People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 November 1896 — WARNS THE VICTORS. [ARTICLE]

WARNS THE VICTORS.

Dr. Lewi* Preaches a Sermon on the Political Result. (From Joliet Daily News.) Dr. Lewis preached Sunday on the topic “Is the Country Saved,” before a large congregation at the Central Presbyterian church. In substance he spoke as follows: “As the Christian patriot looks out over our own beloved land to-day and sees the evils that prevail and the dangers which threaten, he may well cry out, “Oh, that the salvation of our country were come from the Lord, the God of the nations.” “Does our country, then, need help from on high, deliverance, salvation? Is not the country saved? What have the people been doing then for the last five or six months? Wherever two or three were gathered together you would probably find them in earnest discussion as to how the country could and would be saved. For what purpose has so much of tireless effort been put forth by so many.men, from the gyeafc leaders in the nation to the faithful precinct-worker; such numberless organizations formed; such countless meetings, rallies and parades held, so many hundreds of thousands of addresses made and heard and the whole country flooded with literature? “There never has been such a political campaign on this, or any other continent. To what has the great army of newspaper men and magazine writers devoted themselves for the last year? Saving the country. “Why did one of the leading candidates for the presidency make such a canvass of the country as, considering the number of miles traveled, the number of addresses made, the endurance and the good temper preserved, has had no equal in all human history?” “Why did such numbers of men and women from all over the land visit the other candidate at his home to hear him make a brief address and shake his hand? It was to save the country. “I aqa not making ligbo of ail this. I have great sympathy with him who said it v.ou.d be well if the people would give less time to their own personal, individual interests and devote more time and thought to the interests of the people as a whole. But these things have all come and gone. The election has passed. The people have made their choice and entered up their decision as to the questions at issue. And yet we raise the question: Is the country saved? “In the first place, and most important of ail, the victors should have a care not to misread or misinterpret the 1-eal significance of the campaign or the decisive vote on the third of this month. “Many of the indictments presented by the defeated parties were well grounded. Many of the grievances were real. Legislation has been too largely in the special interests of the capitalists, the corporations and the trusts, and that, too, in nation, state and municipality. “The laboringmen have had some reasons to feel tnat capital has been given some advantages. The great individual and corporate wealth of the country does not always bear its due proportion of the expenditures of government. It is continually seeking methods to avoid taxation. These and other grievances are recognized by the people quite generally.” “But the people did not have faith in the remedy proposed, the free coinage of silver at the ratio with gold of 16 to 1. They also feared the consequences of the proposed policy with reference to the civil service reform, national judiciary and the en-

forcement of law by the national executive. “It was against these things that the tariff reform Republicans, the independent voter and the gold Democrats, those who gave Major McKinley his great majority, voted, when they deposited their ballots on Tuesday, Nov. 3. “Those men did not vote to endorse any previous Republican policy or legislation in the special interests of monopoly or corporation or trust, or of capital as opposed to the interests of labor or the laboring man. ,They did not vote in favor of a, high protective tariff. If the victors are wise enough to recognize these things in their policy and legislation and make an honest endeavor to remove the people’s real grievances, there need be no re-action in 1898 as in 1890, the best interests of the whole country will be promoted and conserved and the majority may long maintain its present position and power.” “With the exception of the silver interests, the capital of the country has in this contest been almost or quite entirely with the Republican party. The opposition charge that it dominates that party. How will it use its position and influence?

“The men who wield the wealth of this land, the men who run our banking, trust and insurance institutions, who make up and manage our great business firms and corporations are now on trial before the land and the world as never in all our previous history. How will they stand the test? “That question touches the very core of the problem of the future of our country. Are they equal to it? Will they prove to be sufficiently broad-minded, magnanimous and disinterested to wisely solve the problem in the best interests of all? Will they look not only upon their own wealth, their own interest, but upon that also of others? “What the* party in power should do with complaintwithout reference to whom u. whei-e they come from, is to give candid consideration and as alu. as possible remove ail grounds for just complaint, And this a party should be wise enough and large enough to do, even though it should be subjected to that great bugaboo, a charge of inconsistency. Inconsistency with previous position or action may be the truest and deepest consistency in principle. “The real radical principle of the Republican party, that out of which it was born and for which it was baptized in fire and blood, was that of sympathy with and sacrifice, even to the extent of laying down the life, for others.

‘ ‘I must confess that the party has not always been dominated by that principle. In this it does not differ greatly from other political parties. Bnt in this government of the people for the people and by the people, the people and the parties through which they express and work out their plans, purposes and policies should be dominated by this principle of selfsacrifice in order to promote the best interests of our country and disseminate our civil and religious institutions. Thus and thus only could the country be saved with a lasting salvation. “What if the party just coming into power by suffrage of the American people should , put such principles into practice? By way of illustration let us suppose such a case as this. The capitalists and the moneyed institutions of the country, through this party, say to ail others: ‘We desfre the privilege of bearing a larger proportion of the burdens of taxation. Let us enact a just and constitutional income tax law.’ ” “From what I heard in a debate on the subject by some of the ablest men of each party in

the house of representatives at Washington my convictions were in favor of such a law. But it is only as an illustration of what, it appears to some, would be a wise and winning policy on the part of those just coming into power that I venture this suggestion about the income tax. “Would not such an overture from the capital of the country,

through the enactment of a wise, just and constitutional income tax law by the Republican party, be along a line of policy that would prevent, or heal, any schism between the classes and the masses? It would be a sacrifice of self-interest for the interests of otners. If such a principle shohld be acted upon by all parties could we not say with assurance: ‘The country is saved.’ “Let me make another supposition . The great corporations have blacklisted a great number of engineers, machinists and others because they have taken part in strikes, or for other reasons. This blacklisting seems to be very inexorable. Would not a policy of kindness towards these men tend greatly to remove friction between employer and employe. I am sure there are cases in which the judicious restoration of such men would bind them to their employers with fastenings stronger than hooks of steel. “Some are disposed to ridicule such suggestions and speak of them as sentimental Sunday school politics or policy. But these suggestions are in harmony with the example and in,r structions of the Lord Jesus Christ. And according to Dr. Strong in the New Era, “The principles of His teachings are belieyed by the best modern thinkers to furnish the solution of the problems of modern society.’ ”