People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 May 1895 — Sacrlficesn to the God of Mammon. [ARTICLE]

Sacrlficesn to the God of Mammon.

The sacrifice of human lives exacted by the god of mammon each year in this country is reaching alarming proportions, and it is simply astounding when we consider the figures and the sum total. . Last year over 26,000 railway employes lost their lives, saying nothing of the thousands of passengers killed, two-thirds of ,the number being sacrifices to the god of mammon by reason of the avarice and greed of railway corporations—the result of careless or bad management, poor equipment, and overwork of employes. In 1894 there were 9,800 murders committed in the United States, 90 per cent of which can be traced to vicious systems brought about by class legislation through the influence of the devotees of the god of mammon. Last year there were 4,911 suicides in the country, the cause of nearly onelialf being attributed to despondency, while a large per cent of the remainder can undoubtedly be traced to causes that make the greed of man responsible for the rash acts of these unfortunates. To these may be added a large per cent of those who go down to drunkard’s graves—cut ofT, many of them, in the prime of manhood, whose lives were wasted and finally ended by reason of systems and environments brought about by the worshipers of mammon. The sacrifice of human lives Is not all that the god of mammon demands. The penitentiaries, jails afid workhouses of the land are filled with his victims. Gaunt poverty stalks the land, leaving in its wake misery, sorrow; and woe. Millions are hungry for bread they cannot earn. Millions are starving that the Insatiate maw of avarice and greed may be constantly fed. Appalling as the picture is, it Is a true one, and calls for calm, deliberate study. We cannot as a people evade it. It is before us in all Its hideousness—standing out in bold relief. Christian people should study it. Humanitarians should give it their special attention, for as sure as God rules and sits in judgment upon the world He will at last hear the cry of the oppressed and bring the oppressors to judgment. God is not mocked in this matter. “He will not always chide, neither will He keep His anger forever,” says the Psalmist, and his words are as true today as then.