiers also asked Him, saving,
"What must we do?’ and He said unto
them, ‘Extort from no man by vio
lence; neither accuse any one wrong
fully; and be content with your
wages.” And St. Matthew 11:2 to 7:
"‘Now when John had heard in prison
the works of Christ he sent two of his
disciples and said unto Him: ‘Art
Thou He who should come or look we
for another?’ And Jesus answered
and said unto them, ‘Go your way
and tell John the things which ye
see; the blind receive their sight and
the lame walk; the lepers are
cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead
are raised up and the poor have the
good tidings preached to them; and
blessed is he who shall find no occa
sion of stumbling in Me.’ ” Bishop
Potter said:
I wonder if it has ever occurred to
you to ask yourselves the question,
how far the absolute incidents of the
gospels are a witness to their truth?
There are incidents like that which
must present itself to you in connec
tion with John the Baptist, and that
other which occurs at the close of St.
Matthew’s and St. Luke’s gospels in
connection with Peter which make
us feel that if any one were writing a
book in which he desired to present
to us simply a favorable impression
of this or that man there are certain
things in the gospels which would
have been left out. Nothing is finer,
for example, in its way, than the lan
guage of John the Baptist in connec
tion with the coming to him in the
desert of the people, and of the sol
diers, and the tax gatherers and the
rest. It is a singularly direct and
explicit way in which he lays down to
each group what should be the law
of their life. And it is entirely an
other man, if we stop and think a
moment, whom we encounter in the
gospel for the third Sunday in Ad
vent: “Art Thou He that should
come? Really, Ido not know wheth
er you are or not.”
That is the implication of the
words, and I can imagine an unbe
liever using these words as a very
effective argument against the belief
of John the Baptist in the divine
claims of Jesus. Here is a man who
has been sent as the forerunner of
Jesus, who had baptized Jesus, who
was profoundly persuaded of the mis
sion and truth and divine character
of Jesus, and yet there comes a mo
ment in his life when he says: ‘‘Well,
really, I am not clear about ycfu. You
claim to be the Messiah. You have
appeared to this nation and to this
era in the history of the world with
a revelation of the Supreme Force in
the world. Art Thou He who should
come?” But the -fine thing about
these two texts is the fact that each
one of them is a distinct and explicit
witness to that thing of which you
and I are perfectly conscious in our
selves. That is, that every man and
every woman is made up of two men
and two women; that there are types
of character which are so contradic
tory and so unlike each other that
abstractly we should say they are ab
solutely irreconcilable and yet they
belong to the same person, influenced
by different circumstances and chal
lenged by different perplexities. There
can be no doubt as to the impressions
which had been made by the teaching
and life of Jesus upon John the Bap
tist in the words I have read. John,
in other words, grasped and seized
with singular clearness and force the
fact that heye in the advent of Jesus
there had entered the world an abso
lutely new law in the conception of
life and of the individual’s relations
to other lives about him.
Go back to the beginning of civili
zation and trace step by step to this
hour and you will be amazed to find
how largely they built on the compli
cations and philosophies of caste. My
brother (Dr. Alsop) might make an
Interesting sermon upon the tragic
and dramatic forces of caste in In
dia, whose religions it would be well
to remember are older than ours. In
other words, the moment that bar
barism begins to lift itself by organi
zation, by the creation of the govern
ing society, it differentiates barbar
ism from civilization. It begins also
to emphasize the distinction of caste.
Do you know that to-day a Pariah,
one of the classes in India, cannot
walk on the sidewalk of the street
after 3 o’clock in the afternoon be
cause it is possible that this Pariah,
whose touch is defilement, might
brush against a Brahmin? In other
words, the Brahmin has pushed the
theory of the isolation of the caste to
that point where he cannot allow
one not of the same caste to walk on
the same side of the street with him.
When I was in India 1 asked a Hindu
on a boat on the Hoogly River to sit
down and eat with me, and he turned
as if I had struck him and said: “My
caste forbids; I cannot eat with you
because you are a Christian.”
Now, Jesus came and John the
Baptist sees first of all that He had
struck at the foundation, at the sys-
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tem of the theory of caste. The the
ory of caste carried with it the right
of certain privileged people to main
tain a certain autocratic and imper
ious sovereignty over the lives and
property of others. ‘‘No,” said John,
having been long enough in the pres
ence of his Master to grasp that great
central truth of the Master’s teach
ing, “no, you and I, the soldier and
the tax gatherer and the men who
pay taxes, and, all the rest, are one
family in the family of God, and in
your relations to one another you
must govern yourselves by the law of
equity and not by the power which
comes into your hands because of any
mere caste inheritance whatever
your office or place may be in caste
inheritance of power over another.”
The believers in the religion of
Jesus Christ were slow to grasp that
truth. John the Baptist himself be
gan to doubt whether Christ had
come to create a new system under
•which men should sustain new rela
tions to each other. “Art Thou He
who should come? If so, why don’t
you strike at the foundation of this
concrete, ecclesiastical-political-social
order of which you and I are a part?”
Now, we come to the great truth
which Jesus strives to get to the
minds of His disciples: “Go tell John
the things you have seen.” What
was the definition of the Master’s
method? That He put into human
society an absolutely new conception
of the relation of man to man and left
it as a seed. He did not deal with
the miseries of society, as you and I
are often tempted to deal with them.
He did not dismiss the blind and the
lame and the rest out of His sight
and teaching. He dealt with them
four-square, and relieved them. He
translated the mind and the heart of
God to the consciousness of man and
He made them realize at last that His
religion was in the world to be a re
creative force. First of all, begin
ning at the individual heart and life
and then bringing about the recon
struction of society because of the
different way in which men regarded
each other.
That brings me to the subject on
which I have been specially asked to
speak to-night. You and I, whether
we are disposed to like the situation
or not, and most of us resent it as an
insufferable impertinence, are con
fronted in this republic, and in this
twentieth century, with incompara
bly tho most tremendous problem, in
its relation to the right construction
of human society, with which the re
public has yet had to deal, and that
problem is the problem of the unifica
tion of the ideas and sympathies and
purposes and aims of men. and you
cannot go home to-night and lay your
head upon your pillow' without being
conscious, whether you choose to ac
knowledge it or not, that there is in
the depths of poverty and want and
shame all about you a profound so
cial discontent, and that there are
earnest and able men (let us be just,
although we don’t love them), who
are deeply persuaded that there can
be no peace in human society unless
that peace is wrought by the absolute
destruction of principles which are
precious and beautiful and dignified
in human society. They say the
whole social fabric must be pulled
down and thrown to the ground and
the man who stands in the way of
that must be got out of the way. Now,
the question which confronts you and
me is: How are we to deal with this
state of mind and what are we to do
to remedy it? We know that if such
a social revolution were to come to
pass to-morrow it would be attended
by cruel and brutal indignities and
that the guardianship of the family
and the safety of the State itself
would be imperiled. Our social prob
lem here in America, and especially
those problems which involve our re
lations to the men who work with
their hands, are not to be solved by
revolution, but by quite another
method. First of all we are to recog
nize the situation, the tremendous
convolution, the transformation I
may venture to call it, which has
come to pass in the workingman's
life by the invention of machinery,
by the building up of great central
forces for the employment of men un
der conditions which separate him
absolutely from the master whom he
serves. The workman is as absolute
ly unknown to the man or the cor
poration—and it is often a corpora
tion —who employs him as if he lived
in Dahomey. It is along these lines,
whether you choose to recognize it or
not, thatdanger lies; and the church’s
relation to that problem is one, after
all, which is in the hands of every
one to whom I am speaking. How
much do you know’ of the life of the
w’orkingman? How much time have
you given to understanding it or to
soften it or to inspire it? It is not
the giving of money, or the creation
of charitable institutions that builds
up the feeling of brotherhood among
men. The poor man resents our con
descension. He does not want that
or your gold; he wants recognition of
his manhood. The shop girl wants
you to honor her womanhood; to re
spect her in the task in which she is
toiling and suffering. You_ can do
The ills peculiar to women, take different forms.
Some ladies suffer, every month, from dark rings round their eyes, blotches on their skin and tired
feeling. Others suffer agonies of pain, that words can hardly express.
Whatever the symptoms, remember there is one medicine that will go beyond mere symptoms, and
act on the cause of their troubles, the weakened womanly organs.
Wine of Cardui
Mrs. M. C. Austin, of Memphis, Tenn., writes: “For five (5) years I suffered with every symptom
of female disease, but after using the well-known Cardui Home Treatment, I was entirely well."
11/DITF f!C A I FTTFD Write <<xlay f° r * free ropy of valuable M-page illustrated Book for Women. If you need Med
fl 111 ILi UkJ n l LC 1 | Ll\ iCi ' Advice, describe your symptoms, stating age. and reply will be sent In plain sealed envelope.
Address: Ladles Advisory Dept., The Chattanooga Medicine Co., Chattanooga, Tenn.
much to make tftat task easier ana
create an atmosphere in which she
and you can move alike as members
of the same divine society and fellow
soldiers under the same Master.
That brings into view the relation
of the church to these great social
problems. You and I somehow or
other must bring the man who works
with his hands to recognize his place,
his right, his office, his calling in the
church of God. The first business of
the church is to place her houses of
worship at the service of the people
who work with their hands and then
in the life of the church to encourage
that spirit which will help us to un
derstand and to serve it. There is
but one way to do that. Instead of
turning to any “ism” of the hour or
theory of social reconstruction, or
any new philosophy which under
takes to re-create society upon theo
ries which are essentially barbaric in
their nature, you and I must go back
and look into the face of the Master
and find in Him the secret of our ser
vice and our triumph.
A lrayer.
Soul of our souls, Thou to whom
W’e turn for life and health, inspire
and quicken us, and by our worship
prepare us for our work. Give us a
steadfast spirit, a heart enslaved by
uo appetite or passion, a will guided
by wisdom and firm for the right.
Give power to work and power to
wait, mercifully look upon our in
firmities and those evils, which by
our frailty, our sin, or our ignorance
we have invited, turn from us.
Transform evil into good. Out of
mortal weakness bring forth immor
tal strength. May the fire purify,
and not consume; and, when we pass
through the rivers, may they not
overwhelm us. Stay with us from
dawn till eventide. Should the way
be rough and gloomy, may wo put
our hand in Thine, and, if we are
led out into the dark, still let us hold
fast by Thee, and cast away fear. In
the crush and clang of life, may a
blessed calm often visit us, telling
that a Holy Ghost has entered in,
and will not leave us till we bid Hipi
go. Amen. —P. E. Vizard.
The Coming of Jesus.
The prince of this world is never
cast out until Jesus comes in.
NEW NEWSPAPER PROVISION
In Relation to Lapsed Subscriptions is
Now in Force.
Henry B. Varner, of Lexington, N. C. t
president of the National Editorial as
sociation, is in Washington to urge
the postofflee department to postpone
for six months the new ruling of the
department in regard to lapsed sub
scriptions to newspapers and period
icals.
An order promulgated on December
4 denies to publishers the privilege of
sending copies to subscribers as such
after a specified term following the ex
piration of (he subscription. This ruling
became a law January Ist.
Hereafter publishers of weekly news
papers cannot carry subscribers in ar
rears more than one year; semi-week
lies more than nine months; tri-week
lies longer than six months, and dailies
longer than three months. For each
violation the publishers will be fined
one cent for each four ounces. Since
the average newspaper weighs four
ounces or less, each paper sent to a
subscriber in arrears for a longer peri
od than indicated will cost the publish
ers one cent fine.
This law will not affect the big dail
ies very materially, but it will make a
change in the management of weeklies
and semi-weeklies. Mr. Varner says
newspaper publishers do not ©bject to
the law, but simply wish more time to
prepare themselves and their subscrib
ers for its actual operation. Hs will
see Postmaster-General Meyer and urge
an extension for six months. He de
clares few newspaper publishers know
of the law, and fewer newspaper sub
scribers.
REPORT ON BROWNSVILLE
Soon to Ee Submitted to Congress by
Committee on Military Affairs.
The senate committee on military af
fairs expects to submit the reports of
the Brownsville investigation to the
senate within the next two weeks. The
majority will fix the responsibility for
the shootng up of the Texas town on
the colored solders. The democratic
senators will join with the chairman
of the committee, Senator Warren and
other republican senators in the ma
jority report.
TROUBLE STILL ON.
Night Riders Make a Raid on Russellville,
Kentucky, Apply Torch and Use
Guns Promiscuously.
A special from Louisville, Ky., say»:
Although all is now apparently quiet in
the struggle between the tobacco grow
ers of Kentucky and Tennessee and
the American Tobacco company, the
developments of the day have given
great uneasiness. The town of Russell
ville, which was raided by night riders
early Friday morning, was quiet Fri
day night, but the sheriff and his dep
uties, the police and the citizens were
on the alert to prevent any repetition
of the outrages. It was decided by
the peace officers and the leading citi
zens, in view or the improbability of
another raid, that the governor would
not be asked for troops. State Fire
Marshal Mott Ayres, however, will be
gin an immediate investigation of
Thursday night's raid, which resulted
in the shooting of three men by the
raiders, the burning of two tobacco
warehouses and a planing mill, and the
partial destruction of three smaller
buildings. The county judge and court
officials have notified Governor Wilson
that a special term of court will be
called to consider the evidence
brought out by the investigation, and
that extraordinary efforts will he made
to apprehend and punish the guilty
parties.
The most disturbing news of the
day, following as it did on the heels
of the Russellville raid, was the fail
ure of the Burley Tobacco Society and
the chief buyers for the American To
bacco company to agree regarding the
marketing of the 1907 crop held by the
society. The parties met at Winches
ter, in accordance with the terms of a
compromise agreement recently brought
about by Governor Wilson. The Bur
ley men wanted the company to buy
60,000 hogsheads of'tobacco from them,
while the buyers would agree to take
but 10,000 hogsheads. The Burley men
consented to sell the smaller amount.
The tobacco had already been Inspected
and graded. The Burley men fixed a
minimum price of 15 cents a pound. The
company buyers refused to give more
than 12 cents.
The Burley society issued a state
ment after the failure of the conference
declaring that, after making the con
cession in regard to the amount to be
bought and failing to agree on a price
for the smaller amount proposed by
the company, the growers asked the
buyers if they would consider further
compromise propositions. The buyers,
according to the statement, declared
that further propositions were useless.
The statement concludes:
“The attitude taken by the buyers
demonstrates conclusively that the
American Tobacco company is the
only buyer left for our tobacco, and
that it is determined to fix its own
price.”
A further conference between the
buyers and Burley association has been
called for Frankfort in a final effort
to reach a settlement, hut it is feared
the failure of negotiations at the Win
chester meeting may increase the fric
tion in the tobacco districts.
POOR DELUDED AMERICAN HEIRESS.
Countess of Yarmouth, Sister of Harry
Thaw, Now Seeks a Divorce.
A London dispatch says: The fail
ure of another alliance of the English
nobility with an American woman of
wealth became public Friday afternoon
when the countess of Yarmouth, who
wag Alice Thaw of Pittsburg, and a
sister of Harry K. Thaw, applied to
the divorce court for an annulment of
her marriage to the earl of Yarmouth.
FLAT RATE COMING SOON.
Georgia Railroad Commission Will Issue
Order at an Early Date.
An order establishing a flat rate of
two and a half cents per mile for pas
senger travel on the railroads in Geor
gia, this arrangement to become ef
fective April 1, will be issued in a
short time by the state railroad com
mission.
THE SEABOARD
HAS TROUBLE
Big Railway System Vic im of Ad
verse Legislation in the iou'.h.
RECEIVERS APPOINTED
Attorneys Rush to Federal Judge Pritchard
With Application to Place Road's
Affairs in Court.
Because of its inability to socure the
funds to pay fixed charges duo January
Ist, this inability being due to adverse
legislation in the souui, Ihe Staboar4
Air Lius railroad system was put iuit>
the hands of receivers at Richmond,
Va., Thursday morning, through the ac
tion of Federal Judge Pritchard,
who was hurriedly summoned from
Asheville, N. C., to take cognizance of
the application tof a receivership.
Judge Pritchard appointed as receiv
ers R. Lancaster Williams, of Rich
mond, and R. Davies Warfield of Balti
more. Both men are identified with
banking houses in Baltimore, Williams
being of the firm of Mlddendorf, Wil
liams & Co., and Warfield is president
of the Continental Trust company. Mr.
Williams is also a partner in the firm
•f John L. Williams & Sons of Rich
mond. The bond of each was fixed at
$60,000.
The title of the case as filed is “Tho
Air Line Railway, complain
ant, agalust tho Continental Trust Com
pany, trustees, under the first mortgage
made by the Seaboard Air Line railway,
defendant.”*
Judge Pritchard’s decree gives tho
receivers immediate possession of the
property, which embraces tho main
stem from Portsmouth, To., to Tampa,
Fla., with numerous branches to coast
points on the east and to Atlanta, Mont
gomery and Birmingham on the west, a
total of 2,382 miles. ■♦")]
The preliminaries lo the appointment
of receivers for the Seaboard form a
dramatic incident quite unique in rail
road history. Decision to put the road
into the hands of receivers was reached
at a conference in Washington on Tues
day night between members of the vot
ing pool and creditors of the road,
both the Ryan and Williams forces
concurring. New year’s day application
for the receivership was made to Judge
Waddill, in Richmond, but he referred
the party to Judge Pritchard of the
United States circuit court, who was at
his home in Asheville, N. C. Respond
ing to an urgent request by wire, the
judge started at cnce for Richmond,
and was met at Danville, Va., Wednes
day midnight by several Seaboard
attorneys, who had gone there from
Richmond by special train for a confer
ence.
The special train with Judge Pritch
ard on board returned to Richmond, ar
riving after a fast run at 7 o’clock on
Thursday morning. After their sleep
less night and strenuous efforts cam©
no relaxation, however, the party only
allow'ing themselves a hasty breakfast
before presenting themselves be
fore Judge Pritchard to have put into
effect the arrangement reached at the
midnight conference for the passing of
the crippled road with its $72,000,000
capital and $58,01)0,000 liabilities out
of the control of the voting trust into
the hands of two men. The necessity
for prompt action arose from the ma
turing of heavy liabilities January Ist.
By the decree the receivers are em
powered to borrow money if needful to
pay such rental as may become due,
purchase cars, etc., and pay for labor
and supplies, but not for any other pur
pose without an order of the court hav
ing primary jurisdiction.
The effect of the receivership will be
far-reaching in Baltimore, where the
securities of the company are more
largely dealt in and held than in any
other trading center, not even excepting}
New York. The bond issues placed on
tha property siuce it has been merged
Into one system aggregate $36,765,000,
of which amount it is estimated nearly
$5,000,000 is held in Baltimore.
