April 6, 1899

“Front Page” American Sentinel 14, 14, p. 209.

ATJ

EVERY Sabbath law is a bond of union between the church and the world.AMS April 6, 1899, page 209.1

THAT an individual is politically saved, is no sign that he is not morally lost.AMS April 6, 1899, page 209.2

THE Christian policy of forgiving all trespasses would be suicidal in civil government.AMS April 6, 1899, page 209.3

IT is impossible for a State to maintain religion and still keep separate from all the churches.AMS April 6, 1899, page 209.4

THE work of the Christian minister is to touch the heart; that of the civil official is to restrain the hands.AMS April 6, 1899, page 209.5

THE Puritan spirit will not let a person be at ease without knowing that he is making some other persons ill at ease.AMS April 6, 1899, page 209.6

GOD’S Sabbath law provides for rest, with refreshment: man’s sabbath law provides only restraint, without refreshment.AMS April 6, 1899, page 209.7

TO PRESERVE individual rights is as large a contract as any civil government can undertake. When it tries to do more, it invariably does less.AMS April 6, 1899, page 209.8

THE best thing in the world may become the worst thing by being put to an improper use. This truth is made prominent in the history of religion.AMS April 6, 1899, page 209.9

LOVE carries no sword save the “sword of the Spirit.”AMS April 6, 1899, page 209.10

THE Bible in one hand of the civil power cannot sanctify the carnal weapon in the other.AMS April 6, 1899, page 209.11

IF society cannot be elevated by elevating its members individually, it certainly cannot be elevated en masse.AMS April 6, 1899, page 209.12

POLITICAL reform may dam up the stream of social and governmental impurity, but this only causes an overflow. Divine reformation cleanses the fountain head, and so purifies the stream itself.AMS April 6, 1899, page 209.13

“The Menace of the Trusts” American Sentinel 14, 14, pp. 209, 210.

ATJ

THE world of trade furnishes at the present time one of the most startling of modern phenomena, in the sudden and enormous extension of the dangerous principle embodied in the combinations called Trusts.AMS April 6, 1899, page 209.1

These combinations put enormous power into the hands of a few persons—a condition which is contrary to every interest of popular government.AMS April 6, 1899, page 209.2

It is essential to the success of popular government that there be an even distribution of power among the people. The people have equal rights; and every right means power. From the rights of the people springs all power that can rightfully be exercised in the government.AMS April 6, 1899, page 209.3

At the setting up of the Government of the United States special pains were taken to safeguard the rights of the people. It was feared that Congress and the Federal Government might usurp powers which it was not deemed for the popular good that they should have. Therefore it was provided in the Constitution that “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people,” and, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”AMS April 6, 1899, page 209.4

Great power was centered by the people only in the Federal Government, over which the people were to exercise control at the general elections; and this power was fenced about by safeguards in the Federal Constitution.AMS April 6, 1899, page 210.1

But in the Trusts a power of vast dimensions arises which is not centered in any organization subject to change by a popular vote, or in any way to the control of the people. This disturbs the balance of power just as certainly and as harmfully as though power to a like extent had been usurped by the Government itself.AMS April 6, 1899, page 210.2

By the Constitution extraordinary power is put in the hands of a few persons chosen by the people and subject to their control. By the Trusts extraordinary power is placed in the hands of a few persons not chosen by the people, and subject to no authority but themselves.AMS April 6, 1899, page 210.3

Whether these Trusts crowned monarchs can be made subject to the popular will or not—whether, in other words, they have power under the people or above the people—is a question that is now before the courts for decision. The Trusts defy the power of both state and national courts alike, and thus far have done so successfully.AMS April 6, 1899, page 210.4

The attorney-general of the United States has recently declared that the Federal courts have no power to deal with “any combination constituting a restraint and monopoly of trade unless such trade is what is known as interstate or international trade and commerce.” But by the provisions of the Constitution, each State in the Union is compelled to receive the products of every State, and permit the sale of the same within its borders, so that the products of a Trust in one State can be forced upon the people of every other State, under the authority and protection of Federal law, and in defiance of any power that can be exercised by a State legislature. It only needs the Trusts should find a home in some friendly State—as they have now in New Jersey—to enable them to flourish in spite of all legislation that can be enacted elsewhere, under the decision given by Attorney-General Griggs. And that the Trusts, with their unlimited riches, will not be able to buy themselves a home in some State, in view of the susceptibility of legislatures to touch of wealth, is entirely too much to expect.AMS April 6, 1899, page 210.5

This is the situation created by the Trusts to-day. The evil which they bring to the people is twofold. They drive multitudes of the smaller business concerns out of existence, thus crushing individual enterprise, reducing wages and wage earners, giving the country superior prices and inferior products, and swelling the already vast army of the unemployed; to which must be added the fearfully demoralizing influence of an example which denies that honesty is the best policy, that diligence and frugality are the parents of wealth; and declares that it is good for the public man to be led into temptation and that government exists by the consent of millions of dollars rather than of millions of men.AMS April 6, 1899, page 210.6

And this is not all, for, on the other hand, the well-known tendency of a capitalized business to “overstock,” when carried out in such huge concerns as the Trusts, threatens the country with a deluge which will sweep away the financial resources of millions who are being led to put their money into Trust securities and expect,” says Attorney-General Haines, of Maine, speaking on this point, “to see the greatest panic the ... ever saw in less than five years as a result of Trusts.”AMS April 6, 1899, page 210.7

What must result from this tremendous disturbance of the balance of power so essential to the interests of republican government? What such a disturbance means in the atmospheric elements, it no less surely signifies in organized human society; it is the precursor of a storm. And the violence of that storm will be in proportion to the extent to which the powers of the people have become unbalanced. It will be, indeed, a cyclone of human passion, the hail of which will be bullets and the rain of blood.AMS April 6, 1899, page 210.8

In the year 1898 the total of authorized Trust stocks and bonds was $916,176,000; for the first two months of the present year the total is $1,106,300,000; and the estimated total for the full year, according to the Financial Chronicle, exceeds $6,000,000,000. Thus rapidly is the barometer falling, and at this rate how long will it be before nature—human nature—will precipitate the struggle for readjustment, and the recovery of the ... and rights of the people?AMS April 6, 1899, page 210.9

“Superfluous Vigilance” American Sentinel 14, 14, pp. 210, 211.

ATJ

SPEAKING of the work of the “American Sabbath Union,” the Independent remarks that one of the duties devolving on this organization is that of watching the interests of the “Sabbath” in the legislatures. Much vigilance has to be exercised to prevent any lessening of the force of the “Sabbath laws.” For example, it says a section of the penal code in a certain State read: “All labor on Sunday is prohibited, excepting works of necessity or charity. In works of necessity or charity is included whatever is needful during the day for the good order and health or comfort of the community.” An amendment to the last clause was introduced, providing that “in works of necessity is included whatever is needed during the day for the good order, health, recreation, convenience or comfort of the community.” Such proposed amendments to the “Sabbath laws” in the various States oblige the American Sabbath Union to keep a vigilant watch lest they receive legislative sanction and thus modify the rigor of the “Sabbath” statutes.AMS April 6, 1899, page 210.1

But what is there about recreation or convenience on Sunday to which any reasonable person need take exception? Must people be inconvenienced and denied recreation on that day? The Sabbath is a memorial of creation; how then can it be better observed than in recreation? Of the Creator himself it is written that “On the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” What then is there wicked about refreshment on the Sabbath day?AMS April 6, 1899, page 211.1

Cannot the members of the American Sabbath Union be at east without knowing that people are being inconvenienced on Sunday and after six days of toil are being denied any recreation?AMS April 6, 1899, page 211.2

Even if there were anything wicked in recreation on the Sabbath day, what would this have to do with the business of a State legislature? Is it the State’s business to suppress a thing because it is wicked? What then is wicked? The Catholic says it is wicked to stay away from mass. Must the State endorse attendance at mass? If is wicked to ... the Word of the Lord, must the State compel all people to believe? Must the State, in short, undertake to suppress sin?AMS April 6, 1899, page 211.3

The Sabbath means both rest and refreshment; but this is true of the Bible Sabbath, “the Sabbath of the Lord,” the seventh day. The Sunday sabbath means rest without refreshment, rest under law, restraint, which is more wearisome than no rest at all. That it does mean this, is evidenced beyond controversy by the Sunday laws.AMS April 6, 1899, page 211.4