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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16470-8.txt b/16470-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..39d8160 --- /dev/null +++ b/16470-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10066 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Profits of Religion, Fifth Edition, by Upton Sinclair + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Profits of Religion, Fifth Edition + +Author: Upton Sinclair + +Release Date: August 7, 2005 [EBook #16470] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROFITS OF RELIGION *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jayam Subramanian and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Transcriber's note: The spelling inconsistencies of the original +are retained in this etext.] + + + + The Profits of Religion + + + + + + An Essay in Economic Interpretation + + + + + + By + UPTON SINCLAIR + + + + + + + +CONTENTS +NEW YORK +VANGUARD PRESS + + + + + + +VANGUARD PRINTINGS +First-January, 1927 +Second-April, 1927 +Third-June, 1928 + + + + + +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + + + + +OFFERTORY + + +This book is a study of Supernaturalism from a new point of view--as a +Source of Income and a Shield to Privilege. I have searched the +libraries through, and no one has done it before. If you read it, you +will see that it needed to be done. It has meant twenty-five years of +thought and a year of investigation. It contains the facts. + +I publish the book myself, so that it may be available at the lowest +possible price. I am giving my time and energy, in return for one +thing which you may give me--the joy of speaking a true word and +getting it heard. + +Note to fifth edition, 1926: "The Profits of Religion" was first +published early in 1917. The present edition represents a sale of over +60,000 copies, without counting a dozen translations. In this edition +a few errors have been corrected, but otherwise the book has not been +changed. The reader will understand that references to the World War +are of the date 1917, prior to America's entrance. + +This book is the first of a series of volumes, an economic +interpretation of culture, which now includes "The Brass Check," "The +Goose-step," "The Goslings," and "Mammonart." + + * * * * * + + + + +#CONTENTS# + +#Introductory# + +Bootstrap-lifting + +Religion + +#Book One: The Church of the Conquerors# + +The Priestly Lie + +The Great Fear + +Salve Regina! + +Fresh Meat + +Priestly Empires + +Prayer-wheels + +The Butcher-Gods + +The Holy Inquisition + +Hell-fire + +#Book Two: The Church of Good Society# + +The Rain Makers + +The Babylonian Fire-God + +The Medicine-men + +The Canonization of Incompetence + +Gibson's Preservative + +The Elders + +Church History + +Land and Livings + +Graft in Tail + +Bishops and Beer + +Anglicanism and Alcohol + +Dead Cats + +"Suffer Little Children" The Court-circular + +Horn-blowing + +Trinity Corporation + +Spiritual Interpretation + +#Book Three: The Church of the Servant Girls# + +Charity + +God's Armor + +Thanksgivings + +The Holy Roman Empire + +Temporal Power + +Knights of Slavery + +Priests and Police + +The Church Militant + +The Church Triumphant + +God in the Schools + +The Menace + +King Coal + +The Unholy Alliance + +Secret Service + +Tax Exemption + +Holy History + +Das Centrum + +#Book Four: The Church of the Slavers# + +The Face of Caesar + +Deutschland ueber Alles + +Der Tag + +King Cotton + +Witches and Women + +Moth and Rust + +To Lyman Abbott + +The Octopus + +The Industrial Shelley + +The Outlook for Graft + +Clerical Camouflage + +The Jungle + +#Book Five: The Church of the Merchants# + +The Head Merchant + +"Herr Beeble" Holy Oil + +Rhetorical Black-hanging + +The Great American Fraud + +Riches in Glory + +Captivating Ideals + +Spook Hunting + +Running the Rapids + +Birth Control + +Sheep + +#Book Six: The Church of the Quacks# + +Tabula Rasa + +The Book of Mormon + +Holy Rolling + +Bible Prophecy + +Koreshanity + +Mazdaznan + +Black Magic + +Mental Malpractice + +Science and Wealth + +New Nonsense + +"Dollars Want Me!" Spiritual Financiering + +The Graft of Grace + +#Book Seven: The Church of the Social Revolution# + +Christ and Caesar + +Locusts and Wild Honey + +Mother Earth + +The Soap Box + +The Church Machine + +The Church Redeemed + +The Desire of Nations + +The Knowable + +"Nature's Insurgent Son" The New Morality + +Envoi + +* * * * * + + + + +#INTRODUCTORY# + +#Bootstrap-lifting# + +Bootstrap-lifting? says the reader. + +It is a vision I have seen: upon a vast plain, men and women are +gathered in dense throngs, crouched in uncomfortable and distressing +positions, their fingers hooked in the straps of their boots. They are +engaged in lifting themselves; tugging and straining until they grow +red in the face, exhausted. The perspiration streams from their +foreheads, they show every symptom of distress; the eyes of all are +fixed, not upon each other, nor upon their boot-straps, but upon the +sky above. There is a look of rapture upon their faces, and now and +then, amid grunts and groans, they cry out with excitement and +triumph. + +I approach one and say to him, "Friend, what is this you are doing?" + +He answers, without pausing to glance at me, "I am performing +spiritual exercises. See how I rise?" + +"But," I say, "you are not rising at all!" + +Whereat he becomes instantly angry. "You are one of the scoffers!" + +"But, friend," I protest, "don't you feel the earth under your feet?" + +"You are a materialist!" + +"But, friend, I can see--" + +"You are without spiritual vision!" + +And so I move on among the sweating and groaning hordes. Being of a +sympathetic turn of mind, I cannot help being distressed by the +prevalence of this singular practice among so large a portion of the +human race. How is it possible that none of them should suspect the +futility of their procedure? Or can it really be that I am +uncomprehending? That in some way they are actually getting off the +ground, or about to get off the ground? + +Then I observe a new phenomenon: a man gliding here and there among +the bootstrap-lifters, approaching from the rear and slipping his +hands into their pockets. The position of the spiritual exercisers +greatly facilitates his work; their eyes being cast up to heaven, they +do not see him, their thoughts being occupied, they do not heed him; +he goes through their pockets at leisure, and transfers the contents +to a bag he carries, and then moves on to the next victim. I watch him +for a while, and finally approach and ask, "What are you doing, sir?" + +He answers, "I am picking pockets." + +"Oh," I say, puzzled by his matter-of-course tone. "But--I beg +pardon--are you a thief?" + +"Oh, no," he answers, smilingly, "I am the agent of the Wholesale +Pickpockets' Association. This is Prosperity." + +"I see," I reply. "And these people let you--" + +"It is the law," he says. "It is also the gospel." + +I turn, following his glance, and observe another person +approaching--a stately figure, clad in scarlet and purple robes, +moving with slow dignity. Ha gazes about at the sweating and grunting +hordes; now and then he stops and lifts his hands in a gesture of +benediction, and proclaims in rolling tones, "Blessed are the +Bootstrap-lifters, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." He moves on, +and after a bit stops and announces again, "Man doth not live by bread +alone, but by every word that cometh out of the mouth of the prophets +and priests of Bootstrap-lifting." + +Watching a while longer, I see this majestic one approach the agent of +the Wholesale Pickpockets' Association. The agent greets him as a +friend, and proceeds to transfer to the pockets of his capacious robes +a generous share of the loot which he has collected. The majestic one +does not cringe, nor does he make any effort to hide what is going on. +On the contrary he cries aloud, "It is more blessed to give than to +receive!" And again he cries, "The laborer is worthy of his hire!" And +a third time he cries, yet more sternly, "Render unto Caesar the +things which are Caesar's!" And the Bootstrap-lifters pause long +enough to answer: "Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to +keep this law!" Then they renew their straining and tugging. + +I step up, and in timid tones begin, "Reverend sir, will you tell me +by what right you take this wealth?" + +Instantly a frown comes upon his face, and he cries in a voice of +thunder, "Blasphemer!" And all the Bootstrap-lifters desist from their +lifting, and menace me with furious looks. There is a general call for +a policeman of the Wholesale Pickpockets' Association; and so I fall +silent, and slink away in the throng, and thereafter keep my thoughts +to myself. + +Over the vast plain I wander, observing a thousand strange and +incredible and terrifying manifestations of the Bootstrap-lifting +impulse. There is, I discover, a regular propaganda on foot; a long +time ago--no man can recall how far back--the Wholesale Pickpockets +made the discovery of the ease with which a man's pockets could be +rifled while he was preoccupied with spiritual exercises, and they +began offering prizes for the best essays in support of the practice. +Now their propaganda is everywhere triumphant, and year by year we see +an increase in the rewards and emoluments of the prophets and priests +of the cult. The ground is covered with stately temples of various +designs, all of which I am told are consecrated to Bootstrap-lifting. +I come to where a group of people are occupied in laying the +corner-stone of a new white marble structure; I inquire and am +informed it is the First Church of Bootstrap-lifters, Scientist. As I +stand watching, a card is handed to me, informing me that a lady will +do my Bootstrap-lifting at five dollars per lift. + +I go on to another building, which I am told is a library containing +volumes in defense of the Bootstrap-lifters, published under the +auspices of the Wholesale Pickpockets. I enter, and find endless +vistas of shelves, also several thousand current magazines and papers. +I consult these--for my legs have given out in the effort to visit and +inspect all phases of the Bootstrap-lifting practice. I discover that +hardly a week passes that some one does not start a new cult, or +revive an old one; if I had a hundred life-times I could not know all +the creeds and ceremonies, the services and rituals, the litanies and +liturgies, the hymns, anthems and offertories of Bootstrap-lifting. +There are the Holy Roman Bootstrap-lifters, whose priests are fed +by Transubstantiation; the established Anglican Bootstrap-lifters, +whose priests live by "livings"; the Baptist Bootstrap-lifters, +whose preachers practice total immersion in Standard Oil. There +are Yogi Bootstrap-lifters with flowing robes of yellow silk; +Theosophist Bootstrap-lifters with green and purple auras; Mormon +Bootstrap-lifters, Mazdaznan Bootstrap-lifters, Spiritualist and +Spirit-Fruit, Millerite and Dowieite, Holy Roller and Holy Jumper, +Come-to-glory negro, Billy Sunday base-ball and Salvation Army +bass-drum Bootstrap-lifters. There are the thousand varieties of "New +Thought" Bootstrap-lifters; the mystic and transcendentalist, +Swedenborgian and Jacob Boehme Bootstrap-lifters; the Elbert Hubbard +high-art Bootstrap-lifters with half a million magazinelets at two +bits apiece; the "uplift" and "optimist," the Ralph Waldo Trine and +Orison Swett Marden Bootstrap-lifters with a hundred thousand volumes +at one dollar per volume. There are the Platonist and Hegelian and +Kantian professors of collegiate metaphysical Bootstrap-lifting at +several thousand dollars per year each. There are the Nietzschean +Bootstrap-lifters, who lift themselves to the Superman, and the +art-for-art's-sake, neo-Pagan Bootstrap-lifters, who lift themselves +down to the Ape. + +Excepting possibly the last-mentioned group, the priests of all +these cults, the singers, shouters, prayers and exhorters of +Bootstrap-lifting have as their distinguishing characteristic that +they do very little lifting at their own bootstraps, and less at any +other man's. Now and then you may see one bend and give a delicate +tug, of a purely symbolical character: as when the Supreme Pontiff of +the Roman Bootstrap-lifters comes once a year to wash the feet of the +poor; or when the Sunday-school Superintendent of the Baptist +Bootstrap-lifters shakes the hand of one of his Colorado mine-slaves. +But for the most part the priests and preachers of Bootstrap-lifting +walk haughtily erect, many of them being so swollen with prosperity +that they could not reach their bootstraps if they wanted to. Their +role in life is to exhort other men to more vigorous efforts at +self-elevation, that the agents of the Wholesale Pickpockets' +Association may ply their immemorial role with less chance of +interference. + +#Religion# + +The reader, offended by this raillery, asks if I mean to impugn the +sincerity of all who preach the supremacy of the soul. No; I admit the +honesty of the heroes and madmen of history. All I ask of the preacher +is that he shall make an effort to practice his doctrine. Let him be +tormented like Don Quixote; let him go mad like Nietzsche; let him +stand upon a pillar and be devoured by worms like Simeon Stylites--on +these terms I grant to any dreamer the right to hold himself above +economic science. + +Man is an evasive beast, given to cultivating strange notions about +himself. He is humiliated by his simian ancestry, and tries to deny +his animal nature, to persuade himself that he is not limited by its +weaknesses nor concerned in its fate. And this impulse may be +harmless, when it is genuine. But what are we to say when we see the +formulas of heroic self-deception made use of by unheroic +self-indulgence? What are we to say when we see asceticism preached to +the poor by fat and comfortable retainers of the rich? What are we to +say when we see idealism become hypocrisy, and the moral and spiritual +heritage of mankind twisted to the knavish purposes of class-cruelty +and greed? What I say is--Bootstrap-lifting! + +It is the fate of many abstract words to be used in two senses, one +good and the other bad. Morality means the will to righteousness, or +it means Anthony Comstock; democracy means the rule of the people, or +it means Tammany Hall. And so it is with the word "Religion". In its +true sense Religion is the most fundamental of the soul's impulses, +the impassioned love of life, the feeling of its preciousness, the +desire to foster and further it. In that sense every thinking man must +be religious; in that sense Religion is a perpetually self-renewing +force, the very nature of our being. In that sense I have no thought +of assailing it, I would make clear that I hold it beyond assailment. + +But we are denied the pleasure of using the word in that honest sense, +because of another which has been given to it. To the ordinary man +"Religion" means, not the soul's longing for growth, the "hunger and +thirst after righteousness", but certain forms in which this hunger +has manifested itself in history, and prevails today throughout the +world; that is to say, institutions having fixed dogmas and +"revelations", creeds and rituals, with an administering caste +claiming supernatural sanction. By such institutions the moral +strivings of the race, the affections of childhood and the aspirations +of youth are made the prerogatives and stock in trade of +ecclesiastical hierarchies. It is the thesis of this book that +"Religion" in this sense is a source of income to parasites, and the +natural ally of every form of oppression and exploitation. + +If by my jesting at "Bootstrap-lifting" I have wounded some dear +prejudice of the reader, let me endeavor to speak in a more persuasive +voice. I am a man who has suffered, and has seen the suffering of +others; I have devoted my life to analyzing the causes of the +suffering, to find out if it be necessary and fore-ordained, or if by +any chance there be a way of escape for future generations. I have +found that the latter is the case; the suffering is needless, it can +with ease and certainty be banished from the earth. I know this with +the knowledge of science--in the same way that the navigator of a ship +knows his latitude and longitude, and the point of the compass to +which he must steer in order to reach the port. + +Come, reader, let us put aside prejudice, and the terrors of the cults +of the unknown. The power which made us has given us a mind, and the +impulse to its use; let us see what can be done with it to rid the +earth of its ancient evils. And do not be troubled if at the outset +this book seems to be entirely "destructive". I assure you that I am +no crude materialist, I am not so shallow as to imagine that our race +will be satisfied with a barren rationalism. I know that the old +symbols came out of the heart of man because they corresponded to +certain needs of the heart of man. I know that new symbols will be +found, corresponding more exactly to the needs of our time. If here I +set to work to tear down an old and ramshackle building, it is not +from blind destructfulness, but as an architect who means to put a new +and sounder structure in its place. Before we part company I shall +submit the blue print of that new home of the spirit. + + * * * * * + + + + +#BOOK ONE# + +#The Church of the Conquerors# + + I saw the Conquerors riding by + With trampling feet of horse and men: + Empire on empire like the tide + Flooded the world and ebbed again; + + A thousand banners caught the sun, + And cities smoked along the plain, + And laden down with silk and gold + And heaped up pillage groaned the wain. + + Kemp. + + * * * * * + + + + +#The Priestly Lie# + +When the first savage saw his hut destroyed by a bolt of lightning, he +fell down upon his face in terror. He had no conception of natural +forces, of laws of electricity; he saw this event as the act of an +individual intelligence. To-day we read about fairies and demons, +dryads and fauns and satyrs, Wotan and Thor and Vulcan, Freie and +Flora and Ceres, and we think of all these as pretty fancies, +play-products of the mind; losing sight of the fact that they were +originally meant with entire seriousness--that not merely did ancient +man believe in them, but was forced to believe in them, because the +mind must have an explanation of things that happen, and an individual +intelligence was the only explanation available. The story of the hero +who slays the devouring dragon was not merely a symbol of day and +night, of summer and winter; it was a literal explanation of the +phenomena, it was the science of early times. + +Men imagined supernatural powers such as they could comprehend. If the +lightning god destroyed a hut, obviously it must be because the owner +of the hut had given offense; so the owner must placate the god, using +those means which would be effective in the quarrels of men--presents +of roast meats and honey and fresh fruits, of wine and gold and jewels +and women, accompanied by friendly words and gestures of submission. +And when in spite of all things the natural evil did not cease, when +the people continued to die of pestilence, then came the opportunity +for hysterical or ambitious persons to discover new ways of +penetrating the mind of the god. There would be dreamers of dreams and +seers of visions and hearers of voices; readers of the entrails of +beasts and interpreters of the flight of birds; there would be burning +bushes and stone tablets on mountain-tops, and inspired words dictated +to aged disciples on lonely islands. There would arise special castes +of men and women, learned in these sacred matters; and these priestly +castes would naturally emphasize the importance of their calling, +would hold themselves aloof from the common herd, endowed with special +powers and entitled to special privileges. They would interpret the +oracles in ways favorable to themselves and their order; they would +proclaim themselves friends and confidants of the god, walking with +him in the night-time, receiving his messengers and angels, acting as +his deputies in forgiving offenses, in dealing punishments and in +receiving gifts. They would become makers of laws and moral codes. +They would wear special costumes to distinguish them, they would go +through elaborate ceremonies to impress their followers, employing all +sensuous effects, architecture and sculpture and painting, music and +poetry and dancing, candles and incense and bells and gongs + + And storied windows richly dight, + Casting a dim religious light. + There let the pealing organ blow, + To the full-voiced choir below, + In service high and anthem clear, + As may with sweetness through mine ear + Dissolve me into ecstacies, + And bring all heaven before mine eyes. + +So builds itself up, in a thousand complex and complicated forms, the +Priestly Lie. There are a score of great religions in the world, each +with scores or hundreds of sects, each with its priestly orders, its +complicated creed and ritual, its heavens and hells. Each has its +thousands or millions or hundreds of millions of "true believers"; +each damns all the others, with more or less heartiness--and each is a +mighty fortress of Graft. + +There will be few readers of this book who have not been brought up +under the spell of some one of these systems of Supernaturalism; who +have not been taught to speak with respect of some particular priestly +order, to thrill with awe at some particular sacred rite, to seek +respite from earthly woes in some particular ceremonial spell. These +things are woven into our very fibre in childhood; they are sanctified +by memories of joys and griefs, they are confused with spiritual +struggles, they become part of all that is most vital in our lives. +The reader who wishes to emancipate himself from their thrall will do +well to begin with a study of the beliefs and practices of other sects +than his own--a field where he is free to observe and examine without +fear of sacrilege. Let him look into Madame Blavatsky's "Secret +Doctrine", or her "Isis Unveiled"--encyclopedias of the fantastic +inventions which terror and longing have wrung out of the tortured +soul of man. Here are mysteries and solemnities, charms and spells, +illuminations and transmigrations, angels and demons, guides, controls +and masters--all of which it is permissible to refuse to support with +gifts. Let the reader then go to James Freeman Clarke's "Ten Great +Religions", and realize how many billions of humans have lived and +died in the solemn certainty that their welfare on earth and in heaven +depended upon their accepting certain ideas and practicing certain +rites, all mutually exclusive and incompatible, each damning the +others and the followers of the others. So gradually the realization +will come to him that the test of a doctrine about life and its +welfare must be something else than the fact that one was born to it. + +#The Great Fear# + +It was not the fault of primitive man that he was ignorant, nor that +his ignorance made him a prey to dread. The traces of his mental +suffering will inspire in us only pity and sympathy; for Nature is a +grim school-mistress, and not all her lessons have yet been learned. +We have a right to scorn and anger only when we see this dread being +diverted from its true function, a stimulus to a search for knowledge, +and made into a means of clamping down ignorance upon the mind of the +race. That this has been the deliberate policy of institutionalized +Religion no candid student can deny. + +The first thing brought forth by the study of any religion, ancient or +modern, is that it is based upon Fear, born of it, fed by it--and that +it cultivates the source from which its nourishment is derived. "The +fear of divine anger", says Prof. Jastrow, "runs as an undercurrent +through the entire religious literature of Babylonia and Assyria." In +the words of Tabi-utul-Enlil, King of ancient Nippur: + + Who is there that can grasp the will of the gods in heaven? + The plan of a god is full of mystery--who can understand it? + He who is still alive at evening is dead the next morning. + In an instant he is cast into grief, in a moment he is crushed. + +And that cry might be duplicated from almost any page of the Hebrew +scriptures: the only difference being that the Hebrews combined all +their fears into one Great Fear. "The fear of the Lord is the +beginning of wisdom," we are told by Solomon of the thousand wives; +and the Psalmist repeats it. "Dominion and fear are with Him," cries +Job. "How then can any man be just before God? Or how can he be clean +that is born of a woman? Behold, even the moon hath no brightness, and +the stars are not pure in His sight: How much less man, that is a +worm? And the son of man, which is a worm?" He goes on, in his lyrical +rapture, "Sheol is naked before Him, and Destruction hath no +covering.... The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at His +rebuke. ... The thunder of His power who can understand?" That all +this is some of the world's great poetry does not in the least alter +the fact that it is an abasement of the soul, an hysterical perversion +of the facts of life, and a preparation of the mind for the seeds of +Priestcraft. + +The Book of Job has been called a "Wisdom-drama": and what is the +denouement of this drama, what is ancient Hebrew wisdom's last word +about life? "Wherefore I abhor myself," says Job, "and repent in dust +and ashes." The poor fellow has done nothing; we have been told at the +beginning that he "was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, +and eschewed evil." But the Sabeans and the Chaldeans rob him, and +"the fire of God" falls from heaven and burns up his sheep and his +servants, and "a great wind from the wilderness" kills his sons and +daughters; and then his body becomes covered with boils--a phenomenon +caused in part by worry, and the consequent nervous indigestion, but +mainly by excess of starch and deficiency of mineral salts in the +diet. Job, however, has never heard of the fasting cure for disease, +and so he takes him a potsherd to scrape himself withal, and he sits +among the ashes--a highly unsanitary procedure enforced by his +religious ritual. So naturally he feels like a worm, and abhors +himself, and cries out: "I know that Thou canst do all things, and +that no purpose of Thine can be restrained." By which utter, +unreasoning humility he succeeds in appeasing the Great Fear, and his +friends make a sacrifice of seven bullocks and seven rams--a feast for +a whole templeful of priests--and then "the Lord gave Job twice as +much as he had before.... And after this Job lived an hundred and +forty years, and saw his sons and his sons' sons, even four +generations." + +You do not have to look very deeply into this "Wisdom-drama" to find +out whose wisdom it is. Confess your own ignorance and your own +impotence, abandon yourself utterly, and then we, the sacred Caste, +the Keepers of the Holy Secrets, will secure you pardon and +respite--in exchange for fresh meat. Here are verses from a psalm of +the ancient Babylonians, which "heathen" chant is identical in spirit +and purpose with the utterances of Job: + + The Sin that I have wrought, I know not; + The unclean that I have eaten, I know not; + The offense into which I have walked, I know not.... + The lord, in the wrath of his heart, hath regarded me; + The god, in the anger of his heart, hath surrounded me; + A goddess, known or unknown, hath wrought me sorrow.... + I sought for help, but no one took my hand; + I wept, but no one harkened to me.... + The feet of my goddess I kiss, I touch them; + To the god, known or unknown, I utter my prayer; + O god, known or unknown, turn thy countenance, accept my sacrifice; + O goddess, known or unknown, look mercifully on me, accept my sacrifice! + +#Salve Regina!# + +And now let the reader leap three thousand years of human history, of +toil and triumph of the intellect of man; and instead of a Hebrew +manuscript or a Babylonian brick there confronts him a little +publication, printed on a modern rotary press in the capital of the +United States of America, bearing the date of October, 1914, and the +title "Salve Regina". In it we find "a beautiful prayer", composed by +the late cardinal Rampolla; we are told that "Pius X attached to it an +indulgence of 100 days, each time it is piously recited, applicable to +the souls in purgatory." + + O Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, cast a glance from Heaven, + where thou sittest as Queen, upon this poor sinner, your + servant. Though conscious of his unworthiness.... he blesses + and exalts thee from his whole heart as the purest, the most + beautiful and the most holy of creatures. He blesses thy + holy name. He blesses thy sublime prerogatives as real + Mother of God, ever Virgin, conceived without stain of sin, + as co-Redemptress of the human race. He blesses the Eternal + Father who chose you, etc. He blesses the Incarnate Word, + etc. He blesses the Divine Spirit, etc. He blesses, exalts + and thanks the most august Trinity, etc. O Virgin, holy and + merciful.... be pleased to accept this little homage of your + servant, and obtain for him also from your divine Son pardon + for his sins, Amen. + +And then, looking more closely, we discover the purpose of this +"beautiful prayer", and of the neat little paper which prints it. +"Salve Regina" is raising funds for the "National Shrine of the +Immaculate Conception", a home for more priests, and Catholic ladies +who desire to collect for it may receive little books which they are +requested to return within three months. Pius X writes a letter of +warm endorsement, and sets an example by giving four hundred dollars +"out of his poverty"--or, to be more precise, out of the poverty of +the pitiful peasantry of Italy. There is included in the paper a form +of bequest for "devoted clients of Our Blessed Mother", and at the top +of the editorial page the most alluring of all baits for the loving +hearts of the flock--that the names of deceased relatives and friends +may be written in the collection books, and will be transferred to the +records of the Shrine, and these persons "will share in all its +spiritual benefits". In the days of Job it was with threats of boils +and poverty that the Priestly Lie maintained itself; but in the case +of this blackest of all Terrors, transplanted to our free Republic +from the heart of the Dark Ages, the wretched victims see before their +eyes the glare of flames, and hear the shrieks of their loved ones +writhing in torment through uncounted ages and eternities. + +#Fresh Meat# + +In the days when I was experimenting with vegetarianism, I sought +earnestly for evidence of a non-meat-eating race; but candor compelled +me to admit that man was like the monkey and the pig and the bear--he +was vegetarian when he could not help it. The advocates of the reform +insist that meat as a diet causes muddy brains and dulled nerves; but +you would certainly never suspect this from a study of history. What +you find in history is that all men crave meat, all struggle for it, +and the strongest and cleverest get it. Everywhere you find the +subject classes living in the midst of animals which they tend, but +whose flesh they rarely taste. Even in modern America, sweet land of +liberty, our millions of tenant farmers raise chickens and geese and +turkeys, and hardly venture to consume as much as an egg, but save +everything for the summer-boarder or the buyer from the city. It would +not be too much to say of the cultural records of early man that they +all have to do, directly or indirectly, with the reserving of fresh +meat to the masters. In J.T. Trowbridge's cheerful tale of the +adventures of Captain Seaborn, we are told by the cannibal priest how +idol-worship has ameliorated the morals of the tribe-- + + For though some warriors of renown + Continue anthropophagous, + 'Tis rare that human flesh goes down + The low-caste man's aesophagus! + +I suspect that we should have to go back to the days of the cave-man +to find the first lover of the flesh-pots who put a taboo upon meat, +and promised supernatural favors to all who would exercise +self-control, and instead of consuming their meat themselves, would +bring it and lay it upon the sacred griddle, or altar, where the god +might come in the night-time and partake of it. Certainly, at any +rate, there are few religions of record in which such devices do not +appear. The early laws of the Hebrews are more concerned with +delicatessen for the priests than with any other subject whatever. +Here, for example, is the way to make a Nazarite: + + He shall offer his offering up to the Lord, one he lamb of + the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one + ewe lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin + offering, and one ram without blemish for peace offerings, + and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour + mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed + with oil, and their meat offerings. + +And the law goes on to instruct the priests to take certain choice +parts and "wave them for a wave offering before the Lord: this is holy +for the priest." What was done with the other portions we are not +told; but earlier in this same "Book of Numbers" we find the general +law that + + Every offering of all the holy things of the children of + Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his. And + every man's hallowed things shall be his: whatsoever any man + giveth to the priest, it shall be his. + +In the same way we are told by Viscount Amberley that the priests of +Ceylon first present the gifts to the god, and then eat them. Among +the Parsees, when a man dies, the relatives must bring four new robes +to the priests; if they do this, the priests wear the robes; if they +fail to do it, the dead man appears naked before the judgment-throne. +The devotees are instructed that "he who performs this rite succeeds +in both worlds, and obtains a firm footing in both worlds." Among the +Buddhists, the followers give alms to the monks, and are told +specifically what advantages will thereby accrue to them. In the +Aitareyo Brahmanam of the Rig-Veda we read + + He who, knowing this, sacrifices according to this rite, is + born from the womb of Agni and the offerings, participates + in the nature of the Rik, Yajus, and Saman, the Veda (sacred + knowledge), the Brahma (sacred element) and immortality, and + is absorbed into the deity. + +Among the Parsees the priest eats the bread and drinks the haoma, or +juice of a plant, considered to be both a plant and a god. Among the +Episcopalians, a contemporary Christian sect, the sacred juice is that +of the grape, and the priest is not allowed to throw away what is left +of it, but is ordered "reverently to consume it." In as much as the +priest is the sole judge of how much good sherry wine he shall +consecrate previous to the ceremony, it is to be expected that the +priests of this cult should be lukewarm towards the prohibition +movement, and should piously refuse to administer their sacrament with +unfermented and uninteresting grape-juice. + +#Priestly Empires# + +In every human society of which we have record there has been one +class which has done the hard and exhausting work, the "hewers of wood +and drawers of water"; and there has been another, much smaller class +which has done the directing. To belong to this latter class is to +work also, but with the head instead of the hands; it is also to enjoy +the good things of life, to live in the best houses, to eat the best +food, to have choice of the most desirable women; it is to have +leisure to cultivate the mind and appreciate the arts, to acquire +graces and distinctions, to give laws and moral codes, to shape +fashions and tastes, to be revered and regarded--in short, to have +Power. How to get this Power and to hold it has been the first object +of the thoughts of men from the beginning of time. + +The most obvious method is by the sword; but this method is uncertain, +for any man may take up a sword, and some may succeed with it. It will +be found that empires based upon military force alone, however cruel +they may be, are not permanent, and therefore not so dangerous to +progress; it is only when resistance is paralyzed by the agency of +Superstition, that the race can be subjected to systems of +exploitation for hundreds and even thousands of years. The ancient +empires were all priestly empires; the kings ruled because they obeyed +the will of the priests, taught to them from childhood as the word of +the gods. + +Thus, for instance, Prescott tells us: + + Terror, not love, was the spring of education with the + Aztecs....Such was the crafty policy of the priests, who, by + reserving to themselves the business of instruction, were + enabled to mould the young and plastic mind according to + their own wills, and to train it early to implicit reverence + for religion and its ministers. + +The historian goes on to indicate the economic harvest of this +teaching: + + To each of the principal temples, lands were annexed for the + maintenance of the priests. The estates were augmented by + the policy or devotion of successive princes, until, under + the last Montezuma, they had swollen to an enormous extent, + and covered every district of the empire. + +And this concerning the frightful system of human sacrifices, whereby +the priestly caste maintained the prestige of its divinities: + + At the dedication of the temple of Huitzilopochtli, in 1486, + the prisoners, who for some years had been reserved for the + purpose, were ranged in files, forming a procession nearly + two miles long. The ceremony consumed several days, and + seventy thousand captives are said to have perished at the + shrine of this terrible deity. + +The same system appears in Professor Jastrow's account of the +priesthood of Babylonia and Assyria: + + The ultimate source of all law being the deity himself, the + original legal tribunal was the place where the image or + symbol of the god stood. A legal decision was an oracle or + omen, indicative of the will of the god. The power thus + lodged in the priests of Babylonia and Assyria was enormous. + They virtually held in their hands the life and death of the + people. + +And of the business side of this vast religious system: + + The temples were the natural depositories of the legal + archives, which in the course of centuries grew to veritably + enormous proportions. Records were made of all decisions; + the facts were set forth, and duly attested by witnesses. + Business and marriage contracts, loans and deeds of sale + were in like manner drawn up in the presence of official + scribes, who were also priests. In this way all commercial + transactions received the written sanction of the religious + organization. The temples themselves--at least in the large + centres--entered into business relations with the populace. + In order to maintain the large household represented by such + an organization as that of the temple of Enlil of Nippur, + that of Ningirsu at Lagash, that of Marduk at Babylon, or + that of Shamash at Sippar, large holdings of land were + required which, cultivated by agents for the priests, or + farmed out with stipulations for a goodly share of the + produce, secured an income for the maintenance of the temple + officials. The enterprise of the temples was expanded to the + furnishing of loans at interest--in later periods, at + 20%--to barter in slaves, to dealings in lands, besides + engaging labor for work of all kinds directly needed for the + temples. A large quantity of the business documents found in + the temple archives are concerned with the business affairs + of the temple, and we are justified in including the temples + in the large centres as among the most important business + institutions of the country. In financial or monetary + transactions the position of the temples was not unlike that + of national banks.... + +And so on. We may venture the guess that the learned professor said +more in that last sentence than he himself intended, for his lectures +were delivered in that temple of plutocracy, the University of +Pennsylvania, and paid out of an endowment which specifies that "all +polemical subjects shall be positively excluded!" + +#Prayer-wheels# + +These priestly empires exist in the world today. If we wish to find +them we have only to ask ourselves: + +What countries are making no contribution to the progress of the race? +What countries have nothing to give us, whether in art, science, or +industry? + +For example, Gervaise tells us of the Talapoins, or priests of Siam, +that "they are exempted from all public charges, they salute nobody, +while everybody prostrates himself before them. They are maintained at +the public expense." In the same way we read of the negroes of the +Caribbean islands that "their priests and priestesses exercise an +almost unlimited power." Miss Kingsley, in her "West African Studies", +tells us that if we desire to understand the institutions of this +district, we must study the native's religion. + + For his religion has so firm a grasp upon his mind that it + influences everything he does. It is not a thing apart, as + the religion of the Europeans is at times. The African + cannot say, "Oh, that is all right from a religious point of + view, but one must be practical." To be practical, to get on + in the world, to live the day and night through, he must be + right in the religious point of view, namely, must be on + working terms with the great world of spirits around him. + The knowledge of this spirit world constitutes the religion + of the African, and his customs and ceremonies arise from + his idea of the best way to influence it. + +Or consider Henry Savage Lander's account of Thibet: + + In Lhassa and many other sacred places fanatical pilgrims + make circumambulations, sometimes for miles and miles, and + for days together, covering the entire distance lying flat + upon their bodies.... From the ceiling of the temple hang + hundreds of long strips, katas, offered by pilgrims to the + temple, and becoming so many flying prayers when hung + up--for mechanical praying in every way is prominent in + Thibet.... Thus instead of having to learn by heart long and + varied prayers, all you have to do is to stuff the entire + prayer-book into a prayer-wheel, + +and revolve it while repeating as fast as you can four words meaning, +"O God, the gem emerging from the lotus-flower." ... The attention of +the pilgrims is directed to a large box, or often a big bowl, where +they may deposit whatever offerings they can spare, and it must be +said that their religious ideas are so strongly developed that they +will dispose of a considerable portion of their money in this +fashion.... The Lamas are very clever in many ways, and have a great +hold over the entire country. They are ninety per cent of them +unscrupulous scamps, depraved in every way and given to every sort of +vice. So are the women Lamas. They live and sponge on the credulity +and ignorance of the crowds; it is to maintain this ignorance, upon +which their luxurious life depends, that foreign influence of every +kind is strictly kept out of the country. + +#The Butcher-Gods# + +In this last sentence we have summed up the fundamental fact about +institutionalized religion. Wherever belief and ritual have become the +means of livelihood of a class, all innovation will of necessity be +taken as an attack upon that class; it will be literally a +crime-robbing the priests of their age-long privileges. And of course +they will oppose the robber--using every weapon of terrorism, both of +this world and the next. They will require the submission, not merely +of their own people, but of their neighbors, and their jealousy of +rival priestly castes will be a cause of wars. The story of the early +days of mankind is a sickening record of torture and slaughter in the +name of ten thousand butcher-gods. + +Thus, for example, we read in the Hebrew religious records how the +priests were engaged in establishing the prestige of a fetish called +"the ark"; and how the people of one tribe violated this fetish and +wakened the wrath of Jehovah, the god. And he smote the men of +Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even +he smote of the people fifty thousand and three score and ten men; and +the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people +with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able +to stand before this holy Lord God? + +This terrible old Hebrew divinity said of himself that he was "a +jealous god". Throughout the time of his sway he issued through his +ministers precise instructions for the most revolting cruelties, the +extermination of whole nations of men, women and children, whose sole +offense was that they did not pay tribute to Jehovah's priests. Thus, +for example, the chief of his prophets, Moses, called the people +together, and with all solemnity, and with many warnings, handed down +ten commandments graven upon stone tablets; he went on to set forth +how the people were to set upon and rob their neighbors, and gave them +these blood-thirsty instructions: + + When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither + thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations + before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the + Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the + Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and + mightier than thou; And when the Lord thy God shall deliver + them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy + them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy + unto them: ... But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall + destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut + down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. + For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord + thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto + himself, above all people that are upon the face of the + earth. + +The records of this Jehovah are full of similar horrors. He sent his +chosen people out to destroy the Midianites, and they slew all the +males, but this was not sufficient, and Moses was wroth, and commanded +them to kill all the married women, and to take the single women "for +themselves". We are told that sixteen thousand single women were +spared, of whom "the Lord's tribute was thirty and two!" In the Book +of Joshua we read that he had an interview with a supernatural +personage called "the captain of the Lord's host", and how this +captain had given to him a magic spell which would destroy the city of +Jericho. The city should be accursed, "even it and all that are +therein, to the Lord"; every living thing except one traitor-harlot +was to be slaughtered, and all the wealth of the city reserved to the +priestly caste. This was carried out to the letter, except that +"Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the +tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing"--that is, he hid some gold +and silver in his tent; whereupon the army met with a defeat, and +everybody knew that something was wrong, and Joshua rent his clothes +and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord, and +got another message from Jehovah, to the effect that the guilty man +should be burned with fire, "he and all that he hath." + + And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of + Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of + gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his + asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and + they brought them unto the Valley of Achor. And Joshua said, + Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this + day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them + with fire, after they had stoned him with stones. + +We have no means of knowing what was the character of the unfortunate +inhabitants of the city of Jericho, nor of the Hittites and the +Girgashites and the Amorites and all the rest of the victims of +Jehovah. To be sure, we are told by the Hebrew priests that they +sacrificed their children to their gods; but then, consider what we +should believe about the Hebrew religion, if we took the word of rival +priestly castes! Consider, for example, that in this twentieth century +we saw an orthodox Jew tried in a Russian court of law for having made +a sacrifice of Christian babies; nevertheless we know that the Jews +represent a considerable part of the intelligence and idealism of +Russia. We know in the same way that the Moors had most of the culture +and all of the scientific knowledge of Spain, that the Huguenots had +most of the conscience and industry of France; and we know that they +were massacred or driven out to death by the priestly castes of the +Middle Ages. + +#The Holy Inquisition# + +Let us have one glimpse of the conditions in those mediaeval times, so +that we may know what we ourselves have escaped. In the fifteenth +century there was established in Europe the cult of a three-headed +god, whose priests had won lordship over a continent. They were +enormously wealthy, and unthinkably corrupt; they sold to the +rich the license to commit every possible crime, and they held +the poor in ignorance and degradation. Among the comparatively +intelligent and freedom-loving people of Bohemia there arose a +great reformer, John Huss, himself a priest, protesting against +the corruptions of his order. They trapped him into their power +by means of a "safe-conduct"--which they repudiated because no +promise to a heretic could have validity. They found him guilty +of having taught the hateful doctrine that a priest who committed +crimes could not give absolution for the crimes of others; and they +held an auto de fe--which means a "sentence of faith." As we read +in Lea's "History of the Inquisition": + + The cathedral of Constance was crowded with Sigismund (the + Emperor) and his nobles, the great officers of the empire + with their insignia, the prelates in their splendid robes. + While mass was sung, Huss, as an excommunicate, was kept + waiting at the door; when brought in he was placed on an + elevated bench by a table on which stood a coffer containing + priestly vestments. After some preliminaries, including a + sermon by the Bishop of Lodi, in which he assured Sigismund + that the events of that day would confer on him immortal + glory, the articles of which Huss was convicted were + recited. In vain he protested that he believed in + transubstantiation and in the validity of the sacrament in + polluted hands. He was ordered to hold his tongue, and on + his persisting the beadles were told to silence him, but in + spite of this he continued to utter protests. The sentence + was then read in the name of the council, condemning him + both for his written errors and those which had been proven + by witnesses. He was declared a pertinacious and + incorrigible heretic who did not desire to return to the + Church; his books were ordered to be burned, and himself to + be degraded from the priesthood and abandoned to the secular + court. Seven bishops arrayed him in priestly garb and warned + him to recant while yet there was time. He turned to the + crowd, and with broken voice declared that he could not + confess the errors which he never entertained, lest he + should lie to God, when the bishops interrupted him, crying + that they had waited long enough, for he was obstinate in + his heresy. He was degraded in the usual manner, stripped of + his sacerdotal vestments, his fingers scraped; but when the + tonsure was to be disposed of, an absurd quarrel arose among + the bishops as to whether the head should be shaved with a + razor or the tonsure be destroyed with scissors. Scissors + won the day, and a cross was cut in his hair. Then on his + head was placed a conical paper cap, a cubit in height, + adorned with painted devils and the inscription, "This is + the heresiarch." + + The place of execution was a meadow near the river, to which + he was conducted by two thousand armed men, with Palsgrave + Louis at their head, and a vast crowd, including many + nobles, prelates, and cardinals. The route followed was + circuitous, in order that he might be carried past the + episcopal palace, in front of which his books were burning, + whereat he smiled. Pity from man there was none to look for, + but he sought comfort on high, repeating to himself, "Christ + Jesus, Son of the living God, have mercy upon us!" and when + he came in sight of the stake he fell on his knees and + prayed. He was asked if he wished to confess, and said that + he would gladly do so if there were space. A wide circle was + formed, and Ulrich Schorand, who, according to custom, had + been providently empowered to take advantage of final + weakening, came forward, saying, "Dear sir and master, if + you will recant your unbelief and heresy, for which you must + suffer, I will willingly hear your confession; but if you + will not, you know right well that, according to canon law, + no one can administer the sacrament to a heretic." To this + Huss answered, "It is not necessary: I am not a mortal + sinner." His paper crown fell off and he smiled as his + guards replaced it. He desired to take leave of his keepers, + and when they were brought to him he thanked them for their + kindness, saying that they had been to him rather brothers + than jailers. Then he commenced to address the crowd in + German, telling them that he suffered for errors which he + did not hold, and he was cut short. When bound to the stake, + two cartloads of fagots and straw were piled up around him, + and the palsgrave and vogt for the last time adjured him to + abjure. Even yet he could save himself, but only repeated + that he had been convicted by false witnesses on errors + never entertained by him. They clapped their hands and then + withdrew, and the executioners applied the fire. Twice Huss + was heard to exclaim, "Christ Jesus, Son of the living God, + have mercy upon me!" then a wind springing up and blowing + the flames and smoke into his face checked further + utterances, but his head was seen to shake and his lips to + move while one might twice or thrice recite a paternoster. + The tragedy was over; the sorely-tried soul had escaped from + its tormentors, and the bitterest enemies of the reformer + could not refuse to him the praise that no philosopher of + old had faced death with more composure than he had shown in + his dreadful extremity. No faltering of the voice had + betrayed an internal struggle. Palsgrave Louis, seeing + Huss's mantle on the arm of one of the executioners, ordered + it thrown into the flames lest it should be reverenced as a + relic, and promised the man to compensate him. With the same + view the body was carefully reduced to ashes and thrown into + the Rhine, and even the earth around the stake was dug up + and carted off; yet the Bohemians long hovered around the + spot and carried home fragments of the neighboring clay, + which they reverenced as relics of their martyr. The next + day thanks were returned to God in a solemn procession in + which figured Sigismund and his queen, the princes and + nobles, nineteen cardinals, two patriarchs, seventy-seven + bishops, and all the clergy of the council. A few days later + Sigismund, who had delayed his departure for Spain to see + the matter concluded, left Constance, feeling that his work + was done. + +#Hell-Fire# + +If such a scene could be witnessed in the world today, it would only +be in some remote and wholly savage place, such as the mountains of +Hayti, or the Solomon Islands. It could no longer happen in any +civilized country; the reason being, not any abatement of the +pretensions of the priesthood, but solely the power of science, +embodied in the physical arm of a secular State. The advance of that +arm the church has fought systematically, in every country, and at +every point. To quote Buckle: "A careful study of the history of +religious toleration will prove that in every Christian country where +it has been adopted, it has been forced upon the clergy by the +authority of the secular classes." The wolf of superstition has been +driven into its lair, but it has backed away snarling, and it still +crouches, watching for a chance to spring. The Church which burned +John Huss, which burned Giordano Bruno for teaching that the earth +moves round the sun--that same church, in the name of the same +three-headed god, sent out Francesco Ferrer to the firing-squad; if it +does not do the same thing to the author of this book, it will be +solely because of the police. Not being allowed to burn me here, the +clergy will vent their holy indignation by sentencing me to eternal +burning in a future world which they have created, and which they run +to suit themselves. + +It is a fact, the significance of which cannot be exaggerated, that +the measure of the civilization which any nation has attained is the +extent to which it has curtailed the power of institutionalized +religion. Those peoples which are wholly under the sway of the +priesthood, such as Thibetans and Koreans, Siamese and Caribbeans, are +peoples among whom the intellectual life does not exist. Farther in +advance are Hindoos and Turks, who are religious, but not exclusively. +Still farther on the way are Spaniards and Irish; here, for example, +is a flashlight of the Irish peasantry, given by one of their number, +Patrick MacGill: + + The merchant was a great friend of the parish priest, who + always told the people if they did not pay their debts they + would burn for ever and ever in hell. "The fires of eternity + will make you sorry for the debts that you did not pay," + said the priest. "What is eternity?" he would ask in a + solemn voice from the altar steps. "If a man tried to count + the sands on the sea-shore and took a million years to count + every single grain, how long would it take him to count them + all? A long time, you'll say. But that time is nothing to + eternity. Just think of it! Burning in hell while a man, + taking a million years to count a grain of sand, counts all + the sand on the sea-shore. And this because you did not pay + Farley McKeown his lawful debts, his lawful debts within the + letter of the law." That concluding phrase, "within the + letter of the law," struck terror into all who listened, and + no one, maybe not even the priest himself, knew what it + meant. + +There is light in Ireland to-day, and hope for an Irish culture; +the thing to be noted is that it comes from two movements, one +for agricultural co-operation and the other for political +independence--both of them definitely and specifically non-religious. +This same thing has been true of the movements which have helped on +happier nations, such as the republics of France and America, which +have put an end to the power of the priestly caste to take property by +force, and to dominate the mind of the child without its parents' +consent. + +This is as far as any nation has so far gone; it has apparently not +yet occurred to any legislature that the State may owe a duty to the +child to protect its mind from being poisoned, even though it has the +misfortune to be born of poisoned parents. It is still permitted that +parents should terrify their little ones with images of a personal +devil and a hell of eternal brimstone and sulphur; it is permitted to +found schools for the teaching of devil-doctrines; it is permitted to +organize gigantic campaigns and systematically to infect whole cities +full of men, women and children with hell-fire phobias. In the +American city where I write one may see gatherings of people sunk upon +their knees, even rolling on the ground in convulsions, moaning, +sobbing, screaming to be delivered from such torments. I open my +morning paper and read of the arrest of five men and seven women in +Los Angeles, members of a sect known as the "Church of the Living +God", upon a charge of having disturbed the peace of their neighbors. +The police officers testified that the accused claimed to be possessed +of the divine spirit, and that as signs of this possession they +"crawled on the floor, grunted like pigs and barked like dogs." There +were "other acts, even more startling", about which the newspapers did +not go into details. And again, a week or two later, I read how a +woman has been heard screaming, and found tied to a bed-post, being +whipped by a man. She belonged to a religious sect which had found her +guilty of witchcraft. Another woman was about to shoot her, but this +woman's nerve failed, and the "high priest" was called in, who decreed +a whipping. The victim explained to the police that she would have +deserved to be whipped had she really been a witch, but a mistake had +been made--it was another woman who was the witch. And again in the +Los Angeles "Times" I read a perfectly serious news item, telling how +a certain man awakened one morning, and found on his pillow where his +head had lain a perfect reproduction of the head of Christ with its +crown of thorns. He called in his neighbors to witness the miracle, +and declared that while he was not superstitious, he knew that such a +thing could not have happened by chance, and he knew what it was +intended to signify--he would buy more Liberty Bonds and be more +ardent in his support of the war! + +And this is the world in which our scientists and men of culture think +that the battle of the intellect is won, and that it is no longer +necessary to spend our energies in fighting "Religion!" + + * * * * * + + + + +#BOOK TWO# + +#The Church of Good Society# + + Within the House of Mammon his priesthood stands alert + By mysteries attended, by dusk and splendors girt, + Knowing, for faiths departed, his own shall still endure, + And they be found his chosen, untroubled, solemn, sure. + + Within the House of Mammon the golden altar lifts + Where dragon-lamps are shrouded as costly incense drifts-- + A dust of old ideals, now fragrant from the coals, + To tell of hopes long-ended, to tell the death of souls. + + Sterling. + + * * * * * + + + + +#The Rain Makers# + +I begin with the Church of Good Society, because it happens to be the +Church in which I was brought up. Heading this statement, some of my +readers suspected me of snobbish pride. I search my heart; yes, it +brings a hidden thrill that as far back as I can remember I knew this +atmosphere of urbanity, that twice every Sunday those melodious and +hypnotizing incantations were chanted in my childish ears! I take up +the book of ritual, done in aristocratic black leather with gold +lettering, and the old worn volume brings me strange stirrings of +recollected awe. But I endeavor to repress these vestigial emotions +and to see the volume--not as a message from God to Good Society, but +as a landmark of man's age-long struggle against myth and dogma used +as a source of income and a shield to privilege. + +In the beginning, of course, the priest and the magician ruled the +field. But today, as I examine this "Book of Common Prayer", I +discover that there is at least one spot out of which he has been +cleared entirely; there appears no prayer to planets to stand still, +or to comets to go away. The "Church of Good Society" has discovered +astronomy! But if any astronomer attributes this to his instruments +with their marvelous accuracy, let him at least stop to consider my +"economic interpretation" of the phenomenon--the fact that the +heavenly bodies affect the destinies of mankind so little that there +has not been sufficient emolument to justify the priest in holding on +to his job as astrologer. + +But when you come to the field of meteorology, what a difference! Has +any utmost precision of barometer been able to drive the priest out of +his prerogatives as rainmaker? Not even in the most civilized of +countries; not in that most decorous and dignified of institutions, +the Protestant Episcopal Church of America! I study with care the +passage wherein the clergyman appears as controller of the fate of +crops. I note a chastened caution of phraseology; the church will not +repeat the experience of the sorcerer's apprentice, who set the demons +to bringing water, and then could not make them stop! The spell +invokes "moderate rain and showers"; and as an additional precaution +there is a counter-spell against "excessive rains and floods": the +weather-faucet being thus under exact control. + +I turn the pages of this "Book of Common Prayer", and note the +remnants of magic which it contains. There are not many of the +emergencies of life with which the priest is not authorized to deal; +not many natural phenomena for which he may not claim the credit. And +in case anything should have been overlooked, there is a blanket order +upon Providence: "Graciously hear us, that those evils which the craft +or subtilty of the devil or man worketh against us, be brought to +nought!" I am reminded of the idea which haunted my childhood, reading +fairy-stories about the hero who was allowed three wishes that would +come true. I could never understand why the hero did not settle the +matter once for all--by wishing that everything he wished might come +true! + +Most of these incantations are harmless, and some are amiable; but now +and then you come upon one which is sinister in its implications. The +volume before me happens to be of the Church of England, which is even +more forthright in its confronting of the Great Magic. Many years ago +I remember talking with an English army officer, asking how he could +feel sure of his soldiers in case of labor strikes; did it never occur +to him that the men had relatives among the workers, and might some +time refuse to shoot them? His answer was that he was aware of it, the +military had worked out its technique with care. He would never think +of ordering his men to fire upon a mob in cold blood; he would first +start the spell of discipline to work, he would march them round the +block, and get them in the swing, get their blood moving to military +music; then, when he gave the order, in they would go. I have never +forgotten the gesture, the animation with which he illustrated their +going--I could hear the grunting of bayonets in the flesh of men. The +social system prevailing in England has made necessary the perfecting +of such military technique; also, you discover, English piety has made +necessary the providing of a religious sanction for it. After the job +has been done and the bayonets have been wiped clean, the company is +marched to church, and the officer kneels in his family pew, and the +privates kneel with the parlor-maids, and the clergyman raises his +hands to heaven and intones: "We bless thy Holy Name, that it hath +pleased Thee to appease the seditious tumults which have been lately +raised up among us!" + +And sometimes the clergyman does more than bless the killers--he even +takes part in their bloody work. In the Home Office Records of the +British Government I read (vol. 40, page 17) how certain miners were on +strike against low wages and the "truck" system, and the Vicar of +Abergavenny put himself at the head of the yeomanry and the Greys. He +wrote the Home Office a lively account of his military operations. All +that remained was to apprehend certain of the strikers, "and then I +shall be able to return to my Clerical duties." Later he wrote of the +"sinister influences" which kept the miners from returning to their +work, and how he had put half a dozen of the most obstinate in prison. + +#The Babylonian Fire-god# + +So we come to the most important of the functions of the tribal god, +as an ally in war, an inspirer to martial valour. When in ancient +Babylonia you wished to overcome your enemies, you went to the shrine +of the Fire-god, and with awful rites the priest pronounced +incantations, which have been preserved on bricks and handed down for +the use of modern churches. "Pronounce in a whisper, and have a bronze +image therewith," commands the ancient text, and runs on for many +strophes in this fashion: + + Let them die, but let me live! + Let them be put under a ban, but let me prosper! + Let them perish, but let me increase! + Let them become weak, but let me wax strong! + O, fire-god, mighty, exalted among the gods, + Thou art the god, thou art my lord, etc. + +This was in heathen Babylon, some three thousand years ago. Since +then, the world has moved on-- + + Three thousand years of war and peace and glory, + Of hope and work and deeds and golden schemes, + Of mighty voices raised in song and story, + Of huge inventions and of splendid dreams-- + +And in one of the world's leading nations the people stand up and bare +their heads, and sing to their god to save their king and punish those +who oppose him-- + + O Lord our God, arise, Scatter his enemies, + And make them fall; Confound their politics, + Frustrate their knavish tricks, + On him our hopes we fix, God save us all. + +Recently, I understand, it has become the custom to omit this stanza +from the English national anthem; but it is clear that this is because +of its crudity of expression, not because of objection to the idea of +praying to a god to assist one nation and injure others; for the same +sentiment is expressed again and again in the most carefully edited of +prayer-books: + + Abate their pride, assuage their malice, and confound their devices. + Defend us, Thy humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies. + Strengthen him (the King) that he may vanquish and overcome all + his enemies. + There is none other that fighteth for us, but only Thou, O God. + +Prayers such as these are pronounced in every so-called civilized +nation today. Behind every battle-line in Europe you may see the +priests of the Babylonian Fire-god with their bronze images and their +ancient incantations; you may see magic spells being wrought, magic +standards sanctified, magic bread eaten and magic wine drunk, fetishes +blessed and hoodoos lifted, eternity ransacked to find means of +inciting soldiers to the mood where they will "go in". Throughout all +civilization, the phobias and manias of war have thrown the people +back into the toils of the priest, and that church which forced +Galileo to recant under threat of torture, and had Ferrer shot beneath +the walls of the fortress of Montjuich, is rejoicing in a "rebirth of +religion". + +#The Medicine-men# + +Andrew D. White tells us that + + It was noted that in the 14th century, after the great + plague, the Black Death, had passed, an immensely increased + proportion of the landed and personal property of every + European country was in the hands of the Church. Well did a + great ecclesiastic remark that "pestilences are the harvests + of the ministers of God." + +And so naturally the clergy hold on to their prerogative as banishers +of epidemics. Who knows what day the Lord may see fit to rebuke the +upstart teachers of impious and atheistical inoculation, and scourge +the people back into His fold as in the good old days of Moses and +Aaron? Viscount Amberley, in his immensely learned and half-suppressed +work, "The Analysis of Religious Belief", quotes some missionaries to +the Fiji islanders, concerning the ideas of these benighted heathen on +the subject of a pestilence. It was the work of a "disease-maker", who +was burning images of the people with incantations; so they blew horns +to frighten this disease-maker from his spells. The missionaries +undertook to explain the true cause of the affliction--and thereby +revealed that they stood upon the same intellectual level as the +heathen they were supposed to instruct! It appeared that the natives +had been at war with their neighbors, and the missionaries had +commanded them to desist; they had refused to obey, and God had sent +the epidemic as punishment for savage presumption! + +And on precisely this same Fijian level stands the "Book of Common +Prayer" of our most decorous and cultured of churches. I remember as a +little child lying on a bed of sickness, occasioned by the prevalence +in our home of the Southern custom of hot bread three times a day; and +there came an amiable clerical gentleman and recited the service +proper to such pastoral calls: "Take therefore in good part the +visitation of the Lord!" And again, when my mother was ill, I remember +how the clergyman read out in church a prayer for her, specifying all +sickness, "in mind, body or estate". I was thinking only of my mother, +and the meaning of these words passed over my childish head; I did not +realize that the elderly plutocrat in black broadcloth who knelt in +the pew in front of me was invoking the aid of the Almighty so that +his tenements might bring in their rentals promptly; so that his +little "flyer" in cotton might prove successful; so that the children +in his mills might work with greater speed. + +Somebody asked Voltaire if you could kill a cow by incantations, and +he answered, "Yes, if you use a little strychnine with it." And that +would seem to be the attitude of the present-day Anglican +church-member; he calls in the best physician he knows, he makes sure +that his plumbing is sound, and after that he thinks it can do no harm +to let the Lord have a chance. It makes the women happy, and after +all, there are a lot of things we don't yet know about the world. So +he repairs to the family pew, and recites over the venerable prayers, +and contributes his mite to the maintenance of an institution which, +fourteen Sundays every year, proclaims the terrifying menaces of the +Athanasian Creed: + + Whoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary + that he hold the Catholick faith. Which faith, except one do + keep whole and undefiled; without doubt he shall perish + everlastingly. + +For the benefit of the uninitiated reader, it may be explained that +the "Catholick faith" here referred to is not the Roman Catholic, but +that of the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church of +America. This creed of the ancient Alexandrian lays down the truth +with grim and menacing precision--forty-four paragraphs of +metaphysical minutiae, closing with the final doom: "This is the +Catholick faith: which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be +saved." + +You see, the founders of this august institution were not content with +cultured complacency; what they believed they believed really, with +their whole hearts, and they were ready to act upon it, even if it +meant burning their own at the stake. Also, they knew the ceaseless +impulse of the mind to grow; the terrible temptation which confronts +each new generation to believe that which is reasonable. They met the +situation by setting out the true faith in words which no one could +mistake. They have provided, not merely the Creed of Athanasius, but +also the "Thirty-nine Articles"--which are thirty-nine separate and +binding guarantees that one who holds orders in the Episcopal Church +shall be either a man of inferior mentality, or else a sophist and +hypocrite. How desperate some of them have become in the face of this +cruel dilemma is illustrated by the tale which is told of Dr. Jowett, +of Balliol College, Oxford: that when he was required to recite the +"Apostle's Creed" in public, he would save himself by inserting the +words "used to" between the words "I believe", saying the inserted +words under his breath, thus, "I used to believe in the Father, the +Son, and the Holy Ghost." Perhaps the eminent divine never did this; +but the fact that his students told it, and thought it funny, is +sufficient indication of their attitude toward their "Religion." The +son of William George Ward tells in his biography how this leader of +the "Tractarian Movement" met the problem with cynicism which seems +almost sublime: "Make yourself clear that you are justified in +deception; and then lie like a trooper!" + +#The Canonization of Incompetence# + +The supreme crime of the church to-day is that everywhere and in all +its operations and influences it is on the side of sloth of mind; that +it banishes brains, it sanctifies stupidity, it canonizes +incompetence. Consider the power of the Church of England and its +favorite daughter here in America; consider their prestige with the +press and in politics, their hold upon literature and the arts, their +control of education and the minds of children, of charity and the +lives of the poor: consider all this, and then say what it means to +society that such a power must be, in every new issue that arises, on +the side of reaction and falsehood. "So it was in the beginning, is +now, and ever shall be," runs the church's formula; and this per se +and a priori, of necessity and in the nature of the case. + +Turn over the pages of history and read the damning record of the +church's opposition to every advance in every field of science, even +the most remote from theological concern. Here is the Reverend Edward +Massey, preaching in 1772 on "The Dangerous and Sinful Practice of +Inoculation"; declaring that Job's distemper was probably confluent +small-pox; that he had been inoculated doubtless by the devil; that +diseases are sent by Providence for the punishment of sin; and that +the proposed attempt to prevent them is "a diabolical operation". Here +are the Scotch clergy of the middle of the nineteenth century +denouncing the use of chloroform in obstetrics, because it is seeking +"to avoid one part of the primeval curse on woman". Here is Bishop +Wilberforce of Oxford anathematizing Darwin: "The principle of natural +selection is absolutely incompatible with the word of God"; it +"contradicts the revealed relation of creation to its creator"; it "is +inconsistent with the fulness of His glory"; it is "a dishonoring view +of nature". And the Bishop settled the matter by asking Huxley whether +he was descended from an ape through his grandmother or grandfather. + +Think what it means, friends of progress, that these ecclesiastical +figures should be set up for the reverence of the populace, and that +every time mankind is to make an advance in power over Nature, the +pioneers of thought have to come with crow-bars and derricks and heave +these figures out of the way! And you think that conditions are +changed to-day? But consider syphilis and gonorrhea, about which we +know so much, and can do almost nothing; consider birth-control, which +we are sent to jail for so much as mentioning! Consider the divorce +reforms for which the world is crying--and for which it must wait, +because of St. Paul! Realize that up to date it has proven impossible +to persuade the English Church to permit a man to marry his deceased +wife's sister! That when the war broke upon England the whole nation +was occupied with a squabble over the disestablishment of the church +of Wales! Only since 1888 has it been legally possible for an +unbeliever to hold a seat in Parliament; while up to the present day +men are tried for blasphemy and convicted under the decisions of Lord +Hale, to the effect that "it is a crime either to deny the truth of +the fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion or to hold them up +to contempt or ridicule." Said Mr. Justice Horridge, at the West +Riding Assizes, 1911: "A man is not free in any public place to use +common ridicule on subjects which are sacred." + +The purpose, as outlined by the public prosecutor in London, is "to +preserve the standard of outward decency." And you will find that the +one essential to prosecution is always that the victim shall be +obscure and helpless; never by any chance is he a duke in a +drawing-room. I will record an utterance of one of the obscure victims +of the British "standard of outward decency", a teacher of mathematics +named Holyoake, who presumed to discuss in a public hall the +starvation of the working classes of the country. A preacher objected +that he had discussed "our duty to our neighbor" and neglected "our +duty to God"; whereupon the lecturer replied: "Our national Church and +general religious institutions cost us, upon accredited computation, +about twenty million pounds annually. Worship being thus expensive, I +appeal to your heads and your pockets whether we are not too poor to +have a God. While our distress lasts, I think it would be wise to put +deity upon half pay." And for that utterance the unfortunate teacher +of mathematics served six months in the common Gaol at Gloucester! + +While men were being tried for publishing the "Free-thinker", the +Premier of England was William Ewart Gladstone. And if you wish to +know what an established church can do by way of setting up dullness +in high places, get a volume of this "Grand Old Man's" writings on +theological and religious questions. Read his "Juventus Mundi", in the +course of which he establishes a mystic connection between the trident +of Neptune and the Christian Trinity! Read his efforts to prove that +the writer of Genesis was an inspired geologist! This writer of +Genesis points out in Nature "a grand, fourfold division, set forth in +an orderly succession of times: First, the water population; secondly, +the air population; thirdly, the land population of animals; fourthly, +the land population consummated in man." And it seems that this +division and sequence "is understood to have been so affirmed in our +time by natural science that it may be taken as a demonstrated +conclusion and established fact." Hence we must conclude of the writer +of Genesis that "his knowledge was divine"! Consider that this was +actually published in one of the leading British monthlies, and that +it was necessary for Professor Huxley to answer it, pointing out that +so far is it from being true that "a fourfold division and orderly +sequence" of water, air and land animals "has been affirmed in our +time by natural science", that on the contrary, the assertion is +"directly contradictory to facts known to everyone who is acquainted +with the elements of natural science". The distribution of fossils +proves that land animals originated before sea-animals, and there has +been such a mixing of land, sea and air animals as utterly to destroy +the reputation of both Genesis and Gladstone as possessing a divine +knowledge of Geology. + +#Gibson's Preservative# + +I have a friend, a well-known "scholar", who permits me the use of his +extensive library. I stand in the middle and look about me, and see in +the dim shadows walls lined from floor to ceiling with decorous and +grave-looking books, bound for the most part in black, many of them +fading to green with age. There are literally thousands of such, and +their theme is the pseudo-science of "divinity". I close my, eyes, to +make the test fair, and walk to the shelves and put out my hand and +take a book. It proves to be a modern work, "A History of the English +Prayer-book in Relation to the Doctrine of the Eucharist". I turn the +pages and discover that it is a study of the variations of one minute +detail of church doctrine. This learned divine--he has written many +such works, as the advertisements inform us--fills up the greater part +of his pages with foot-notes from hundreds of authorities, arguments +and counter-arguments over supernatural subtleties. I will give one +sample of these footnotes--asking the reader to be patient: + + I add the following valuable observation, of Dean Goode: + ("On Eucharist", II p 757. See also Archbishop Ware in + Gibson's "Preservative", vol. N, Chap II) "One great point + for which our divines have contended, in opposition to + Romish errors, has been the reality of that presence of + Christ's Body and Blood to the soul of the believer which is + affected through the operation of the Holy Spirit + notwithstanding the absence of that Body and Blood in + Heaven. Like the Sun, the Body of Christ is both present and + absent; present, really and truly present, in one + sense--that is, by the soul being brought into immediate + communion with--but absent in another sense--that is, as + regards the contiguity of its substance to our bodies. The + authors under review, like the Romanists, maintain that this + is not a Real Presence, and assuming their own + interpretation of the phrase to be the only true one, press + into their service the testimony of divines who, though + using the phrase, apply it in a sense the reverse of theirs. + The ambiguity of the phrase, and its misapplication by the + Church of Rome, have induced many of our divines to + repudiate it, etc." + +Realize that of the work from which this "valuable observation" is +quoted, there are at least two volumes, the second volume containing +not less than 757 pages I Realize that in Gibson's "Preservative" +there are not less than ten volumes of such writing! Realize that in +this twentieth century a considerable portion of the mental energies +of the world's greatest empire is devoted to that kind of learning! + +I turn to the date upon the volume, and find that it is 1910. I was in +England within a year of that time, and so I can tell what was the +condition of the English people while printers were making and papers +were reviewing and book-stores were distributing this work of +ecclesiastical research. I walked along the Embankment and saw the +pitiful wretches, men, women and sometimes children, clad in filthy +rags, starved white and frozen blue, soaked in winter rains and +shivering in winter winds, homeless, hopeless, unheeded by the doctors +of divinity, unpreserved by Gibson's "Preservative". I walked on +Hampstead Heath on Easter day, when the population of the slums turns +out for its one holiday; I walked, literally trembling with horror, +for I had never seen such sights nor dreamed of them. These creatures +were hardly to be recognized as human beings; they were some new +grotesque race of apes. They could not walk, they could only shamble; +they could not laugh, they could only leer. I saw a hand-organ +playing, and turned away--the things they did in their efforts to +dance were not to be watched. And then I went out into the beautiful +English country; cultured and charming ladies took me in swift, smooth +motor-cars, and I saw the pitiful hovels and the drink-sodden, +starch-poisoned inhabitants--slum-populations everywhere, even on the +land! When the newspaper reporters came to me, I said that I had just +come from Germany, and that if ever England found herself at war with +that country, she would regret that she had let the bodies and the +minds of her people rot; for which expression I was severely taken to +task by more than one British divine. + +The bodies--and the minds; the rot of the latter being the cause of +the former. All over England in that year of 1910, in thousands of +schools, rich and poor, and in the greatest centres of learning, men +like Dean Goode were teaching boys dead languages and dead sciences +and dead arts; sending them out to life with no more conception of the +modern world than a monk of the Middle Ages; sending them out with +minds made hard and inflexible, ignorant of science, indifferent to +progress, contemptuous of ideas. And then suddenly, almost overnight, +this terrified people finds itself at war with a nation ruled and +disciplined' by modern experts, scientists and technicians. The awful +muddle that was in England during the first two years of the war has +not yet been told in print; but thousands know it, and some day it +will be written, and it will finish forever the prestige of the +British ruling caste. They rushed off an expedition to Gallipoli, and +somebody forgot the water-supply, and at one time they had ninety-five +thousand cases of dysentery! + +They always "muddle through", they tell you; that is the motto of +their ruling caste. But this time they did not "muddle through"--they +had to come to America for help. As I write, our Congress is voting +billions and tens of billions of dollars, and a million of the best of +our young manhood are being taken from their homes--because in 1910 +the mind of England was occupied with Dean Goode "On Eucharist", and +the ten volumes of Gibson's "Preservative". + +#The Elders# + +What the Church means in human affairs is the rule of the aged. It +means old men in the seats of authority, not merely in the church, but +in the law-courts and in Parliament, even in the army and navy. For a +test I look up the list of bishops of the Church of England in +Whitaker's Almanac; it appears that there are 40 of these +functionaries, including the archbishops, but not the suffragans; and +that the total salary paid to them amounts to more than nine hundred +thousand dollars a year. This, it should be understood, does not +include the pay of their assistants, nor the cost of maintaining their +religious establishments; it does not include any private incomes +which they or their wives may possess, as members of the privileged +classes of the Empire. I look up their ages in Who's Who, and I find +that there is only one below fifty-three; the oldest of them is +ninety-one, while the average age of the goodly company is seventy. +There have been men in history who have retained their flexibility of +mind, their ability to adjust themselves to new circumstances at the +age of seventy, but it will always be found that these men were +trained in science and practical affairs, never in dead languages and +theology. One of the oldest of the English prelates, the Archbishop of +Canterbury, recently stated to a newspaper reporter that he worked +seventeen hours a day, and had no time to form an opinion on the labor +question. + +And now--here is the crux of the argument--do these aged gentlemen +rule of their own power? They do not! They do literally nothing of +their own power; they could not make their own episcopal robes, they +could net even cook their own episcopal dinners. They have to be +maintained in all their comings and goings. Who supports them, and to +what end? + +The roots of the English Church are in the English land system, which +is one of the infamies of the modern world. It dates from the days of +William the Norman, who took possession of Britain with his sword, and +in order to keep possession for himself and his heirs, distributed the +land among his nobles and prelates. In those days, you understand, a +high ecclesiastic was a man of war, who did not stoop to veil his +predatory nature under pretense of philanthropy; the abbots and +archbishops of William wore armor and had their troops of knights like +the barons and the dukes. William gave them vast tracts, and at the +same time he gave them orders which they obeyed. Says the English +chronicler, "Stark he was. Bishops he stripped of their bishopricks, +abbots of their abbacies". Green tells us that "the dependence of the +church on the royal power was strictly enforced. Homage was exacted +from bishop as from baron." And what was this homage? The bishop knelt +before William, bareheaded and without arms, and swore: "Hear my lord, +I become liege man of yours for life and limb and earthly regard, and +I will keep faith and loyalty to you for life and death, God help me." + +The lands which the church got from William the Norman, she has held, +and always on the same condition--that she shall be "liege man for +life and limb and earthly regard". In this you have the whole story of +the church of England, in the twentieth century as in the eleventh. +The balance of power has shifted from time to time; old families have +lost the land and new families have gotten it; but the loyalty and +homage of the church have been held by the land, as the needle of the +compass is held by a mass of metal. Some two hundred and fifty years +ago a popular song gave the general impression-- + + For this is law that I'll maintain + Until my dying day, sir: + That whatsoever king shall reign + I'll still be vicar of Bray, sir! + +So, wherever you take the Anglican clergy, they are Tories and +Royalists, conservatives and reactionaries, friends of every injustice +that profits the owning class. And always among themselves you find +them intriguing and squabbling over the dividing of the spoils; always +you find them enjoying leisure and ease, while the people suffer and +the rebels complain. One can pass down the corridor of English history +and prove this statement by the words of Englishmen from every single +generation. Take the fourteenth century; the "Good Parliament" +declares that + + Unworthy and unlearned caitiffs are appointed to benefices + of a thousand marks, while the poor and learned hardly + obtain one of twenty. God gave the sheep to be pastured, not + to be shaven and shorn. + +And a little later comes the poet of the people, Piers Plowman-- + + But now is Religion a rider, a roamer through the streets, + A leader at the love-day, a buyer of the land, + Pricking on a palfrey from manor to manor, + A heap of hounds at his back, as tho he were a lord; + And if his servant kneel not when he brings his cup, + He loureth on him asking who taught him courtesy. + Badly have lords done to give their heirs' lands + + Away to the Orders that have no pity; + Money rains upon their altars. + There where such parsons be living at ease + They have no pity on the poor; that is their "charity". + Ye hold you as lords; your lands are too broad, + But there shall come a king and he shall shrive you all + And beat you as the bible saith for breaking of your Rule. + +Another step through history, and in the early part of the sixteenth +century here is Simon Fish, addressing King Henry the Eighth, in the +"Supplicacyon for the Beggars", complaining of the "strong, puissant +and counterfeit holy and ydell" which "are now increased under your +sight, not only into a great nombre, but ynto a kingdome." + + They have begged so importunatly that they have gotten ynto + their hondes more than a therd part of all youre Realme. The + goodliest lordshippes, maners, londes, and territories, are + theyres. Besides this, they have the tenth part of all the + corne, medowe, pasture, grasse, wolle, coltes, calves, + lambes, pigges, gese and chikens. Ye, and they looke so + narowly uppon theyre proufittes, that the poore wyves must + be countable to thym of every tenth eg, or elles she gettith + not her rytes at ester, shal be taken as an heretike.... Is + it any merveille that youre people so compleine of povertie? + The Turke nowe, in your tyme, shulde never be abill to get + so moche grounde of christendome.... And whate do al these + gredy sort of sturdy, idell, holy theves? These be they that + have made an hundredth thousand idell hores in your realme. + These be they that catche the pokkes of one woman, and here + them to an other. + +The petitioner goes on to tell how they steal wives and all their +goods with them, and if any man protest they make him a heretic, "so +that it maketh him wisshe that he had not done it". Also they take +fortunes for masses and then don't say them. "If the Abbot of +west-minster shulde sing every day as many masses for his founders as +he is bounde to do by his foundacion, 1000 monkes were too few." The +petitioner suggests that the king shall "tie these holy idell theves +to the cartes, to be whipped naked about every market towne till they +will fall to laboure!" + +#Church History# + +King Henry did not follow this suggestion precisely, but he took away +the property of the religious orders for the expenses of his many +wives and mistresses, and forced the clergy in England to forswear +obedience to the Pope and make his royal self their spiritual head. +This was the beginning of the Anglican Church, as distinguished from +the Catholic; a beginning of which the Anglican clergy are not so +proud as they would like to be. When I was a boy, they taught me what +they called "church history", and when they came to Henry the Eighth +they used him as an illustration of the fact that the Lord is +sometimes wont to choose evil men to carry out His righteous purposes. +They did not explain why the Lord should do this confusing thing, nor +just how you were to know, when you saw something being done by a +murderous adulterer, whether it was the will of the Lord or of Satan; +nor did they go into details as to the motives which the Lord had been +at pains to provide, so as to induce his royal agent to found the +Anglican Church. For such details you have to consult another set of +authorities--the victims of the plundering. + +When I was in college my professor of Latin was a gentleman with bushy +brown whiskers and a thundering voice of which I was often the +object--for even in those early days I had the habit of persisting in +embarrassing questions. This professor was a devout Catholic, and not +even in dealing with ancient Romans could he restrain his propaganda +impulses. Later on in life he became editor of the "Catholic +Encyclopedia", and now when I turn its pages, I imagine that I see the +bushy brown whiskers, and hear the thundering voice: "Mr. Sinclair, it +is so because I tell you it is so!" + +I investigate, and find that my ex-professor knows all about King +Henry the Eighth, and his motives in founding the Church of England; +he is ready with an "economic interpretation", as complete as the most +rabid muckraker could desire! It appears that the king wanted a new +wife, and demanded that the Pope should grant the necessary +permission; in his efforts to browbeat the Pope into such betrayal of +duty, King Henry threatened the withdrawal of the "annates" and the +"Peter's pence". Later on he forced the clergy to declare that the +Pope was "only a foreign bishop", and in order to "stamp out overt +expression of disaffection, he embarked upon a veritable reign of +terror". + +In Anglican histories, you are assured that all this was a work of +religious reform, and that after it the Church was the pure vehicle of +God's grace. There were no more "holy idell theves", holding the land +of England and plundering the poor. But get to know the clergy, and +see things from the inside, and you will meet some one like the +Archbishop of Cashell, who wrote to one of his intimates: + + I conclude that a good bishop has nothing more to do than to + eat, drink and grow fat, rich and die; which laudable + example _I_ propose for the remainder of my days to follow. + +If you say that might be a casual jest, hear what Thackeray reports of +that period, the eighteenth century, which he knew with peculiar +intimacy: + + I read that Lady Yarmouth (my most religious and gracious + King's favorite) sold a bishopric to a clergyman for 5600 + pounds. (She betted him the 5000 pounds that he would not be + made a bishop, and he lost, and paid her.) Was he the only + prelate of his time led up by such hands for consecration? + As I peep into George II's St. James, I see crowds of + cassocks pushing up the back-stairs of the ladies of the + court; stealthy clergy slipping purses into their laps; that + godless old king yawning under his canopy in his Chapel + Royal, as the chaplain before him is discoursing. + Discoursing about what?--About righteousness and judgment? + Whilst the chaplain is preaching, the king is chattering in + German and almost as loud as the preacher; so loud that the + clergyman actually burst out crying in his pulpit, because + the defender of the faith and the dispenser of bishoprics + would not listen to him! + +#Land and Livings# + +And how is it in the twentieth century? Have conditions been much +improved? There are great Englishmen who do not think so. I quote +Robert Buchanan, a poet who spoke for the people, and who therefore +has still to be recognized by English critics. He writes of the "New +Rome", by which he means present-day England: + + The gods are dead, but in their name + Humanity is sold to shame, + While (then as now!) the tinsel'd priest + Sitteth with robbers at the feast, + Blesses the laden, blood-stained board, + Weaves garlands round the butcher's sword, + And poureth freely (now as then) + The sacramental blood of Men! + +You see, the land system of England remains--the changes having been +for the worse. William the Conqueror wanted to keep the Saxon +peasantry contented, so he left them their "commons"; but in the +eighteenth century these were nearly all filched away. We saw the same +thing done within the last generation in Mexico, and from the same +motive--because developing capitalism needs cheap labor, whereas +people who have access to the land will not slave in mills and mines. +In England, from the time of Queen Anne to that of William and Mary, +the parliaments of the landlords passed some four thousand separate +acts, whereby more than seven million acres of the common land were +stolen from the people. It has been calculated that these acres might +have supported a million families; and ever since then England has had +to feed a million paupers all the time. + +As an old song puts the matter: + + Why prosecute the man or woman + Who steals a goose from off the common, + And let the greater felon loose + Who steals the common from the goose? + +In our day the land aristocracy is rooted like the native oak in +British soil: some of them direct descendants of the Normans, others +children of the court favorites and panders who grew rich in the days +of the Tudors and the unspeakable Stuarts. Seven men own practically +all the land of the city and county of London, and collect tribute +from seven millions of people. The estates are entailed--that is, +handed down from father to oldest son automatically; you cannot buy +any land, but if you want to build, the landlord gives you a lease, +and when the lease is up, he takes possession of your buildings. The +tribute which London pays is more than a hundred million dollars a +year. So absolute is the right of the land-owner that he can sue for +trespass the driver on an aeroplane which flies over him; he imposes +on fishermen a tax upon catches made many hundred of yards from the +shore. + +And in this graft, of course, the church has its share. Each church +owns land--not merely that upon which it stands, but farms and city +lots from which it derives income. Each cathedral owns large tracts; +so do the schools and universities in which the clergy are educated. +The income from the holdings of a church constitutes what is called a +"living"; these livings, which vary in size, are the prerogatives of +the younger sons of the ruling families, and are intrigued and +scrambled for in exactly the fashion which Thackeray describes in the +eighteenth century. + +About six thousand of these "livings" are in the gift of great land +owners; one noble lord alone disposes of fifty-six such plums; and +needless to say, he does not present them to clergymen who favor +radical land-taxes. He gives them to men like himself--autocratic to +the poor, easy-going to members of his own class, and cynical +concerning the grafts of grace. + +In one English village which I visited the living was worth seven +hundred pounds, with the use of a fine mansion; as the incumbent had a +large family, he lived there. In another place the living was worth a +thousand pounds, and the incumbent hired a curate, himself appearing +twice a year, on Christmas day and on the King's birth-day, to preach +a sermon; the rest of the time he spent in Paris. It is worth noting +that in 1808 a law was proposed compelling absentee pluralists--that +is, clergymen holding more than one "living"--to furnish curates to do +their work; it might be interesting to note that this law met with +strenuous clerical opposition, the house of Bishops voting against it +without a division. Thus we may understand the sharp saying of Karl +Marx, that the English clergy would rather part with thirty-eight of +their thirty-nine articles than with one thirty-ninth of their income. + +There is always a plentiful supply of curates in England. They are the +sons of the less influential ruling families, and of the clergy; they +have been trained at Oxford or Cambridge, and possess the one +essential qualification, that they are gentlemen. Their average price +is two hundred and fifty pounds a year; their function was made clear +to me when I attended my first English tea-party. There was a wicker +table, perhaps a foot and a half square, having three shelves, one +below the other--on the top layer the plates and napkins, on the next +the muffins, and on the lowest the cake. Said the hostess, "Will you +pass the curate, please?" I looked puzzled, and she pointed. "We call +that the curate, because it does the work of a curate." + +#Graft in Tail# + +As one of America's head muck-rakers, I found that I was popular with +the British ruling classes; they found my books useful in their +campaigns against democracy, and they were surprised and disconcerted +when they found I did not agree with their interpretation of my +writings. I had told of corruption in American politics; surely I must +know that in England they had no such evils! I explained that they did +not have to; their graft, to use their own legal phrase, was "in +tail"; the grafters had, as a matter of divine right, the things which +in America they had to buy. In America, for instance, we had a Senate, +a "Millionaire's Club", for admission to which the members paid in +cash; but in England the same men came to the same position as their +birth-right. Political corruption is not an end in itself, it is +merely a means to exploitation; and of exploitation England has even +more than America. When I explained this, my popularity with the +British ruling classes vanished quickly. + +As a matter of fact, England is more like America than she realizes; +her British reticence has kept her ignorant about herself. I could not +carry on my business in England, because of the libel laws, which have +as their first principle "the greater the truth, the greater the +libel". Englishmen read with satisfaction what I write about America; +but if I should turn my attention to their own country, they would +send me to jail as they sent Frank Harris. The fact is that the new +men in England, the lords of coal and iron and shipping and beer, have +bought their way into the landed aristocracy for cash, just as our +American senators have done; they have bought the political parties +with campaign gifts, precisely as in America; they have taken over the +press, whether by outright purchase like Northcliffe, or by +advertising subsidy--both of which methods we Americans know. Within +the last decade or two another group has been coming into control; and +not merely is this the same class of men as in America, it frequently +consists of the same individuals. These are the big money-lenders, the +international financiers who are the fine and final flower of the +capitalist system. These gentlemen make the world their home--or, as +Shakespeare puts it, their oyster. They know how to fit themselves to +all environments; they are Catholics in Rome and Vienna, country +gentlemen in London, bons vivants in Paris, democrats in Chicago, +Socialists in Petrograd, and Hebrews wherever they are. + +And of course, in buying the English government, these new classes +have bought the English Church. Skeptics and men of the world as they +are, they know that they must have a Religion. They have read the +story of the French revolution, and the shadow of the guillotine is +always over their thoughts; they see the giant of labor, restless in +his torment, groping as in a nightmare for the throat of his enemy. +Who can blind the eyes of this giant, who can chain him to his couch +of slumber? There is but one agent, without rival--the Keeper of the +Holy Secrets, the Deputy of the Almighty Awfulness, the Giver and +Withholder of Eternal Life. Tremble, slave! Fall down and bow your +forehead in the dust! I can see in my memory the sight that thrilled +my childhood--my grim old Bishop, clad in his gorgeous ceremonial +robes, stretching out his hands over the head of the new priest, and +pronouncing that most deadly of all the Christian curses: + +"Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou +dost retain, they are retained!" + +#Bishops and Beer# + +For example, the International Shylocks wanted the diamond mines of +South Africa--wanted them more firmly governed and less firmly taxed +than could be arranged with the Old Man of the Boers. So the armies of +England were sent to subjugate the country. You might think they would +have had the good taste to leave the lowly Jesus out of this +affair--but if so, you have missed the essential point about +established religion. The bishops, priests, and deacons are set up for +the populace to revere, and when the robber-classes need a blessing +upon some enterprise, then is the opportunity for the bishops, priests +and deacons to earn their "living." During the Boer war the blood-lust +of the English clergy was so extreme that writers in the dignified +monthly reviews felt moved to protest against it. When the pastors of +Switzerland issued a collective protest against cruelties to women and +children in the South African concentration-camps, it was the Right +Reverend Bishop of Winchester who was brought forward to make reply. +Nowadays all England is reading Bernhardi, and shuddering at Prussian +glorification of war; but no one mentions Bishop Welldon of Calcutta, +who advocated the Boer war as a means of keeping the nation "virile"; +nor Archbishop Alexander, who said that it was God's way of making +"noble natures". + +The British God had other ways of improving nations--for example, the +opium traffic. The British traders had been raising the poppy in India +and selling its juice to the Chinese. They had made perhaps a hundred +million "noble natures" by this method; and also they were making a +hundred million dollars a year. The Chinese, moved by their new +"virility," undertook to destroy some opium, and to stop the traffic; +whereupon it was necessary to use British battle-ships to punish and +subdue them. Was there any difficulty in persuading the established +church of Jesus to bless this holy war? There was not! Lord +Shaftesbury, himself the most devout of Anglicans, commented with +horror upon the attitude of the clergy, and wrote in his diary: + + I rejoice that this cruel and debasing opium war is + terminated. We have triumphed in one of the most lawless, + unnecessary, and unfair struggles in the records of history; + and Christians have shed more heathen blood in two years, + than the heathens have shed of Christian blood in two + centuries. + +That was in 1843; for seventy years thereafter pious England continued +to force the opium traffic upon protesting China, and only in the last +two or three years has the infamy been brought to an end. Throughout +the long controversy the attitude of the church was such that Li Hung +Chang was moved to assert in a letter to the Anti-Opium Society: + + Opium is a subject in the discussion of which England and + China can never meet on a common ground. China views the + whole question from a moral standpoint, England from a + fiscal. + +And just as the Chinese people were poisoned with opium, so the +English people are being poisoned with alcohol. Both in town and +country, labor is sodden with it. Scientists and reformers are +clamoring for restriction;--and what prevents? Head and front of the +opposition for a century, standing like a rock, has been the +Established Church. The Rev. Dawson Burns, historian of the early +temperance movement, declares that "among its supporters I cannot +recall one Church of England minister of influence." When Asquith +brought in his bill for the restriction of the traffic in beer, he was +confronted with petitions signed by members of the clergy, protesting +against the act. And what was the basis of their protest? That beer is +a food and not a poison? Yes, of course; but also that there was +property invested in brewing it. Three hundred and thirty-two clergy +of the diocese of Peterborough declared: + + We do strongly protest against the main provisions of the + present bill as creating amongst our people a sense of grave + injustice as amounting to a confiscation of private + property, spelling ruin for thousands of quite innocent + people, and provoking deep and widespread resentment, which + must do harm to our cause and hinder our aims. + +I have come upon references to another and even more plainspoken +petition, signed by 1,280 clergymen; but war-time facilities for +research have not enabled me to find the text. In Prof. Henry C. +Vedder's "Jesus Christ and the Social Question," we read: + + It was authoritatively stated a short time ago that Mr. + Asquith's temperance bill was defeated in Parliament through + the opposition of clergymen who had invested their savings + in brewery stock, the profits of which might have been + lessened by the bill. + +Also the power of the clergy, combined with the brewer, was sufficient +to put through Parliament a provision that no prohibition legislation +should ever be passed without providing for compensation to the owners +of the industry. Today, all over America, appeals are being made to +the people to eat less grain; the grain is being shipped to England, +some of it to be made into beer; and a high Anglican prelate, his +Grace the Archbishop of York, comes to America to urge us to increased +sacrifices, and in his first newspaper interview takes occasion to +declare that his church is not in favor of prohibition as a measure of +war-time economy! + +#Anglicanism and Alcohol# + +This partnership of Bishops and Beer is painfully familiar to British +radicals; they see it at work in every election--the publican +confusing the voters with spirits, while the parson confuses them with +spirituality. There are two powerful societies in England employing +this deadly combination--the "Anti-Socialist Union" and the "Liberty +and Property Defense League." If you scan the lists of the organizers, +directors and subsidizers of these satanic institutions, you find Tory +politicians and landlords, prominent members of the higher clergy, and +large-scale dealers in drunkenness. I attended in London a meeting +called by the "Liberty and Property Defense League," to listen to a +denunciation of Socialism by W.H. Mallock, a master sophist of Roman +Catholicism; upon the platform were a bishop and half a dozen members +of the Anglican clergy, together with the secretary of the Federated +Brewers' Association, the Secretary of the Wine, Spirit, and Beer +Trade Association, and three or four other alcoholic magnates. + +In every public library in England and many in America you will +find an assortment of pamphlets published by these organizations, +and scholarly volumes endorsed by them, in which the stock +misrepresentations of Socialism are perpetuated. Some of these +writings are brutal--setting forth the ethics of exploitation in the +manner of the Rev. Thomas Malthus, the English clergyman who supplied +for capitalist depredation a basis in pretended natural science. Said +this shepherd of Jesus: + + A man who is born into a world already possessed, if he + cannot get subsistence from his parents, and if society does + not Want his labor, has no claim of right to the smallest + portion of food, and in fact has no business to be where he + is. At Nature's mighty feast there is no cover for him. She + tells him to be gone, and will quickly execute her own + orders. + +Such was the tone of the ruling classes in the nineteenth century; but +it was found that for some reason this failed to stop the growth of +Socialism, and so in our time the clerical defenders of Privilege have +grown subtle and insinuating. They inform us now that they have a deep +sympathy with our fundamental purposes; they burn with pity for the +poor, and they would really and truly wish happiness to everyone, not +merely in Heaven, but right here and now. However, there are so many +complications--and so they proceed to set out all the anti-Socialist +bug-a-boos. Here for example, is the Rev. James Stalker, D.D., +expounding "The Ethics of Jesus," and admonishing us extremists: + + Efforts to transfer money and property from one set of hands + to another may be inspired by the same passions as have + blinded the present holders to their own highest good, and + may be accompanied with injustice as extreme as has ever + been manifested by the rich and powerful. + +And again, the Rev. W. Sanday, D.D., an especially popular clerical +author, gives us this sublime utterance of religion on wage-slavery: + + The world is full of mysteries, but some clear lines run + through them, of which this is one. Where God has been so + patient, it is not for us to be impatient. + +And again, Professor Robert Flint, of Edinburgh University, a +clergyman, author of a big book attacking Socialism, and bringing us +back to the faith of our fathers: + + The great bulk of human misery is due, not to social + arrangements, but to personal vices. + +I study Professor Flint's volume in the effort to find just what, if +anything, he would have the church do about the evils of our time. I +find him praising the sermons of Dr. Westcott, Bishop of Durham, as +being the proper sort for clergymen to preach. Bishop Westcott, +whether he is talking to a high society congregation, or to one of +workingmen, shows "an exquisite sense of knowing always where to +stop." So I consulted the Bishop's volume, "The Social Aspects of +Christianity" and I see at once why he is popular with the +anti-Socialist propagandists--neither I or any other man can possibly +discover what he really means, or what he really wants done. + +I was fascinated by this Westcott problem; I thought maybe if I kept +on the good Bishop's trail, I might in the end find something a plain +man could understand; so I got the beautiful two-volume "Life of +Brooke Westcott, by his Son"--and there I found an exposition of the +social purposes of bishops! In the year 1892 there was a strike in +Durham, which is in the coal country; the employers tried to make a +cut in wages, and some ten thousand men walked out, and there was a +long and bitter struggle, which wrung the episcopal heart. There was +much consultation and correspondence on episcopal stationery, and at +last the masters and men were got together, with the Bishop as +arbitrator, and the dispute was triumphantly settled--how do you +suppose? On the basis of a ten per cent reduction in wages! + +I know nothing quainter in the history of English graft than the +NAIVETÉ with which the Bishop's biographer and son tells the story of +this episcopal venture into reality. The prelate came out from the +conference "all smiles, and well satisfied with the result of his +day's work." As for his followers, they were in ecstacies; they +"seized and waltzed one another around on the carriage drive as madly +as ever we danced at a flower show ball. Hats and caps are thrown into +the air, and we cheer ourselves hoarse." The Bishop proceeds to his +palace, and sends one more communication on episcopal stationery--an +order to all his clergy to "offer their humble and hearty thanks to +God for our happy deliverance from the strife by which the diocese has +been long afflicted." Strange to say, there were a few varlets in +Durham who did not appreciate the services of the bold Bishop, and one +of them wrote and circulated some abusive verses, in which he made +reference to the Bishop's comfortable way of life. The biographer then +explains that the Bishop was so tender-hearted that he suffered for +the horses who drew his episcopal coach, and so ascetic that he would +have lived on tea and toast if he had been permitted to. A curious +condition in English society, where the Bishop would have lived on tea +and toast, but was not permitted to; while the working people, who +didn't want to live on tea and toast, were compelled to! + +#Dead Cats# + +For more than a hundred years the Anglican clergy have been fighting +with every resource at their command the liberal and enlightened men +of England who wished to educate the masses of the people. In 1807 the +first measure for a national school-system was denounced by the +Archbishop of Canterbury as "derogatory to the authority of the +Church." As a counter-measure, his supporters established the +"National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the +Doctrines of the Established Church"; and the founder of the +organization, a clergyman, advocated a barn as a good structure for a +school, and insisted that the children of the workers "should not be +taught beyond their station." In 1840 a Committee of the Privy Council +on Education was appointed, but bowed to the will of the Archbishops, +setting forth the decree of "their lord-ships" that "the first purpose +of all instruction must be the regulation of the thoughts and habits +of the children by the doctrine and precepts of revealed religion." In +1850 a bill for secular education was denounced as presenting to the +country "a choice between Heaven or Hell, God or the Devil." In 1870, +Forster, author of the still unpassed bill, wrote that while the +parsons were disputing, the children of the poor were "growing into +savages." + +As with Education, so with Social Reform. During the struggle to +abolish slavery in the British colonies, some enthusiasts endeavored +to establish the doctrine that Christian baptism conferred +emancipation upon negroes who accepted it; whereupon the Bishop of +London laid down the formula of exploitation: "Christianity and the +embracing of the gospel do not make the least alteration of civil +property." + +Gladstone, who was a democrat when he was not religious, spoke of the +cultured classes of England: + + In almost every one, if not every one, of the greatest + political controversies of the last fifty years, whether + they affected the franchise, whether they affected commerce, + whether they affected religion, whether they affected the + bad and abominable institution of slavery, or what subject + they touched, these leisured classes, these educated + classes, these titled classes have been in the wrong. + +The "Great Commoner" did not add "these religious classes ", for he +belonged to the religious classes himself; but a study of the record +will supply the gap. The Church opposed all the reform measures which +Gladstone himself put through. It opposed the Reform Bill of 1832. It +opposed all the social reforms of Lord Salisbury. This noble-hearted +Englishman complained that at first only a single minister of religion +supported him, and to the end only a few. He expressed himself as +distressed and puzzled "to find support from infidels and +non-professors; opposition or coldness from religionists or +declaimers." + +And to our own day it has been the same. In 1894 the House of Bishops +voted solidly against the Employers' Liability Law. The House of +Bishops opposed Home Rule, and beat it; The House of Bishops opposed +Womans' Suffrage, and voted against it to the end. Concerning this +establishment Lord Salisbury, himself the most devout of Englishmen, +used the vivid phrase: "This vast aquarium full of cold-blooded life." +He told the Bishops that he would give up preaching to them about +ecclesiastical reform, because he knew that they would never begin. +Another member of the British aristocracy, the Hon. Geo. Russel, has +written of their record and adventures: + + They were defenders of absolutism, slavery, and the bloody + penal code; they were the resolute opponents of every + political or social reform; and they had their reward from + the nation outside parliament. The Bishop of Bristol had his + palace sacked and burnt; the Bishop of London could not keep + an engagement to preach lest the congregation should stone + him. The Bishop of Litchfield barely escaped with his life + after preaching at St. Bride's, Fleet Street. Archbishop + Howley, entering Canterbury for his primary visitation, was + insulted, spat upon, and only brought by a circuitous route + to the Deanery, amid the execrations of the mob. On the 5th + of November the Bishops of Exeter and Winchester were burnt + in effigy close to their own palace gates. Archbishop + Howley's chaplain complained that a dead cat had been thrown + at him, when the Archbishop--a man of apostolic + meekness--replied: "You should be thankful that it was not a + live one." + +The people had reason for this conduct--as you will always find they +have, if you take the trouble to inquire. Let me quote another member +of the English ruling classes, Mr. Conrad Noel, who gives "an +instance, of the procedure of Church and State about this period": + + In 1832 six agricultural labourers in South Dorsetshire, led + by one of their class, George Loveless, in receipt of 9s. a + week each, demanded the 10s. rate of wages usual in the + neighbourhood. The result was a reduction to 8s. An appeal + was made to the chairman of the local bench, who decided + that they must work for whatever their masters chose to pay + them. The parson, who had at first promised his help, now + turned against them, and the masters promptly reduced the + wage to 7s., with a threat of further reduction. Loveless + then formed an agricultural union, for which all seven were + arrested, treated as convicts, and committed to the assizes. + The prison chaplain tried to bully them into submission. The + judge determined to convict them, and directed that they + should be tried for mutiny under an act of George III, + specially passed to deal with the naval mutiny at the Nore. + The grand jury were landowners, and the petty jury were + farmers; both judge and jury were churchmen of the + prevailing type. The judge summed up as follows: "Not for + anything that you have done, or that I can prove that you + intend to do, but for an example to others I consider it my + duty to pass the sentence of seven years' penal + transportation across His Majesty's high seas upon each and + every one of you." + +#Suffer Little Children# + +The founder of Christianity was a man who specialized in children. He +was not afraid of having His discourses disturbed by them, He did not +consider them superfluous. "Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven", He +said; and His Church is the inheritor of this tradition--"feed my +lambs". There were children in Great Britain in the early part of the +nineteenth century, and we may see what was done with them by turning +to Gibbin's "Industrial History of England": + + Sometimes regular traffickers would take the place of the + manufacturer, and transfer a number of children to a factory + district, and there keep them, generally in some dark + cellar, till they could hand them over to a mill owner in + want of hands, who would come and examine their height, + strength, and bodily capacities, exactly as did the slave + oweners in the American markets. After that the children + were simply at the mercy of their oweners, nominally as + apprentices, but in reality as mere slaves, who got no + wages, and whom it was not worth while even to feed and + clothe properly, because they were so cheap and their places + could be so easily supplied. It was often arranged by the + parish authorities, in order to get rid of imbeciles, that + one idiot should be taken by the mill owener with every + twenty sane children. The fate of these unhappy idiots was + even worse than that of the others. The secret of their + final end has never been disclosed, but we can form some + idea of their awful sufferings from the hardships of the + other victims to capitalist greed and cruelty. The hours of + their labor were only limited by exhaustion, after many + modes of torture had been unavailingly applied to force + continued work. Children were often worked sixteen hours a + day, by day and by night. + +In the year 1819 an act of Parliament was proposed limiting the labor +of children nine years of age to fourteen hours a day. This would seem +to have been a reasonable provision, likely to have won the approval +of Christ; yet the bill was violently opposed by Christian employers, +backed by Christian clergymen. It was interfering with freedom of +contract, and therefore with the will of Providence; it was anathema +to an established Church, whose function was in 1819, as it is in +1918, and was in 1918 B.C., to teach the divine origin and sanction of +the prevailing economic order. "Anu and Baal called me, Hammurabi, the +exalted prince, worshipper of the gods" ... so begins the oldest legal +code which has come down to us, from 2250 B.C.; and the coronation +service of the English church is made whole out of the same thesis. +The duty of submission, not merely to divinely chosen King, but to +divinely chosen Landlord and divinely chosen Manufacturer, is implicit +in the church's every ceremony, and explicit in many of its creeds. In +the Litany the people petition for "increase of grace to hear meekly +Thy Word"; and here is this "Word," as little children are made to +learn it by heart. If there exists in the world a more perfect summary +of slave ethics, I do not know where to find it. + + My duty towards my neighbour is ... To honour and obey the + King, and all that are put in authority under him; To submit + myself to all my governours, teachers, spiritual pastors, + and masters: To order myself lowly and reverently to all my + betters.... Not to covet nor desire other men's goods; But + to learn and labour truly to get mine own living, and to do + my duty in that state of life, unto which it shall please + God to call me. + +A hundred years ago one of the most popular of British writers was +Hannah More. She and her sister Martha went to live in the +coal-country, to teach this "catechism" to the children of the +starving miners. The "Mendip Annals" is the title of a book in which +they tell of their ten years' labors in a village popularly known as +"Little Hell." In this place two hundred people were crowded into +nineteen houses. "There is not one creature in it that can give a cup +of broth if it would save a life." In one winter eighteen perished of +"a putrid fever", and the clergyman "could not raise a six-pence to +save a life." + +And what did the pious sisters make of all this? From cover to cover +you find in the "Mendip Annals" no single word of social protest, not +even of social suspicion. That wages of a shilling a day might have +anything to do with moral degeneration was a proposition beyond the +mental powers of England's most popular woman writer. She was +perfectly content that a woman should be sentenced to death for +stealing butter from a dealer who had asked what the woman thought too +high a price. When there came a famine, and the children of these +mine-slaves were dying like flies, Hannah More bade them be happy +because God had sent them her pious self. "In suffering by the +scarcity, you have but shared in the common lot, with the pleasure of +knowing the advantage you have had over many villages in your having +suffered no scarcity of religious instruction." And in another place +she explained that the famine was caused by God to teach the poor to +be grateful to the rich! + + Let me remind you that probably that very scarcity has been + permitted by an all-wise and gracious Providence to unite + all ranks of people together, to show the poor how + immediately they are dependent upon the rich, and to show + both rich and poor that they are all dependent upon Himself. + It has also enabled you to see more clearly the advantages + you derive from the government and constitution of this + country--to observe the benefits flowing from the + distinction of rank and fortune, which has enabled the high + to so liberally assist the low. + + It appears that the villagers were entirely convinced by + this pious reasoning; for they assembled one Saturday night + and burned an effigy of Tom Paine! This proceeding led to a + tragic consequence, for one of the "common people," known as + Robert, "was overtaken by liquor," and was unable to appear + at Sunday School next day. This fall from grace occasioned + intense remorse in Robert. "It preyed dreadfully upon his + mind for many months," records Martha More, "and despair + seemed at length to take possession of him." Hannah had some + conversation with him, and read him some suitable passages + from "The Rise and Progress". "At length the Almighty was + pleased to shine into his heart and give him comfort." + + Nor should you imagine that this saintly stupidity was in + any way unique in the Anglican establishment. We read in the + letters of Shelley how his father tormented him with + Archdeacon Paley's "Evidences" as a cure for atheism. This + eminent churchman wrote a book, which he himself ranked + first among his writings, called "Reasons for Contentment, + addressed to the Labouring Classes of the British Public." + In this book he not merely proved that religion "smooths all + inequalities, because it unfolds a prospect which makes all + earthly distinctions nothing"; he went so far as to prove + that, quite apart from religion, the British exploiters were + less fortunate than those to whom they paid a shilling a + day. + + Some of the conditions which poverty (if the condition of + the labouring part of mankind must be so called) imposes, + are not hardships, but pleasures. Frugality itself is a + pleasure. It is an exercise of attention and contrivance, + which, whenever it is successful, produces satisfaction.... + This is lost among abundance. + +And there was William Wilberforce, as sincere a philanthropist as +Anglicanism ever produced, an ardent supporter of Bible societies and +foreign missions, a champion of the anti-slavery movement, and also of +the ruthless "Combination Laws," which denied to British wage-slaves +all chance of bettering their lot. Wilberforce published a "Practical +View of the System of Christianity", in which he told unblushingly +what the Anglican establishment is for. In a chapter which he +described as "the basis of all politics," he explained that the +purpose of religion is to remind the poor + + That their more lowly path has been allotted to them by the + hand of God; that it is their part faithfully to discharge + its duties, and contentedly to bear its inconveniences; that + the objects about which worldly men conflict so eagerly are + not worth the contest; that the peace of mind, which + Religion offers indiscriminately to all ranks, affords more + true satisfaction than all the expensive pleasures which are + beyond the poor man's reach; that in this view the poor have + the advantage; that if their superiors enjoy more abundant + comforts, they are also exposed to many temptations from + which the inferior classes are happily exempted; that, + "having food and raiment, they should be therewith content," + since their situation in life, with all its evils, is better + than they have deserved at the hand of God; and finally, + that all human distinctions will soon be done away, and the + true followers of Christ will all, as children of the same + Father, be alike admitted to the possession of the same + heavenly inheritance. Such are the blessed effects of + Christianity on the temporal well-being of political + communities. + +THE COURT CIRCULAR + +The Anglican system of submission has been transplanted intact to the +soil of America. When King George the Third lost the sovereignty of +the colonies, the bishops of his divinely inspired church lost the +control of the clergy across the seas; but this revolution was purely +one of Church politics--in doctrine and ritual the "Protestant +Episcopal Church of America" remained in every way Anglican. The +little children of our free republic are taught the same +slave-catechism, "to order myself lowly and reverently to all my +betters." The only difference is that instead of being told "to honour +and obey the King," they are told "to honour and obey the civil +authority." + +It is the Church of Good Society in England, and it is the same in +Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Charleston. +Just as our ruling classes have provided themselves with imitation +English schools and imitation English manners and imitation English +clothes--so in their Heaven they have provided an imitation English +monarch. I wonder how many Americans realize the treason to democracy +they are committing when they allow their children to be taught a +symbolism and liturgy based upon absolutist ideas. I take up the +hymn-book--not the English, but the sturdy, independent, democratic +American hymn-book. I have not opened it for twenty years, yet the +greater part of its contents is as familiar to me as the syllables of +my own name. I read: + + Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee, + Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea; + Cherubim and seraphim bowing down before Thee, + Which wert, and art, and ever more shall be! + +One might quote a hundred other hymns made thus out of royal imagery. +I turn at random to the part headed "General," and find that there is +hardly one hymn in which there is not "king," "throne," or some image +of homage and flattery. The first hymn begins-- + + Ancient of days, Who sittest, throned in glory; + To Thee all knees are bent, all voices pray. + +And the second-- + + Christ, whose glory fills the skies-- + +And the third-- + + Lord of all being, throned afar, + Thy glory flames from sun and star. + +There is a court in Heaven above, to which all good Britons look up, +and about which they read with exactly the same thrills as they read +the Court Circular. The two courts have the same ethical code and the +same manners; their Sovereigns are jealous, greedy of attention, +self-conscious and profoundly serious, punctilious and precise; their +existence consisting of an endless round of ceremonies, and they being +incapable of boredom. No member of the Royal Family can escape this +regime even if he wishes; and no more can any member of the Holy +Family--not even the meek and lowly Jesus, who chose a carpenter's +wife for his mother, and showed all his earthly days a preference for +low society. + +This unconventional Son lived obscurely; he never carried weapons, he +could not bear to have so much as a human ear cut off in his presence. +But see how he figures in the Court Circular: + + The Son of God goes forth to war, + A kingly crown to gain: + + His blood-red banner streams afar: + Who follows in His train? + +This carpenter's son was one of the most unpretentious men on earth; +utterly simple and honest--he would not even let anyone praise him. +When some one called him "good Master," he answered, quickly, "Why +callest thou me good? There is none good save one, that is, God." But +this simplicity has been taken with deprecation by his church, which +persists in heaping compliments upon him in conventional, courtly +style: + + The company of angels + Are praising Thee on high; + And mortal men, and all things + Created, make reply: + All Glory, laud and honour, + To Thee, Redeemer, King.... + +The impression a modern man gets from all this is the unutterable +boredom that Heaven must be. Can one imagine a more painful occupation +than that of the saints--casting down their golden crowns around the +glassy sea--unless it be that of the Triumvirate itself, compelled to +sit through eternity watching these saints, and listening to their +mawkish and superfluous compliments! + +But one can understand that such things are necessary in a monarchy; +they are necessary if you are going to have Good Society, and a Good +Society church. For Good Society is precisely the same thing as +Heaven; that is, a place to which only a few can get admission, and +those few are bored. They spend their time going through costly +formalities--not because they enjoy it, but because of its effect upon +the populace, which reads about them and sees their pictures in the +papers, and now and then is allowed to catch a glimpse of their +physical Presences, as at the horse-show, or the opera, or the +coaching-parade. + +#Horn-blowing# + +I know the Church of Good Society in America, having studied it from +the inside. I was an extraordinarily devout little boy; one of my +earliest recollections--I cannot have been more than four years of +age--is of carrying a dust-brush about the house as the choir-boy +carried the golden cross every Sunday morning. I remember asking if I +might say the "Lord's prayer" in this fascinating play; and my +mother's reply: "If you say it reverently." When I was thirteen, I +attended service, of my own volition and out of my own enthusiasm, +every single day during the forty days of Lent; at the age of fifteen +I was teaching Sunday-school. It was the Church of the Holy Communion, +at Sixth Avenue and Twentieth Street, New York; and those who know the +city will understand that this is a peculiar location--precisely half +way between the homes of some of the oldest and most august of the +city's aristocracy, and some of the vilest and most filthy of the +city's slums. The aristocracy were paying for the church, and occupied +the best pews; they came, perfectly clad, aus dem Ei gegossen, as the +Germans say, with the manner they so carefully cultivate, gracious, +yet infinitely aloof. The service was made for them--as all the rest +of the world is made for them; the populace was permitted to occupy a +fringe of vacant seats. + +The assistant clergyman was an Englishman, and a gentleman; orthodox, +yet the warmest man's heart I have ever known. He could not bear to +have the church remain entirely the church of the rich; he would go +persistently into the homes of the poor, visiting the old slum women +in their pitifully neat little kitchens, and luring their children +with entertainments and Christmas candy. They were corralled into the +Sunday-school, where it was my duty to give them what they needed for +the health of their souls. + +I taught them out of a book of lessons; and one Sunday it would be +Moses in the Bulrushes, and next Sunday it would be Jonah and the +Whale, and next Sunday it would be Joshua blowing down the walls of +Jericho. These stories were reasonably entertaining, but they seemed +to me futile, not to the point. There were little morals tagged to +them, but these lacked relationship to the lives of little slum-boys. +Be good and you will be happy, love the Lord and all will be well with +you; which was about as true and as practical as the procedure of the +Fijians, blowing horns to drive away a pestilence. + +I had a mind, you see, and I was using it. I was reading the papers, +and watching politics and business. I followed the fates of my little +slum-boys--and what I saw was that Tammany Hall was getting them. The +liquor-dealers and the brothel-keepers, the panders and the pimps, the +crap-shooters and the petty thieves--all these were paying the +policeman and the politician for a chance to prey upon my boys; and +when the boys got into trouble, as they were continually doing, it was +the clergyman who consoled them in prison--but it was the Tammany +leader who saw the judge and got them out. So these boys got their +lesson, even earlier in life than I got mine--that the church was a +kind of amiable fake, a pious horn-blowing; while the real thing was +Tammany. + +I talked about this with the vestrymen and the ladies of Good Society; +they were deeply pained, but I noticed that they did nothing practical +about it; and gradually, as I went on to investigate, I discovered the +reason--that their incomes came from real estate, traction, gas and +other interests, which were contributing the main part of the campaign +expenses of the corrupt Tammany machine, and of its equally corrupt +rival. So it appeared that these immaculate ladies and gentlemen, aus +dem Ei gegossen, were themselves engaged, unconsciously, perhaps, but +none the less effectively, in spreading the pestilence against which +they were blowing their religious horns! + +So little by little I saw my beautiful church for what it was and is: +a great capitalist interest, an integral and essential part of a +gigantic predatory system. I saw that its ethical and cultural and +artistic features, however sincerely they might be meant by individual +clergymen, were nothing but a bait, a device to lure the poor into +the trap of submission to their exploiters. And as I went on probing +into the secret life of the great Metropolis of Mammon, and laying +bare its infamies to the world, I saw the attitude of the church to +such work; I met, not sympathy and understanding, but sneers and +denunciation--until the venerable institution which had once seemed +dignified and noble became to me as a sepulchre of corruption. + +#Trinity Corporation# + +There stands on the corner of Broadway and Wall Street a towering +brown-stone edifice, one of the most beautiful and most famous +churches in America. As a child I have walked through its church yard +and read the quaint and touching inscriptions on its grave-stones; +when I was a little older, and knew Wall Street, it seemed to me a +sublime thing that here in the very heart of the world's infamy there +should be raised, like a finger of warning, this symbol of Eternity +and Judgment. Its great bell rang at noon-time, and all the traders +and their wage-slaves had to listen, whether they would or no! Such +was Old Trinity to my young soul; and what is it in reality? + +The story was told some ten years ago by Charles Edward Russell. +Trinity Corporation is the name of the concern, and it is one of the +great landlords of New York. In the early days it bought a number of +farms, and these it has held, as the city has grown up around them, +until in 1908 their value was estimated at anywhere from forty to a +hundred million dollars. The true amount has never been made public; +to quote Russell's words: + + The real owners of the property are the communicants of the + church. For 94 years none of the owners has known the extent + of the property, nor the amount of the revenue therefrom, + nor what is done with the money. Every attempt to learn even + the simplest fact about these matters has been baffled. The + management is a self perpetuating body, without + responsibility and without supervision. + +And the writer goes on to describe the business policy of this great +corporation, which is simply the English land system complete. It +refuses to sell the land, but rents it for long periods, and the +tenant builds the house, and then when the lease expires, the +Corporation takes over the house for a nominal sum. Thus it has +purchased houses for as low as $200, and made them into tenements, and +rented them to the swarming poor for a total of fifty dollars a month. +The houses were not built for tenements, they have no conveniences, +they are not fit for the habitation of animals. + +The article, in Everybody's Magazine for July, 1908, gives pictures of +them, which are horrible beyond belief. To quote the writer again: + + Decay, neglect and squalor seem to brood wherever Trinity is + an owner. Gladly would I give to such a charitable and + benevolent institution all possible credit for a spirit of + improvement manifested anywhere, but I can find no such + manifestation. I have tramped the Eighth Ward day after day + with a list of Trinity properties in my hand, and of all the + tenement houses that stand there on Trinity land, I have not + found one that is not a disgrace to civilization and to the + City of New York. + +It happens that I once knew the stately prelate who presided over this +Corporation of Corruption. I imagine how he would have shivered and +turned pale had some angel whispered to him what devilish utterances +were some day to proceed from the lips of the little cherub with +shining face and shining robes who acted as the bishop's attendant in +the stately ceremonials of the Church! Truly, even into the goodly +company of the elect, even to the most holy places of the temple, +Satan makes his treacherous way! Even under the consecrated hands of +the bishop! For while the bishop was blessing me and taking me into +the company of the sanctified, I was thinking about what the papers +had reported, that the bishop's wife had been robbed of fifty thousand +dollars worth of jewels! It did not seem quite in accordance with the +doctrine of Jesus that a bishop's wife should possess fifty thousand +dollars worth of jewels, or that she should be setting the bloodhounds +of the police on the train of a human being. I asked my clergyman +friend about it, and remember his patient explanation--that the bishop +had to know all classes and conditions of men: his wife had to go +among the rich as well as the poor, and must be able to dress so that +she would not be embarrassed. The Bishop at this time was making it +his life-work to raise a million dollars for the beginning of a great +Episcopal cathedral; and this of course compelled him to spend much +time among the rich! + +The explanation satisfied me; for of course I thought there had to be +cathedrals--despite the fact that both St. Stephen and St. Paul had +declared that "the Lord dwelleth not in temples made with hands." In +the twenty-five years which have passed since that time the good +Bishop has passed to his eternal reward, but the mighty structure +which is a monument to his visitations among the rich towers over the +city from its vantage-point on Morningside Heights. It is called the +Cathedral of St. John the Divine; and knowing what I know about the +men who contributed its funds, and about the general functions of the +churches of the Metropolis of Mammon, it would not seem to me less +holy if it were built, like the monuments of ancient ravagers, out of +the skulls of human beings. + +#Spiritual Interpretation# + +There remains to say a few words as to the intellectual functions of +the Fifth Avenue clergy. Let us realize at the outset that they do +their preaching in the name of a proletarian rebel, who was crucified +as a common criminal because, as they said, "He stirreth up the +people." An embarrassing "Savior" for the church of Good Society, you +might imagine; but they manage to fix him up and make him respectable. + +I remember something analogous in my own boyhood. All day Saturday I +ran about with the little street rowdies, I stole potatoes and roasted +them in vacant lots, I threw mud from the roofs of apartment-houses; +but on Saturday night I went into a tub and was lathered and scrubbed, +and on Sunday I came forth in a newly brushed suit, a clean white +collar and a shining tie and a slick derby hat and a pair of tight +gloves which made me impotent for mischief. Thus I was taken and +paraded up Fifth Avenue, doing my part of the duties of Good Society. +And all church-members go through this same performance; the oldest +and most venerable of them steal potatoes and throw mud all week--and +then take a hot bath of repentance and put on the clean clothing of +piety. In this same way their ministers of religion are occupied to +scrub and clean and dress up their disreputable Founder--to turn him +from a proletarian rebel into a stained-glass-window divinity. + +The man who really lived, the carpenter's son, they take out and +crucify all over again. As a young poet has phrased it, they nail him +to a jeweled cross with cruel nails of gold. Come with me to the New +Golgotha and witness this crucifixion; take the nails of gold in your +hands, try the weight of the jeweled sledges! Here is a sledge, in the +form of a dignified and scholarly volume, published by the exclusive +house of Scribner, and written by the Bishop of my boyhood, the Bishop +whose train I carried in the stately ceremonials: "The Citizen in His +Relation to the Industrial Situation," by the Right Reverend Henry +Codman Potter, D.D., L.L.D., D.C.L.--a course of lectures delivered +before the sons of our predatory classes at Yale University, under the +endowment of a millionaire mining king, founder of the Phelps-Dodge +corporation, which the other day carried out the deportation from +their homes of a thousand striking miners at Bisbee, Arizona. Says my +Bishop: + + Christ did not denounce wealth any more than he denounced + pauperism. He did not abhor money; he used it. He did not + abhor the company of rich men; he sought it. He did not + invariably scorn or even resent a certain profuseness of + expenditure. + +And do you think that the late Bishop of J.P. Morgan and Company +stands alone as an utterer of scholarly blasphemy, a driver of golden +nails? In the course of this book there will march before us a long +line of the clerical retainers of Privilege, on their way to the New +Golgotha to crucify the carpenter's son: the Rector of the Money +Trust, the Preacher of the Coal Trust, the Priest of the Traction +Trust, the Archbishop of Tammany, the Chaplain of the Millionaires' +Club, the Pastor of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Religious Editor of +the New Haven, the Sunday-school Superintendent of Standard Oil. We +shall try the weight of their jewelled sledges--books, sermons, +newspaper-interviews, after-dinner speeches--wherewith they pound +their golden nails of sophistry into the bleeding hands and feet of +the proletarian Christ. + +Here, for example, is Rev. F.G. Peabody, Professor of Christian Morals +at Harvard University. Prof. Peabody has written several books on the +social teachings of Jesus; he quotes the most rabid of the carpenter's +denunciations of the rich, and says: + + Is it possible that so obvious and so limited a message as + this, a teaching so slightly distinguished from the + curbstone rhetoric of a modern agitator, can be an adequate + reproduction of the scope and power of the teaching of + Jesus? + +The question answers itself: Of course not! For Jesus was a gentleman; +he is the head of a church attended by gentlemen, of universities +where gentlemen are educated. So the Professor of Christian Morals +proceeds to make a subtle analysis of Jesus' actions; demonstrating +therefrom that there are three proper uses to be made of great wealth: +first, for almsgiving--"The poor ye have always with you!"; second, +for beauty and culture--buying wine for wedding-feasts, and +ointment-boxes and other #objets de vertu#; and third, "stewardship," +"trusteeship"--which in plain English is "Big Business." + +I have used the illustration of soap and hot water; one can imagine he +is actually watching the scrubbing process, seeing the proletarian +Founder emerging all new and respectable under the brush of this +capitalist professor. The professor has a rule all his own for reading +the scriptures; he tells us that when there are two conflicting +sayings, the rule of interpretation is that "the more spiritual is to +be preferred." Thus, one gospel makes Jesus say: "Blessed are ye +poor." Another puts it: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." The first +one is crude and literal; obviously the second must be what Jesus +meant! In other words, the professor and his church have made for +their economic masters a treacherous imitation virtue to be taught to +wage-slaves, a quality of submissiveness, impotence and futility, +which they call by the name of "spirituality". This virtue they exalt +above all others, and in its name they cut from the record of Jesus +everything which has relation to the realities of life! + +So here is our Professor Peabody, sitting in the Plummer chair at +Harvard, writing on "Jesus Christ and the Social Question," and +explaining: + + The fallacy of the Socialist program is not in its + radicalism, but in its externalism. It proposes to + accomplish by economic change what can be attained by + nothing less than spiritual regeneration. + +And here is "The Churchman," organ of the Episcopalians of New York, +warning us: + + It is necessary to remember that something more than + material and temporal considerations are involved. There are + things of more importance to the purposes of God and to the + welfare of humanity than economic readjustments and social + amelioration. + +And again: + + Without doubt there is a strong temptation today, bearing + upon clergy and laity alike, to address their religious + energies too exclusively to those tasks whereby human life + may be made more abundant and wholesome materially.... We + need constantly to be reminded that spiritual things come + first. + +There come before my mental eye the elegant ladies and gentlemen for +whom these comfortable sayings are prepared: the vestrymen and pillars +of the Church, with black frock coats and black kid gloves and shiny +tophats; the ladies of Good Society with their Easter costumes in +pastel shades, their gracious smiles and their sweet intoxicating +odors. I picture them as I have seen them at St. George's, where that +aged wild boar, Pierpont Morgan, the elder, used to pass the +collection plate; at Holy Trinity, where they drove downtown in +old-fashioned carriages with grooms and footmen sitting like twin +statues of insolence; at St. Thomas', where you might see all the +"Four Hundred" on exhibition at once; at St. Mary the Virgin's, where +the choir paraded through the aisles, swinging costly incense into my +childish nostrils, the stout clergyman walking alone with nose +upturned, carrying on his back a jewelled robe for which some adoring +female had paid sixty thousand dollars. "Spiritual things come first?" +Ah, yes! "Seek first the kingdom of God, and the jewelled robes shall +be added unto you!" And it is so dreadful about the French and German +Socialists, who, as the "Churchman" reports, "make a creed out of +materialism." But then, what is this I find in one issue of the organ +of the "Church of Good Society"? + + Business men contribute to the Y.M.C.A. because they realize + that if their employes are well cared for and religiously + influenced, they can be of greater service in business! + +Who let that material cat out of the spiritual bag? + + * * * * * + + + +#BOOK THREE# + +#The Church of the Servant-girls# + + Was it for this--that prayers like these + Should spend themselves about thy feet, + And with hard, overlabored knees + Kneeling, these slaves of men should beat + Bosoms too lean to suckle sons + And fruitless as their orisons? + + Was it for this--that men should make + Thy name a fetter on men's necks, + Poor men made poorer for thy sake, + And women withered out of sex? + Was it for this--that slaves should be-- + Thy word was passed to set men free? + + Swinburne. + + * * * * * + + + + +#Charity# + +As everyone knows, the "society lady" is not an independent and +self-sustaining phenomenon. For every one of these exquisite, +sweet-smelling creatures that you meet on Fifth Avenue, there must be +at home a large number of other women who live sterile and empty +lives, and devote themselves to cleaning up after their luckier +sisters. But these "domestics" also are human beings; they have +emotions--or, in religious parlance, "souls;" it is necessary to +provide a discipline to keep them from appropriating the property of +their mistresses, also to keep them from becoming #enceinte.# So it +comes about that there are two cathedrals in New York: one, St. John +the Divine, for the society ladies, and the other, St. Patrick's, for +the servant-girls. The latter is located on Fifth Avenue, where its +towering white spires divide with the homes of the Vanderbilts the +interest of the crowds of sight-seers. Now, early every Sunday +morning, before "Good Society" has opened its eyes, you may see the +devotees of the Irish snake-charmer hurrying to their orisons, each +with a little black prayer-book in her hand. What is it they do +inside? What are they taught about life? This is the question to which +we have next to give attention. + +Some years ago Mr. Thomas F. Ryan, traction and insurance magnate of +New York, favored me with his justification of his own career and +activities. He mentioned his charities, and, speaking as one man of +the world to another, he said: "The reason I put them into the hands +of Catholics is not religious, but because I find they are efficient +in such matters. They don't ask questions, they do what you want them +to do, and do it economically." + +I made no comment; I was absorbed in the implications of the +remark--like Agassiz when some one gave him a fossil bone, and his +mind set to work to reconstruct the creature. + +When a man is drunk, the Catholics do not ask if it was long hours and +improper working-conditions which drove him to desperation; they do +not ask if police and politicians are getting a rake-off from the +saloon, or if traction magnates are using it as an agency for the +controlling of votes; they do not plunge into prohibition movements or +good government campaigns--they simply take the man in, at a standard +price, and the patient slave-sisters and attendants get him sober, and +then turn him out for society to make him drunk again. That is +"charity," and it is the special industry of Roman Catholicism. They +have been at it for a thousand years, cleaning up loathsome and +unsightly messes--"plague, pestilence and famine, battle and murder +and sudden death." Yet--puzzling as it would seem to anyone not +religious--there were never so many messes, never so many different +kinds of messes, as now at the end of the thousand years of charitable +activity! + +But the Catholics go on and on; like the patient spider, building and +rebuilding his web across a door-way; like soldiers under the command +of a ruling class with a "muddling through" tradition-- + + Theirs not to reason why, + Theirs but to do and die. + +And so of course all magnates and managers of industry who have messes +to be cleaned up, human garbage-heaps to be carted away quickly and +without fuss, turn to the Catholic Church for this service, no matter +what their personal religious beliefs or lack of beliefs may be. +Somewhere in the neighborhood of every steel-mill, every coal-mine or +other place of industrial danger, you will find a Catholic hospital, +with its slave-sisters and attendants. Once when I was "muck-raking" +near Pittsburgh, I went to one of these places to ask information as +to the frequency of industrial accidents and the fate of the victims. +The "Mother Superior" received me with a look of polite dismay. "These +concerns pay us!" she said. "You must see that as a matter of business +it would not do for us to talk about them." + +Obey and keep silence: that is the Catholic law. And precisely as it +is with the work of nursing and almsgiving, so it is with the work of +vote-getting, the elaborate system of policemen and saloon-keepers and +ward-heelers which the Catholic machine controls. This industry of +vote-getting is a comparatively new one; but the Church has been +handling the masses for so many centuries that she quickly learned +this new way of "democracy," and has established her supremacy over +all rivals. She has the schools for training the children, the +confessional for controlling the women; she has the intellectual +machinery, the purgatory and the code of slave-ethics. She has the +supreme advantage that the rank and file of her mighty host really +believe what she teaches; they do not have to listen to table-rappings +and flounder through swamps of automatic writings in order to bolster +their hope of the survival of personality after death! + +So it comes about that our captains of industry and finance have been +driven to a more or less reluctant alliance with the Papacy. The +Church is here, and her followers are here, before the war several +hundred thousand of them pouring into the country every year. It is no +longer possible to do without Catholics in America; not merely +do ditches have to be dug, roads graded, coal mined, and dishes +washed, but franchises have to be granted, tariff-schedules +adjusted, juries and courts manipulated, police trained and +strikes crushed. Under our native political system, for these +purposes millions of votes are needed; and these votes belong to +people of a score of nationalities--Irish and German and Italian +and French-Canadian and Bohemian and Mexican and Portuguese and +Polish and Hungarian. Who but the Catholic Church can handle +these polyglot hordes? Who can furnish teachers and editors and +politicians familiar with all these languages? + +Considering how complex is the service, the price is extremely +moderate--the mere actual expenses of the campaign, the cost of red +fire and torch-lights, of liquor and newspaper advertisements. The +rest may come out of the public till, in the form of exemption from +taxation of church buildings and lands, a share of the public funds +for charities and schools, the control of the police for +saloon-keepers and district leaders, the control of police-courts and +magistrates, of municipal administrations and boards of education, of +legislatures and governors; with a few higher offices now and then, to +flatter our sacred self-esteem, a senator or a justice on the Supreme +Court Bench; and on state occasions, to keep up our necessary +prestige, some cabinet-members and legislators and justices to attend +High Mass, and be blessed in public by Catholic prelates and +dignitaries. + +You think this is empty rhetoric--you comfortable, easy-going, +ultra-cultured Americans? You professors in your classic +shades, absorbed in "the passionless pursuit of passionless +intelligence"--while the world about you slides down into the pit! You +ladies of Good Society, practicing your "sweet little charities," +pursuing your "dear little ideals," raising your families of one or +two lovely children--while Irish and French-Canadians and Italians and +Portuguese and Hungarians are breeding their dozens and scores, and +preparing to turn you out of your country! + +#God's Armor# + +You remember "Bishop Blougram's Apology," Browning's study of the +psychology of a modern Catholic ecclesiastic. He is not unaware of +modern thought, this bishop; he is a man of culture, who wants to have +beauty about him, to be a "cabin passenger": + + There's power in me and will to dominate + Which I must exercise, they hurt me else; + In many ways I need mankind's respect, + Obedience, and the love that's born of fear. + +He wishes that he had faith--faith in anything; he understands that +faith is all-important-- + + Enthusiasm's the best thing, I repeat. + +But you cannot get faith just by wishing for it-- + + But paint a fire, it will not therefore burn! + +He tries to imagine himself going on a crusade for truth, but he asks +what there would be in it for him-- + + State the facts, + Read the text right, emancipate the world-- + The emancipated world enjoys itself + With scarce a thank-you. Blougram told it first + It could not owe a farthing,--not to him + More than St. Paul! + +So the bishop goes on with his role, but uneasily conscious of the +contempt of intellectual people. + + I pine among my million imbeciles + (You think) aware some dozen men of sense + Eye me and know me, whether I believe + In the last winking virgin as I vow, + And am a fool, or disbelieve in her, + And am a knave. + +But, as he says, you have to keep a tight hold upon the chain of +faith, that is what + + Gives all the advantage, makes the difference, + With the rough, purblind mass we seek to rule. + We are their lords, or they are free of us, + Just as we tighten or relax that hold. + +So he continues, but not with entire satisfaction, in his role of +shepherd to those whom he calls "King Bomba's lazzaroni," and +"ragamuffin saints." + +I wander into a Catholic bookstore and look to see what Bishop +Blougram is doing with his lazzaroni and his ragamuffin saints here in +this new country of the far West. It is easy to acquire the +information, for the saleswoman is polite and the prices fit my purse. +America is going to war, and Catholic boys are being drafted to be +trained for battle; so for ten cents I obtain a firmly bound little +pamphlet called "God's Armor, a Prayer Book for Soldiers." It is +marked "Copyright by the G.R.C. Central-Verein," and bears the "Nihil +Obstat" of the "Censor Theolog." and the "Imprimatur" of "Johannes +Josephus, Archiepiscopus Sti. Ludovici"--which last you may at first +fail to recognize as a well-known city on the Mississippi River. Do +you not feel the spell of ancient things, the magic of the past +creeping over you, as you read those Latin trade-marks? Such is the +Dead Hand, and its cunning, which can make even St. Louis sound +mysterious! + +In this booklet I get no information as to the commercial causes of +war, nor about the part which the clerical vote may have played +throughout Europe in supporting military systems. I do not even find +anything about the sacred cause of democracy, the resolve of a +self-governing people to put an end to feudal rule. Instead I discover +a soldier-boy who obeys and keeps silent, and who, in his inmost +heart, is in the grip of terrors both of body and soul. Poor, pitiful +soldier-boy, marking yourself with crosses, performing genuflexions, +mumbling magic formulas in the trenches--how many billions of you have +been led out to slaughter by the greeds and ambitions of your +religious masters, since first this accursed Antichrist got its grip +upon the hearts of men! + +I quote from this little book: + + Start this day well by lifting up your heart to God. Offer + yourself to Him, and beg grace to spend the day without sin. + Make the sign of the cross. Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, + and Holy Ghost, behold me in Thy Divine Presence. I adore + Thee and give Thee thanks. Grant that all I do this day be + for Thy Glory, and for the salvation of my immortal soul. + + During the day lift your heart frequently to God. Your + prayers need not be long nor read from a book. Learn a few + of these short ejaculations by heart and frequently repeat + them. They will serve to recall God to your heart and will + strengthen you and comfort you. + +You remember a while back about the prayer-wheels of the Thibetans. +The Catholic religion was founded before the Thibetan, and is less +progressive; it does not welcome mechanical devices for saving labor. +You have to use your own vocal apparatus to keep yourself from hell; +but the process has been made as economical as possible by kindly +dispensations of the Pope. Thus, each time that you say "My God and my +all," you get fifty days indulgence; the same for "My Jesus, mercy," +and the same for "Jesus, my God, I love Thee above all things." For +"Jesus, Mary, Joseph," you get three hundred days--which would seem by +all odds the best investment of your spare breath. + +And then come prayers for all occasions: "Prayer before Battle"; +"Prayer for a Happy Death"; "Prayer in Temptation"; "Prayer before and +after Meals"; "Prayer when on Guard"; "Prayer before a long March"; +"Prayer of Resignation to Death"; "Prayer for Those in their Agony"--I +cannot bear to read them, hardly to list them. I remember standing in +a cathedral "somewhere in France" during the celebration of some +special Big Magic. There was brilliant white light, and a suffocating +strange odor, and the thunder of a huge organ, and a clamor of voices, +high, clear voices of young boys mounting to heaven, like the hands of +men in a pit reaching up, trying to climb over the top of one another. +It sent a shudder into the depths of my soul. There is nothing left in +the modern world which can carry the mind so far back into the ancient +nightmare of anguish and terror which was once the mental life of +mankind, as these Roman Catholic incantations with their frantic and +ceaseless importunity. They have even brought in the sex-spell; and +the poor, frightened soldier-boy, who has perhaps spent the night with +a prostitute, now prostrates himself before a holy Woman-being who is +lifted high above the shames of the flesh, and who stirs the thrills +of awe and affection which his mother brought to him in early +childhood. Read over the phrases of this "Litany of the Blessed +Virgin": + + Holy Mary, Pray for us. Holy Mother of God. Holy Virgin of + Virgins. Mother of Christ. Mother of divine grace. Mother + most pure. Mother most chaste. Mother inviolate. Mother + undefiled. Mother most amiable. Mother most admirable. + Mother of good counsel. Mother of our Creator. Mother of our + Savior. Virgin most prudent. Virgin most venerable. Virgin + most renowned. Virgin most powerful. Virgin most merciful. + Virgin most faithful. Mirror of justice. Seat of wisdom. + Cause of our joy. Spiritual vessel. Vessel of honor. + Singular vessel of devotion. Mystical rose. Tower of David. + Tower of ivory. House of gold. Ark of the covenant. Gate of + heaven. Morning Star. Health of the sick. Refuge of sinners. + Comforter of the afflicted. Help of Christians. Queen of + Angels. Queen of Patriarchs. Queen of Prophets. Queen of + Apostles. Queen of Martyrs. Queen of Confessors. Queen of + Virgins. Queen of all Saints. Queen conceived without + original sin. Queen of the most holy Rosary. Queen of Peace, + Pray for us. + +#Thanksgivings# + +For another five cents--how cheaply a man of insight can obtain +thrills in this fantastic world!--I purchase a copy of the "Messenger +of the Sacred Heart", a magazine published in New York, the issue for +October, 1917. There are pages of advertisements of schools and +colleges with strange titles: "Immaculata Seminary", "Holy Cross +Academy", "Holy Ghost Institute", "Ladycliff", "Academy of Holy Child +Jesus". The leading article is by a Jesuit, on "The Spread of the +Apostleship of Prayer among the Young"; and then "Sister Clarissa" +writes a poem telling us "What are Sorrows"; and then we are given a +story called "Prayer for Daddy"; and then another Jesuit father tells +us about "The Hills that Jesus Loved". A third father tells us about +the "Eucharistic Propaganda"; and we learn that in July, 1917, it +distributed 11,699 beads, and caused the expenditure of 57,714 hours +of adoration; and then the faithful are given a form of letter which +they are to write to the Honorable Baker, Secretary of War, imploring +him to intimate to the French government that France should withdraw +from one of her advances in civilization, and join with mediaeval +America in exempting priests from being drafted to fight for their +country. And then there is a "Question Box"--just like the Hearst +newspapers, only instead of asking whether she should allow him to +kiss her before he has told her that he loves her, the reader asks +what is the Pauline Privilege, and what is the heroic Act, and is +Robert a saint's name, and if food remains in the teeth from the night +before, would it break the fast to swallow it before Holy Communion. +(No, I am not inventing this.) + +I quoted the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, and pointed out how +deftly the Church has managed to slip in a prayer for worldly +prosperity. But the Catholic Church does not show any squeamishness in +dealing with its "million imbeciles", its "rough, purblind mass". + +There is a department of the little magazine entitled "Thanksgiving", +and a statement at the top that "the total number of Thanksgivings for +the month is 2,143,911." I am suspicious of that, as of German reports +of prisoners taken; but I give the statement as it stands, not going +through the list and picking out the crudest, but taking them as they +come, classified by states: + + GENERAL FAVORS: For many of these favors Mass and + publication were promised, for others the Badge of + Promoter's Cross was used, for others the prayers of the + Associates had been asked. + + Alabama--Jewelry found, relief from pain, protection during + storm. + + Alaska--Safe return, goods found. + + Arizona--Two recoveries, suitable boarding place, illness + averted, safe delivery. + + British Honduras--Successful operation. + + California--Seventeen recoveries, six situations, two + successful examinations, house rented, stocks sold, raise in + salary, return to religious duties, sight regained, medal + won, Baptism, preservation from disease, contract obtained, + success in business, hearing restored, Easter duty made, + happy death, automobile sold, mind restored, house found, + house rented, successful journey, business sold, quarrel + averted, return of friends, two successful operations. + +And for all these miraculous performances the Catholic machine is +harvesting the price day by day--harvesting with that ancient fervor +which the Latin poet described as "auri sacra fames". As Christopher +Columbus wrote from Jamaica in 1503: "Gold is a wonderful thing. By +means of gold we can even get souls into Paradise." + +#The Holy Roman Empire# + +The system thus self-revealed you admit is appalling in its squalor; +but you say that at least it is milder and less perilous than the +Church which burned Giordano Bruno and John Huss. But the very essence +of the Catholic Church is that it does not change; #semper eadem# is +its motto: the same yesterday, today and forever--the same in +Washington as in Rome or Madrid--the same in a modern democracy as in +the Middle Ages. The Catholic Church is not primarily a religious +organization; it is a political organization, and proclaims the fact, +and defies those who would shut it up in the religious field. The Rev. +S.B. Smith, a Catholic doctor of divinity, explains in his "Elements +of Ecclesiastical Law": + + Protestants contend that the entire power of the Church + consists in the right to teach and exhort, but not in the + right to command, rule, or govern; whence they infer that + she is not a perfect society or sovereign state. This theory + is false; for the Church, as was seen, is vested #Jure + divino# with power, (1) to make laws; (2) to define and + apply them #(potestas judicialis)#; (3) to punish those who + violate her laws #(potestas coercitiva)#. + +And this is not one scholar's theory, but the formal and repeated +proclamation of infallible popes. Here is the "Syllabus of Errors", +issued by Pope Pius IX, Dec. 8th, 1864, declaring in substance that + + The state has not the right to leave every man free to + profess and embrace whatever religion he shall deem true. + + It has not the right to enact that the ecclesiastical power + shall require the permission of the civil power in order to + the exercise of its authority. + +Then in the same Syllabus the rights and powers of the Church are +affirmed in substance: + + She has the right to require the state not to leave every + man free to profess his own religion. + + She has the right to exercise her power without the + permission or consent of the state. + + She has the right of perpetuating the union of church and + state. + + She has the right to require that the Catholic religion + shall be the only religion of the state, to the exclusion of + all others. + + She has the right to prevent the state from granting the + public exercise of their own worship to persons immigrating + from it. + + She has the power of requiring the state not to permit free + expression of opinion. + +You see, the Holy Office is unrepentant and unchastened. You, who +think that liberty of conscience is the basis of civilization, ought +at least to know what the Catholic Church has to say about the matter. +Here is Mgr. Segur, in his "Plain Talk About Protestantism of Today", +a book published in Boston and extensively circulated by American +Catholics: + + Freedom of thought is the soul of Protestantism; it is + likewise the soul of modern rationalism and philosophy. It + is one of those impossibilities which only the levity of a + superficial reason can regard as admissable. But a sound + mind, that does not feed on empty words, looks upon this + freedom of thought only as simply absurd, and, what is more, + as sinful. + +You take the liberty of thinking, nevertheless; you feel safe because +the Law will protect you. But do you imagine that this "Law" applies +to your Catholic neighbors? Do you imagine that they are bound by the +restraints that bind #you#? Here is Pope Leo XIII, in his Encyclical +of 1890--and please remember that Leo XIII was the #beau ideal# of our +capitalist statesmen and editors, as wise and kind and gentle-souled a +pope as ever roasted a heretic. He says: + + If the laws of the state are openly at variance with the + laws of God--if they inflict injury upon the Church--or set + at naught the authority of Jesus Christ which is vested in + the Supreme Pontiff, then indeed it becomes a duty to resist + them, a sin to render obedience. + +And consider how many fields there are in which the laws of a +democratic state do and forever must contravene the "laws of God" as +interpreted by the Catholic Church. Consider for example, that the +Pope, in his decree #Ne Temere#, has declared that Catholics who are +married by civil authorities or by Protestant clergymen will be living +in "filthy concubinage"! Consider, in the same way, the problems of +education, burial, prison discipline, blasphemy, poor relief, +incorporation, mortmain, religious endowments, vows of celibacy. To +the above list, as given by Gladstone, one might add many issues, such +as birth control, which have arisen since his time. + +What the Church means is to rule. Her literature is full of +expressions of that intention, set forth in the boldest and haughtiest +and most uncompromising manner. For example, Cardinal Manning, in the +Pro-Cathedral at Kensington, speaking in the name of the Pope: + + I acknowledge no civil power; I am the subject of no prince; + I claim more than this--I claim to be the supreme judge and + director of the consciences of men--of the peasant that + tills the field, and of the prince that sits upon the + throne; of the household of privacy, and the legislator that + makes laws for kingdoms; I am the sole, last supreme judge + of what is right and wrong. + +#Temporal Power# + +What this means is, that here in our American democracy the Catholic +Church is a rebel; a prisoner of war who bides his time, watching for +the moment to rise in revolt, and meantime making no secret of his +intentions. The pious Leo XIII, addressing all true believers in +America, instructed them as to their attitude in captivity: + + The Church amongst you, unopposed by the Constitution and + government of your nation, fettered by no hostile + legislation, protected against violence by the common laws + and the impartiality of the tribunals, is free to live and + act without hindrance. Yet, though all this is true, it + would be very erroneous to draw the conclusion that in + America is to be sought the type of the most desirable + status of the church, or that it would be universally lawful + or expedient for state and church to be, as in America, + dissevered and divorced. The fact that Catholicity with you + is in good condition, nay, is even enjoying a prosperous + growth, is by all means to be attributed to the fecundity + with which God has endowed His Church--But she would bring + forth more abundant fruits if, in addition to liberty, she + enjoyed the favor of the laws and patronage of the public + authority. + +Accordingly, here is Father Phelan of St. Louis, addressing his flock +in the "Western Watchman", June 27,1913: + + Tell us we are Catholics first and Americans or Englishmen + afterwards; of course we are. Tell us, in the conflict + between the church and the civil government we take the side + of the church; of course we do. Why, if the government of + the United States were at war with the church, we would say + tomorrow, To hell with the government of the United States; + and if the church and all the governments of the world were + at war, we would say, To hell with all the governments of + the world....Why is it that in this country, where we have + only seven per cent of the population, the Catholic church + is so much feared? She is loved by all her children and + feared by everybody. Why is it that the Pope has such + tremendous power? Why, the Pope is the ruler of the world. + All the emperors, all the kings, all the princes, all the + presidents of the world, are as these altar boys of mine. + The Pope is the ruler of the world. + +You recall what I said at the outset about Power; the ability to +control the lives of other men, to give laws and moral codes, to shape +fashions and tastes, to be revered and regarded. Here is a man swollen +to bursting with this Power. Dressed in his holy robes, with his holy +incense in his nostrils, and the faces of the faithful gazing up at +him awe-stricken, hear him proclaim: + + The Church gives no bonds for her good behavior. She is the + judge of her own rights and duties, and of the rights and + duties of the state. + +And lest you think that an extreme example of ultramontanist +arrogance, listen to the Boston "Pilot", April 6, 1912, speaking for +Cardinal O'Connell, whose official organ it is: + + It must be borne in mind that even though Cardinals Farley, + O'Connell and Gibbons are at heart patriotic Americans and + members of an American hierarchy, yet they are as cardinals + foreign princes of the blood, to whom the United States, as + one of the great powers of the world, is under an obligation + to concede the same honors that they receive abroad. + + Thus, were Cardinal Farley to visit an American man-of-war, + he would be entitled to the salutes and to naval honors + reserved for a foreign royal personage, and at any official + entertainment at Washington the Cardinal will outrank not + merely every cabinet officer, the speaker of the house and + the vice-president, but also the foreign ambassadors, coming + immediately next to the chief magistrate himself. + + Incidentally, it may be mentioned that when a royal + personage not of sovereign rank visits New York it is his + duty to make the first call on Cardinal Farley. + +#Knights of Slavery# + +Such is the worldly station of these apostles of the lowly Jesus. And +what is their attitude towards their brothers in God, the rank and +file of the membership, whose pennies grease the wheels of the +ecclesiastical machine? His Holiness, the Pope, sent over a delegate +to represent him in America, and at a convention of the Federation of +Catholic Societies held in New Orleans in November, 1910, this +gentleman, Diomede Falconio, delivered himself on the subject of +Capital and Labor. We have heard the slave-code of the Anglican +disciples of Jesus, the revolutionary carpenter; now let us hear the +slave-code of his Roman disciples: + + Human society has its origin from God and is constituted of + two classes of people, the rich and the poor, which + respectively represent Capital and Labor. + + Hence it follows that according to the ordinance of God, + human society is composed of superiors and subjects, masters + and servants, learned and unlettered, rich and poor, nobles + and plebeians. + +And lest this should not be clear enough, the Pope sent a second +representative, Mgr. John Bonzano, who, speaking at a general meeting +of the German Catholic Central-Verein, St. Louis, 1917, declared: + + One of the worst evils that may grow out of the European war + is the spreading of the doctrine of Socialism, and the + Catholic Church must be ready to counteract such doctrines. + We must be ready to prevent the spread of Socialism and to + work against it. As I understand, you have a society of + wealthy people in St. Louis ready for such a campaign. You + have experienced leaders who are masters in their kind of + work. They are always insistent to show that this wealth was + and is in close touch with the Church, and therefore it will + not fail. + +This, you perceive, is the complete thesis of the present book, which +therefore no doubt will be entitled to the "Nihil Obstat" of the +"Censor Theolog.", and the "Imprimatur" of "Johannes Josephus, +Archiepiscopus Sti. Ludovici." No wonder that the "experienced +leaders" of America, our captains of industry and exploiters of labor, +are forced, whatever their own faith may be, to make use of this +system of subjection. A few years ago we read in our papers how a +Jewish millionaire of Baltimore was presenting a fortune to the +Catholic Church, to be used in its war upon Socialism. The late Mark +Hanna, the shrewdest and most far-seeing man that Big Business ever +brought into power, said that in twenty years there would be two +parties in America, a capitalist and a socialist; and that it would be +the Catholic church that would save the country from Socialism. That +prophecy was widely quoted, and sank into the souls of our steel and +railway and money magnates; from which time you might see, if you +watched political events, a new tone of deference to the Roman +Hierarchy on the part of our ruling classes. Today you cannot get an +expression of opinion hostile to Catholicism into any newspaper of +importance. The Associated Press does not handle news unfavorable to +the Church, and from top to bottom, the politician takes off his hat +when the Sacred Host goes by. Said Archbishop Quigley, speaking before +the children of the Mary Sodality: + + I'd like to see the politician who would try to rule against + the church in Chicago. His reign would be short indeed. + +#Priests and Police# + +And how is it in our national capital, the palladium of our liberties? +As a means of demonstrating the power of the church and the +subservience of our politicians, the Catholics have invented what they +call the "Cardinal's Day Mass": An elaborate procession of high +ecclesiastics, dressed in gorgeous robes and jewels, through the +streets of Washington, accompanied by a small army of policemen, paid +by non-Catholic taxpayers. The Cardinal seats himself upon a throne, +and our political rulers make obeisance before him. On Sunday, January +14, 1917, there were present at this political mass the following +personages: Four cabinet members and their wives; the speaker of the +House; a large group of senators and representatives; a general of the +army and his wife; an admiral of the navy and his wife; the Chief +Justice of the Supreme Court and his wife, and another Justice of the +Supreme Court and his wife. + +And understand that the church makes no secret of its purpose in +conducting such public exhibitions. Here is the pious Pope Leo XIII +again, in his Encyclical of Nov. 1, 1885: + + All Catholics must make themselves felt as active elements + in daily political life in the countries where they live. + They must penetrate, wherever possible, in the + administration of civil affairs; must constantly exert the + utmost vigilance and energy to prevent the usages of liberty + from going beyond the limits fixed by God's law. All + Catholics should do all in their power to cause the + constitutions of states and legislation to be modeled on the + principles of the true Church. + +And following these instructions, the Catholics are organized for +political work. There are the various Catholic Societies, such as the +Knights of Columbus, secret, oath-bound organizations, the military +arm of the Papal Power. These societies boast some three million +members, and control not less than that many votes. The one thing that +you can be certain about these votes is that on every public question, +of whatever nature, they will be cast on the side of ignorance and +reaction. Thus, it was the influence of the Catholic Societies which +put upon our national statute books the infamous law providing five +years imprisonment and five thousand dollars fine for the sending +through the mail of information about the prevention of conception. It +is their influence which keeps upon the statute-books of New York +state the infamous law which permits divorce only for infidelity, and +makes it "collusion" if both parties desire the divorce. It is these +societies which, in every city and town in America, are pushing and +plotting to get Catholics upon library boards, so that the public may +not have a chance to read scientific books; to get Catholics into the +public schools and on school-boards, so that children may not hear +about Galileo, Bruno, and Ferrer; to have Catholics in control of +police and on magistrates benches, so that priests who are caught in +brothels may not be exposed or punished. + +You are shocked at this, you think it a vulgar jest, perhaps; but +during a period of "vice raids" in New York I was told by a captain of +police, himself a Catholic, that it was a common thing for them to get +priests in their net. "Of course," the official added, good-naturedly, +"we let them slip out." I understood that he had to do that; for the +Pope, in his "Motu Proprio" decree, has forbidden Catholics to bring a +priest into court for any civil crime whatsoever; he has forbidden +Catholic policemen to arrest, Catholic judges to try, and Catholic +law-makers to make laws affecting any priest of the Church of Rome. +And of course we know, upon the authority of a cardinal, that the Pope +is "the sole, last, supreme judge of what is right and wrong." He has +held that position for a thousand years and more; and wherever you +consult the police records throughout the thousand years, you find the +same entries concerning Catholic ecclesiastics. I turn to Riley's +"Illustrations of London Life from Original Documents," and I find in +the year 1385 a certain chaplain, whose name is considerately +suppressed, had a breviary stolen from him by a loose woman, because +he has not given her any money, either on that night or the one +previous. In 1320 John de Sloghtre, a priest, is put in the tower "for +being found wandering about the city against the peace", and Richard +Heyring, a priest, is indicted in the ward of Farringdon and in the +ward of Crepelgate "as being a bruiser and nightwalker." That this has +been going on for six hundred years is due, not to any special +corruption of the Catholic heart, but to the practice of clerical +celibacy, which is contrary to nature, a transgression of fundamental +instinct. It should be noted that the purpose of this transgression, +which pretends to be spiritual, is really economic; it was the means +whereby the church machine built up its power through the Middle Ages. +The priests had children then, as they have them today; but these +children not being recognized, the church machine remained the sole +heir of the property of its clergy. + +#The Church Militant# + +Knowing what we know today, we marvel that it was possible for Germany +to prepare through so many years for her assault on civilization, and +for England to have slept through it all. In exactly the same way, the +historian of a generation from now will marvel that America should +have slept, while the New Inquisition was planning to strangle her. +For we are told with the utmost explicitness precisely what is to be +done. We are to see wiped out these gains of civilization for which +our race has bled and agonized for many centuries; the very gains are +to serve as the means of their own destruction! Have we not heard Pope +Leo tell his faithful how to take advantage of what they find in +America--our easy-going trust, our quiet certainty of liberty, our +open-handed and open-homed and hail-fellow-well-met democracy? + +We see the army being organized and drilled under our eyes; and we can +read upon its banners its purpose proclaimed. Just as the Prussian +military caste had its slogan "Deutschland ueber Alles!" so the +Knights of Slavery have their slogan: "Make America Catholic!" + +Their attitude to democratic institutions is attested by the fact that +none of their conventions ever fails in its resolutions to "deeply +deplore the loss of the temporal power of Our Father, the Pope." Their +subjection to priestly domination is indicated by such resolutions as +this, bearing date of May 13th, 1914: + + The Knights of Columbus of Texas in annual convention + assembled, prostrate at the feet of Your Holiness, present + filial regards with assurances of loyalty and obedience to + the Holy See and request the Papal blessing. + +On June 10th, 1912, one T.J. Carey of Palestine, Texas, wrote to +Archbishop Bonzano, the Apostolic Delegate: "Must I, as a Catholic, +surrender my political freedom to the Church? And by this I mean the +right to vote for the Democratic, Socialist, or Republican parties +when and where I please?" The answer was: "You should submit to the +decisions of the Church, even at the cost of sacrificing political +principles." And to the same effect Mgr. Preston, in New York City, +Jan, 1, 1888: "The man who says, 'I will take my faith from Peter, but +I will not take my politics from Peter,' is not a true Catholic." + +Such is the Papal machine; and not a day passes that it does not +discover some new scheme to advance the Papal glory; a "Catholic +battle-ship" in the United States navy; Catholic chaplains on all +ships of the navy; Catholic holidays--such as Columbus Day--to be +celebrated by all Protestants in America; thirty million dollars worth +of church property exempted from taxation in New York City; mission +bells to be set up at the expense of the state of California; state +support for parish schools--or, if this cannot be had, exemption of +Catholics from taxation for school purposes. So on through the list +which might continue for pages. + +More than anything else, of course, the Papal machine is concerned +with education, or rather, with the preventing of education. It was in +its childish days that the race fell under the spell of the Priestly +Lie; it is in his childish days that the individual can be most safely +snared. Suffer little children to come unto the Catholic priest, and +he will make upon their sensitive minds an impression which nothing in +after life can eradicate. So the mainstay of the New Inquisition is +the parish-school, and its deadliest enemy is the American school +system. Listen to the Rev. James Conway, of the Society of Jesus, in +his book, "The Rights of Our Little Ones": + + Catholic parents cannot, in conscience, send their children + to American public schools, except for very grave reasons + approved by the ecclesiastical authorities. + +While state education removes illiteracy and puts a limited amount of +knowledge within the reach of all, it cannot be said to have a +beneficial influence on civilization in general. + +The state cannot justly enforce compulsory education, even in case of +utter illiteracy, so long as the essential physical and moral +education are sufficiently provided for. + +And so, at all times and in all places, the Catholic Church is +fighting the public school. Eternal vigilance is necessary; as +"America", the organ of the Jesuits, explains: + + Sometimes it is a new building code, or an attempt at taxing + the school buildings, which creates hardships to the + parochial and other private schools. Now it is the free text + book law that puts a double burden on the Catholics. Then + again it is the unwise extension of the compulsory school + age that forces children to be in school until they are 16 + to 18 years old. + +And if you wish to know the purpose of the Catholic schools, hear +Archbishop Quigley of Chicago, speaking before the children of the +Mary Sodality in the Holy Name Parish-School: + + Within twenty years this country is going to rule the world. + Kings and emperors will pass away, and the democracy of the + United States will take their place. The West will dominate + the country, and what I have seen of the Western parochial + schools has proved that the generation which follows us will + be exclusively Catholic. When the United States rules the + world the Catholic Church will rule the world. + +#The Church Triumphant# + +The question may be asked, What of it? What if the Church were to +rule? There are not a few Americans who believe that there have to be +rich and poor, and that rule by Roman Catholics might be preferable to +rule by Socialists. Before you decide, at least do not fail to +consider what history has to tell about priestly government. We do not +have to use our imaginations in the matter, for there was once a +Golden Age such as Archbishop Quigley dreams of, when the power of the +church was complete, when emperors and princes paid homage to her, and +the civil authority made haste to carry out her commands. What was the +condition of the people in those times? We are told by Lea, in his +"History of the Inquisition" that: + + The moral condition of the laity was unutterably depraved. + Uniformity of faith had been enforced by the Inquisition and + its methods, and so long as faith was preserved, crime and + sin was comparatively unimportant except as a source of + revenue to those who sold absolution. As Theodoric Vrie + tersely puts it, hell and purgatory would be emptied if + enough money could be found. The artificial standard thus + created is seen in a revelation of the Virgin to St. + Birgitta, that a Pope who was free from heresy, no matter + how polluted by sin and vice, is not so wicked but that he + has the absolute power to bind and loose souls. There are + many wicked popes plunged in hell, but all their lawful acts + on earth are accepted and confirmed by God, and all priests + who are not heretics administer true sacraments, no matter + how depraved they may be. Correctness of belief was thus the + sole essential; virtue was a wholly subordinate + consideration. How completely under such a system religion + and morals came to be dissociated is seen in the remarks of + Pius II, that the Franciscans were excellent theologians, + but cared nothing about virtue. + + This, in fact, was the direct result of the system of + persecution embodied in the Inquisition. Heretics who were + admitted to be patterns of virtue were ruthlessly + exterminated in the name of Christ, while in the same holy + name the orthodox could purchase absolution for the vilest + of crimes for a few coins. When the only unpardonable + offence was persistence in some trifling error of belief, + such as the poverty of Christ; when men had before them the + example of their spiritual guides as leaders in vice and + debauchery and contempt of sacred things, all the sanctions + of morality were destroyed and the confusion between right + and wrong became hopeless. The world has probably never seen + a society more vile than that of Europe in the fourteenth + and fifteenth centuries. The brilliant pages of Froissart + fascinate us with their pictures of the artificial + courtesies of chivalry; the mystic reveries of Rysbroek and + of Tauler show us that spiritual life survived in some rare + souls, but the mass of the population was plunged into the + depths of sensuality and the most brutal oblivion of the + moral law. For this Alvaro Pelayo tells us that the + priesthood were accountable, and that, in comparison with + them, the laity were holy. What was that state of + comparative holiness he proceeds to describe, blushing as he + writes, for the benefit of confessors, giving a terrible + sketch of universal immorality which nothing could purify + but fire and brimstone from heaven. The chroniclers do not + often pause in their narrations to dwell on the moral + aspects of the times, but Meyer, in his annals of Flanders, + under date of 1379, tells us that it would be impossible to + describe the prevalence everywhere of perjuries, + blasphemies, adulteries, hatreds, quarrels, brawls, murder, + rapine, thievery, robbery, gambling, whoredom, debauchery, + avarice, oppression of the poor, rape, drunkenness, and + similar vices, and he illustrates his statement with the + fact that in the territory of Ghent, within the space of ten + months, there occurred no less than fourteen hundred murders + committed in the bagnios, brothels, gambling-houses, + taverns, and other similar places. When, in 1396, Jean sans + Peur led his Crusaders to destruction at Micopolis, their + crimes and cynical debauchery scandalized even the Turks, + and led to the stern rebuke of Bajazet himself, who as the + monk of St. Denis admits was much better than his Christian + foes. The same writer, moralizing over the disaster at + Agincourt, attributes it to the general corruption of the + nation. Sexual relations, he says, were an alternation of + disorderly lust and of incest; commerce was nought but fraud + and treachery; avarice withheld from the Church her tithes, + and ordinary conversation was a succession of blasphemies. + The Church, set up by God as a model and protector of the + people, was false to all its obligations. The bishops, + through the basest and most criminal of motives, were + habitual accepters of persons; they annointed themselves + with the last essence extracted from their flocks, and there + was in them nothing of holy, of pure, of wise, or even of + decent. + +#God in the Schools# + +But that, you may say, was a long time ago. If so, let us take a +modern country in which the Catholic Church has worked its will. Until +recently, Spain was such a country. Now the people are turning against +the clerical machine; and if you ask why, turn to Rafael Shaw's "Spain +From Within": + + On every side the people see the baleful hand of the Church, + interfering or trying to interfere in their domestic life, + ordering the conditions of employment, draining them of + their hard-won livelihood by trusts and monopolies + established and maintained in the interest of the Religious + Orders, placing obstacles in the way of their children's + education, hindering them in the exercise of their + constitutional rights, and deliberately ruining those of + them who are bold enough to run counter to priestly + dictation. Riots suddenly break out in Barcelona; they are + instigated by the Jesuits. The country goes to war in + Morocco; it is dragged into it solely in defense of the + mines owned, actually, if not ostensibly, by the Jesuits. + The consumes cannot be abolished because the Jesuits are + financially interested in their continuance. + + * * * * * + + + + +We have read the statement of a Jesuit father, that "the state cannot +justly enforce compulsory education, even in case of utter +illiteracy." How has that doctrine worked out in Spain? There was an +official investigation of school conditions, the report appearing in +the "Heraldo de Madrid" for November, 1909. In 1857 there had been +passed a law requiring a certain number of schools in each of the 79 +provinces: this requirement being below the very low standards +prevailing at that time in other European countries. Yet in 1909 it +was found that only four provinces had the required number of +elementary schools, and at the rate of increase then prevailing it +would have taken 150 years to catch up. Seventy-five per cent of the +population were wholly illiterate, and 30,000 towns and villages had +no government schools at all. The government owed nearly a million and +a half dollars in unpaid salaries to the teachers. The private schools +were nearly all "nuns' schools", which taught only needle-work and +catechism; the punishments prevailing in them were "cruel and +disgusting." + +As to the location of the schools, a report of the Minister of +Education to the Cortes, the Parliament of Spain, sets forth as +follows: + + More than 10,000 schools are on hired premises, and many of + these are absolutely destitute of hygienic conditions. There + are schools mixed up with hospitals, with cemeteries, with + slaughter houses, with stables. One school forms the + entrance to a cemetery, and the corpses are placed on the + master's table while the last responses are being said. + There is a school into which the children cannot enter until + the animals have been sent out to pasture. Some are so small + that as soon as the warm weather begins the boys faint for + want of air and ventilation. One school is a manure-heap in + process of fermentation, and one of the local authorities + has said that in this way the children are warmer in winter. + One school in Cataluna adjoins the prison. Another, in + Andalusia, is turned into an enclosure for the bulls when + there is a bull-fight in the town. + +These conditions excited the indignation of a Spanish educator by the +name of Francesco Ferrer. He founded what he called a "modern school", +in which the pupils should be taught science and common sense. He +drew, of course, the bitter hatred of the Catholic hierarchy, which +saw in the spread of his principles the end of their mastery of the +people. When the Barcelona insurrection took place, they had Ferrer +seized upon a charge of having been its instigator; they had him tried +in secret before a military tribunal, convicted upon forged documents, +and shot beneath the walls of the fortress of Montjuich. The case was +thoroughly investigated by William Archer, one of England's leading +critics, a man of scrupulous rectitude of mind. His conclusion is that +Ferrer was absolutely innocent of the charges against him, and that +his execution was the result of a clerical plot. Of Ferrer's character +Archer writes: + + Fragmentary though they be, the utterances which I have + quoted form a pretty complete revelation. From first to last + we see in him an ardent, uncompromising, incorruptible + idealist. His ideals are narrow, and his devotion to them + fanatical; but it is devoid, if not of egoism, at any rate + of self-interest and self-seeking. As he shrank from + applying the money entrusted him to ends of personal luxury, + so also he shrank from making his ideas and convictions + subserve any personal ambition or vanity. + +#The Menace# + +There are, of course, many people in America who will not rest idle +while their country falls into the condition of Spain. There are +anti-Catholic propaganda societies, which send out lecturers to +discuss the Church and its records; and this is exasperating to devout +believers, who regard the Church as holy, and any criticism of it as +blasphemy. So we have opportunity to observe the working out of the +doctrine that the Church is superior to the civil law. + +On June 12th, 1913, there came to the little town of Oelwein, Iowa, a +former priest of the Catholic Church, named Jeremiah J. Crowley, to +deliver a lecture exposing the Papal propaganda. The Catholics of the +town made efforts to intimidate the owner of the place in which the +lecture was to be given; the priest of the town, Father O'Connor, +preached a sermon furiously denouncing the lecturer; and after the +lecture the unfortunate Crowley was surrounded by a mob of men, women +and boys, and although he was six feet three in size, he was beaten +almost to death. At the trial which followed it developed that Father +O'Connor and also his brother, a judge on the Superior Bench, were +accessories before the fact. + +Nor is this a solitary instance. The Catholic military societies, with +their uniforms and their armories, are not maintained for nothing. As +Archbishop Quigley declared before the German Catholic Central Verein: + + We have well ordered and efficient organizations, all at the + beck and nod of the hierarchy and ready to do what the + church authorities tell them to do. With these bodies of + loyal Catholics ready to step into the breach at any time + and present an unbroken front to the enemy we may feel + secure. + +And so, on the evening of April 15th, 1914, a group of Catholics +entered the Pierce Hotel in Denver, Colorado, overpowered a police +guard and seized the Rev. Otis L. Spurgeon, an anti-Catholic lecturer. +They bound and gagged him, took him to a lonely woods, and beat him to +insensibility. The same thing happened to the Rev. Augustus Barnett, +at Buffalo; the Rev. William Black was killed at Marshall, Texas. In +each case the assailants avowed themselves Knights of Columbus, and +efforts to punish them failed, because no jury can be got to convict a +Catholic, fighting for his Pope against a godless state. The most +pious Leo XIII has laid down: + + It is an impious deed to break the laws of Jesus Christ for + the purpose of obeying the magistrates, or to transgress the + law of the Church under the pretext of observing the civil + law. + +There are papers published to warn Americans against the plotting of +this political Church. One of them, "The Menace," has a circulation of +more than a million; and naturally the Knights of Slavery do not enjoy +reading it. Year after year they have marshalled their power to have +this paper barred from the mails--so far, in vain. They caused an +obscenity prosecution, which failed; so finally the press rooms of the +paper were blown up with dynamite. At the present time there is a +"Catholic Truth Society" with a publication called "Truth", to oppose +the anti-Catholic campaign; and that is all right, of course--except +when the agents who collect the two-dollar subscriptions to this +publication make use of Untruth in their labors--promising absolution +and salvation to the families, dead and living, of those who "come +across" with subscriptions. In the "Bulletin of the American +Federation of Catholic Societies" for September, 1915, I find a record +of the ceaseless plotting to bar criticism of the Catholic Church from +the mails. Fitzgerald, a Tammany Catholic congressman, proposes a bill +in Washington; and Judge St. Paul, of New Orleans, a member of the +Federation's "law committee", points out the difficulties in the way +of such legislation. You cannot pass a law against ridiculing +religion, because the Catholics want to ridicule Christian Science, +Mormonism, and the "Holy Ghost and Us" Society! The Judge thinks the +purpose of the Papal plotters will be accomplished if they can slip +into the present law the words "scurrilous and slanderous"; he hopes +that this much can be done without the American people catching on! + +You read these things for the first time, perhaps, and you want to +start an American "Kultur-kampf." I make haste, therefore, to restate +the main thesis of this book. It is not the New Inquisition which is +our enemy today; it is hereditary Privilege. It is not Superstition, +but Big Business which makes use of Superstition as a wolf makes use +of sheep's clothing. + +You remember how, when Americans first awakened to the universal +corruption of our politics, we used to attribute it to the "ignorant +foreign vote." Turn to Lecky's "Democracy and Liberty" and you will +see how reformers twenty years ago explained our political depravity. +But we probed deeper, and discovered that the purely American +communities, such as Rhode Island, were the most corrupt of all. It +dawned upon us that wherever there was a political boss paying bribes +on election day, there was a captain of industry furnishing the money +for the bribes, and taking some public privilege in return. So we came +to realize that political corruption is merely a by-product of Big +Business. + +And when we come to probe this problem of the spread of Superstition in +America, this amazing renascence of Romanism in a democracy, we find +precisely the same phenomenon. It is not the poor foreigner who +troubles us. Our human magic would win him--our easy-going trust, our +quiet certainty of liberty, our open-handed and open-homed and +hail-fellow-well-met democracy. We should break down the Catholic +machine, and not all the priests in the hierarchy could stop us--were +it not for the Steel Trust and the Coal Trust and the Beef Trust, the +Liquor Trust and the Traction Trust and the Money Trust--those masters +of America who do not want citizens, free and intelligent and +self-governing, but who want the slave-hordes as they come, ignorant, +inert, physically, mentally and morally helpless! + +No, do not let yourself be lured into a Kultur-kampf. It is not the +pennies of the servant-girls which build the towering cathedrals; it +is not the two-dollar contributions for the salvation of souls which +support the Catholic Truth Society and the Knights of Columbus and the +Holy Name Society and the Mary Sodality and the National Shrine of the +Immaculate Conception and all the rest of the machinery of the Papal +propaganda. These help, of course; but the main sources of growth are, +first, the subsidies of industrial exploiters, the majority of whom +are non-Catholic, and second, the privilege of public plunder granted +as payment for votes by politicians who are creatures and puppets of +Big Business. + +#King Coal# + +The proof of these statements is written all over the industrial life +of America. I will stop long enough to present an account of one +industry, asking the reader to accept my statement that if space +permitted I could present the same sort of proof for a dozen other +industries which I have studied--the steel-mills of Western +Pennsylvania, the meat-factories of Chicago, the glass-works of +Southern Jersey, the silk-mills of Paterson, the cotton-mills of North +Carolina, the woolen-mills of Massachusetts, the lumber-camps of +Louisiana, the copper-mines of Michigan, the sweat-shops of New York. + +In a lonely part of the Rocky Mountains lies a group of enormously +valuable coal-mines owned by the Rockefellers and other Protestant +exploiters. The men who work these mines, some twelve or fifteen +thousand in number, come from all the nations of Europe and Asia, and +their fate is that of the average wage-slave. I do not ask anyone to +take my word, but present sworn testimony, taken by the United States +Commission on Industrial Relations in 1914. Here is the way the +Italian miners live, as described in a doctor's report: + + Houses up the canyon, so-called, of which eight are + habitable, and forty-six simply awful; they are disreputably + disgraceful. I have had to remove a mother in labor from one + part of the shack to another to keep dry. + +And here is the testimony of the Rev. Eugene S. Gaddis, former +superintendent of the Sociological Department of the Colorado Fuel and +Iron Company: + + The C.F. & I. Company now own and rent hovels, shacks and + dug-outs that are unfit for the habitation of human beings + and are little removed from the pig-sty make of dwellings. + And the people in them live on the very level of a pig-sty. + Frequently the population is so congested that whole + families are crowded into one room; eight persons in one + small room was reported during the year. + +And here is what this same clergyman has to say about the bosses whom +the Rockefellers employ: + + The camp superintendents as a whole impressed me as most + uncouth, ignorant, immoral, and in many instances, the most + brutal set of men that I have ever met. Blasphemous bullies. + +Sometimes the miner grows tired of being robbed of his weights, and +applies for the protection which the law of the state allows him. What +happens then? + + "When a man asked for a checkweighman, in the language of + the super he was getting too smart." "And he got what?" "He + got it in the neck, generally." + +And when these wage-slaves, goaded beyond endurance, went on strike, +in the words of the Commission's report: + + Five strikers, one boy, and thirteen women and children in + the strikers' tent colony were shot to death by militiamen + and guards employed by the coal companies, or suffocated and + burned to death when these militiamen and guards set fire to + the tents in which they made their homes. + +And now, what is the position of education in such camps? The Rev. +James McDonald, a Methodist preacher, testified that the school +building was dilapidated and unfit. One year there were four teachers, +the next three, and the next only two. The teacher of the primary +grade had a hundred and twenty children en-rolled, ninety per cent of +whom could not speak a word of English. + + Every little bench was seated with two or three. It was + over-crowded entirely, and she could hardly get walking room + around there. + +And as to the political use made of this deliberately cultivated +ignorance, former United States Senator Patterson testified that the +companies controlled all elections and all nominations: + + Election returns from the two or three counties in which the + large companies operate show that in the precincts in which + the mining camps are located the returns are nearly + unanimous in favor of the men or measures approved by the + companies, regardless of party. + +And now comes the all-important question. What of the Catholic Church +and these evils? The majority of these mine-slaves are Catholics, it +is this Church which is charged with their protection. There are +priests in every town, and in nearly every camp. And do we find them +lifting their voices in behalf of the miners, protesting against the +starving and torturing of thirty or forty thousand human beings? Do we +find Catholic papers printing accounts of the Ludlow massacre? Do we +find Catholic journalists on the scene reporting it, Catholic lawyers +defending the strikers, Catholic novelists writing books about their +troubles? We do not! + +Through the long agony of the fourteen months strike, I know of just +one Catholic priest, Father Le Fevre, who had a word to say for the +strikers. One of the first stories I heard when I reached the +strike-field was of a priest who had preached on the text that +"Idleness is the root of all evil," and had been reported as a "scab" +and made to shut up. "Who made him?" I asked, naively, thinking of +his, church superiors. My informant, a union miner, laughed. "#We# +made him!" he said. + +I talked with another priest who was prudently saving souls and could +not be interested in questions of worldly greed. Max Eastman, +reporting the strike in the "Masses", tells of an interview with a +Catholic sister. + + "Has the Church done anything to try to help these people, + or to bring about peace?" we asked. "I consider it the most + useless thing in the world to attempt it," she replied. + +The investigating committee of Congress came to the scene, and several +clergymen of the Protestant Church appeared and bore testimony to the +outrages which were being committed against the strikers; but of all +the Catholic priests in the district not one appeared--not one! +Several Protestant clergymen testified that they had been driven from +the coal-camps--not because they favored the unions, but because the +companies objected to having their workers educated at all; but no one +ever heard of the Catholic Church having trouble with the operators. +To make sure on this point I wrote to a former clergyman of Trinidad +who watched the whole strike, and is now a first lieutenant in the +First New Mexico Infantry. He answered: + + The Catholic Church seemed to get along with the companies + very cordially. The Church was permitted in all the camps. + The impression was abroad that this was due to favoritism. I + honor what good the Church does, but I know of no instance, + during the Colorado coal-strike or at any other time or + place, when the Catholic Church has taken any special + interest in the cause of the laboring men. Many Catholics, + especially the men, quit the church during the coal-strike. + +#The Unholy Alliance# + +Everywhere throughout America today the ultimate source of all power, +political, social, and religious, is economic exploitation. To all +other powers and all other organizations it speaks in these words: +"Help us, and you will thrive; oppose us, and you will be destroyed." +It has spoken to the Catholic Church, for sixteen hundred years the +friend and servant of every ruling class; and the Church has hastened +to fit itself into the situation, continuing its pastoral role as +shepherd to the wage-slave vote. + +In New York and Boston and Chicago the Church is "Democratic"; so in +the Elaine campaign it was possible for a Republican clergyman to +describe the issue as "Rum, Romanism and Rebellion." But the Holy +Office was shrewd and socially ambitious, and the Grand Old Party was +desperately in need of votes, so under the regime of Mark Hanna, the +President-Maker, there began a rapprochement between Big Business and +the New Inquisition. Under Hanna the Catholic Church got +representation in the Cabinet; under him the Cardinal's Mass became a +government institution, a Catholic College came to the fore in +Washington, and Catholic prelates were introduced in the role of +eminent publicists, their reactionary opinions on important questions +being quoted with grave solemnity by a prostitute press. It was Mark +Hanna himself who founded the National Civic Federation, upon whose +executive committee Catholic cardinals and archbishops might work hand +in glove with Catholic labor-leaders for the chloroforming of the +American working-class. Hanna's biographer naively calls attention to +the President-maker's popularity among Catholics, high and low, and +the support they gave him. "Archbishop Ireland was in frequent +correspondence with him, and used his influence in Mr. Hanna's +behalf." + +And this tradition, begun under Hanna, was continued under Roosevelt, +and reached its finest flower in the days of Taft, the most pliant +tool of the forces of evil who has occupied the White House since the +days of the Slave Power. President Taft was himself a Unitarian; yet +it was under his administration that the Catholic Church achieved one +of its dearest ambitions, and broke into the Supreme Court. Why not? +We can imagine the powers of the time in conference. It is desired to +pack the Court against the possibility of progress; it is desired to +find men who will stand like a rock against change--and who better +than those who have been trained from childhood in the idea of a +divine sanction for doctrine and morals? After all, what is it that +Hereditary Privilege wants in America? A Roman Catholic code of +property rights, with a supreme tribunal to play the part of an +infallible Pope! + +Under this Taft administration the country was governed by the +strangest legislative alliance our history ever saw; a combination of +the Old Guard of the Republican Party with the leaders of the Tammany +Democracy of New York. "Bloody shirt" Foraker, senator from Ohio, +voting with the sons of those Irish Catholic mob-leaders whom the +Federal troops shot down in the draft-riots! By this unholy +combination a pledge to reduce the tariff was carried out by a bill +which greatly increased its burdens; by this combination the public +lands and resources of the country were fed to a gang of vultures by a +thievish Secretary of the Interior. And of course under such an +administration the cause of "Religion" made tremendous strides. +Catholic officials were appointed to public office, Catholic +ecclesiastics were accorded public honors, and Catholic favor became a +means to political advancement. You might see a hard-swearing old +political pirate like "Uncle Joe" Cannon, taking his cigar out of the +corner of his blasphemous mouth and betaking himself to the +"Cardinal's Day Mass", to bend his stiff knees and bow his hoary +unrepentant head before a jeweled prelate on a throne. You might see +an emissary of the United States government proceeding to Rome, +prostrating himself before the Pope, and paying over seven million +dollars of our taxes for lands which the filthy and sensual friars of +the Philippine Islands had filched from the wretched serfs of that +country and which the wretched serfs had won back by their blood in a +revolution. + +#Secret Service# + +This Taft administration, urged on by the Catholic intrigue, made the +most determined efforts to prevent the spread of radical thought. +Because the popular magazines were opposing the plundering of the +country, a bill was introduced into Congress to put them out of +business by a prohibitive postal tax; the President himself devoted +all his power to forcing the passage of this bill. At the same time +the Socialist press was handicapped by every sort of persecution. I +was at that time in intimate touch with the "Appeal to Reason", and I +know that scarcely a month passed that the Post Office Department did +not invent some new "regulation" especially designed to limit its +circulation. I recall one occasion when I met the editor on his way to +Washington with a trunkful of letters from subscribers who complained +that their postmasters refused to deliver the paper to them; and later +on this same editor was prosecuted by a Catholic Attorney General and +sentenced to prison for seeking to awaken the people concerning the +Moyer-Haywood case. + +From my personal knowledge I can say that under the administration of +President Taft t the Roman Catholic Church and the Secret Service of +the Federal Government worked hand in hand for the undermining of the +radical movement in America. Catholic lecturers toured the country, +pouring into the ears of the public vile slanders about the private +morality of Socialists; while at the same time government detectives, +paid out of public funds, spent their time seeking evidence for these +Catholic lecturers to use. I know one man, a radical labor-leader, +whose morals happened to approach those of the average capitalist +politician, and who was prevented by threats of exposure and scandal +from accepting the Socialist nomination for President. I know a dozen +others who were shadowed and spied upon; I know one case--myself--a +man who was asking a divorce from his wife, and whose mail was opened +for months. + +This subject is one on which I naturally speak with extreme +reluctance. I will only say that my opponent in the suit made no +charge of misconduct against me; but those in control of our political +police evidently thought it likely that a man who was not living with +his wife might have something to hide; so for months my every move was +watched and all my mail intercepted. In such a case one might at first +suspect one's private opponent; but it soon became evident that this +net was cast too wide for any private agency. Not merely was my own +mail opened, but the mail of all my relatives and friends--people +residing in places as far apart as California and Florida. I recall +the bland smile of a government official to whom I complained about +this matter: "If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear." +My answer was that a study of many labor cases had taught me the +methods of the agent provocateur. He is quite willing to take real +evidence if he can find it; but if not, he has familiarized himself +with the affairs of his victim, and can make evidence which will be +convincing when exploited by the yellow press. In my own case, the +matter was not brought to a test, for I went abroad to live; when I +made my next attack on Big Business, the Taft administration had been +repudiated at the polls, and the Secret Service of the government was +no longer at the disposal of the Catholic machine. + +#Tax Exemption# + +Today the Catholic Church is firmly established and everywhere +recognized as one of the main pillars of American capitalism. It has +some fifteen thousand churches, fourteen million communicants, and +property valued at half a billion dollars. Upon this property it pays +no taxes, municipal, state or national; which means, quite obviously, +that you and I, who do not go to church, but who do pay taxes, furnish +the public costs of Catholicism. We pay to have streets paved and +lighted and cleaned in front of Catholic churches; we pay to have +thieves kept away from them, fires put out in them, records preserved +for them--all the services of civilization given to them gratis, and +this in a land whose constitution provides that Congress (which +includes all state and municipal legislative bodies) "shall make no +law respecting an establishment of religion." When war is declared, +and our sons are drafted to defend the country, all Catholic monks and +friars, priests and dignitaries are exempted. They are "ministers of +religion"; whereas we Socialists may not even have the status of +"conscientious objectors." We do not teach "religion"; we only teach +justice and humanity, decency and truth. + +In defense of this tax-exemption graft, the stock answer is that the +property is being used for purposes of "education" or "charity". It is +a school, in which children are being taught that "liberty of +conscience is a most pestiferous error, from which arises revolution, +corruption, contempt of sacred things, holy institutions, and laws." +(Pius IX). It is a "House of Refuge", to which wayward girls are +committed by Catholic magistrates, and in which they are worked twelve +hours a day in a laundry or a clothing sweat-shop. Or it is a +"parish-house", in which a celibate priest lives under the care of an +attractive young "house-keeper". Or it is a nunnery, in which young +girls are held against their will and fed upon the scraps from their +sisters' plates to teach them humility, and taught to lie before the +altar, prostrate in the form of a cross, while their "Superiors" walk +upon their bodies to impress the religious virtues. "I was a teacher +in the Catholic schools up to a very recent period," writes the woman +friend who tells me of these customs, "and I know about the whole +awful system which endeavors to throttle every genuine impulse of the +human will." + +Concerning a large part of this church property, the claim of +"religious" use has not even the shadow of justification. In every +large city of America you will find acres of land owned by the +Catholic machine, and supposed to be the future site of some +institution; but as time goes on and property values increase, the +church decides to build on a cheaper site, and proceeds to cash in the +profits of its investment, precisely as does any other real estate +speculator. Everywhere you turn in the history of Romanism you find it +at this same game, doing business under the cloak of philanthropy and +in the holy name of Christ. Read the letter which the Catholic Bishop +of Mexico sent to the Pope in 1647, complaining of the Jesuit fathers +and their boundless graft. In McCabe's "Candid History of the Jesuits" +appears a summary: + + A remarkable account is given of the worldly property of the + fathers. They hold, it seems, the greater part of the wealth + of Mexico. Two of their colleges own 300,000 sheep, besides + cattle and other property. They own six large sugar + refineries, worth from half a million to a million crowns + each, and making an annual profit of 100,000 crowns each, + while all the other monks and clergy of Mexico together own + only three small refineries. They have immense farms, rich + silver mines, large shops and butcheries, and do a vast + trade. Yet they continually intrigue for legacies--a woman + has recently left them 70,000 crowns--and they refuse to pay + the appointed tithe on them. It is piquant to add to this + authoritative description that the Jesuit congregation at + Rome were still periodically forbidding the fathers to + engage in commerce, and Jesuit writers still gravely + maintain that the society never engaged in commerce. It + should be added that the missionaries were still heavily + subsidized by the King of Spain, that there were (the Bishop + says) only five or six Jesuits to each of their + establishments, and that they conducted only ten colleges. + +#"Holy History"# + +And if you think this tax-exemption privilege should be taken away +from the church grafters, let me suggest a course of procedure. Write +a letter about it to your daily newspaper; and if the letter is not +published, go and see the editor and ask why; so you will learn +something about the partnership between Superstition and Big Business! + +It is not too much to say that today no daily newspaper in any large +American city dares to attack the emoluments of the Catholic Church, +or to advocate restrictions upon the ecclesiastical machine. As I +write, they are making a new Catholic bishop in Los Angeles, and all +the newspapers of that graft-ridden city herald it as an important +social event. Each paper has the picture of the new prelate, with his +shepherd's crook upraised, his empty face crowned with a rhomboidal +fool's cap, and enough upholstery on him to outfit a grand opera +company. The Los Angeles "Examiner", the only paper in the city with a +pretense to radicalism, turns loose its star-writer--one of those +journalist virtuosos who will describe you a Wild West "rodeo" one +day, and a society elopement the next, and a G.O.P. convention the +next; and always with his picture, one inch square, at the head of his +effusion. He takes in the Catholic festivity; and does it phaze him? +It does not! He is a newspaper man, and if his city editor sent him to +hell, he would take the assignment and write like the devil. To read +him now you might think he had been reared in a convent; his soul is +uplifted, and he bursts forth in pure spontaneous ecstacy: + + Solemnly magnificent, every brilliant detail symbolically + picturing the holy history of the Roman Catholic Church in + the inexorable progress of its immense structure, which + rises from the rock of Peter, with its beacons of faith and + devotion piercing the fog of doubt and fear which surround + the world and the worldly, was the ceremony yesterday at the + Cathedral of St. Vibiana, whereby Bishop John J. Cantwell + was installed in his diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles. + +And then, a month later, conies another occasion of state--the +twenty-third Annual Banquet. the Merchants' and Manufacturers' +Association of Los Angeles. I should have to write a little essay to +make clear the sociological significance of that function; explaining +first, a nation-wide organization which has been proven by +congressional investigation and by the publication of its secret +documents to be a machine for the corruption of our political life; +and then exhibiting our "City of the Angels", from which all Angels +have long since fled; a city in the first crude stage of land +speculation, without order, dignity or charm; a city of real estate +agents, who exist by selling climate to new arrivals from the East; a +city whose intellectual life is "boosting", whose standards of truth +are those of the horse-trade. Its newspapers publish a table of +temperatures, showing the daily contrast between Southern California +and the East. This device is effective in the winter-time; but last +June, when for five days the temperature went to over 110, and several +times 114--the Los Angeles space was left empty! + +In the same way, there is a rule that our earth-quake shocks are never +mentioned, unless they destroy whole towns. On the afternoon of Jan. +26th, 1918, a cyclone hit Pasadena, of violence sufficient to lift a +barn over a church-steeple and deposit it in the pastor's front yard. +That evening a friend of mine in Los Angeles called up the office of +the "Times" to make inquiry; and although they are only thirteen miles +away, and have a branch office and a special correspondent in +Pasadena, the answer was that they had heard nothing about the +cyclone! And next morning I made a careful, search of their columns. +On the front page I read: "Fourth Blizzard of Season Raging in East"; +also: "Another Earthquake in Guatemala". But not a line about the +Pasadena cyclone. That there was plenty of space in that issue, you +may judge from the fact that there were twenty headlines like the +following--many of them representing full page and half page +illustrated "write-ups": + + Where Spring is January; Wealth Waits in California; The + Bright Side of Sunshine Land; Come to California: + Southland's Arms Outstretched in Cordial Invitation to the + East; Flower Stands Make Gay City Streets; Southland Climate + Big Manufacturing Factor; Joy of Life Demonstrated in Los + Angeles' Beautiful Homes; Nymphs Knit and Bathe at Ocean's + Sunny Beach; etc. + +Now we are in the War and our business is booming, we are making money +hand over fist. It is all the more delightful, because we are putting +our souls into it, we are lending our money to the government and +saving the world for Democracy! Our labor unionists have been driven +to other cities, and our Mexican agitators and I.W.W.'s are in jail; +so, in the gilt ball-room of our palatial six-dollar-a-day hotel the +four hundred masters of our prosperity meet to pat themselves on the +back, and they invite the new Catholic bishop to come and confer the +grace of God upon their eating. + +The Bishop comes; and I take up the "Times"--the labor-hating, +labor-baiting, fire-and-slaughter-breathing "Times"--and here is the +episcopal picture on the front page, the arms stretched four columns +wide in oratorical beneficence. How the shepherd of Jesus does love +the Merchants and Manufacturers! How his eloquence is poured out upon +them! "You represent, gentlemen, the largest and the most civilizing +secular body in the country. You are the pioneers of American +civilization.... I am glad to be among you; glad that my lines have +fallen in this glorious land by the sunset sea, and honored to meet in +intimate acquaintance the big men who have raised here in a few years +a city of metropolitan proportions." + +And then, bearing in mind his responsibilities as guardian of +Exploitation, the Bishop goes on to tell them about the coming +class-war. "On the one side a statesman preaching patience and respect +for vested rights, strict observance of public faith; on the other a +demagog speaking about the tyranny of capitalists and usurers." And +then, of course, the inevitable religious tag: "How will men obey you, +if they believe not in God, who is the author of all authority?" At +which, according to the "Times", "prolonged applause and cheers" from +the Merchants and Manufacturers! The editor of the "Times" goes back +to his office, and inspired by this episcopal eloquence writes a +"leader" with the statement that: "#We have no proletariat in +America!#" + +#Das Centrum# + +In order to see clearly the ultimate purpose of this Unholy Alliance, +this union of Superstition and the Merchants' and Manufacturers' +Association, we have to go to Europe, where the arrangement has been +working for a thousand years. In Europe to-day we see the whole world +in conflict with a band of criminals who have been able to master the +minds and lives of a hundred million highly civilized people. As I +write, the Junker aristocracy is at bay, and soon to have its throat +cut; but there comes a Holy Father to its rescue, with the cross of +Jesus uplifted, and a series of pleas for mercy, written in Vienna, +edited in Berlin, and sent out from Rome. The Holy Father loves all +mankind with a tender and touching love; his heart bleeds at the sight +of bloodshed and suffering, and he pleads the sacred cause of peace on +earth and good-will toward men. + +But what was the Holy Father doing through the forty-three years that +the Potsdam gang were preparing for their assault on the world? How +was the Holy Father manifesting his love of peace and good will? He +is, you understand, the "sole, last, supreme judge of what is right +and wrong," and his followers obey him with the utmost promptness and +devotion--they express themselves as "prostrate at his feet." And when +the masters of Prussia came to him and said: "Give us the power to +turn this nation into the world's greatest military empire"--what did +the Roman Church answer? Did it speak boldly for the gentle Jesus, and +the cause of peace on earth and good-will towards men? No, it did not. +To Bismarck in Germany it said, precisely as it said to Mark Hanna in +America: "Give us honors and prestige; give us power over the minds of +the young, so that we may plunder the poor and build our cathedrals +and feed fat our greed; and in return we will furnish you with votes, +so that you may rule the state and do what you will." + +You think there is exaggeration in that statement? Why, we know the +very names of the prelates with whom the master-cynic of the +Junkerthum made his "deal." He had tried the method of the +Kultur-kampf, and had failed; but before he repealed the anti-Catholic +laws, he made sure that the Church had learned its lesson, and would +nevermore oppose the Prussian ruling caste. We know how this bargain +was carried out; we have the record of the Centrum, the Catholic party +of Germany, whose hundred deputies were the solid rock upon which the +military regime of Prussia was erected. Not a battle-ship nor a +Zeppelin was built for which the Black Terror did not vote the funds; +not a school-child was beaten in Posen or Alsace that the New +Inquisition did not shout its "Hoch!" The writer sat in the visitors' +gallery of the Reichstag when the Socialists were protesting against +the torturing of miserable Herreros in Africa, and he heard the +deputies of the Holy Father's political party screaming their rage +like jaguars in a jungle night. All over Europe the Catholic Church +organized fake labor unions, the "yellows," as they were called, to +scab upon the workers and undermine the revolutionary movement. The +Holy Father himself issued precise instructions for the management of +these agencies of betrayal. Hear the most pious and benevolent Leo +XIII: + + "They must pay special and principal attention to piety and + morality, and their internal discipline must be directed + precisely by these considerations; otherwise they entirely + lose their special character, and come to be very little + better than those societies which take no account of + Religion at all." + +It is so hard, you see, to keep a man thinking about piety and +morality while he is starving! I am quoting from the Encyclical Letter +on "The Condition of Labor," issued in 1891, and addressed "to our +Venerable Brethren, all Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops and Bishops +of the Catholic World in Grace and Communion with the Apostolic See." +The purpose of the letter is "to refute false teaching," and the +substance of its message is: + + This great labor question cannot be solved except by + assuming as a principle that private property must be held + sacred and inviolable. + +And again, the purpose of churches proclaimed in language as frank as +any used in the present book: + + The chief thing to be secured is the safe-guarding, by legal + enactment and policy, of private property. Most of all it is + essential in these times of covetous greed, to keep the + multitude within the line of duty; for if all may justly + strive to benefit their condition, yet neither justice nor + the common good allows any one to seize that which belongs + to another, or, under the pretext of futile and ridiculous + equality, to lay hands on other peoples' fortunes. + +And this, you understand, in lands where rapine and conquest, +class-tyranny and priestly domination have been the custom since the +dawn of history; in which no property-right can possibly trace back to +any other basis than force. In Austria, for example--Austria, the +leader and guardian of the Holy Alliance--Austria, which had no +Reformation, no Revolution, no Kultur-kampf--Austria, in which the +income of the Catholic Primate is $625,000 a year! In other words, +Austria is still to a large extent a "Priestly Empire;" and it was +Austria which began the war--began it in a religious quarrel, with a +Slav people which does not acknowledge the Holy Father as the ruler of +the world, but persists in adhering to the Eastern Church. So of +course to-day, when Austria is learning the bitter lesson that they +who draw the sword shall perish by the sword, the heart of the Holy +Father is wrung with grief, and he sends out these eloquent +peace-notes, written in Vienna and edited in Berlin. And at the same +time his private chaplain is convicted and sentenced to prison for +life as Austria's Master-Spy in Rome! + +It is a curious thing to observe--the natural instinct which, all over +the world, draws Superstition and Exploitation together. This war, +which is hailed as a war against autocracy, might almost as accurately +be described as a war against the clerical system. Wherever in the +world you find the Papal power strong, there you find sympathy with +the Prussian infamy and there you find German intrigue. In Spain, for +example; in Ireland and Quebec, and in the Argentine. The treatment of +Belgium was a little too raw--too many priests were shot at the +outset, and so Cardinal Mercier denounces the Germans; but you notice +that he pleads in vain with the Vatican, which stands firm by its +beloved Austria, and against the godless kingdom of Italy. The Kaiser +allows the hope of restoration of the temporal power at the peace +settlement; and meantime the law forbidding the presence of the +Jesuits in Germany has been repealed, and all over the world the +propagandists of this order are working for the Kaiser. Sir Roger +Casement was raised a Catholic, and so also "Jim" Larkin, the Irish +labor-leader who _is_ touring America denouncing the Allies. The +Catholic Bishop of Melbourne opposed and beat conscription in +Australia, and it was Catholic propaganda of treachery among the +ignorant peasant-soldiers from Sicily which caused the breaking of the +Italian line at Tolmino. So deeply has this instinct worked that, in +the fall of 1917 while the Socialist party in New York was campaigning +for immediate peace, the Catholic Irish suddenly forgot their ancient +horrors. The Catholic "Freeman's Journal" published nine articles +favoring Socialism in a single issue; while even "The Tablet," the +diocesan paper, began to discover that the Socialists were not such +bad fellows after all. The same "Tablet" which a few years ago allowed +Father Belford to declare that Socialists were mad dogs who should be +"stopped with a bullet"! + + P. S. The reader will be interested to know that for the + statements on page 155, Upton Sinclair was described as a + "scoundrel" by a former prime minister of the Austrian + Empire, and brought suit against the gentleman, and after a + court trial was awarded damages of 500,000 crowns--about $7 + in American money. + + * * * * * + + + + +#BOOK FOUR# + +#The Church of the Slavers# + + Bee, underneath the Crown of Thorn, + The eye-balls fierce, the features grim! + And merrily from night to morn + We chaunt his praise and worship him-- + Great Christus-Jingo, at whose feet + Christian and Jew and Atheist meet! + + A wondrous god! most fit for those + Who cheat on 'Change, then creep to prayer; + Blood on his heavenly altar flows, + Hell's burning incense fills the air, + And Death attests in street and lane + The hideous glory of his reign. + + --Buchanan + + * * * * * + + + + +#Face of Caesar# + +The thesis of this book is the effect of fixed dogma in producing +mental paralysis, and the use of this mental paralysis by Economic +Exploitation. From that standpoint the various Protestant sects are +better than the Catholic, but not much better. The Catholics stand +upon Tradition, the Protestants upon an Inspired Word; but since this +Word is the entire literary product, history and biography, science +and legislation, poetry, drama and fiction of a whole people for +something like a thousand years, it is possible by judicious selection +of texts to prove anything you wish to prove and to justify anything +you wish to do. The "Holy Book" being full of polygamy, slavery, rape +and wholesale murder, committed by priests and rulers under the direct +orders of God, it was a very simple matter for the Protestant Slavers +to construct a Bible defense of their system. + +They get poor Jesus because he was given to irony, that most dangerous +form of utterance. If he could come back to life, and see what men +have done with his little joke about the face of Caesar on the Roman +coin, I think he would drop dead. As for Paul, he was a Roman +bureaucrat, with no nonsense in his make-up; when he ordered, +"Servants obey your masters," he meant exactly what he said. The Roman +official stamp which he put upon the gospel of Jesus has been the +salvation of the Slavers from the Reformation on. + +In the time of Martin Luther, the peasants of Germany were suffering +the most atrocious and awful misery; Luther himself knew about it, he +had denounced the princely robbers and the priestly land-exploiters +with that picturesque violence of which he was a master. But nothing +had been done about it, nothing ever is done about it--until at last +the miserable peasants attempted to organize and win their own rights. +Their demands do not seem to us so very criminal as we read them +today; the privilege of electing their own pastors, the abolition of +villeinage, the right to hunt and fish and cut wood in the forest, the +reduction of exorbitant rents, extra payment for extra labor, +and--that universal cry of peasant communes whether in Russia, +England, Mexico or sixteenth century Germany--the restoration to the +village of lands taken by fraud. But Luther would hear nothing of +slaves asserting their own rights, and took refuge in the Pauline +sociology: If they really wished to follow Christ, they would drop the +sword and resort to prayer; the gospel has to do with spiritual, not +temporal, affairs; earthly society cannot exist without inequalities, +etc. + +And when the peasants went on in spite of this, he turned upon them +and denounced them to the princes; he issued proclamations which might +have been the instructions of Mr. John Wanamaker to the police-force +of his "City of Brotherly Love": "One cannot answer a rebel with +reason, but the best answer is to hit him with the fist until blood +flows from the nose." He issued a letter: "Against the Murderous and +Thieving Mob of Peasants," which might have come from the Reverend +Woelfkin, Fifth Avenue Pastor of Standard Oil: "The ass needs to be +beaten, and the populace needs to be controlled with a strong hand. +God knew this well, and therefore he gave the rulers, not a fox's +tail, but a sword." He implored these rulers, after the fashion of +Methodist Chancellor Day of the University of Syracuse: "Do not be +troubled about the severity of their repression, for it will save many +souls." With such pious exhortations in their ears the princes set to +work, and slaughtered a hundred thousand of the miserable wretches; +they completely aborted the social hopes of the Reformation, and cast +humanity into the pit of wage-slavery and militarism for four +centuries. As a church scholar, Prof. Rauschenbusch, puts it: + + The glorious years of the Lutheran Reformation were from + 1517 to 1525, when the whole nation was in commotion, and a + great revolutionary tidal wave seemed to be sweeping every + class and every higher interest one step nearer to its ideal + of life.... The Lutheran Reformation had been most truly + religious and creative when it embraced the whole of human + life and enlisted the enthusiasm of all ideal men and + movements. When it became "religious" in the narrow sense, + it grew scholastic and spiny, quarrelsome, and impotent to + awaken high enthusiasm and noble life. + +#Deutschland ueber Alles# + +As a result of Luther's treason to humanity, his church became the +state church of Prussia, and Bible-worship and Devil-terror played +their part, along with the Mass and the Confessional, in building up +the Junker dream. A court official--the Oberhofprediger--was set up, +and from that time on the Hohenzollerns were the most pious criminals +in Europe. Frederick the Great, the ancestral genius, was an atheist +and a scoffer, but he believed devoutly in religion for his subjects. +He said: "If my soldiers were to begin to think, not one would remain +in the ranks." And Carlyle, instinctive friend of autocrats, tells +with jocular approval how he kept them from thinking: + + He recognizes the uses of Religion; takes a good deal of + pains with his Preaching Clergy; will suggest texts to them; + and for the rest expects to be obeyed by them, as by his + Sergeants and Corporals. Indeed, the reverend men feel + themselves to be a body of Spiritual Sergeants, Corporals, + and Captains, to whom obedience is the rule, and discontent + a thing not to be indulged in by any means. + +So the soldiers stayed in the ranks, and Frederick raided Silesia and +Poland. His successors ordered all the Protestant sects into one, so +that they might be more easily controlled; from which time the +Lutheran Church has been a department of the Prussian state, in some +cases a branch of the municipal authority. + +In 1848, when the people of various German states demanded their +liberty, it was an ultra-pious king of Prussia who sent his troops and +shot them down--precisely as Luther had advised to shoot down the +peasants. At this time the future maker of the German Empire rose in +the Landtag and made his bow before the world; a young Prussian +land-magnate, Otto von Bismarck by name, he shook his fist in the face +of the new German liberalism, and incidentally of the new German +infidelity: + + Christianity is the solid basis of Prussia; and no state + erected upon any other foundation can permanently exist. + +The present Hohenzollern has diligently maintained this tradition of +his line. It was his custom to tour the Empire in a train of blue and +white cars, carrying as many costumes as any stage favorite, most of +them military; with him on the train went the Prussian god, and there +was scarcely a performance at which this god did not appear, also in +military costume. After the failure of the "Kultur-kampf," the +official Lutheran religion was ordered to make friends with its +ancient enemy, the Catholic Church. Said the Kaiser: + + I make no difference between the adherents of the Catholic + and Protestant creeds. Let them both stand upon the + foundation of Christianity, and they are both bound to be + true citizens and obedient subjects. Then the German people + will be the rock of granite upon which our Lord God can + build and complete his work of Kultur in the world. + +And here is the oath required of the Catholic clergy, upon their +admission to equality of trustworthiness with their Protestant +confreres: + + I will be submissive, faithful and obedient to his Royal + Majesty,--and his lawful successors in the government,--as + my most gracious King and Sovereign; promote his welfare + according to my ability; prevent injury and detriment to + him; and particularly endeavor carefully to cultivate in the + minds of the people under my care a sense of reverence and + fidelity towards the King, love for the Fatherland, + obedience to the laws, and all those virtues which in a + Christian denote a good citizen; and I will not suffer any + man to teach or act in a contrary spirit. In particular I + vow that I will not support any society or association, + either at home or abroad, which might endanger the public + security, and will inform His Majesty of any proposal made, + either in my diocese or elsewhere, which might prove + injurious to the State. + +And later on this heaven-guided ruler conceived the scheme of a +Berlin-Bagdad railway, for which he needed one religion more; he paid +a visit to Constantinople, and made another debut and produced another +god--with the result that millions of Turks are fighting under the +belief that the Kaiser is a convert to the faith of Mohammed! + +#Der Tag.# + +All this was, of course, in preparation for the great event to which +all good Germans looked forward--to which all German officers drank +their toasts at banquets--the Day. + +This glorious day came, and the field-gray armies marched forth, and +the Pauline-Lutheran God marched with them. The Kaiser, as usual, +acted as spokesman: + + Remember that the German people are the chosen of God. On + me, the German emperor, the spirit of God has descended. I + am His sword, His weapon and His viceregent. Woe to the + disobedient and death to cowards and unbelievers. + +As to the Prussian state religion, its attitude to the war is set +forth in a little book written by a high clerical personage, the Herr +Consistorialrat Dietrich Vorwerk, containing prayers and hymns for the +soldiers, and for the congregations at home. Here is an appeal to the +Lord God of Battles: + + Though the warrior's bread be scanty, do Thou work daily + death and tenfold woe unto the enemy. Forgive in merciful + long-suffering each bullet and each blow which misses its + mark. Lead us not into the temptation of letting our wrath + be too tame in carrying out Thy divine judgment. Deliver us + and our ally from the Infernal Enemy and his servants on + earth. Thine is the kingdom, the German land; may we, by the + aid of Thy steel-clad hand, achieve the fame and the glory. + +It is this Herr Consistorialrat who has perpetrated the great +masterpiece of humor of the war--the hymn in which he appeals to that +God who keeps guard over Cherubim, Seraphim, and Zeppelins. You have +to say over the German form of these words in order to get the effect +of their delicious melody--"Cherubinen, Seraphinen, Zeppelinen!" And +lest you think that this too-musical clergyman is a rara avis, turn to +the little book which has been published in English under the same +title as Herr Vorwerk's "Hurrah and Hallelujah." Here is the Reverend +S. Lehmann: + + Germany is the center of God's plans for the world. + Germany's fight against the whole world is in reality the + battle of the spirit against the whole world's infamy, + falsehood and devilish cunning. + +And here is Pastor K. Koenig: + + It was God's will that we should will the war. + +And Pastor J. Rump: + + Our defeat would mean the defeat of His Son in humanity. We + fight for the cause of Jesus within mankind. + +And here is an eminent theological professor: + + The deepest and most thought-inspiring result of the war is + the German God. Not the national God such as the lower + nations worship, but "our God," who is not ashamed of + belonging to us, the peculiar acquirement of our heart. + +#King Cotton# + +It is a cheap way to gain applause in these days, to denounce the +Prussian system; my only purpose is to show that Bible-worship, +precisely as saint-worship or totem-worship, delivers the worshipper +up to the Slavers. This truth has held in America, precisely as in +Prussia. During the middle of the last century there was fought out a +mighty issue in our free republic; and what was the part played in +this struggle by the Bible-cults? Hear the testimony of William Lloyd +Garrison: "American Christianity is the main pillar of American +slavery." Hear Parker Pillsbury: "We had almost to abolish the Church +before we could reach the dreadful institution at all." + +In the year 1818 the Presbyterian General Assembly, which represented +the churches of the South as well as of the North, passed by a +#unanimous# vote a resolution to the effect that "Slavery is utterly +inconsistent with the law of God, which requires us to love our +neighbor as ourselves." But in a generation the views of the entire +South, including the Presbyterian Church, had changed entirely. What +was the reason? Had the "law of God" been altered? Had some new +"revelation" been handed down? Nothing of the kind; it was merely that +a Yankee by the name of Eli Whitney had perfected a machine to take +the seeds out of short staple cotton. The cotton crop of the South +increased from four thousand bales in 1791 to four hundred and fifty +thousand in 1820 and five million, four hundred thousand in 1860. + +There was a new monarch, King Cotton, and his empire depended upon +slaves. According to the custom of monarchs since the dawn of history, +he hired the ministers of God to teach that what he wanted was right +and holy. From one end of the South to the other the pulpits rang with +the text: "Cursed be Canaan; a servant to servants shall he be to his +brethren." The learned Bishop Hopkins, in his "Bible View of Slavery", +gave the standard interpretation of this text: + + The Almighty, forseeing the total degredation of the Negro + race, ordained them to servitude or slavery under the + descendants of Shem and Japheth, doubtless because he judged + it to be their fittest condition. + +I might fill the balance of this volume with citations from defenses +of the "peculiar institution" in the name of Jesus Christ--and not +only from the South, but from the North. For it must be understood +that leading families of Massachusetts and New York owed their power +to Slavery; their fathers had brought molasses from New Orleans and +made it into rum, and taken it to the coast of Africa to be exchanged +for slaves for the Southern planters. And after this trade was +outlawed, the slave-grown cotton had still to be shipped to the North +and spun; so the traders of the North must have divine sanction for +the Fugitive Slave law. Here is the Bishop of Vermont declaring: "The +slavery of the negro race appears to me to be fully authorized both in +the Old and New Testaments." Here in the "True Presbyterian", of New +York, giving the decision of a clerical man of the world: "There is no +debasement in it. It might have existed in Paradise, and it may +continue through the Millenium." + +And when the slave-holding oligarchy of the South rose in arms against +those who presumed to interfere with this divine institution, the men +of God of the South called down blessings upon their armies in words +which, with the proper change of names, might have been spoken in +Berlin in August, 1914. Thus Dr. Thornwell, one of the leading +Presbyterian divines of the South: "The triumph of Lincoln's +principles is the death-knell of slavery.... Let us crush the serpent +in the egg." And the Reverend Dr. Smythe of Charleston: "The war is a +war against slavery, and is therefore treasonable rebellion against +the Word, Providence and Government of God." I read in the papers, as +I am writing, how the clergy of Germany are thundering against +President Wilson's declaration that that country must become +democratic. Here is a manifesto of the German Evangelical League, made +public on the four hundredth anniversary of the Reformation: + + We especially warn against the heresy, promulgated from + America, that Christianity enjoins democratic institutions, + and that they are an essential condition of the kingdom of + God on earth. + +In exactly the same way the religious bodies of the entire South +united in an address to Christians throughout the world, early in the +year 1863: + + The recent proclamation of the President of the United + States, seeking the emancipation of the slaves of the South, + is in our judgment occasion of solemn protest on the part of + the people of God. + +#Witches and Women# + +To whatever part of the world you travel, to whatever page of history +you turn, you find the endowed and established clergy using the word +of God in defense of whatever form of slave-driving may then be +popular and profitable. Two or three hundred years ago it was the +custom of Protestant divines in England and America to hang poor old +women as witches; only a hundred and fifty years ago we find John +Wesley, founder of Methodism, declaring that "the giving up of +witchcraft is in effect the giving up of the Bible." And if you +investigate this witch-burning, you will find that it is only one +aspect of a blot upon civilization, the Christian Mysogyny. You see, +there were two Hebrew legends--one that woman was made out of a man's +rib, and the other that she ate an apple; therefore in modern England +a wife must be content with a legal status lower than a domestic +servant. + +Perhaps the most comical of the clerical claims is this--that +Christianity has promoted chivalry and respect for womanhood. In +ancient Greece and Rome the woman was the equal and helpmate of man; +we read in Tacitus about the splendid women of the Germans, who took +part in public councils, and even fought in battles. Two thousand +years before the Christian era we are told by Maspero that the +Egyptian woman was the mistress of her house; she could inherit +equally with her brothers, and had full control of her property. We +are told by Paturet that she was "juridically the equal of man, having +the same rights and being treated in the same fashion." But in +present-day England, under the common law, woman can hold no office of +trust or power, and her husband has the sole custody of her person, +and of her children while minors. He can steal her children, rob her +of her clothing, and beat her with a stick provided it is no thicker +than his thumb. While I was in London the highest court handed down a +decision on the law which does not permit a woman to divorce her +husband for infidelity, unless it has been accompanied by cruelty; a +man had brought his mistress into his home and compelled his wife to +work for and wait upon her, and the decision was that this was not +cruelty in the meaning of the law! + +And if you say that this enslavement of Woman has nothing to do with +religion--that ancient Hebrew fables do not control modern English +customs--then listen to the Vicar of Crantock, preaching at St. +Crantock's, London, Aug. 27th, 1905, and explaining why women must +cover their heads in church: + + (1) Man's priority of creation. Adam was first formed, then + Eve. + + (2) The manner of creation. The man is not of the woman, but + the woman of the man. + + (3) The purport of creation. The man was not created for the + woman, but the woman for the man. + + (4) Results in creation. The man is the image of the glory + of God, but woman is the glory of man. + + (5) Woman's priority in the fall. Adam was not deceived; but + the woman, being deceived, was in the transgression. + + (6) The marriage relation. As the Church is subject to + Christ, so let the wives be to their husbands. + + (7) The headship of man and woman. The head of every man is + Christ, but the head of the woman is man. + +I say there is no modern evil which cannot be justified by these +ancient texts; and there is nowhere in Christendom a clergy which +cannot be persuaded to cite them at the demand of ruling classes. In +the city where I write, three clergymen are being sent to jail for six +months for protesting against the use of the name of Jesus in the +wholesale slaughter of men. Now, I am backing this war. I know that it +has to be fought, and I want to see it fought as hard as possible; but +I want to leave Jesus out of it, for I know that Jesus did not believe +in war, and never could have been brought to support a war. I object +to clerical cant on the subject; and I note that an eminent +theological authority, "Billy" Sunday, appears to agree with me; for I +find him on the front page of my morning paper, assailing the three +pacifist clergymen, and making his appeal not to Jesus, but to the +blood-thirsty tribal diety of the ancient Hebrews: + + I suppose they think they know more than God Almighty, who + commanded the sun to stand still while Joshua won the battle + for the Lord; more than the God who made Samson strong so he + could slay thousands of his nation's enemies in a righteous + cause. + +Right you are, Billy! And if the capitalist system continues to +develop unchecked, we shall some day see it dawn upon the masters of +the world how wasteful it is to permit the superannuated workers to +perish by slow starvation. So much more sensible to make use of them! +So we shall have a Bible defense of cannibalism; we shall hear our +evangelists quoting Leviticus: "#They shall eat the flesh of their own +sons and daughters.#" Or perhaps some of our leisure-class ladies +might make the discovery that the flesh of working-class babies is +relished by pomeranians and poodles. If so, the Billy Sundays of the +twenty-first century may discover the text: "#Happy shall be he that +taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.#" + +#Moth and Rust# + +It is especially interesting to notice what happens when the Bible +texts work against the interests of the Slavers and their clerical +retainers. Then they are null and void--and no matter how precise and +explicit and unmistakable they may be! Take for example the Sabbath +injunction: "Six days shalt thou labor and do all that thou hast to +do." Karl Marx records of the pious England of his time that + + Occasionally in rural districts a day-labourer is condemned + to imprisonment for desecrating the Sabbath by working in + his front garden. The same labourer is punished for breach + of contract if he remains away from his metal, paper or + glass works on the Sunday, even if it be from a religious + whim. The orthodox Parliament will hear nothing of + Sabbath-breaking if it occurs in the process of expanding + capital. + +Or consider the attitude of the Church in the matter of usury. +Throughout ancient Hebrew history the money-lender was an outcast; +both the law and the prophets denounced him without mercy, and it was +made perfectly clear that what was meant was, not the taking of high +interest, but the taking of any interest whatsoever. The early church +fathers were explicit, and the Catholic Church for a thousand years +consigned money-lenders unhesitatingly to hell. But then came the +modern commercial system, and the money-lenders became the masters of +the world! There is no more amusing illustration of the perversion of +human thought than the efforts of the Jesuit casuists to escape from +the dilemma into which their Heavenly Guides had trapped them. + +Here, for example is Alphonso Ligouri, a Spanish Jesuit of the +eighteenth century, a doctor of the Church, now worshipped as St. +Alphonsus, presenting a long and elaborate theory of "mental usury"; +concluding that, if the borrower pay interest of his own free will, +the lender may keep it. In answer to the question whether the lender +may keep what the borrower pays, not out of gratitude, but out of fear +that otherwise loans will be refused to him in future, Ligouri says +that "to be usury, it must be paid by reason of a contract, or as +justly due; payment by reason of such a fear does not cause interest +to be paid as an actual price." Again the great saint and doctor tells +us that "it is not usury to exact something in return for the danger +and expense of regaining the principal!" Could the house of J. P. +Morgan and Company ask more of their ecclesiastical department? + +The reader may think that such sophistications are now out of date; +but he will find precisely the same knavery in the efforts of +present-day Slavers to fit Jesus Christ into the system of competitive +commercialism. Jesus, as we have pointed out, was a carpenter's son, a +thoroughly class-conscious proletarian. He denounced the exploiters of +his own time with ferocious bitterness, he drove the money-changers +out of the temple with whips, and he finally died the death of a +common criminal. If he had forseen the whole modern cycle of +capitalism and wage-slavery, he could hardly have been more precise in +his exortations to his followers to stand apart from it. But did all +this avail him? Not in the least! + +I place upon the witness-stand an exponent of Bible-Christianity whom +all readers of our newspapers know well: a scholar of learning, a +publicist of renown; once pastor of the most famous church in +Brooklyn; now editor of our most influential religious weekly; a +liberal both in theology and politics; a modernist, an advocate of +what he calls industrial democracy. His name is Lyman Abbott, and he +is writing under his own signature in his own magazine, his subject +being "The Ethical Teachings of Jesus". Several times I have tried to +persuade people that the words I am about to quote were actually +written and published by this eminent doctor of divinity, and people +have almost refused to believe me. Therefore I specify that the +article may be found in the "Outlook", the bound volumes of which are +in all large libraries: volume 94, page 576. The words are as follows, +the bold face being Dr. Abbott's, not mine: + + My radical friend declares that the teachings of Jesus are + not practicable, that we cannot carry them out in life, and + that we do not pretend to do so. Jesus, he reminds us, said, + 'Lay not up for yourself treasures upon earth;' and + Christians do universally lay up for themselves treasures + upon earth; every man that owns a house and lot, or a share + of stock in a corporation, or a life insurance policy, or + money in a savings bank, has laid up for himself treasure + upon earth. But Jesus did not say, "Lay not up for + yourselves treasures upon earth." He said, "Lay not up for + yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth + corrupt and where thieves break through and steal." And no + sensible American does. Moth and rust do not get at Mr. + Rockefeller's oil wells, nor at the Sugar Trust's sugar, and + thieves do not often break through and steal a railway or an + insurance company or a savings bank. What Jesus condemned + was hoarding wealth. + +Strange as it may sound to some of the readers of this book, I count +myself among the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. His example has meant +more to me than that of any other man, and all the experiences of my +revolutionary life have brought me nearer to him. Living in the great +Metropolis of Mammon, I have felt the power of Privilege, its scourge +upon my back, its crown of thorns upon my head. When I read that +article in the "Outlook", I felt just as Jesus himself would have +felt; and I sat down and wrote a letter-- + +#To Lyman Abbott# + +This discovery of a new method of interpreting the Bible is one of +such very great interest and importance that I cannot forbear to ask +space to comment upon it. May I suggest that Dr. Abbott elaborate this +exceedingly fruitful lea, and write us another article upon the extent +to which the teachings of the Inspired Word are modified by modern +conditions, by the progress of invention and the scientific arts? The +point of view which Dr. Abbott takes is one which had never occurred +to me before, and I had therefore been completely mistaken as to the +attitude of Jesus on the question. Also I have, like Dr. Abbott, many +radical friends who are still laboring under error. + +Jesus goes on to bid his hearers: "Consider the lilies of the field, +how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin." What an apt +simile is this for the "great mass of American wealth," in Dr. +Abbott's portrayal of it! "It is serving the community," he tells us; +"it is building a railway to open a new country to settlement by the +homeless; it is operating a railway to carry grain from the harvests +of the West to the unfed millions of the East," etc. Incidentally, it +is piling up dividends for its pious owners; and so everybody is +happy--and Jesus, if he should come back to earth, could never know +that he had left the abodes of bliss above. + +Truly, there should be a new school of Bible interpretation founded +upon this brilliant idea. Jesus says, "Therefore when thou doest thine +alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the +synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men." +Verily not; for of what avail are trumpets, compared with the millions +of copies of newspapers which daily go forth to tell of Mr. +Rockefeller's benefactions? How transitory are they, compared with the +graven marble or granite which Mr. Carnegie sets upon the front of +each of his libraries! + +There is the paragraph, "Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because +thou canst not make one hair white or black." I have several among my +friends who are Quakers; presumably Dr. Abbott has also; and he should +not fail to point out to them the changes which scientific discovery +has wrought in the significance of this command against swearing. We +can now make our hair either white or black, or a combination of both. +We can make it a brilliant peroxide golden; we could, if pushed to an +extreme, make it purple or green. So we are clearly entitled to swear +all we please by our head. + +Nor should we forget to examine other portions of the Bible according +to this method. "Look not upon the wine when it is red," we are told. +Thanks to the activities of that Capitalism which Dr. Abbott praises +so eloquently, we now make our beverages in the chemical laboratory, +and their color is a matter of choice. Also, it should be pointed out +that we have a number of pleasant drinks which are not wine at +all--"high-balls" and "gin rickeys" and "peppered punches"; also +#vermouthe and creme de menthe and absinthe#, which I believe, are +green in hue, and therefore entirely safe. + +Then there are the Ten Commandments. "Thou shalt not make unto thee +any graven image." See how completely our understanding of this +command is changed, so soon as we realize that we are free to make +images of molten metal! And that we may with impunity bow down to them +and worship them and serve them--even, for instance, a Golden Calf! + +"The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy _God_; in it thou +shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy +manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that +is within thy gates." This, again, it will be noted, is open to new +interpretations. It specifies maidservants, but does not prevent one's +employing as many married women as he pleases. It also says nothing +about the various kinds of labor-saving machinery which we have now +taught to work for us--sail-boats, naptha launches, yachts, +automobiles, and private cars--all of which may be busily occupied +during the seventh day of the week. The men who run these +machines--the guides, boatmen, stokers, pilots, chauffeurs, and +engineers--would all indignantly resent being regarded as-"servants", +and so they do not come under the prohibition any more than the +machines. + +"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy +neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, +nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's." I read this +paragraph over for the first time in quite a while, and I came with a +jolt to its last words. I had been intending to point out that it said +nothing about a neighbor's automobile, nor a neighbor's oil wells, +sugar trusts, insurance companies and savings banks. The last words, +however, stop one of-abruptly. One is almost tempted to imagine that +the Divine Intelligence must have foreseen Dr. Abbott's ingenious +method of interpretation, and taken this precaution against him. And +this was a great surprise to me--for, truly, I had not supposed it +possible that such an interpretation could have been foreseen, even by +Omniscience itself. I will conclude this communication by venturing +the assertion that it could not have been foreseen by any other person +or thing, in the heavens above, on the earth beneath, or the waters +under the earth. Dr. Abbott may accept my congratulations upon having +achieved the most ingenious and masterful exhibition of casuistical +legerdemain that it has ever been my fortune to encounter in my +readings in the literatures of some thirty centuries and seven +different languages. + +And I will also add that I respectfully challenge Dr. Abbott to +publish this letter. And I announce to him in advance that if he +refuses to publish it, I will cause it to be published upon the first +page of the "Appeal to Reason", where it will be read by some five +hundred thousand Socialists, and by them set before several million +followers of Jesus Christ, the world's first and greatest +revolutionist, whom Dr. Lyman Abbott has traduced and betrayed by the +most amazing piece of theological knavery that it has ever been my +fortune to encounter. + +#The Octopus# + +Dr. Lyman Abbott published this letter! In his editorial comment +thereon he said that he did not know which of two biblical injunctions +to follow: "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou be +thought like unto him"; or "Answer a fool according to his folly, lest +he be wise in his own conceit". I replied by pointing out a third text +which the Reverend Doctor had possibly overlooked: "He that calleth +his neighbor a fool shall be in danger of hell-fire." But the Reverend +Doctor took refuge in his dignity, and I bided my time and waited for +that revenge which comes sooner or later to us muck-rakers. In this +case it came speedily. The story is such a perfect illustration of the +functions of religion as oil to the machinery of graft that I ask the +reader's permission to recite it at length. + +For a couple of decades the political and financial life of New +England has been dominated by a gigantic aggregation of capital, the +New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. It is a "Morgan" concern; +its popular name, "The New Haven", stands for all the railroads of +six states, nearly all the trolley-lines and steamship-lines, and +a group of the most powerful banks of Boston and New York. It is +controlled by a little group of insiders, who followed the custom of +rail-road-wrecking familiar to students of American industrial life: +buying up new lines, capitalizing them at fabulous sums, and unloading +them on the investing public; paying dividends out of capital, +"passing" dividends as a means of stock manipulation, accumulating +surpluses and cutting "melons" for the insiders, while at the same +time crushing labor unions, squeezing wages, and permitting +rolling-stock and equipment to go to wreck. + +All these facts were perfectly well known in Wall Street, and could +not have escaped the knowledge of any magazine editor dealing with +current events. In eight years the "New Haven" had increased its +capitalization 1501 per cent; and what that meant, any office boy in +"the Street" could have told. What attitude should a magazine editor +take to the matter? + +At that time there were still two or three free magazines in America. +One of them was Hampton's, and the story of its wrecking by the New +Haven criminals will some day serve in school text-books as the +classic illustration of that financial piracy which brought on the +American social revolution. Ben Hampton had bought the old derelict +"Broadway Magazine", with twelve thousand subscribers, and in four +years, by the simple process of straight truth-telling, had built up +for it a circulation of 440,000. In two years more he would have had a +million; but in May, 1911, he announced a series of articles dealing +with the New Haven management. + +The articles, written by Charles Edward Russell, were so exact that +they read today like the reports of the Interstate Commerce +Commission, dated three years later. A representative of the New Haven +called upon the editor of Hampton's with a proof of the first +article--obtained from the printer by bribery--and was invited to +specify the statements to which he took exception; in the presence of +witnesses he went over the article line by line, and specified two +minor errors, which were at once corrected. At the end of the +conference he announced that if the articles were published, Hampton's +Magazine would be "on the rocks in ninety days." + +Which threat was carried out to the letter. First came a campaign +among the advertisers of the magazine, which lost an income of +thousands of dollars a month, almost over night. And then came a +campaign among the banks--the magazine could not get credit. Anyone +familiar with the publishing business will understand that a magazine +which is growing rapidly has to have advances to meet each month's +business. Hampton undertook to raise the money by selling stock; +whereupon a spy was introduced into his office as bookkeeper, his list +of subscribers was stolen, and a campaign was begun to destroy their +confidence. + +It happened that I was in Hampton's office in the summer of 1911, when +the crisis came. Money had to be had to pay for a huge new edition; +and upon a property worth two millions of dollars, with endorsements +worth as much again, it was impossible to borrow thirty thousand +dollars in the city of New York. Bankers, personal friends of the +publisher, stated quite openly that word had gone out that any one who +loaned money to him would be "broken". I myself sent telegrams to +everyone I knew who might by any chance be able to help; but there was +no help, and Hampton retired without a dollar to his name, and the +magazine was sold under the hammer to a concern which immediately +wrecked it and discontinued publication. + +#The Industrial Shelley# + +Such was the fate of an editor who opposed the "New Haven". And now, +what of those editors who supported it? Turn to "The Outlook, a Weekly +Journal of Current Events," edited by Lyman Abbott--the issue of Dec. +25th, nineteen hundred and nine years after Christ came down to bring +peace on earth and good-will toward Wall Street. You will there find +an article by Sylvester Baxter entitled "The Upbuilding of a Great +Railroad." It is the familiar "slush" article which we professional +writers learn to know at a glance. "Prodigious", Mr. Baxter tells us, +has been the progress of the New Haven; this was "a masterstroke", +that was "characteristically sagacious". The road had made "prodigious +expenditures", and to a noble end: "Transportation efficiency +epitomizes the broad aim that animated these expenditures and other +constructive activities." There are photographs of bridges and +stations--"vast terminal improvements", "a masterpiece of modern +engineering", "the highest, greatest and most architectural of +bridges". Of the official under whom these miracles were being +wrought--President Mellen--we read: "Nervously organized, of delicate +sensibility, impulsive in utterance, yet with an extraordinarily +convincing power for vividly logical presentation." An industrial +Shelley, or a Milton, you perceive; and all this prodigious genius +poured out for the general welfare! "To study out the sort of +transportation service best adapted to these ends, and then to provide +it in the most efficient form possible, that is the life-task that +President Mellen has set himself." + +There was no less than sixteen pages of these raptures--quite a +section of a small magazine like the "Outlook". "The New Haven +ramifies to every spot where industry flourishes, where business +thrives." "As a purveyor of transportation it supplies the public with +just the sort desired." "Here we have the new efficiency in a +nutshell." In short, here we have what Dr. Lyman Abbott means when he +glorifies "the great mass of American wealth". "It is serving the +community; it is building a railway to open a new country to +settlement by the homeless; it is operating a railway to carry grain +from the harvests of the West to the unfed millions of the East," etc. +The unfed millions--my typewriter started to write "underfed +millions"--are humbly grateful for these services, and hasten to buy +copies of the pious weekly which tells about them. + +The "Outlook" runs a column of "current events" in which it tells what +is happening in the world; and sometimes it is compelled to tell of +happenings against the interests of "the great mass of American +wealth". The cynical reader will find amusement in following its +narrative of the affairs of the New Haven during the five years +subsequent to the publication of the Baxter article. + +First came the collapse of the road's service; a series of accidents +so frightful that they roused even clergymen and chambers of commerce +to protest. A number of the "Outlook's" subscribers are New Haven +"commuters", and the magazine could not fail to refer to their +troubles. In the issue of Jan. 4th, 1913, three years and ten days +after the Baxter rhapsody, we read: + + The most numerous accidents on a single road since the last + fiscal year have been, we believe, those on the New Haven. + In the opinion of the Connecticut Commission, the Westport + wreck would not have occurred if the railway company had + followed the recommendation of the Chief Inspector of Safety + Appliances of the Interstate Commerce Commission in its + report on a similar accident at Bridgeport a year ago. + +And by June 28th, matters had gone farther yet; we find the "Outlook" +reporting: + + Within a few hours of the collision at Stamford, the wrecked + Pullman car was taken away and burned. Is this criminal + destruction of evidence? + +This collapse of the railroad service started a clamor for +investigation by the Interstate Commerce Commission, which of course +brought terror to the bosoms of the plunderers. On Dec. 20,1913, we +find the "Outlook" "putting the soft pedal" on the public indignation. +"It must not be forgotten that such a road as the New Haven is, in +fact if not in terms, a National possession, and as it goes down or +up, public interests go down or up with it." But in spite of all pious +admonitions, the Interstate Commerce Commission yielded to the public +clamor, and an investigation was made--revealing such conditions of +rottenness as to shock even the clerical retainers of Privilege. +"Securities were inflated, debt was heaped upon debt", reports the +horrified "Outlook"; and when its hero, Mr. Mellen--its industrial +Shelley, "nervously organized, of delicate sensibility"--admitted that +he had no authority as to the finances of the road and no +understanding of them, but had taken all his orders from Morgan, the +"Outlook" remarks, deeply wounded: "A pitiable position for the +president of a great railway to assume." A little later, when things +got hotter yet, we read: + + In the search for truth the Commissioners had to overcome + many obstacles, such as the burning of books, letters and + documents, and the obstinacy of witnesses, who declined to + testify until criminal proceedings were begun. The New Haven + system has more than three hundred subsidiary corporations + in a web of entangling alliances, many of which were + seemingly planned, created and manipulated by lawyers + expressly retained for the purpose of concealment or + deception. + +But do you imagine even that would sicken the pious jackals of their +offal? If so, you do not know the sturdiness of the pious stomach. A +compromise was patched up between the government and the thieves who +were too big to be prosecuted; this bargain was not kept by the +thieves, and President Wilson declared in a public statement that the +New Haven administration had "broken an agreement deliberately and +solemnly entered into," in a manner to the President "inexplicable and +entirely without justification." Which, of course, seemed to the +"Outlook" dreadfully impolite language to be used concerning a +"National possession"; it hastened to rebuke President Wilson, whose +statement was "too severe and drastic." + +A new compromise was made between the government and the thieves who +were too big to be prosecuted, and the stealing went on. Now, as I +work over this book, the President takes the railroads for war use, +and reads to Congress a message proposing that the securities based +upon the New Haven swindles, together with all the mass of other +railroad swindles, shall be sanctified and secured by dividends paid +out of the public purse. New Haven securities take a big jump; and the +"Outlook", needless to say, is enthusiastic for the President's +policy. Here is a chance for the big thieves to baptize themselves--or +shall we say to have the water in their stocks made "holy"? Says our +pious editor, for the government to take property without full +compensation "would be contrary to the whole spirit of America." + +#The Outlook for Graft# + +Anyone familiar with the magazine world will understand that such +crooked work as this, continued over a long period, is not done for +nothing. Any magazine writer would know, the instant he saw the Baxter +article, that Baxter was paid by the New Haven, and that the "Outlook" +also was paid by the New Haven. Generally he has no way of proving +such facts, and has to sit in silence; but when his board bill falls +due and his landlady is persistent, he experiences a direct and +earnest hatred of the crooks of journalism who thrive at his expense. +If he is a Socialist, he looks forward to the day when he may sit on a +Publications' Graft Commission, with access to all magazine books +which have not yet been burned! + +In the case of the New Haven, we know a part of the price--thanks to +the labors of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Needless to say, you +will not find the facts recorded in the columns of the Outlook; you +might have read it line by line from the palmy days of Mellen to our +own, and you would have got no hint of what the Commission revealed +about magazine and newspaper graft. Nor would you have got much more +from the great metropolitan dailies, which systematically "played +down" the expose, omitting all the really damaging details. You would +have to go to the reports of the Commission--or to the files of +"Pearson's Magazine", which is out of print and not found in +libraries! + +According to the New Haven's books, and by the admission of its own +officials, the road was spending more than four hundred thousand +dollars a year to influence newspapers and magazines in favor of its +policies. (President Mellen stated that this was relatively less than +any other railroad in the country was spending). There was a professor +of the Harvard Law School, going about lecturing to boards of trade, +urging in the name of economic science the repeal of laws against +railroad monopolies--and being paid for his speeches out of railroad +funds! There was a swarm of newspaper reporters, writing on railroad +affairs for the leading papers of New England, and getting twenty-five +dollars weekly, or two or three hundred on special occasions. Sums had +been paid directly to more than a thousand newspapers--$3,000 to the +Boston "Republic", and when the question was asked "Why?" the answer +was, "That is Mayor Fitzgerald's paper." Even the ultra-respectable +"Evening Transcript", organ of the Brahmins of culture, was down for +$144 for typing, mimeographing and sending out "dope" to the country +press. There was an item of $381 for 15,000 "Prayers"; and when asked +about that President Mellen explained that it referred to a pamphlet +called "Prayers from the Hills", embodying the yearnings of the +back-country people for trolley-franchises to be issued to the New +Haven. Asked why the pamphlet was called "Prayers", Mr. Mellen +explained that "there was lots of biblical language in it." + +And now we come to the "Outlook"; after five years of waiting, we +catch our pious editors with the goods on them! There appears on the +pay-roll of the New Haven, as one of its regular press-agents, getting +sums like $500 now and then--would you think it possible?--Sylvester +Baxter! And worse yet, there appears an item of $938.64 to the +"Outlook", for a total of 9,716 copies of its issue of Dec. 25th, +nineteen hundred and nine years after Christ came to bring peace on +earth and good will towards Wall Street! + +The writer makes a specialty of fair play, even when dealing with +those who have never practiced it towards him. He wrote a letter to +the editor of the "Outlook", asking what the magazine might have to +say upon this matter. The reply, signed by Lawrence F. Abbott, +President of the "Outlook" Company, was that the "Outlook" did not +know that Mr. Baxter had any salaried connection with the New Haven, +and that they had paid him for the article at the usual rates. Against +this statement must be set one made under oath by the official of the +New Haven who had the disbursing of the corruption fund--that the +various papers which used the railroad material paid nothing for it, +and "they all knew where it came from." Mr. Lawrence Abbott states +that "the New Haven Railroad bought copies of the 'Outlook' without +any previous understanding or arrangement as anybody is entitled to +buy copies of the 'Outlook'." I might point out that this does not +really say as much as it seems to; for the President of every magazine +company in America knows without any previous understanding or +arrangement that any time he cares to print an article such as Mr. +Baxter's, dealing with the affairs of a great corporation, he can sell +ten thousand copies to that corporation. The late unlamented Elbert +Hubbard wrote a defense of the Rockefeller slaughter of coal-miners, +published it in "The Fra," and came down to New York and unloaded +several tons at 26 Broadway; he did the same thing in the case of the +copper strike in Michigan, and again in the case of "The Jungle"--and +all this without the slightest claim to divine inspiration or +authority! + +Mr. Abbott answers another question: "We certainly did not return the +amount to the railroad company." Well, a sturdy conscience must be a +comfort to its possessor. The President of the "Outlook" is in the +position of a pawnbroker caught with stolen goods in his +establishment. He had no idea they were stolen; and we might believe +it, if the thief were obscure. But when the thief is the most +notorious in the city--when his picture has been in the paper a +thousand times? And when the thief swears that the broker knew him? +And when the broker's shop is full of other suspicious goods? Why did +the "Outlook" practically take back Mr. Spahr's revelations concerning +the Powder barony of Delaware? Why did it support so vigorously the +Standard Oil ticket for the control of the Mutual Life Insurance +Company--and with James Stillman, one of the heads of Standard Oil, +president of Standard Oil's big bank in New York, secretly one of its +biggest stockholders! + +Also, why does the magazine refuse to give its readers a chance to +judge its conduct? Why is it that a search of its columns reveals no +mention of the revelations concerning Mr. Baxter--not even any mention +of the $400,000 slush fund of its paragon of transportation virtues? I +asked that question in my letter, and the president of the "Outlook" +Company for some reason failed to notice it. I wrote a second time, +courteously reminding him of the omission; and also of another, +equally significant--he had not informed me whether any of the editors +of the "Outlook", or the officers or directors of the Company, were +stockholders in the New Haven. His final reply was that the questions +seem to him "wholly unimportant"; he does not know whether the +"Outlook" published anything about the Baxter revelations, nor does he +know whether any of the editors or officers or directors of the +"Outlook" Company are or ever have been stockholders of the New York, +New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company. The fact "would not in the +slightest degree affect either favorably or unfavorably our editorial +treatment of that corporation." Caesar's wife, it appears is above +suspicion--even when she is caught in a brothel! + +#Clerical Camouflage# + +I have seen a photograph from "Somewhere in France", showing a wayside +shrine with a statue of the Virgin Mary, innocent and loving, with her +babe in her arms. If you were a hostile aviator, you might sail over +and take pictures to your heart's content, and you would see nothing +but a saintly image; you would have to be on the enemy's side, and +behind the lines, to make the discovery that under the image had been +dug a hole for a machine-gun. When I saw that picture, I thought to +myself--#there# is capitalist Religion! + +You see, if cannon and machine-guns are out in the open, they are +almost instantly spotted and put out of action; and so with magazines +like "Leslie's Weekly", or "Munsey's", or the "North American Review", +which are frankly and wholly in the interest of Big Business. If an +editor wishes really to be effective in holding back progress, he must +protect himself with a camouflage of piety and philanthropy, he must +have at his tongue's end the phrases of brotherhood and justice, he +must be liberal and progressive, going a certain cautious distance +with the reformers, indulging in carefully measured fair play--giving +a dime with one hand, while taking back a dollar with the other! + +Let us have an illustration of this clerical camouflage. Here are the +wives and children of the Colorado coal-miners being shot and burned +in their beds by Rockefeller gun-men, and the press of the entire +country in a conspiracy of silence concerning the matter. In the +effort to break down this conspiracy, Bouck White, Congregational +clergyman, author of "The Call of the Carpenter", goes to the Fifth +Avenue Church of Standard Oil and makes a protest in the name of +Jesus. I do not wish to make extreme statements, but I have read +history pretty thoroughly, and I really do not know where in nineteen +hundred years you can find an action more completely in the spirit and +manner of Jesus than that of Bouck White. The only difference was that +whereas Jesus took a real whip and lashed the money-changers, White +politely asked the pastor to discuss with him the question whether or +not Jesus condemned the holding of wealth. He even took the precaution +to write a letter to the clergyman announcing in advance what he +intended to do! And how did the clergyman prepare for him? With the +sword of truth and the armor of the spirit? No--but with two or three +dozen strong-arm men, who flung themselves upon the Socialist author +and hurled him out of the church. So violent were they that several of +White's friends, also one or two casual spectators, were moved to +protest; what happened then, let us read in the New York "Sun", the +most bitterly hostile to radicalism of all the metropolitan +newspapers. Says the "Sun's" report: + + A police billy came crunching against the bones of Lopez's + legs. It struck him as hard as a man could swing it eight + times. A fist planted on Lopez's jaw knocked out two teeth. + His lip was torn open. A blow in the eye made it swell and + blacken instantly. A minute later Lopez was leaning against + the church with blood running to the doorsill. + +And now, what has the clerical camouflage to say on this proceeding? +Does it approve it? Oh no! It was "a mistake", the "Outlook" protests; +it intensifies the hatred which these extremists feel for the church. +The proper course would have been to turn the disturber aside with a +soft answer; to give him some place, say in a park, where he could +talk his head off to people of his own sort, while good and decent +Christians continued to worship by themselves in peace, and to have +the children of their mine-slaves shot and burned in their beds. Says +our pious editor: + + The true way to repress cranks is not to suppress them; it + is to give them an opportunity to air their theories before + any who wish to learn, while forbidding them to compel those + to listen who do not wish to do so. + +Or take another case. Twelve years ago the writer made an effort to +interest the American people in the conditions of labor in their +packing-plants. It happened that incidentally I gave some facts about +the bedevilment of the public's meat-supply, and the public really did +care about that. As I phrased it at the time, I aimed at the public's +heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach. There was a terrible +clamor, and Congress was forced to pass a bill to remedy the evils. As +a matter of fact this bill was a farce, but the public was satisfied, +and soon forgot the matter entirely. The point to be noted here is +that so far as concerned the atrocious miseries of the working-people, +it was not necessary even to pretend to do anything. The slaves of +Packingtown went on living and working as they were described as doing +in "The Jungle", and nobody gave a further thought to them. Only the +other day I read in my paper--while we are all making sacrifices in a +"War for Democracy"--that Armour and Company had paid a dividend of +twenty-one per cent, and Swift and Company a dividend of thirty-five +per cent. + +This prosperity they owe in good part to their clerical camouflage. +Listen to our pious "Outlook", engaged in countermining "The Jungle". +The "Outlook" has no doubt that there are genuine evils in the +packing-plants; the conditions of the workers ought of course to be +improved; BUT-- + + To disgust the reader by dragging him through every + conceivable horror, physical and moral, to depict with lurid + excitement and with offensive minuteness the life in jail + and brothel--all this is to overreach the object.... Even + things actually terrible may become distorted when a writer + screams them out in a sensational way and in a high pitched + key.... More convincing if it were less hysterical. + +Don't you see what these clerical crooks are for? + +#The Jungle# + +A four years' war was fought in America, a million men were killed and +half a continent was devastated, in order to abolish chattel slavery +and put wage slavery in its place. I have made a thorough study of +both these industrial systems, and I freely admit that there is one +respect in which the lot of the wage slave is better than that of the +chattel slave. The wage slave is free to think; and by squeezing a few +drops of blood from his starving body, he may possess himself of +machinery for the distribution of his ideas. Taking his chances of the +policeman's club and the jail, he may found revolutionary +organizations, and so he has the candle of hope to light him to his +death-bed. But excepting this consideration, and taking the +circumstances of the wage slave from the material point of view alone, +I hold it beyond question that the average lot of the chattel slave of +1860 was preferable to that of the modern slave of the Beef Trust, the +Steel Trust, or the Coal Trust. It was the Southern master's real +concern, his business interest, that the chattel slave should be kept +physically sound; but it is nobody's business to care anything about +the wage slave. The children of the chattel slave were valuable +property, and so they got plenty to eat, and a happy outdoor life, and +medical attention if they fell ill. But the children of the sweat-shop +or the cotton-mill or the canning-factory are raised in a city slum, +and never know what it is to have enough to eat, never know a feeling +of security or rest-- + + We are weary in our cradles + From our mother's toil untold; + We are born to hoarded weariness + As some to hoarded gold. + +The system of competitive commercialism, of large-scale capitalist +industry in its final flowering! I quote from "The Jungle": + + Here in this city tonight, ten thousand women are shut up in + foul pens, and driven by hunger to sell their bodies to + live. Tonight in Chicago there are ten thousand men, + homeless and wretched, willing to work and begging for a + chance, yet starving, and fronting with terror the awful + winter cold! Tonight in Chicago there are a hundred thousand + children wearing out their strength and blasting their lives + in the effort to earn their bread! There are a hundred + thousand mothers who are living in misery and squalor, + struggling to earn enough to feed their little ones! There + are a hundred thousand old people, cast off and helpless, + waiting for death to take them from their torments! There + are a million people, men and women and children, who share + the curse of the wage-slave; who toil every hour they can + stand and see, for just enough to keep them alive; who are + condemned till the end of their days to monotony and + weariness, to hunger and misery, to heat and cold, to dirt + and disease, to ignorance and drunkenness and vice! And then + turn over the page with me, and gaze upon the other side of + the picture. There are a thousand--ten thousand, maybe--who + are the masters of these slaves, who own their toil. They do + nothing to earn what they receive, they do not even have to + ask for it--it comes to them of itself, their only care is + to dispose of it. They live in palaces, they riot in luxury + and extravagance--such as no words can describe, as makes + the imagination reel and stagger, makes the soul grow sick + and faint. They spend hundreds of dollars for a pair of + shoes, a handkerchief, a garter; they spend millions for + horses and automobiles and yachts, for palaces and banquets, + for little shiny stones with which to deck their bodies. + Their life is a contest among themselves for supremacy in + ostentation and recklessness, in the destroying of useful + and necessary things, in the wasting of the labor and the + lives of their fellow-creatures, the toil and anguish of the + nations, the sweat and tears and blood of the human race! It + is all theirs--it comes to them; just as all the springs + pour into streamlets, and the streamlets into rivers, and + the rivers into the ocean--so, automatically and inevitably, + all the wealth of society comes to them. The farmer tills + the soil, the miner digs in the earth, the weaver tends the + loom, the mason carves the stone; the clever man invents, + the shrewd man directs, the wise man studies, the inspired + man sings--and all the results, the products of the labor of + brain and muscle, are gathered into one stupendous stream + and poured into their laps! + +This is the system. It is the crown and culmination of all the wrongs +of the ages; and in proportion to the magnitude of its exploitation, +is the hypocrisy and knavery of the clerical camouflage which has been +organized in its behalf. Beyond all question, the supreme irony of +history is the use which has been made of Jesus of Nazareth as the +Head God of this blood-thirsty system; it is a cruelty beyond all +language, a blasphemy beyond the power of art to express. Read +the man's words, furious as those of any modern agitator that +I have heard in twenty years of revolutionary experience: "Lay +not up for yourselves treasures on earth!--Sell that ye have +and give alms!--Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of +Heaven!--Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your +consolation!--Verily, I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly +enter into the kingdom of Heaven!--Woe unto you also, you lawyers!--Ye +serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of +hell?" + +"And this man"--I quote from "The Jungle" again--"they have made into +the high-priest of property and smug respectability, a divine sanction +of all the horrors and abominations of modern commercial civilization! +Jewelled images are made of him, sensual priests burn insense to him, +and modern pirates of industry bring their dollars, wrung from the +toil of helpless women and children, and build temples to him, and sit +in cushioned seats and listen to his teachings expounded by doctors of +dusty divinity!" + + * * * * * + + + + +#BOOK FIVE# + +#The Church of the Merchants# + + Mammon led them on-- + Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell + From Heaven; for even in Heaven his looks and thoughts + Were always downward bent, admiring more + The riches of Heaven's pavement, trodden gold, + Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed + In vision beatific.... Let none admire + That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best + Deserve the precious bane. + + Milton. + + * * * * * + + + + +#The Head Merchant# + +Ours is the era of commerce, as its propagandists never weary of +telling us. Business is the basis of our material lives, and +consequently of our culture. Business men control our politics and +dictate our laws; business men own our newspapers and direct their +policy; business men sit on our school boards, and endow and manage +our universities. The Reformation was a revolt of the newly-developing +merchant classes against the tyrannies and abuses of feudal +clericalism: so in all Protestant Christianity one finds the spirit, +ideals, and language of Trade. We have shown how the symbolism of the +Anglican Church is of the palace and the throne; in the same way that +of the non-conformist sects may be shown to be of the counting-house. +In the view of the middle-class Britisher, the nexus between man and +man is cent per cent; and so in their Sunday services the worshippers +sing such hymns as this: + + Whatever, Lord, we lend to Thee, + Repaid a thousand fold shall be; + Then gladly will we give to Thee, + Who givest all. + +The first duty of every man under the competitive system is to secure +the survival of his own business; So on the Sabbath, when he comes to +deal with eternity, he is practical and explicit: + + Nothing is worth a thought beneath + But how I may escape the death + That never, never dies; + How make mine own election sure, + And when I fail on earth secure + A mansion in the skies. + +Just as the priest of the aristocratic caste figures God as a mighty +Conqueror-- + + Marching as to war + With the cross of Jesus + Going on before-- + +so the preacher to the trader figures the divinity as a glorified +Merchant keeping books. This Head Merchant has a monopoly in His line; +He knows all His rivals' secrets, so there is no getting ahead of Him, +and nothing to do but obey His Word, as revealed through His clerical +staff. The system is oily with protestations of divine love; but when +you read the comments of Luther upon Calvin and of Calvin upon Luther, +you understand that this love is confined to the inside of each +denomination. And even so restricted, there is not always enough to go +around. Recently I met a Presbyterian clergyman, to whom I remarked, +"I see by the papers that you have just finished a church building." +"Yes," he answered; "and I have had three offers of a new church." I +did not see the connection, and asked, "Because you were so successful +with this one?" The reply was, "They always take it for granted that +you want to change when you've finished a new building, because you +make so many enemies!" + +The business man puts up the money to build the church, he puts up the +money to keep it going; and the first rule of a business man is that +when he puts up the money for a thing he "runs" that thing. Of course +he sees that it spreads his own views of life, it helps to maintain +his tradition. In the days of Anu and Baal we heard the proclamation +of the divine right of Kings; in these days of Mammon we hear the +proclamation of the divine right of Merchants. Some fifteen years ago +the head of our Coal Trust announced during a great strike that the +question would be settled "by the Christian men to whom God in His +Infinite Wisdom has given control of the property interests of this +country". And on that declaration all pious merchants stand; whatever +their denominations, Catholic, Episcopalian, Baptist, Methodist, +Presbyterian or Hebrew, their Sabbath doctrines are alike, as their +week-day practices are alike; whether it is Rockefeller shooting his +Bayonne oil-workers and burning alive the little children of his +miners; or smooth John Wanamaker, paying starvation wages to +department-store girls and driving them to the streets; or that +clergyman who, at a gathering of society ladies, members of the "Law +and Order League" of Denver, declared in my hearing that if he could +have his way he would blow up the home of every coal-striker with +dynamite; or the Rev. R.A. Torrey, Dean of the Bible institute of Los +Angeles, who refused to employ union labor on the million dollar +building of the Institute, declaring that "the Church cannot afford to +have any dealings with a band of fire-bugs and murderers!" + +#"Herr Beeble"# + +The business of the Clerical Department of the Merchants' and +Manufacturers' Association is to justify the processes of trade, and +to preach to clerks and employees the slave-virtues of frugality, +humility, and loyalty to the profit system. The depths of sociological +depravity to which some of the agents of this Association have sunk is +difficult of belief. Twelve years ago I was invited to address the +book-sellers of New York, in company with a well-known clergyman of +the city, the Reverend Madison C. Peters. This gentleman's address +made such an impression upon me that I recall it even at this +distance: a string of jokes spoken with an effect of rapid-fire +smartness, and simply reeking with commercialism. I could not describe +it better than to say that it was on the ethical level of the "Letters +of a Self-Made Merchant to His Son". Again, I attended a debate on +Socialism, in which the capitalist end was taken by another famous +clergyman, pastor of the Metropolitan Temple, the Rev. J. Wesley Hill. +He was so ignorant that when he wished to prove that Socialism means +free love, he quoted a writer by the name of "Herr Beeble"; he was so +dishonest that he garbled the writings of this "Herr Beeble", making +him say something quite different from what he had meant to say. I +could name several clergymen of various denominations who have stooped +to that device against the Socialists; including the Catholic Father +Belford, who says that we are mad dogs and should be stopped with +bullets. + +Or consider the Reverend Thomas Dixon. This gentleman's pulpit-slang +used to be the talk of New York when I was a boy; and when I grew up, +and came into the Socialist movement--behold, here he was, chief +inquisitor of the capitalist Holy Office. I had a friend, a man who +saved my life at a time when I was practically starving, and to whom +therefore I owe my survival as a writer; this friend had been a +clergyman in a Middle Western state, and had preached Jesus as he +really was, and so was hated and feared like Jesus. It happened that +he was unhappily married, and permitted his wife to divorce him so +that he might marry the woman he loved; for which unheard of crime the +organized hypocrisy of America fell upon him like a thousand devils +with poisoned whips. The Reverend Dixon's holy rage was fired; he +applied his imagination to my friend's story, producing a novel under +the title of "The One Woman"; and it is as if you were reading the +story of Jesus and the Magdalen transmitted through the personality of +a he-goat. Of late years this clerical author has turned his energies +to negrophobia and militarism, making millions out of motion-picture +incitements to hatred and terror. The pictures were made here in +Southern California, and friends in the business have described to me +the pious propagandist in the position of St. Anthony surrounded by +swarms of cute and playful little movie-girls. + +Or take the Rev. James Roscoe Day, D.D., S.T.D., LL.D., D.C.L., +L.H.D., a leading light of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who offers +himself as comic relief in our Clerical Vaudeville. Dr. Day is +Chancellor of Syracuse University, a branch of the Mental Munitions +Department of the Standard Oil Company; his function being to +manufacture intellectual weapons and explosives to be used in defense +of the Rockefeller fortune. It is generally not expected that the +makers of ruling-class munitions should face the dirty and perilous +work of the trenches; but ten years ago, during a raid by an active +squad of muckrake-men, Chancellor Day astonished the world by rushing +to the front with both arms full of star-shells and bombs. He +afterwards put the history of this gallant action into a volume, "The +Raid on Prosperity"; and if you want the real thrill of the class-war, +here is where to get it! + +The Chancellor is a quaint and touching figure; an enthusiast and +dreamer, idealist and martyr, in whom the ordinary human virtues have +been fused, absorbed, transformed and sublimated into a new supreme +virtue of loyalty to Exploitation, patriotism for Profiteering. He +began life as a working-man, he tells us, in the good old American +fashion of hustle for yourself; but he differed from other Americans +in that he had an instant, intuitive recognition of the intellectual +and moral excellence of Plutocracy. The first time he met a rich man, +he quivered with rapture, he burst into a hymn of appreciation. So +very quickly he was recognized as a proper person to have charge of a +Mental Munition Works; and the ruling classes proceeded to pin medals +upon the bosom of his academic robes--D.D., S.T.D., L.L.D., D.C.L., +L.H.D. + +The Chancellor knows the masters of our Profit System, those +"consummate geniuses of manufacture and trade by which the earth has +yielded up her infinite treasures." And having been at the same time +in intimate daily communion with the Almighty, he can tell us the +Almighty's attitude towards these prodigies. "God has made the rich of +this world to serve Him.... He has shown them a way to have this +world's goods and to be rich towards God....God wants the rich men.... +Christ's doctrines have made the world rich, and provide adequate uses +for its riches." Also the Chancellor knows our great corporations, and +gives us the Almighty's views about them; they mean that "the forces +with which God built the universe have been put into the hands of +man." Likewise by divine authority we learn that "the sympathy given +to Socialism is appalling. It is insanity." We learn that the income +tax is "a doctrine suited to the dark ages, only no age ever has been +dark enough." Somebody raises the issue of "tainted money", and the +Chancellor disposes of this matter also. As a Deputy of Divinity, he +settles it by Holy Writ: "Paul permitted meat offered to idols to be +eaten in the fear of God." And then, to make assurance doubly sure, he +settles it with plain human logic; and you are astonished to see how +simple, under his handling, the complex problem becomes--how clear and +clean-cut is the distinction he draws for you: + + Every boy knows that one cannot take stolen goods without + being a partaker with the thief. But the proceeds of + recognized business are quite a different thing. + +#Holy Oil# + +And here is Billy Sunday, most conspicuous phenomenon of Protestant +Christianity at the beginning of the twentieth century. For the +benefit of posterity I explain that "Billy" is a baseball player +turned Evangelist, who has brought to the cause of God the crowds and +uproar of the diamond; also the commercial spirit of America's most +popular institution. He travels like a circus, with all the +press-agent work and newspaper hurrah; he conducts what are called +"revivals", in an enormous "tabernacle" built especially for him in +each city. I cannot better describe the Billy Sunday circus than in +the words of a certain Sidney C. Tapp, who brought suit against the +evangelist for $100,000 damages for the theft of the ideas of a book. +Says Mr. Tapp in his complaint: + + The so-called religious awakening or "trail-hitting" is + produced by an appeal to the emotions and in stirring up the + senses by a combination of carrying the United States flag + in one hand and the Bible in the other, singing, trumpeting, + organ playing, garrulous and acrobatic feats of defendant, + by defendant in his talk leaping from the rostrum to the top + of the pulpit, lying prone on the floor of the rostrum on + his stomach in the presence of the vast audience and from + thence into a pit to shake hands with the so-called + "trail-hitters" and the vulgar use of plaintiff's thoughts + contained in said books. Said harangues and vulgarisms of + said defendant and horns, drums, organs and singing by said + choir and vast audience which are assembled by means of said + newspaper advertisements for the purpose of inducing a habit + of free and copious flow of money through religious and + patriotic excitement produced by and through the vulgarisms, + scurrility, buffoonery, obscenity and profanity of defendant + pretending to be in the interest of the cause of religion + through what he denominates "hitting the trail", the real + object being to induce a religious frenzy and enthusiasm + which he announces in advance is to result in large + audiences composed of thousands of people generously + contributing vast sums of money on the last day and night of + the so-called revival which is invariably appropriated by + the defendant and through which scheme and device defendant + has become enormously wealthy. + +As I write, the evangelist is in Los Angeles, and twice each day he +holds forth to a crowd of ten or fifteen thousand; in addition the +newspapers print literally pages of his utterances. The entire +Protestant clergy for a score of miles around has been hitched to his +triumphal chariot, and driven captive through the streets. Here in +this dignified city of Pasadena, home of millionaire brewers and +chewing-gum kings, all the churches have been plastered for weeks with +cloth signs: "This Church is Cooperating in the Sunday Campaign." To +give a sample of the intellectual level of the performance, here is +what Billy has to say about modern thought: + + All this blasphemy against God and Jesus Christ, all this + sneering, highbrow, rotten, loathesome, higher criticism, + wriggling its dirty, filthy, stinking carcass out of a + beer-mug in Leipzig or Heidelberg! + +Whether willingly or reluctantly, the preachers sit upon the platform +and smile while Billy thus slangs the devil; and being themselves, +poor fellows, at their wits end to draw the crowd, they watch and see +how he does it, and then return to their own churches and try the same +stunt; so the manners of the baseball diamond spread like a contagion. +I open my morning paper, and find a picture of an intense-looking +clerical gentleman, the Rev. J. Whitcomb Brougher, pastor of the +Baptist Temple. He is discussing certain slanderous rumors which he +has heard about Billy Sunday, and he offers ten thousand dollars +reward to anyone who can prove these things; though, as he says, + + The dirty, low-down, contemptible, weazen-brained, + impure-hearted, shrivelled-souled, gossipping devils do not + deserve to be noticed.... Scandal-mongers, gossip-lovers, + reputation-destroyers, hypocritical, black-hearted, + green-eyed slanderers.... Corrupt, devil-possessed, vile + debauches.... Immoral, sin-loving, vice-practicing, + underhanded sneaks.... Carrion-loving buzzards and + foul-smelling skunks. + +You will be prepared after this to hear that when the Socialists were +near to carrying Los Angeles, this clergyman preached a sermon in +support of the candidate of "Booze, Gas and Railroads". + +In so far as Billy Sunday is trying to keep the neglected youth of our +streets from drinking, gambling and whoring, no one could wish him +anything but success; but his besotted ignorance, his childish crudity +of mind, make it impossible that he could have any success except of a +delusive nature. He is utterly devoid of a social sense; utterly +unaware of the existence of the forces of capitalism which are causing +depravity ten times as fast as all the evangelists in creation can +remedy it. So he is precisely like the Catholics with their "charity", +cleaning up loathsome and unsightly messes for a thousand years, and +never stopping to ask why such messes continue to come into existence. + +More than that, I question whether the spirit of commercialism which +he fosters does not help the development of evil more than his +preaching hinders it. The newspapers always report the cost of the +tabernacle, and of the "free-will offering", which amounts to hundreds +of thousands of dollars in each "campaign". In each city the expenses +are guaranteed by men who are generally the most sinister exploiting +forces of the community; they welcome and fete him, and he visits +their homes, and is in every way one of the crowd. After the big silk +strike in Paterson, N.J., the employers, Jews and Catholics included, +all subscribed a fund to bring Billy Sunday to that city; and it was +freely proclaimed that the purpose was to undermine the radical union +movement. This was never denied by Sunday himself, and his whole +campaign was conducted on that basis. + +Later Billy came to New York, where he met a certain rich young man, +perhaps a thousand times as rich as any that lived in Palestine. This +young man came to Billy and said: "What shall I do to inherit eternal +life?" And Billy told him to keep the commandments--"Do not commit +adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor +thy father and thy mother." The young man answered; "All these have I +kept from my youth up." And Billy said: "Yet lackest thou one thing; +sell all that thou hast and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt +have treasure in heaven; and come follow me." And when he heard this +he was very sorrowful, for he was very rich. + +--No, I have got the story mixed up. That is what happened in +Palestine. What happened in New York is that Billy said, "I am +delighted to meet you, Mr. Rockefeller." And Mr. Rockefeller said, +"Come be my guest at my palace in the Pocantico Hills; and then we +will go together and you may preach submission to my wage-slaves in +the oil-factories at Bayonne and elsewhere." And Billy went to the +palace, and went and preached to the wage-slaves, telling them to +beware the "stinking Socialists", and to concentrate their attention +on the saving of their souls; so the rich young man was delighted, and +he sent for all the newspaper reporters to come to his office at 26 +Broadway, and told them what a great and useful man Billy Sunday is. +As the New York "Times" tells about it: + + Mr. Rockefeller seldom gives interviews and certainly he has + never been charged with having an excess of verbally + expressed enthusiasm on any subject. But he talked for an + hour and a half about the evangelist. He was full of the + subject of Billy Sunday. "Billy did New York a lot of good," + he said. He went on to tell of 187 meetings held in 100 + different factories, attended by 50,000 men. "That's good + work." And he expressed his satisfaction with Sunday's + theology: "He believes the Bible from cover to cover and + that is good enough for me." The Sunday campaign had cost + $200,000, and "If it had stopped here, if it was not kept + up, it would be poor business; a poor dividend on the + $200,000 and the work invested. But we expect to get + dividends in the next year." + +Again you note the symbolism of the counting-house! + +#Rhetorical Black-hanging# + +It is the duty of the clergy, not merely to defend large-scale +merchants while they live, but to bury them when they die, and to +place the seal of sanctity upon their careers. Concerning this aspect +of Bootstrap-lifting I quote the opinion of an earnest hater of shams, +William Makepeace Thackeray: + + I think the part which pulpits play in the death of kings is + the most ghastly of all the ceremonial: the lying eulogies, + the blinking of disagreeable truths, the sickening + flatteries, the simulated grief, the falsehood and + sycophancies--all uttered in the name of Heaven in our State + churches: these monstrous Threnodies which have been sung + from time immemorial over kings and queens, good, bad, + wicked, licentious. The State parson must bring out his + commonplaces; his apparatus of rhetorical black-hanging.... + +And this, of course, applies not merely to kings of England, but to +kings of Steel, kings of Coal, kings of Oil, kings of Wall Street. +Leland Stanford, son of a great king of Western railroads, died; and +standing over his coffin, a Methodist clergyman, afterwards Bishop, +preached a sermon of fulsome flattery, wherein he likened young Leland +to the boy Christ. In the year 1904 there passed from his earthly +reward in Pennsylvania a United States senator who had been throughout +his lifetime a notorious and unblushing corruptionist. Matthew Stanley +Quay was his name, and the New York "Nation", having no clerical +connections, was free to state the facts about him: + + He bought the organization, bribed or intimidated the press, + got his grip on the public service, including even the + courts; imposed his will on Congress and Cabinet, and upon + the last three Presidents--making the latter provide for the + offal of his political machine, which even Pennsylvania + could no longer stomach--and all without identifying his + name with a single measure of public good, without making a + speech or uttering a party watchword, without even + pretending to be honest, but solely because, like Judas, he + carried the bag and could buy whom he would. + +Such was the lay opinion; and now for the clerical. It was expressed +by a Presbyterian divine, the Reverend Dr. J.S. Ramsey, who stood over +the coffin of "Matt", and without cracking a smile declared that he +had been "a statesman who was always on the right side of every moral +question!" + +In that same year of 1904 died the high priest of our political +corruption, Mark Hanna. He had belonged to no church, but had backed +them all, understanding the main thesis of this book as clearly as the +writer of it. In his home city of Cleveland the eulogy upon him was +pronounced by Bishop Leonard, in St. Paul's Episcopal Church; while in +the United States Senate the service was performed by the Chaplain, +the Rev. Edward Everett Hale. This is a name well-known in American +letters, as in American religious life; it was borne by a benevolent +old gentleman, a Unitarian and a liberal, who organized "Lend-a-Hand +Clubs" and such like amiabilities. "Do You Love This Old Man?" the +signs in the street-cars used to ask when I was a boy; and I promptly +answered "Yes"--for my mother took the "Ladies' Home Journal", and I +swallowed the sentimental dish-water set out for me. But when I read +the Rev. Edward's funeral oration over the Irrev. Mark, I loved +neither of them any longer. "This whole-souled child of God," cried +the Rev. Edward, "who believed in success, and knew how to succeed by +using the infinite powers!" You perceive that the Chaplain of the +Millionaires' Club agrees with this book, that the "infinite powers" +in America are the powers that prey! + +#The Great American Fraud# + +Among the most loathesome products of our native commercial greed is +the patent medicine industry, "The Great American Fraud," as its +historian has called it. In 1907 this historian wrote: + + Gullible America will spend this year some seventy-five + millions of dollars in the purchase of patent medicines. In + consideration of this sum it will swallow huge quantities of + alcohol, an appalling amount of opiates and narcotics, a + wide assortment of varied drugs ranging from powerful and + dangerous heart depressants to insidious liver stimulants; + and, far in excess of all other ingredients, undiluted + fraud. For fraud, exploited by the skillfullest of + advertising bunco men, is the basis of the trade. + +One by one Mr. Adams tells about these medical fakes: habit-forming +laxatives, head-ache powders full of acetanilid, soothing-syrups and +catarrh-cures full of opium and cocaine, cock-tails subtly disguised +as "bitters", "sarsaparillas", and "tonics". He shows how the fake +testimonials are made up and exploited; how the confidential letters, +telling the secret troubles of men and women, are collected by tens +and hundreds of thousands and advertised and sold--so that the victim, +as he begins to lose faith in one fake, finds another at hand, fully +informed as to his weakness. He quotes the amazing "Red Clause" in the +contracts which the patent-medicine makers have with thousands of +daily and weekly papers, whereby the makers are able to control the +press of the country and prevent legislation against the "Great +American Fraud." + +There are a thousand religious papers in America, weekly and monthly; +and what is their attitude on this question? Mr. Adams tells us: + + Whether because church-going people are more trusting, and + therefore more easily befooled than others, or from some + more obscure reason, many of the religious papers fairly + reek with patent medicine fakes. + +He gives us many pages of specific instances: + + Dr. Smith belongs to the brood of cancer vampires. He is a + patron and prop of religious journalism. It is his theory + that the easiest prey is to be found among readers of church + papers. Moreover he has learned from his father-in-law (who + built a small church out of blood-money) to capitalize his + own sectarian associations, and when confronted recently + with a formal accusation he replied, with an air of injured + innocence, that he was a regular attendant at church, and + could produce an endorsement from his minister. + +And here is the "Church Advocate", of Harrisburg, Pa., which publishes +quack advertisements disguised as editorials. One of them Mr. Adams +paraphrases: + + As Dr. Smith is, on the face of his own statements, a + self-branded swindler and rascal, you run no risk in + assuming that the Rev. C.H. Forney, D.D., L.L.D., in acting + as his journalistic supporter for pay, is just such another + as himself! + +And again: + + Will the editor of the "Baptist Watchman" of Boston explain + by what phenomenon of logic or elasticity of ethics he + accepts the lucubrations of Dr. Bye, of Oren Oneal, of + Liquozone, of Actina, that marvelous two-ended mechanical + appliance which "cures" deafness at one terminus and + blindness at the other, and all with a little oil of + mustard? + +And again: + + The "Christian Observer" of Louisville replied to a + protesting subscriber, suggesting that the "Collier" + articles were written in a spirit of revenge, because + "Collier's" could not get patent medicine advertising. When + I asked the Rev. F. Bartlett Converse for his foundation for + the charge, he said that one of the typewriters must have + written the letter! Doubtless also the same highly + responsible typewriter imitated the signature with startling + fidelity to Dr. Converse's handwriting! + +And here is--would you think it possible?--our "Church of Good +Society"! It has an organ in Chicago called the "Living Church", most +dignified and decorous. You have to study quite a while to ascertain +what denomination it belongs to; it will not tell you directly, for +the Anglician pose is that it is #the# church + + Elect from every nation, + Yet one o'er all the earth, + Her charter of salvation, + One Lord, one Faith, one Birth; + One holy name she blesses, + Partakes one holy food, + And toward one Hope she presses, + With every grace endued. + +And this one holy institution was found setting at its peak the black +flag of the trader, the "Jolly Roger" of the modern commercial +pirate--"Caveat emptor!" To quote the precise words: + + The editors and publishers of the "Living Church" assume no + responsibility for the assertions of advertisers. + +And so it threw open its columns to the claims of America's champion +labor-baiter, the late C.W. Post, that his "Grapenuts" would prevent +appendicitis, and obviate the need of operations in such cases! + +And here is the "Christian Endeavor World", organ of one of the most +powerful non-sectarian religious bodies in the country. Some one wrote +complaining of its medical advertising, and the answer was: + + To the best of our knowledge and belief, we are not + publishing any fraudulent or unworthy medical + advertising.... Trusting that you will be able to understand + that we are acting according to our best and sincerest + judgment, I remain, yours very truly, The Golden Rule + Company, George W. Coleman, Business Manager. + +Whereupon the historian of "The Great American Fraud" remarks: + + Assuming that the business management of the "Christian + Endeavor World" represents normal intelligence, I would like + to ask whether it accepts the statement that a pair of + "magic foot drafts" applied to the soles of the feet will + cure any and every kind of rheumatism in any part of the + body? Further, if the advertising department is genuinely + interested in declining "fraudulent and unworthy" copy, I + would call their attention to the ridiculous claims of Dr. + Shoop's medicines, which "cure" almost every disease; to two + hair removers, one an "Indian Secret", the other an + "accidental discovery", both either fakes or dangerous; to + the lying claims of Hall's Catarrh Cure, that it is "a + positive cure for catarrh", in all its stages; to "Syrup of + Figs", which is not a fig syrup, but a preparation of senna; + to Dr. Kilmer's Swamp Root, of which the principal medical + constituent is alcohol; and, finally, to Dr. Bye's Oil Cure + for cancer, a particularly cruel swindle on unfortunates + suffering from an incurable malady. All of these, with other + matter, which for the sake of decency I do not care to + detail in these columns, appear in recent issues of the + "Christian Endeavor World". + +#Riches in Glory# + +There came recently to Los Angeles a "world-famous evangelist", known +as "Gipsy" Smith. There was a shirt-waist strike at the time, and the +girls were starving, and they sent a delegation to this evangelist to +ask for help. They told him how they were mistreated, exposed to +insults, driven to sell their virtue because their wage would not +support life; and to their plea he made answer: "Get Jesus in your +hearts, and these questions will take care of themselves!" + +So we see the most important of the many services which the churches +perform for the merchants--taking the revolutionary hope of Jesus, for +a kingdom of heaven upon earth, and perverting it into a dream of a +golden harp in an uncertain future. To appreciate the fullness of this +betrayal, take the prayer which Jesus dictated--so simple, direct and +practical: "Give us this day our daily bread", and put it beside the +hymns which the slave-congregations are trained to sing. In my +neighborhood is a one-roomed building with a plate glass front, upon +which I observe a painter inscribing in red, white and blue letters +the sign "#Glory Mission.#" I approach him, and he drops his work and +welcomes me with eager cordiality. Am I "living in grace"? I answer +that I am. I have to shout the good tidings into his ear, as he is +very deaf. He presents me with his card, which shows that he bears the +title of "Reverend", also the sobriquet of "Mountain Missionary". I +ask him to permit me to examine the hymn-book which he uses in his +work, and with touching eagerness he presses upon me a well-worn +volume bearing the title "Waves of Glory". I seat myself and note down +a few of the baits it sets out for hungry wage-slaves: + + O, there's a plenty, O, there's a plenty, + There's a plenty in my Father's bank above! + + Riches in glory, riches in glory, + Royal supply our wants exceed! + + Feasting, I'm feasting, + I'm feasting with my Lord! + + Beautiful robes, beautiful robes, + Beautiful robes we then shall wear! + + Jerusalem the golden, + With milk and honey blest! + + Yes, I'll meet you in the city of the New Jerusalem, + I'll be there, I'll be there! + + Blest Canaan land, bright Canaan land, + I love to be in Canaan land! + + Oh, Beulah land, sweet Beulah land, + As on the highest mount I stand, + I look away across the sea, + Where mansions are prepared for me! + + In the sweet bye and bye + We shall meet on that beautiful shore-- + +I stopped there, being reminded of Joe Hill, poet of the I.W.W. who +was executed a few years ago in Utah, and who used this tune in his +little red book of revolutionary chants: + + You will eat, bye and bye, + In the glorious land above the sky; + Work and pray, live on hay, + You'll get pie in the sky when you die! + +#Captivating Ideals# + +In one of the writer's earlier novels, "Prince Hagen", the hero is a +Nibelung out of Wagner's "Rheingold", who leaves his diggings in the +bowels of the earth, and comes up to look into our superior +civilization. The thing that impresses him most is what he calls "the +immortality idea". The person who got that up was a world-genius, he +exclaims. "If you can once get a man to believing in immortality, +there is no more left for you to desire; you can take everything he +owns--you can skin him alive if it pleases you--and he will bear it +all with perfect good humor." + +And is that merely the spiritual deficiency of a Nibelung--or the +effort of a young author to be smart? Would you like to hear that view +of the most vital of Christian doctrines set forth in the language of +scholarship and culture? Would you like to know how an ecclesiastical +authority, equipped with every tool of modern learning, would set +about voicing the idea that the function of the teaching of Heaven is +to chloroform the poor, so that the rich may continue to rob them in +security? + +Here under my hand is a volume in the newest dress of scholarship, +dated 1912, and written by Professor Georges Chatterton-Hill, of the +University of Geneva. Its title is "The Sociological Value of +Christianity", and from cover to cover it is a warning to the rich of +the danger they run in giving up their religion and ceasing to support +its priests. It explains how "the genius of Christianity has succeeded +in making the individual suffering, the individual sacrifices, which +are indispensible for the welfare of the collectivity, appear as +indispensible for the individual welfare." The learned professor makes +plain just what he means by "individual suffering, individual +sacrifices"; he means all the horrors of capitalism; and the advantage +of Christianity is that it makes you think that by submitting to these +horrors, you are profiting your own soul. "By making individual +salvation depend on the acceptance of suffering, on the voluntary +sacrifice of egotistical interests, Christianity adapts the individual +to society". + +And this, as the professor explains, is not an easy thing to do, in a +world in which so many people are thinking for themselves. "The only +means of causing the rationalized individual to consent to the +sacrifice ... is to captivate him with a sufficiently powerful ideal" +And the professor shows how beautifully Jesus can be used for this +purpose. "Jesus, the so-called humanitarian, never ceased to insist on +the necessity of suffering, the desirableness of suffering--of that +suffering which a weak and sickly humanitarianism would fain suppress +if it could." + +You get this, you "blanket-stiff", you "husky", or "wop", or whatever +you are--you disinherited of the earth, you proletarians who have only +your labor-power to sell, you weak and sickly ones who are condemned +to elimination? There has come, let us say, a period of +"overproduction"; you have raised too much food, and therefore you are +starving, you have woven too much cloth, and therefore you are naked, +you have finished the world for your masters, and it is time for you +to move out of the way. As the sociologist from Geneva phrases it, +"Your suppression imposes itself as an imperious necessity." And the +function of the Christian religion is to make you enjoy the process, +by "captivating you with a sufficiently powerful ideal"! The priest +will fill your nostrils with incense, your eyes with candle-lights and +images, your ears with sweet music and soothing words; and so you will +perish without raising a finger! "Here," reflects the professor, "we +see how magnificently the teaching of Jesus applies to all classes of +society!" + +Somebody has evidently put up to our Christian sociologist the +embarrassing fact that so many of those who survive under the +capitalist system are godless scoundrels. But do you think that +troubles him? Not for long. Like all religious thinkers, he carries +with his scholar's equipment a pair of metaphysical wings, wherewith +at any moment he may soar into the empyrean, out of reach of vulgar +materialists, like you and me. "Inequality signifies inequality of +capacity," he explains; but the standard whereby we judge this +capacity "cannot be the standard of the moral law." + + The laws which govern the biological evolution of man are + known, but those which govern his moral nature cannot be + known; the moral nature appertains to the Absolute, and + hence is not subject to the law of inequality! + +As an exhibition of metaphysical wing-power, that is almost as +wonderful as the flight of Cardinal Newman when confronted with the +fact that his divinely guided church had burned men for teaching the +Copernican view of the universe; that infallible popes had again and +again condemned this heresy #ex cathedra#. Said the eloquent cardinal: + + Scripture says that the sun moves and the earth is + stationary, and science that the earth moves and the sun is + comparatively at rest. How can we determine which of these + opposite statements is the very truth #till we know what + motion is#? + +#Spook Hunting# + +Do not imagine that it is only in Geneva that Christian professors +realize this peril from the loss of faith. It is never far from the +thoughts of any of them--for, of course, no man can look at the +present system and not wonder how the poor stand it, and more +especially #why# they stand it. There have been many thinking men who +have given up the miracle-business quite cheerfully, but have stood +appalled at the idea of letting the lower classes find out the truth. +You note that idea continually in the writings of Professor Goldwin +Smith, who was a free-thinker, but also a #bourgeois# publicist, with +a deep sense of responsibility to the money-masters of the world. He +was about as honest a man as the capitalist system can produce; he was +the #beau ideal# of the New York "Evening Post", which indicates his +point of view. He wrote: + + It can hardly be doubted that hope of compensation in a + future state, for a short measure of happiness here, has + materially helped to reconcile the less favored members of + the community to the inequalities of the existing order of + things. + +When I was a student in Columbia University, I took a course called +"Practical Ethics", under a professor by the name of Hyslop. The +course differed from most of the forty that I tried, in that it gave +evidence that the professor was accustomed to read the morning paper. +He had learned that American politics were rotten; his idea of +"Practical Ethics" was to outline in elaborate detail a complete +scheme of constitutional changes which would make it impossible for +the "boss" to control the government. I think I must have been born +with a charm against #bourgeois# thought, for the good professor never +fooled me an instant; I remember I used to smile at the idea of how +quickly the "boss" would brush through his constitutional cobwebs. The +reforms required an elaborate campaign of publicity--and of course +long before they could be put into practice, the politicians would be +ready with devices to make them of no effect. + +Soon after this, my ethical professor resigned and went to hunting +spooks. I don't want to be unfair to him; I know that he is a +determined and courageous man, and it seems possible that he may +really have bagged some spooks. All I wish to point out here is the +method he uses in seeking to persuade the heedless rich to support the +spook-hunting industry. The very same argument as we got from the +University of Geneva and the University of Toronto! Says our head +spook-hunter: + + There has been no belief that exercised so much power upon + the poor as that in a future life. The politicians, men of + the world, have known this so well as to postpone the day of + political judgment by it for many years. + +And again: + + The Church, having lost all its battles with science, and + having abandoned a strenuous intellectual defense of its + fundamental beliefs, has lost its power over the poor and + the laboring classes.... The spiritual ideal of life has + gone out of the masses as well as the classes, and nothing + is left but a venture on a struggle with wealth. + +And again, more menacingly yet: + + The rich will learn in the dangers of a social revolution + that the poor will not sacrifice both wealth and + immortality. + +What is to be done about this? The question answers itself: Step up, +ladies and gentlemen, and empty your purses into the Psychical +Research hat! So that we may accumulate statistics as to the cost of +milk and honey in Jerusalem the Golden! + +You read what I had to say about Bootstrap-lifters, and the Wholesale +Pickpockets' Association making use of their incantations. You admired +my ability to sling language, but not my taste; and you certainly did +not think that I would back my rhetoric with facts. But what do these +quotations mean, unless they mean what I have said? Are not these +three professors men of culture? Are they not as "spiritual" as any +men of learning you can find in our present-day society? + +And now stop for a moment and put yourself in the position of the +young student of the working-class, who goes to these books and +discovers that truth is not truth, but only a bait for a snare. Who +discovers that professors of ethics, practical or impractical, are not +interested in justice among men, but only in collecting funds for +their specialty; that in order to get funds, they are willing to teach +the rich how to paralyze the minds of the poor! Do you wonder that +such young students conclude that #bourgeois# thinkers do not know +what honesty is, but are prostitutes, retainers and lackeys, to be +kicked out of the temple of truth? + +#Running the Rapids# + +And now, can you form to yourselves a clear concept of what it means +to society that practically all its moral teaching should be in the +hands of men who are incapable of clean, straight thinking? That all +the intellectual prestige of the Church should be lent to the support +of vagueness, futility, and deliberate evasion? Here we are, all of +us, caught in the most terrific social crisis of history; I search for +a metaphor to picture our position, and I recall a canoe-trip in the +wilds of Ontario, hundreds of miles down a long swift river. You sit +in the bow of the canoe, your partner in the stern, watching ahead; +and there comes a slide of smooth green water, and you go over it, and +into a torrent of foaming white, which seizes you and rushes you along +with the speed of a race-horse. + +With every sense alert, you watch for the rocks, and when you see one, +you dip your paddle on one side or the other and with a quick motion +draw the canoe clear of the danger. If by any chance you fail to do +it, over you go, and your partner with you, and all your belongings go +down-stream, and maybe you are sucked into a whirlpool, and not seen +for several hours afterwards. Precisely like this is the voyage of +life, for the whole of society and for every individual. The paddle +which would save us from the rocks is experimental science; but in +most of our canoes we put a man who has no paddle, but a Holy Book; +and he casts up his eyes and murmurs words in ancient Greek and +Hebrew, and now and then, when he sees an especially formidable +obstruction--a war, or the gonococcus, or the I.W.W.--he casts a holy +wafer upon the foaming torrent. + + * * * * * + + + + +And mind you, it isn't as if I could save myself and you could save +yourself; we are all in the same canoe, and we all go overboard +together. You, perhaps, have a son who is drafted into the trenches in +winter-time, and drowned in blood and mud, because in Europe the +Catholic party supported militarism, and kept aristocratic criminals +in control of states. Or you find yourself involved in a marital +tragedy, and in order to free yourself from unendurable misery, you +are obliged to go to law-courts dominated by the tradition of Paul, +the Roman bureaucrat, who despised women, and regarded marriage as a +means of gratifying an unclean animal desire. "It is better to marry +than to burn," he said, with unmatchable brutality; and so of course +those who think him a voice of God can form no conception of the +dignity and grace of love, and if you want sound and wholesome +sex-conventions, you will be as apt to find them among the Ashantees +or the Kamchadals as among the followers of the Apostle to the +Gentiles. + +You go to a so-called "divorce-court," which is dominated by this +Christian taboo, and exists for the purpose of barring you from a +second chance at the gratification of your unclean animal desire. You +are not permitted to tell your own story, for that would be +"collusion;" you listen while your intimate friends recite the pitiful +and shameful details of your domestic misfortune, under the +cross-questioning of lawyers who have suppressed for the time whatever +decent instincts they may possess, and follow blindly the details of a +prescribed procedure, at the cost of all sincerity, humanity and +truth. The next morning you find that the privacy guaranteed you by +law has been taken from you by corrupt court officials, who have sold +copies of the testimony to the newspapers, so that all the intimate +details of where you slept and where your wife slept and what you saw +your wife doing have been thrown out to journalistic jackals, who +scream with glee as they rend the carcass of your dead love. And in +the end, perhaps, you find that you have gone through this horror for +nothing--the august court with its Roman Catholic judge throws out +your petition, its suspicions having been excited by the fact that +when you discovered your domestic tragedy, you sought to behave like a +civilized person, with pity and self-restraint, instead of like a +sultan in Turkey, or a basso in an Italian grand opera. + +#Birth Control# + +I assert that the control of our thinking on ethical questions by +minds enslaved to tradition and priestcraft is an unmitigated curse to +the race. The armory of science is full of weapons which might be used +to slay the monsters of disease and vice--but these weapons are not +allowed to be employed, sometimes not even to be mentioned. Consider +the misery which is piling itself up in the slums of our great +cities--the degenerate, the defective, the insane, who are multiplying +as never before in history. There exists a perfectly harmless and +painless method of sterilizing the hopelessly unfit, so that they can +not reproduce their hopeless unfitness; but religion objects to this +operation, and so the law does not make use of this knowledge. There +exists a simple, entirely harmless, and practically costless method of +preventing conception, which would enable us to check the blind and +futile fecundity of Nature, and to multiply as gods instead of as +animals. Consider the festering mass of misery in the slums of our +great cities; consider the millions of terrified, poverty-hounded +women, bearing one half-nurtured infant after another, struggling +desperately to feed and care for them, and seeing them drop into the +grave as fast as they are born--until finally the mother, worn out +with the Sisyphean labor, gives up and follows her misbegotten +offspring. Consider how many women, in their agony and despair, +make use of the methods of the primitive savage, to escape from +Nature's curse of fecundity. Dr. Wm. J. Robinson has estimated +that in the United States alone there are a million abortions +every year; and consider that all this hideous mass of suffering--a +bloody European war going on continually, unheeded by any newspaper +correspondent--might be avoided by the use of a simple sterilizing +formula, which we are not permitted to give! The Federation of +Catholic Societies have placed a law upon the statute-books of the +nation, and of all the states as well; the whole power of police and +courts and jails is at the service of religious bigots, and a young +girl is sent to prison and forcibly fed with a tube through the nose +for telling poverty-ridden slum-women how to keep from becoming +pregnant! + +And go among the sleek, cynical men of the world, the judges and +district attorneys, the commissioners of correction and doctors who +perpetrated this infamy under, a so-called "reform" administration in +New York City--and what do you find? The first thing you find is that +they themselves, one and all, practice birth-control with their wives +or their mistresses. The second thing you find is that the +statute-books are crowded with other laws which they make no pretense +of enforcing; for example, the law which forbids the saloons to be +open on Sunday--which law they take the liberty of understanding to +mean that the saloons shall not have their front doors open on Sunday. +You will find that they are not at all afraid of the religious taboos; +they are afraid of the religious vote--and even more they are afraid +of the campaign contributions of sweat-shop manufacturers and +landlords, who cannot see what would become of prosperity if the women +of the slums were to cease to breed. So once more we discover the wolf +in sheep's clothing, the trader, making use of Tradition-worship; +hiding behind the skirts of devout old maiden aunts and grandmothers, +who repeat the instructions which God gave to Adam and Eve, "Be +fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth." As if God were as +blind as a Fifth Avenue preacher, and could see no difference between +the Garden of Eden, full of all fruits that grow and all creatures +that run and fly and swim, and a modern East Side tenement-room, with +an oil stove and no windows and no water-closet, and the price of +cabbage seven cents a pound! + +#Sheep# + +There are more than a hundred thousand Protestant churches in America. +They own more than a billion dollars' worth of property, and in the +West and South they dominate the intellectual life of the country. I +do not wish to be unfair in what I say of them. They are far more +democratic than the Catholic Church; they fight valiantly against the +liquor traffic and those forms of graft which are obvious, or directly +derived from vice. There are among their clergy many men who are +honestly seeking light, and trying to make their institutions a factor +for progress. But they are caught in the spirit of Lutheran +scholasticism, narrow and ignorant, dogmatic and jealous; and they +cannot help it, because they are pledged by their creeds and +foundations to Tradition-worship; they have to believe certain things +because their ancestors believed them, they have to act in certain +ways, because of certain facts which existed in the world three +thousand years ago, but which now are known only to historians. + +You are familiar with the habit of a herd of sheep to follow the +example of their leader; if this leader leaps over a stick, all the +rest will leap when they come to that spot, even though the stick may +have been taken away in the meantime. The scientist explains this +seeming-foolishness by the fact that sheep once lived in high +mountains, and fled from their enemies in swiftly rushing herds; when +the leader leaped across an abyss, the others had to leap, without +waiting to see in the dust and confusion. Now there are no mountains +and no enemies, but the sheep still jump. And in exactly the same way +the tailor still sews buttons at the back of your dress-coat, because +a couple of hundred years age all gentlemen wore swords; in the same +way our railroad builders make cars narrow and uncomfortable and +liable to overturn, because a hundred years ago all cars were hauled +by mules. In the same way the Orthodox Hebrew will eat no pork, in +spite of the fact that the microscope affords him complete protection +against disease; the orthodox Catholic will not eat meat on Friday, +because he thinks Jesus was crucified on that day; the orthodox +Anglican will not marry his deceased wife's sister, because of +something he reads in Leviticus; the orthodox Baptist requires total +immersion in a climate quite different from that of Palestine; the +orthodox Methodist refuses to enjoy fresh air and exercise on the +Sabbath. + +In ancient Judea, you see, the people lived an open-air life, tending +sheep and working the fields; so it was an excellent thing for them to +rest from labor one day of the week, and to gather in temples to hear +the reading of the best literature of their time. But nowadays the +city slave spends his week-days shut up in an office, poring over a +ledger, or in a sweat-shop, chained to a sewing-machine. Obviously, +therefore, the thing to do on the seventh day is to lure him into the +open air, and persuade him to run and play. But do we do that, we +human sheep? We write ancient Hebrew laws upon our modern +statute-books, and if the city slave goes into a vacant lot and tries +to play base-ball, we send a policeman and take him to jail, and next +morning he is fined five dollars, and probably loses his job. + +In the city where I live, a city supposed to be free and enlightened, +but in reality heavily burdened with churches, there are tennis courts +built and paid for out of public funds, my own included; yet I cannot +use these tennis courts on Sunday, because of the ancient Hebrew +taboo. My mail is not delivered to me, the swimming pool in the park +is closed to me, the library is closed nearly all day. If I enquire +about it, I am told that it is desirable that city employees should +have one day's rest a week; but when I ask why it might not be +possible to relay the employees, so that they might all have one, or +even two days' rest a week, and still give the public their rights on +Sunday, there is no answer. But I know the answer, having probed our +politics of hypocrisy. There is a "church vote" at which all +politicians tremble; there are clergymen, humanly jealous when their +peculiar graft is threatened, and hoping that if the law enforces a +general boredom, the public may be more disposed to endure the boredom +of sermons. + +In New York City the theaters are closed on Sunday; but moving +pictures having come into being since the days of Puritan rule, the +picture-shows are free to keep open. The law permits "sacred +concerts"--which, under the benevolent sway of Tammany, has come to +mean any sort of vaudeville; so what we have is a free rein to the +imbecilities of "Mutt & Jeff" and the obscenities of Anna Held and +Gaby Deslys--while we bar the greatest moralists of our times, such as +Ibsen and Brieux. + +I speak with some crossness of this Sabbath taboo, because of an +experience which once befell me. In the second decade of this century +of enlightenment and progress, in our free American democracy, whose +constitution proclaims religious toleration, and forbids the +establishment by the state of any form of worship, I was made to serve +a sentence of eighteen hours in the state prison of Delaware for +playing a game of tennis on the Sabbath. I was duly arrested upon a +warrant, duly sentenced by a magistrate, duly clad in a prison +costume, duly set to work upon a stone-pile, duly locked up over night +in a steel-barred cell full of vermin--in a building housing some five +hundred wretches, black and white, thirty of them serving life-terms +under circumstances which never permitted them a breath of fresh air +nor a glimpse of the sunshine or the sky. They had no exercise court +to their prison, and the inmates were not permitted to speak to one +another, but ate their meals in dead silence, and walked back to their +cells with folded arms, and had their only occupation working for a +sweat-shop contractor; this on the outskirts of the pious city of +Wilmington, with no less than ninety-one churches! The writer was +informed that he would return to this institution regularly every week +unless he abandoned his godless habit of playing tennis on a private +club court on Sunday; he only escaped the painful punishment by making +the discovery that at the Wilmington Country Club it was the custom of +the leading officials of the city and state to play golf every Sunday, +and by threatening to employ detectives and have these mighty ones +arrested and sent to their own prison. Which shows again the +importance of understanding this relationship of Superstition and Big +Business! + + * * * * * + + + + +#BOOK SIX# + +#The Church of the Quacks# + + They may talk as they please about what they call pelf, + And how one ought never to think of one's self, + And how pleasures of thought surpass eating and drinking-- + My pleasure of thought is the pleasure of thinking + How pleasant it is to have money, heigh ho! + How pleasant it is to have money. + + Clough. + + * * * * * + + + + +#Tabula Rasa# + +Nature has given us a virgin continent, a clean slate upon which to +write what we will. And what are we writing? What is our intellectual +life? I came to the far West, which I had been taught by novelists and +poets to think of as a place of freedom. I came, because I like +freedom; I am staying because I like the climate. I find that what +freedom means in the West is the ability of ignorant and fanatical +persons to start some new, fantastical quirk of scriptural +interpretation, to build a new cult around it, and earn a living out +of it. + +My first contact with that sort of thing was when I went to the Battle +Creek Sanitarium to investigate hydrotherapy, and found myself in a +nest of Seventh-day Adventists. Three generations or so ago some odd +character hit upon the discovery that the Christian churches had let +the devil snare them into resting on the first day of the week, +whereas the Bible states distinctly that the Lord "rested on the +seventh day". So here is a million dollar establishment, with a +thousand or two patients and employees, and on Friday at sundown the +silence of death settles upon the place, and stays settled until +sundown of Saturday, when everything comes suddenly to life again, and +there is a little celebration, like Easter or New Year's, with what I +used to call "sterilized dancing"--the men pairing with men and the +women with women. + +They are decent and kindly people, and you learn to put up with their +eccentricities; it is really convenient in some ways, because, as not +all the city shares their delusions, there are some stores open every +day of the week. But then you discover that the Sanitarium is training +"medical missionaries" to send to Africa, and is teaching these +supposed-to-be-scientists that evolution is a doctrine of the devil, +and not proven anyhow! + +You get the shrewd little doctor who is running this establishment +alone in his office, and he will smile and admit that of course it is +not necessary to take all Bible phrases literally; but you know how it +is--there are different levels of intelligence, and so on. Yes, I know +how it is. You have an institution founded upon a certain dogma, and +run by means of that dogma, and it is hard to change without smashing +things. It is especially convenient when servants and nurses have a +religious upbringing, and do not steal the pocket-books of the +patients. People will come from all over the country, and pay high +prices to stay in such a sanitarium; you can make vegetarians of them, +which you think more important than teaching abstract notions about +their being descended from monkeys. Also you can manufacture +vegetarian foods for them, and build up an enormous business--so +obtaining that Power which is the thing desired of men. + +This is but one illustration of a sort of thing of which I could cite +a hundred. The city in which I live is headquarters of another sect, +the "Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene"; primitive Methodists, +Bible-worshippers not content with the King James version, but going +back to the Sinaitic MS. They have a "University", located in one of +the most beautiful spots that Nature ever made; an institution with +seventy-five students. A couple of years ago I happened to meet the +"president," who was a preacher with grease on the ample expanse of +his black broadcloth waistcoat, and a speech full of the commonest +grammatical errors, such as "you was" and "I seen". The past year +witnessed a split, and the founding of a brand new church and +"University"--because one of the preachers insisted upon preaching so +much that the students got no chance to study; also because he sent +home a rich man's daughter whose shirt-waists revealed too much of her +fleshly nature. + +And there is an even stranger phenomenon in the locality, taking you +back to the Libyan desert and the time of Thais. A lady friend of +mine, generously blessed with this world's goods, asks me have I seen +the hermit. "Hermit?" I say, and she replies, "Didn't you know there +was a hermit? He lives on a mountain, in a cave, and never has +anything to do with the world. He has no books; he contemplates +spiritually." I picture my friend with her large limousine, a rolling +palace full of ladies, drawing up at the door of this hermit's cave. +"He received you?" I ask. "Yes, he was quite polite." "And what was +your impression of him?" "Oh, how he stank!" I answer that this is the +odor of sanctity, and my friend thinks that I am enormously witty; I +have to explain to her that I am not jesting, but that there are +definite physiological phenomena incidental to the ecstatic life. + +#The Book of Mormon# + +Or let us take a trip to Salt Lake City, the headquarters of a still +stranger cult. + +On the morning of the 22nd of September, 1827, the Angel of the Lord +delivered unto Joseph Smith, Jr., an ignorant farmer-youth in a +"backwoods" part of New York State, some plates which had "the +appearance of gold". As we know from the scriptures, it is the habit +of the Angel of the Lord to appear in unexpected places and to make +miraculous revelations to men in humble walks of life; so, as devout +believers, we hold ourselves in readiness. In this case the plates +were written in "reformed Egyptian"; but the Angel thoughtfully +provided Joseph Smith, Jr., with Urim and Thummim, two magic stones +with which to read the records. They proved to deal with a mystery +which has haunted the minds of Bible students for centuries--the fate +of the "lost ten tribes of Israel", who were now revealed to have been +the ancestors of the American Indians. The Angel told Smith to found a +new religion, and gave him prophecies concerning things in general; +so, on the 6th of April, 1830, in the town of Manchester, N.Y., there +was formally launched the "Church of the Latter Day Saints." Smith +turned over to his followers his translation of the miraculous plates, +called "The Book of Mormon"; obviously genuine, for it read precisely +like the books which we already know are the revealed word of God. +But, on chance that this might not be sufficient, we were offered in +the preface two documents, the "Testimony of Three Witnesses", and the +"Further Testimony of Eight Witnesses". The latter being the shorter, +may be quoted: + + Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, + unto whom this work shall come: That Joseph Smith Jr., the + translator of this work, has shewn unto us the plates of + which hath been spoken, which have the appearance of gold; + and as many of the leaves as the said Smith hath translated, + we did handle with our hands; and we also saw the engravings + there-on, all of which has the appearance of ancient work + and of curious workmanship. And this we bear record with + words of soberness, that the said Smith has shewn unto us, + for we have seen and hefted, and know of a surety that the + said Smith hath got the plates of which we have spoken. And + we give our names unto the world, to witness that which we + have seen, and we lie not, God bearing witness of it. + + Christian Whitmer + Jacob Whitmer + Peter Whitmer, Jr. + John Whitmer + Hiram Page + Joseph Smith, Sr. + Hyrum Smith + Saml. H. Smith + +The subsequent career of the Church of the Latter Day Saints bore out +the Angel's prophesies and proved conclusively its divine origin; it +was persecuted as the saints of old were persecuted, and its followers +proceeded to massacre the nearby unbelieving populations, just as the +divinely guided Hebrews had done. Driven from place to place, they +built at Nauvoo, Ill., a beautiful temple, according to plans revealed +in a vision, exactly like Solomon. Finally they settled in Utah, where +they have a magnificent marble tabernacle, and some 300,000 followers. +The United States government, not being entirely Biblical, objected to +their practice of allowing the patriarchs of the tribe to have as many +wives as they could support; the government confiscated the church's +property, and forced it to conceal the practice of polygamy, as is +done by elderly church members in other parts of the country. Recently +the head of the church, who bears the title of "Prophet, Seer and +Revelator", was persuaded to permit an examination of one of its +secret plates, the "Book of Abraham", by egyptologists, who found that +it was ordinary Egyptian hieroglyphics, not "reformed", but containing +prayers to the sun-god. But this will of course make no difference to +the devout followers of Joseph--any more than it has made to devout +Catholics and Episcopalians that German scholars have proven that the +Bible legends and ritual have come from the Babylonians, and that the +four gospels date from the second and third centuries after Christ. + +#Holy Rolling# + +All over America you will find these weird Bible-cults, some of them +pathetic, some of them dangerous, some of them merely grotesque. Thus, +for example, there was John Alexander Dowie, who founded the +"Christian Catholic Church in Zion" and dressed himself up in scarlet +and purple robes with stars on. Through his Zion City Bank and Zion +City Realty Company he became enormously wealthy; he finally announced +himself as "Elijah the Restorer." I remember as a boy how he brought +his gospel to New York, and P.T. Barnum with Tom Thumb and the white +elephant never made such a sensation. The ridicule of the metropolis +overwhelmed the old prophet, and he died and passed on his robes and +his tabernacle and his bank to his son; straightway, according to the +rule of all religions, the followers fell to quarrelling and splitting +up, and suing one another in the law-courts. + +Also there are the "Holy Rollers" and "Holy Jumpers", ghastly sects +which cultivate the religious hysterias, and have spread like a plague +among the women of our lonely prairie farms and desert ranches. The +"Holy Rollers", who call themselves the "Apostolic Church", have a +meeting place here in Pasadena, and any Sunday evening at nine o'clock +you may see the Spirit of the Lord taking possession of the +worshippers, causing moans and shrieks and convulsions; you may see a +woman holding her hands aloft for seventeen minutes by the watch, +making chattering sounds like an ape. This is called "talking in +tongues" and is a sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit. If you come +back at eleven in the evening, you will find the entire congregation, +men and women, prostrate on the floor, or hanging over the benches; +and maybe a child moaning in terror, having a devil cast out. + +You may be interested, perhaps, to know how to throw yourself into +these convulsions. Here is a paper called "Trust", which is "published +Monthly (D.V.) in the interests of Elim Faith Work and Bible Training +School." Elizabeth Sisson writes on "The Pentecostal Baptism", and +tells the story of her experiences. She "camped on the Word of God," +she declares. + + I went up to Calgary in Canada, and the leader of the + mission told me, "You can go down to the mission and stay + there all day. There is plenty of wood, and you can stay + there all night." I went down, and there was plenty of "let + go" in me. I cried, and prayed all I knew, and got + wonderfully loosed.... + + Then the Lord said to me, "Now, no more praying!" God told + me it was mine. What was there left for me to pray about. He + spoiled my praying and I took up praising. I praised God + that He who worked in the Upper Room was working the same in + me. I praised, and I praised, and I praised. The devil said + to me, "That's mechanical." I said, "I'll praise You Lord, + and if You want real praise, You'll have to put the wind in + the sails." + + That's the way I came through. One morning I was just + getting out of bed, "this gibberish, this jargon" as the + enemy likes to call it, began to come. The Lord said, "Let + it babble!" I let. The babble increased, and by night I was + up to my neck. I let. I still let. That's all. Someone else + does the work, and it does not tire you. + +And here is another paper. "Meat in Due Season: published monthly, or +as often as the Lord leads." The editor quotes the Bible, "Call upon +the name of the Lord," and explains that "Call means #call#." The word +appears to have a special meaning to these pentecostal persons--it +means working yourself into a frenzy of agitation; as the editor puts +it, "you must #lay# hold of the #horns# of the #altar#." He goes on to +exhort--the bold face being his: + + Pray as if your very life depended upon it! The first few + minutes seemingly all the powers of hell will contend every + word, the next few, relief in a measure will come, more + liberty in calling. In a very little while you will be #dead + to the room, dead to the chair#, dead to everyone around + you, dead to all and tremendously alive to your desperate + need and emptyness; this conviction will grow as you + increase calling upon Him. It maybe you'll weep, it maybe + you'll perspire, it maybe your clothing will be deranged, it + maybe your throat will get sore. Never for a moment let your + mind rest on the condition of your person. Open your mouth + and God has promised to fill it. Ask persistently until the + very floor seems to sink beneath you and the fountains of + the deep, of your heart let loose. Like David, "pour out + your soul" like one would pour water out of a bucket. I have + seen hundreds get through right at this point. When + #self-thought, reticence, decorum, reserve, propriety and + dignity# had all been thrown to the four winds of heaven. + Self was then obliterated and consciousness of person gone. + Draw near to God and He will draw near to you saith the + scripture, but you must draw near to Him first. + +These enthusiasts derive their practices from the Shakers, a sect +which originated in England, but was driven by persecution to the New +World. The Shakers call themselves the "United Society of True +Believers in Christ's Second Coming," and were founded by Ann Lee, who +variously termed herself the "Female Christ", the "Holy Comforter", +and the "God-anointed Woman". They might be termed the suffragettes of +religion, for they pray always to "Our Father and Mother, which are in +heaven." They were taught the convenient doctrine that their Founder +had "spiritual illumination", so that any evidence of the senses used +against her might deceive. She governed through terror, holding that +by her mental powers she could inflict torment upon any of her +followers. Fortunately she taught absolute celibacy, and so there are +now only about a thousand of her disciples. + +Bible Prophecy + +This far western country swarms with those fanatics who await the +return of Christ, and find in Bible chronology positive evidence that +he is coming on a specified day. Seldom do I give a lecture on +Socialism that some eager old lady does not come up to me and point +out how futile are my hopes, because the Millenium will come before +the Revolution. Several times I have come on an item in the +newspapers, telling of a group of people, sometimes whole villages, +selling their goods and going out into the fields to shout and sing +and pray, expecting the vision of the Lord and His Angels in the +skies. I have in my hand a pamphlet entitled "Shekineh: The Glory of +God in Israel, Facts Mathematically Foretold, of the Soon Coming of +Our Blessed Lord." It is earnestly, yearningly written, in that spirit +of feeble-minded affectionateness which the Bible-sects seem to +encourage: + + Now dear reader you see that these problems tell a wonderful + story which I know are the Eternal Truths of God. Jesus is + soon coming. I believe that from now on we can say, next; + week perhaps our blessed Lord will return. Yet the time may + not end till the close of the A.M. year, which will be March + 20th, 1897. But let us take up the sickle of God, etc. Oh, + my Christian friends, live near the Blessed Christ, and gain + eternal life through Jesus Our Lord! + +In the public library I find another pamphlet, entitled "The Our +Race," which proves that the "lost ten tribes of Israel" are not the +American Indians, but the Irish! And here is a publication of the +"Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society," declaring: + + The great pyramid in Egypt is a witness to all the events of + the ages and of our day. The pyramid's downward passage + under "a Draconis" symbolizes the course of Sin. Its first + ascending passage symbolizes the Jewish Age. Its Grand + Gallery symbolizes the Gospel Age. Its upper step symbolizes + the approaching period of tribulation and anarchy, + "Judgment" upon Christendom. + +It is a Sunday morning, and I sit in the California sunshine revising +this manuscript, when a decorous-looking young man approaches, having +a sack over his shoulder. "From the Bible-students," he says politely, +and hands me a little paper, "The Bible Students' Monthly: an +Independent, Unsectarian Religious Newspaper, Specially devoted to the +Forwarding of the Lay-men's Home Missionary Movement for the Glory of +God and Good of Humanity." The leading article is headed "The Fall of +Babylon: Ancient Babylon a Type--Mystic Babylon the Antitype: Why +Christendom must Suffer--the Final Outcome." A note explains: + + The following article is extracted from Pastor Russell's + posthumous volume entitled "The Finished Mystery," the 7th + in the series of his Studies in the Scriptures and published + subsequent to his death. Pastor Russell held the distinction + of being the most fearless and powerful writer of modern + times on ecclesiastical subjects. In this posthumous volume, + which is called "his last legacy to the Christians on + earth," is found a thorough exposition of every verse in the + entire book of Revelation and also an elucidation of the + obscure prophecy of Ezekiel. The book contains 608 pages, + handsomely bound in embossed cloth. + +Pastor Russell used to publish a two-column sermon in some +hundreds of Sunday newspapers, together with a presentment of his +features--solemn, stiff, white-whiskered, set off with a "choker" and +a black broadcloth coat. There are five million such faces in America, +but if you have an impulse to despair for your country, remember that +it produced Mark Twain and Artemus Ward, as well as Pastor Russell and +the Moody and Sankey hymn-book. I quote one passage from "The Finished +Mystery", in order that the reader may know what it means to "hold the +distinction of being the most fearless and powerful writer of modern +times on ecclesiastical subjects." Pastor Russell does not approve of +the Methodists, and he quotes twelve verses of Revelation, line by +line and phrase by phrase, showing how the evil course and downfall of +the Wesleyan system were divinely foretold. Thus: + + "But that they should be tormented five months."--In + symbolic time, 150 years--5x30=150. (Ezek. 4:6.) Wesley + became the first Methodist in 1728. (Rev. 9: 1.) When the + Methodist denomination, with all the others, was cast off + from favor in 1878 (Rev. 3:14) its powers to torment men by + preaching what Presbyterians describe as "Conscious misery, + eternal in duration" came to an end legally, and to a large + extent actually.--Rev. 9:10. + +P.S. A few months pass, and while this book is going to press, "The +Finished Mystery" is suppressed by the government and several score +"Bible Students" are landed in jail for sedition. + +#Koreshanity# + +Such are the beliefs built on the Bible. But there are other ancient +writings with strange nomenclature and ritual and symbolism, +calculated to impress the unlettered; also our prophets have +imaginations of their own, and can invent nomenclature and ritual and +symbolism never seen in heaven nor on earth before. Thus there is Dr. +Newo Newi New, who called himself "Archbishop of the Newthot Church," +and gathered about him a harem of devoted females in San Francisco, +and was landed in jail for using the mails to defraud. Or there is +"Oahspe, the Cosmic Bible," a work of brand-new revelation with a +brand-new view of the universe and all things therein: + + The reader soon discovers that he must radically revise not + only his ideas of celestial Cosmogony, but the order and + significance of names and titles commonly applied to the + Transcendental Brethren. The great provinces of Etheria are + presided over by chiefs, chosen for their superior + development in wisdom and love. For our solar system to + cross one of these provinces requires about 3,000 years, and + between them are belts of high Etherian light which take + several years to pass over. The passage of each province is + a cycle of earthly history, and the crossings are called + Dawns of Dan. + +And here is Koreshanity, a revelation vouchsafed by the Lord to Dr. +C.R. Teed of Chicago in the year 1889. This new seer took the name of +Koresh, which is Hebrew for Cyrus, "the Shepherd from Joseph, the +Stone of Israel, the Sun-Man; the illuminating center of the Son of +man", and went out on the streets of the city to preach that the earth +is a hollow sphere with the stars inside. The street urchins of the +pork-packing metropolis threw stones at him, and the irreverent +newspapers took up his adventures, with the result that followers +gathered, and now there is a flourishing colony in Florida, with a +dignified magazine called "The Flaming Sword", and a collection of +propaganda volumes: "The Cellular Cosmogony, an Exposition of Koreshan +Universology and the New Geodesy"; "The Immortal Manhood, the Laws and +Processes of its Attainment in the Flesh"; "The Great Red Dragon, by +Lord Chester"; "The Coming of the Shepherd from Joseph, The Standing +of the Great Ensign, by Koresh." The "Religio-science" of this Chicago +revelator is based, first upon some precise measurements of the earth +which prove that its surface is concave; and second upon some +philological discoveries very much resembling puns. Thus the "cross of +Christ" is explained in a sense of the word more common among +horse-breeders than among theologians: + + The highest characteristic of the alchemical law is the + cross of Christ with sensual man. The cross means that the + Lord God, in order to perpetuate his own being, descends + into the race of sensuality. + +And again, when someone asks about meteors: + + The word Heaven means things heaved up, that is, heaved up + from their material basis, the earth; thus, the meteors + which fall to the earth are composed of metallic, mineral, + and geological substances, being materialized or actually + created in the atmosphere by an alchemico-organic process + from zones or belts periodically open, which precipitate + their contents in the form or shape of meteors." + +And perhaps I ought also to quote the "Indicia of Human Progress", by +"Berthaldine, Matrona". I don't know what a "Matrona" is--unless it is +a female matron. This female matron tells me that now is the "Time of +Restitution", and explains that "the prolification of the human race +has reached a fruition of the adultery of the truth and good of the +Lord with the fallacies and evils of the mortal hells" ...We have +come, it seems, to the "age of Pisces", which is "one of the greatest +radical prolification"; and what we now need is the "power of +polarization", so that we may join the "White Horse Army of the Most +High", which is the organization of the "Aquarian age", proclaimed by +Koresh on January 15th, 1891. + +#Mazdaznan# + +And here is another and even more startling revelation from Chicago, +given to a seer by the name of Dr. Otoman Prince of Adusht Ha'nish, +prophet of the Sun God, Prince of Peace, Manthra Magi of Temple El +Katman, Kalantar of Zoroastrian Breathing and Envoy of Mazdaznan +living, Viceroy-Elect and International Head of Master-Thot. If you +had happened to live near the town of Mendota, Illinois, and had known +the German grocer-boy named Otto Hanisch, you might at first have +trouble in recognizing him through this transmogrification. I have +traced his career in the files of the Chicago newspapers, and find him +herding sheep, setting type, preaching prestidigitation, mesmerism, +and fake spiritualism, joining the Mormon Church, then the "Christian +Catholic Church in Zion", and then the cult of Brighouse, who claimed +to be Christ returned. + +Finally he sets himself up in Chicago as a Persian Magus, teaching +Yogi breathing exercises and occult sex-lore to the elegant society +ladies of the pork-packing metropolis. The Sun God, worshipped for two +score centuries in India, Egypt, Greece and Rome, has a new shrine on +Lake Park Avenue, and the prophet gives tea-parties at which his +disciples are fed on lilac-blossoms--"the white and pinkish for males, +the blue-tinted for females". He wears a long flowing robe of pale +grey cashmere, faced with white, and flexible white kid shoes, and he +sells his lady adorers a book called "Inner Studies", price five +dollars per volume, with information on such subjects as: + + The Immaculate Conception and its Repetition; The Secrets of + Lovers Unveiled; Our Ideals and Soul Mates; Magnetic + Attraction and Electric Mating. + +A Grand Jury intervenes, and the Prophet goes to jail for six months; +but that does not harm his cult, which now has a temple in Chicago, +presided over by a lady called Kalantress and Evangelist; also a +"Northern Stronghold" in Montreal, an "Embassy" in London, an +"International Aryana" in Switzerland, and "Centers" all over America. +At the moment of going to press, the prophet himself is in flight, +pursued by a warrant charging him with improper conduct with a number +of young boys in a Los Angeles hotel. + +I have dipped into Ha'nish's revelations, which are a farrago of every +kind of ancient mysticism--paper and binding from the Bible, +illustrations from the Egyptian, names from the Zoroastrian, health +rules from the Hindoos, laws from the Confucians--price ten dollars +per volume. Would you like to discover your seventeen senses, to +develop them according to the Ga-Llama principle, and to share the +"expansion of the magnetic circles"? Here is the way to do it: + + Inhale through nostrils for four seconds, and upon one + exhalation, speak slowly: + + Open, O thou world-sustaining Sun, the entrance unto Truth + hidden by the vase of dazzling light. + + Again inhale for four seconds, and breathe out the following + sentence upon one exhalation as before: + + Soften the radiation of Thy Illuminating Splendor, that I + may behold Thy True Being. + +I have a clipping from a Los Angeles newspaper telling of the +prophet's arriving there. He takes the front page with the captivating +headline: "Women Didn't Think Till They Put On Corsets". The interview +tells about his mysteriousness, his aloofness, his bird-like-diet, and +his personal beauty. "Despite his seventy-three years, Ha'nish +evidences no sign of age. His keen blue eyes showed no sign of +wavering. There were no wrinkles on his face, and his walk was that of +a man of forty." The humor of this becomes apparent when we mention +that at Ha'nish's trial, three or four years ago, he was proven to be +thirty-five years old! + +Being thus warned as to the accuracy of American journalism, we shall +not be taken in by the repeated statements that the Mazdaznan prophet +is a millionaire. But there is no doubt that he is wealthy; and as all +Americans wish to be wealthy, I will quote his formula of prosperity, +his method of accomplishing what might be called the Individual +Revolution: + + When hungry and you do not know where to get your next piece + of bread, do not despair. Thy Father, all-loving, has + provided, you with everything that will meet all cases of + emergency. + + Place your teeth tightly together, with tongue pressing + against the lower teeth and lips parted. Breathe in, close + lips immediately, exhaling through the nostrils. Breathe + again; if saliva forms in your mouth, hold your breath so + you can swallow it first before you exhale. You thus take + out of the air the metal-substance contained therein; you + can even taste the iron which you convert into substance + required for making the blood. Should you feel that, + although you have sufficient iron in the blood, there is a + lack of copper and zinc and silver, place upper teeth over + lower, keep lower lip tightly to lower teeth, now breathe + and you can even taste the metals named. Then should you + feel you need more gold element for your brain functions, + place your back teeth together just as if you were to grind + the back teeth, taking short breaths only. You will then + learn to know that there is gold and silver all around us. + That our bodies are filled with quite a quantity of gold. + +#Black Magic# + +What all this means is that we have a continent, with a hundred +million half-educated people, materially prosperous, but spiritually +starving; so any man who possesses personality, who looks in any way +strange and impressive, or has hunted up old books in a library, and +can pronounce mysterious words in a thrilling voice--such a man can +find followers. Anybody can do it with any doctrine, from anywhere, +Persia or Patagonia, Pekin or Pompei. I would be willing to wager that +if I cared to come out and announce that I had had a visit from _God_ +last night, and to devote such literary and emotional power as I +possess to communicating a new revelation, I could have a temple, a +university, and a million dollars within five years at the outside. +And if at the end of five years I were to announce that I had played a +joke on the world, some one of my followers would convince the +faithful that I had been an agent of God without knowing it, and that +the leadership had now been turned over to him. + +I would not be understood as believing that all our cults are +undiluted fakery, for that would be doing injustice to some earnest +people. There are, in this country, many followers of the Persian +reformer, Abbas Effendi, who call themselves Babists, and who have +what I am inclined to think is the purest and most dignified religion +in existence. There was a man named Jacob Beilhardt, who founded a +cult in Illinois with the painful name of "Spirit Fruit Colony", who +nevertheless was a man of spiritual insight, a true mystic; he was +honest, and so he failed, and died of a broken heart. Also there are +the Christian Scientists and the Theosophists, so exasperating that +one would like to throw them onto the rubbish-heap, who yet compel us +to sift over their mountains of chaff for the grains of truth which +will bear fruit in future. + +While we western races have been exploring the natural world and +perfecting the mechanical arts, the Hindoo students have been +exploring the subconscious and its strange powers. What Myers and +Lodge and Janet and Charcot and Freud and Jung are telling us today +they had hints of a long time ago; and doubtless they have hints of +other things, upon which our scientists have not yet come. I have +friends, perfectly sane and competent people, who tell me that they +can see auras, and use this ability as a means of judging character. +Shall I say that there are no auras, simply because I do not happen to +have this gift of seeing them? In the same way, having read Gurney's +"Phantasms of the Living," I am not ready to ridicule the claim of the +Yogi adepts, that they are able to project some kind of astral body, +and to communicate with one another from distant places. But granting +such occult powers in a world of economic strife, what follows? Simply +new floods of charlatanism, elaborate and complicated systems of +ritual and metaphysic for the deluding and plundering of the +credulous. + +I have seen the thing working itself out in one case known to me. A +young man had a gift of mental healing; I know, because I saw it work; +but it did not always work, and that was annoying. He was penniless +and had a taste for power, and to eke out his erratic endowment he got +himself books of Eastern lore, and day by day as I watched him I could +see him becoming more and more impressive, mysterious and forbidding. +Today he is a full-fledged wonder-worker, with the language of a dozen +mystic cults at his tongue's end, and the reverent regard of many +wealthy ladies. I have never tried to break through his guard, but I +feel certain that he is a deliberate charlatan. + +This is an economic process, automatic and irresistible. Just as the +manufacturer of honest foods is driven out by the adulterator, so the +worker of miracles drives out the sincere investigator. As a result we +have here in America a plague of Eastern cults, with "swamis" using +soft yellow robes and soft brown eyes to win the souls of idle society +ladies. These teachers of ancient Hindoo lore despise us as a race of +barbarians; but they stay--whether because of love of man or woman, I +do not pretend to say. + +There are the Theosophists of many brands, with schools and institutes +and temples and colonies, and a doctrine as complex and detailed and +fantastic as that of the Roman Catholics. I have already referred to +the writings of Madame Blavatsky, a runaway Russian army officer's +daughter, whose career reads like a tale out of the Arabian Nights. +And there is Annie Besant, who was once an ardent worker in the +Social-democratic Federation; H.M. Hyndman tells of his dismay when +she went to India and walked in a procession between two white bulls! +Here in California is Madame Tingley, with a colony and a host of +followers in a minature paradise. Men work at money-lending or +manufacturing sporting-goods, and when they get old and tired they +make the thrilling discovery that they have souls; the theosophists +cultivate these souls and they leave their money to the soul-cause, +and there are lawsuits and exposés in the newspapers. For, you see, +there is ferocious rivalry in the game of cultivating millionaire +souls; there are slanders and feuds, just as in soulless affairs. +"Don't have anything to do with Madame Tingley," whispers a +Theosophist lady to my Wife; and when my wife in all innocence +inquires, "Why not?" the awe-stricken answer comes, "She practices +black magic!" + +Let me add that I do not say that she practices black magic. I do not +believe that she #could# practice it, even if she wanted to--I do not +believe in black magic. My purpose is merely to show how theosophists +quarrel: going back to the days of Anu and Baal and the bronze Image +of the Babylonian fire-god: + + Let them die, but let me live! + Let them be put under a ban, but let me prosper! + Let them perish, but let me increase! + Let them become weak, but let me wax strong! + +#Mental Malpractice# + +This is the other side of the fair shield of religious faith. Why, if +there be a power which loves and can be persuaded to aid us, may there +not also be a power which hates, and can be persuaded to destroy? No +religion has ever been able to answer this, and therefore none has +ever been able to escape from devil-terrors. Even Jesus was pursued by +Satan, and the Holy Catholic Church has its ceremonies for the +exorcising of demons, and a most frightful formula for cursing. And +here are our friends the Christian Scientists, proclaiming the +unreality of all evil, their ability to banish disease by convincing +themselves that they are perfect in God--yet tormented by a squalid +phobia called "Mental Malpractice", or "Malicious Animal Magnetism". + +Christian Science is the most characteristic of American religious +contributions. Just as Billy Sunday is the price we pay for failing to +educate our base-ball players, so Mary Baker Glover Patterson Eddy is +the price we pay for failing to educate our farmer's daughters. + +That she had a power to cure disease I do not doubt, because I have a +little of it myself. At first my opinion was that her "Science" made +its way by curing the imaginary ailments of the idle rich. If a person +has nothing to do but think that he is sick, you can work easy +miracles by persuading him to think that he is well; and if he has +nothing to do but think that he is well, he will help you to build +marble churches and maintain propaganda societies. But recently I have +experimented with mental healing--enough to satisfy myself that the +subconscious mind which controls our physical functions can be +powerfully influenced by the will. + +I told the story of some of these experiments in Hearst's Magazine for +April, 1914. Suffice it here to say that if you will lay your hands +upon a sick person, forming a vivid mental picture of the bodily +changes you desire, and concentrating the power of your will upon +them, you may be surprised by the results, especially if you possess +anything in the way of psychic gifts. You do not have to adopt any +theories, you do not have to do it in the name of any divinity, +ancient or modern; the only bearing of such ideas is that they serve +to persuade people to make the experiment, and to make it with +persistence and intensity. So it has come about that "miracles" of +healing are associated with "faith"; and so it comes about that +scientists are apt to flout the subject. But read of the work of Janet +and Charcot and their followers at the Salpetriere; they have proven +that all kinds of seeming-organic ailments may be entirely hysterical +in nature, and may be cured by the simplest form of suggestion. +Understanding this, you may find it more easy to credit the fact that +cripples do sometimes throw away their crutches in the grotto of +Lourdes. For my part, I can believe that Jesus performed all the +miracles of healing attributed to him--including the raising up of +people pronounced to be dead by the ignorance of that time. I am +convinced that in the new science of psycho-analysis we have a +universe as vast as the universe of the atom or of the stars. + +The Christian Scientists have got hold of this power; they have mixed +it up with metaphysic and divinity, and built some four or five +hundred churches, and printed the Mother Church alone knows how many +million pamphlets and books. I once invested three of my hard-earned +dollars for a copy of the Eddy Bible, and let myself be stunned and +blinded by the flapping of metaphysical wings. It is unadulterated +moonshine--as the Platonist and Berkeleyan and Hegelian and other +orthodox collegiate metaphysical magi can prove to you in one minute. +What interests me about the phenomenon is not the slinging of +tremendous words, but the strictly Yankee use which is made of them. +There is no nonsense about saving your soul in Christian Science; what +it is for is to remove your wen, to nail down your floating kidney, +and to enable you to hustle and make money. We saw in our politics the +growth of a Party of the Full Dinner-Pail; contemporaneous therewith, +and corresponding thereto, we see in our religious life the +development of a Church of the Full Pocket-Book. + +It is a strict religion--strictly cash. The heads of the cult do not +issue cheap editions of "Science and Health, With Key to the +Scriptures", to relieve the suffering of the proletariat; no--the work +is copyrighted, in all its varying and contradictory editions, and the +price is from three to seven-fifty, according to binding. Treatments +cost from three dollars to ten, whether you come and get them or take +them over the telephone. And we have no nonsense about charity, we +don't worry about the poor who fester in our city slums; because +poverty is a product of Mortal Mind, and we offer to all men a way to +get rich right off the bat. You may; come to our marble churches and +hear people testify how through the power of Divine Mind they were +enabled to anticipate a rise in the stock-market. If you don't avail +yourself of the opportunity, the fault is yours, and yours also the +punishment. + +As to the management of the Church, the Roman Catholic hierarchy is a +Bolshevik democracy in comparison. The Church is controlled by an +absolutely irresponsible self-perpetuating body of five men, who alone +dictate its policy. I have in my hand a letter from a Christian +Science healer who was listed as an "authorized practitioner", and who +withdrew from the Church because of its attitude on public questions. +He sends me a copy of his correspondence with the editors of the +"Christian Science Monitor", containing a detailed analysis of the +position of that paper on such issues as the Ballinger land-frauds. He +writes: + + I am thoroughly convinced now that the policy of the Church + is consciously plutocratic. The only recommendation I have + heard of the latest appointee to the Board of Directors is + that he is one of the richest men in the movement. + +After the Titanic disaster, Senator La Follette brought in a carefully +drawn bill to compel steamship companies to provide life-boats and +trained crews. The "Christian Science Monitor" opposed this bill; and +when my correspondent cited the fact, he brought out a quaint bit of +metaphysical logic, as follows: + + One would prefer to travel on a vessel without a single + boat, rather than on some other vessels which were loaded + down with life-boats, where the government of Mind was not + understood! + +#Science and Wealth# + +The truth is that the brand of Mammon was on our Yankee religion from +the day of its birth. In the first edition of her new Bible "Mother" +Eddy dropped the hint to her readers: "Men of business have said this +science was of great advantage from a secular point of view." And in +her advertisements she threw aside all pretense, declaring that her +work "Affords an opportunity to acquire a profession by which one can +accumulate a fortune." When her pupils did accumulate, she boasted of +their success; nor did she neglect her own accumulating. + +It has been a dozen years since I looked into this cult; in order to +be sure that it has not been purified in the interim, I proceed to a +street corner in my home city, where is a stand with a sign: +"Christian Science Literature." I take four sample copies of a +magazine, the "Christian Science Sentinel", published by the Mother +Church in Boston, and turn to the "Testimonials of Healing". In the +issue of August 11, 1917, Mary C. Richards of St. Margarets-on-Thames, +England, testifies: "Through a number of circumstances unnecessary to +relate, but proving conclusively that the result came not from man but +from God, employment was found." In the issue of December 2, 1916, +Frances Tuttle of Jersey City, N.J., testifies how her sister was +successfully treated for unemployment by a scientist practitioner. +"Every condition was beautifully met." In the same issue Fred D. +Miller of Los Angeles, Cal., testifies: "Soon after this wonderful +truth came to me, Divine Love led me to a new position with a +responsible firm. The work was new to me, but I have given entire +satisfaction, and my salary has been advanced twice in less than a +year." In the issue of January 27, 1917, Eliza Fryant of Agricola, +Miss., testifies how she cured her little dog of snake-bite and +removed two painful corns from her own foot. In the issue of August 4, +1917, Marcia E. Gaier, of Everett, Wash., testifies how it suddenly +occurred to her that because God is All, she would drop her planning +and outlining in regard to real estate properties, "upon which for +nine months all available material methods were tried to no effect." +The result was a triumph of "Principle". + + While working in the yard one morning and gratefully + communing with God, the only power, I suddenly felt that I + should stop working and prepare for visitors on their way to + look at the property. I obeyed this very distinct command, + and in about an hour I greeted two people who had searched + almost the entire city for just what we had to offer. They + had been directed to our place by what to material sense + would seem an accident, but we know it was the divine law of + harmony in its universal operation. + +After this no one will wonder that John M. Tutt, in a Christian +Science lecture at Kansas City, Mo., should proclaim: + + My friends, do you know that since the world began Christian + Science is the only system which has intelligently related + religion to business? Christian Science shows that since all + ideas belong to Mind, God, therefore all real business + belongs to Him. + +As I said, these people have the new-old power of mental healing. They +blunder along with it blindly, absurdly, sometimes with tragic +consequences; but meantime the rank and file of the pill-doctors know +nothing about this power, and regard it with contempt mingled with +fear; so of course the hosts of sufferers whom the pill-doctors cannot +help flock to the healers of the "Church of Christ, Scientist". +According to the custom of those who are healed by "faith", they +swallow line, hook, and sinker, creed, ritual, metaphysic and +divinity. So we see in twentieth-century America precisely what we saw +in B.C. twentieth-century Assyria--a host of worshippers; giving their +worldly goods without stint, and a priesthood, made partly of fanatics +and partly of charlatans, conducting a vast enterprise of graft, and +harvesting that thing desired of all men, power over the lives and +destinies of others. + +And of course among themselves they quarrel; they murder one another's +Mortal Minds, they drive one another out, they snarl over the spoils +like a pack of hungry animals. Listen to the Mother, denouncing one of +her students--a perfectly amiable and harmless youth whose only +offense was that he had gone his own way and was healing the sick for +the benefit of his own pocket-book: + + Behold! thou criminal mental marauder, that would blot out + the sunshine of earth, that would sever friends, destroy + virtue, put out Truth, and murder in secret the innocent, + befouling thy track with the trophies of thy guilt--I say, + Behold the "cloud" no bigger than a man's hand already + rising on the horizon of Truth, to pour down upon thy guilty + head the hailstones of doom. + +And again: + + The Nero of today, regaling himself through a mental method + with the torture of individuals, is repeating history, and + will fall upon his own sword, and it shall pierce him + through. Let him remember this when, in the dark recesses of + thought, he is robbing, committing adultery and killing. + When he is attempting to turn friend away from friend, + ruthlessly stabbing the quivering heart; when he is clipping + the thread of life and giving to the grave youth and its + rainbow hues; when he is turning back the reviving sufferer + to his bed of pain, clouding his first morning after years + of night; and the Nemesis of that hour shall point to the + tyrant's fate, who falls at length upon the sword of + justice. + +#New Nonsense# + +In a certain city of America is a large building given up entirely to +the whims of pretty ladies. Its floors are not floors but +"Promenades", and have walls of glass, behind which, as you stroll, +you see bonnets from Paris and opera cloaks from London, furs from +Alaska and blankets from Arizona, diamonds from South Africa and beads +from the Philippines, grapes from Spain and cherries from Japan, +fortune-tellers from Arabia and dancing-masters from Petrograd and +"naturopaths" from Vienna. There are seventy-three shops, by actual +count, containing everything that could be imagined or desired by a +pretty lady, whether for her body, or for that vague stream of emotion +she calls her "soul". One of the seventy-three shops is a +"Metaphysical Library", having broad windows, and walls in pastel +tints, and pretty vases with pink flowers, and pretty gray wicker +chairs in which the reader will please to be seated, while we probe +the mysteries of an activity widely spread throughout America, called +"New Thought." + +We begin with a shelf of magazines having mystical titles: Azoth; +Master Mind; Aletheian; Words of Power; Qabalah; Comforter; Adept; +Nautilus; True Word; Astrological Bulletin; Unity; Uplift; Now. And +then come shelves of pretty pamphlets, alluring to the eye and the +purse; also shelves of imposing-looking volumes containing the lore +and magic of a score of races and two score of centuries--together +with the very newest manifestations of Yankee hustle and graft. + +As in the case of Christian Science, these New Thoughters have a +fundamental truth, which I would by no means wish to depreciate. It is +a fact that the mysterious Source of our being is infinite, and that +we are only at the beginning of our thinking about it. It is a fact +that by appeal to it we can perform seeming miracles of mental and +moral regeneration; we can stimulate the flow of nervous energy and of +the blood, thus furthering the processes of bodily healing. But the +fact that God is Infinite and Omnipotent does not bar the fact that He +has certain ways of working, which He does not vary; and that it is +our business to explore and understand these ways, instead of setting +our fancies to work imagining other ways more agreeable to our +sentimentality. + +Thus, for example, if we want bread, it is God's decree that we shall +plant wheat and harvest it, and grind and bake and distribute it. +Under conditions prevailing at the moment, it appears to be His decree +that we shall store the wheat in elevators, and ship it in freight +cars, and buy it through a grain exchange, with capital borrowed from +a national bank; in other words, that our daily bread shall be the +plaything of exploiters and speculators, until such a time as we have +the intelligence to form an effective political party and establish +Industrial Democracy. But when you come to study the ways of God in +the literature of the New Thought, do you find anything about the +Millers' Trust and the Bakers' Trust and how to expropriate these +agencies of starvation? You do not! + +What you find is Bootstrap-lifting; you find gentlemen and lady +practitioners shutting their eyes and lifting their hands and +pronouncing Incantations in awe-inspiring voices--or in Capital +Letters and LARGE TYPE: "God is infinite, God is All-Loving, #GOD WILL +PROVIDE.# Bread is coming to you! #Bread is coming to you!! BREAD IS +COMING TO YOU!!!" + +You think this is exaggeration? If so, it is because you have +never entered the building of the pretty ladies, and sat in the +gray wicker chairs of the metaphysical library. One of the highest +high-priestesses of the cults of New Nonsense is a lady named +Elizabeth Towne, editor of "The Nautilus"; and Priestess Elizabeth +tells you: + + I believe the idea that money wants you will help you to the + right mental condition. Be a pot of honey and let it come. + +I look over this Priestess' magazine, and find it full of testimonials +and advertisements for the conjuring of prosperity. "Are you in the +success sphere?" asks one exhorter; the next tells you "How to enter +the silence. How to manifest what you desire. The secret of +advancement." Another tells: "How a Failure at Sixty Won Sudden +Success; From Poverty to $40,000 a year--a Lesson for Old and Young +Alike." The lesson, it appears, is to pay $3.00 for a book called +"Power of Will." And here is another book: + + Master Key: Which can unlock the Secret Chamber of Success, + can throw wide the doors which seem to bar men from the + Treasure House of Nature, and bids those enter and partake + who are Wise enough to Understand and broad enough to Weigh + the Evidence, firm enough to Follow their Own Judgment and + Strong enough to Make the Sacrifice Exacted. + +#"Dollars Want Me"# + +I turn to the shelves of pamphlets. Here is a pretty one called "All +Sufficiency in All Things," published by the "Unity School of +Christianity", in Kansas City; it explains that God is God, not merely +of the Soul, but also of the Kansas City stockyards. + + This divine Substance is ever abiding within us, and stands + ready to manifest itself in whatever form you and I need or + wish, just as it did in Elisha's time. It is the same + yesterday, today and forever. Abundant Supply by the + manifestation of the Father within us, from within outward, + is as much a legitimate outcome of the Christ life or + spiritual understanding as is bodily healing.... "Know that + I am God--all of God, Good, all of Good. I am Life. I am + Health. I am Supply. I am the Substance." + +And here is W.W. Atkinson of Chicago, author of a work called "Mind +Power". Would you like to be an Impressive Personality? Mr. Atkinson +will tell you exactly how to do it; he will give you the secret of the +Magnetic Handclasp, of the Intense, Straight-in-the-eye Look; he will +tell you what to say, he will write out for you Incantations which you +may pronounce to yourself, to convince yourself that you have #Power#, +that the INDWELLING PRESENCE with all its #MIGHT# is yours. Mr. +Atkinson rebukes mildly the tendency of some of his fellow +Bootstrap-lifters to employ these arts for money-making; but you +notice that his magazine, "Advanced Thought", does not decline the +advertisements of such too-practical practitioners. + +Next comes a gentleman with the musical name of Wallace Wattles, who +tells in one pamphlet "How to Be a Genius", and in another pamphlet +"How to Get What you Want". The thing for you to do is-- + + Saturate your mentality through and through with the + knowledge that YOU CAN DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.... Look upon + the peanut-stand merely as the beginning of the department + store, and make it grow; you can. + +And Mr. Wattles wattles on, in an ecstasy of acquisitiveness: + + Hold this consciousness and say with deep, earnest feeling: + I CAN succeed! All that is possible to any one is possible + to me. I AM success. I do succeed, for I am full of the + Power of Success. + +Imagine, if you please, a poor devil chained in the treadmill of the +capitalist system--a "soda-jerker", a "counter-jumper", a book-keeper +for the Steel Trust. His chances of rising in life are one in ten +thousand; but he comes to the Metaphysical Library, and pays the price +of his dinner for a pamphlet by Henry Harrison Brown, who was first a +Unitarian clergyman, and then an extra-high Bootstrap-lifter in San +Francisco, an Honorary Vice-President of the International New +Nonsense Alliance. Mr. Brown will tell our soda-jerker or +counter-jumper exactly how to elevate himself by mental machinery. All +calculations of probabilities are delusions of the senses; if you have +faith, you can move, not merely mountains, but Riker-Hegeman's, +Macy's, or the Steel Trust. "How to Promote Yourself" is the title of +one of Mr. Brown's pamphlets, in which he explains that-- + + Your wants are impressed on the Divine Mind only by your + faith. A doubt cuts the connection. + +A second pamphlet, which we are told is now in its thirtieth edition, +bears the thrilling title of "#Dollars Want Me#!" In it Mr. Brown lays +claim to being a pioneer: + + I believe that this little monograph is the first utterance + of the thought that each individual has the ability so to + radiate his mental forces that he can cause the Dollars to + feel him, love him, seek him, and thus draw at will all + things needed for his unfoldment from the universal supply. + +"What are Dollars?" asks our author; and answers: + + Dollars are manifestations of the One Infinite Substance as + you are, but, unlike you, they are not Self-Conscious. They + have no power till you give them power. Make them feel this + through your thought-vibrations as you feel the importance + of your work. They will then come to you to be used. + +"What is Poverty?" Mr. Brown asks, and answers himself: + + Poverty is a mental condition. It can be cured only by the + Affirmation of Power to cure: I am a part of the One, and, + in the One, I possess all! Affirm this and patiently wait + for the manifestation. You have sown the thought seed. + +And our author goes on to hand out packages of these +thought-seeds--"Affirmations" as they are called, in the jargon of the +New Conjuring: + + I desire a deep consciousness of financial freedom. + I desire that the flow of prosperity become equalized. + I desire a greater consciousness of my power to attract the dollar. + The Indwelling Power cares for my purse. + I own whatever I desire. + + I can afford to use dollars for my happiness. + I always have a good bank account. I actually see it. + My one idea of the law is to use, use, USE. + +#Spiritual Financiering# + +If the symbolism of the Episcopal Church is of the palace, and that of +the non-conformist sects of the counting-house, that of the +International New Nonsense Alliance is of Wall Street and the +"ticker". "What is your rating in the Spiritual Bradstreet?" asks +William Morris Nichols in the publication of the "'Now' Folk", San +Francisco: + + Is it low or high? Is your credit with the Bank of the + Universe good or poor? If you draw a spiritual draft are you + sure of its being honored? + + If you can answer that last question affirmatively, you are + on the road to become a Master in Spiritual Financiering. + + Have you an account with the First (and only) Bank of + Spirit? If not, then you should at once open one therewith. + For no one can afford to keep less than a large deposit of + spiritual funds with that Bank. + +And how do you proceed to open your account? It is very simple: + + Intend the mind in the direction indicated by your desire. + Seek for the Light and Guidance by which you may open up the + way for your Spiritual Substance, which governs material + supply, to reach you and make you as rich as you ought to + be, in freedom and happiness. All this you can, and when in + earnest, will do. + +I turn over the advertisements of this publication of the "'Now' +Folk". One offers "The Business Side of New Thought." Another offers +"The Books Without an If", with your money back IF you are not +satisfied! + +Another offers land in Bolivia for two dollars an acre. Another quotes +Shakespeare: "Tis the mind that makes the body rich." Another offers +two copies of the "Phrenological Era" for ten cents. + +There is apparently no delusion of any age or clime which cannot find +dupes among the readers of this New Nonsense. One notice commands: + + Stop! A Revelation! A Book has been written entitled + "Strands of Gold" or "from Darkness into Light!" + +Another announces: + + The Most Wonderful Book of the Ages: The Acquarian Gospel of + Jesus the Christ, Transcribed from the Book of God's + Remembrance, the Akashic Records. + +And here is an advertisement published in Mr. Atkinson's paper: + + Numerology: the Universal Adjuster! Do you know: What you + appear to be to others? What you really are? What you want + to be? What would overcome your present and future + difficulties? Write to x, Philosopher. You will receive full + particulars of his personal work which is dedicated to your + service. No problem is too big or too small for Numerology. + Understanding awaits you. + +And looking in the body of the magazine, you find this Philosopher +imparting some of this Understanding. Would you like, for example, to +understand why America entered the War? Nothing easier. The vowels of +the Words United States of America are uieaeoaeia, which are numbered +2951561591, which added make 45, or 4 plus 5 equals 9. You might not +at first see what that has to do with the War--until the Philosopher +points out that "9 is the number of completion, indicating the end of +a cosmic cycle." That, of course, explains everything. + +And here is a work on what you perhaps thought to be a dead science, +Astrology. It is called "Lucky Hours for Everybody: A True System of +Planetary Hours--by Prof. John B. Early. Price One Dollar." It teaches +you things like this: + + Saturn's negative hours are especially good for all matters + relating to gold-mining.... The Sun negative rules the + emerald, the musical note D sharp, and the number four. The + lunar hours are a good time to deal in public commodities, + and to hire servants of both sexes.... + + A recent lady visitor informed me that she had made several + vain attempts to transact important business in the hours + ruled by Jupiter, usually held to be fortunate, while she + was nearly always fortunate in what she began in the hours + ruled by Saturn. Upon investigation I found her name was + ruled by the Sun negative, and that she had Capricorn with + Saturn therein as her ascendant at birth, which explains. + +And finally, here is a London "scientist", reported in the "Weekly +Unity" of Kansas City, who proves his mental power over two-horse +power oil engines which fail to act. "Going a little apart, he came +back in a few minutes and said: 'The engine is all right now and will +work satisfactorily.' and without any further difficulty it did." We +are told how Dr. Rawson gave a demonstration of his method to a +newspaper reporter the other day. Fixing his gaze as though looking +into space, he apparently became absorbed in deep contemplation and +said aloud: "There is no danger; man is surrounded by divine love; +there is no matter; all is spirit and manifestation of spirit." + +You might at first find difficulty in believing what can be +accomplished by "demonstrations" such as this; not merely are +two-horse power oil engines made to work, but the whole gigantic +machine of Prussian militarism is prevented from working. You may +recall how Arthur Machen's magazine story of the Angels of Mons was +taken up and made into a Catholic legend over-night; now here is a +New-Nonsense legend, complete and perfect, going the rounds of our +Nonsense magazines: + + London, Dec. 14.--Shell-proof and bullet-proof soldiers have + been discovered on the European battle-fronts. Heroes with + "charmed lives" are being made every day, according to + Frederick L. Rawson, a London scientist, who insists he has + found the miraculous way by which they are developed. He + calls it "audible treatment". "Practical utilization of the + powers of God by right thinking," is the agency through + which Dr. Rawson declares he can so treat a man that he will + not be harmed when hundreds of men are being shot dead + beside him. This amazing treatment includes a new type of + prayer. It is being administered to hundreds of men audibly, + and to hundreds more by letter. Nothing since the war began + has aroused so much talk of modern miracles as have many of + the statements of Dr. Rawson.... + + At the taking of a wood there were five hundred yards of "No + Man's Land" to be crossed. Our troops could not get across. + Then Capt.----, who practices this method of prayer, treated + them for an hour before they started, and not a man was + knocked out. He was the only officer left out of eighty in + his brigade. He simply held onto the fact that man is + spiritual and perfect and could not be touched. A bullet + fired from a revolver only five yards away hit him over the + chest, tore his shirt and went out at the shoulder. But it + never penetrated his chest. He was frequently in a hail of + shells and bullets which did not touch him. + +#The Graft of Grace# + +All this is grotesque; but it is what happens to religions in a world +of commercial competition. It happens not merely to Christian Science +and New Thought religions, Mazdaznan and Zionist, Holy Roller and +Mormon religions, but to Catholic and Episcopalian, Presbyterian and +Methodist and Baptist religions. For you see, when you are with the +wolves you must howl with them; when you are competing with fakirs you +must fake. The ordinary Christian will read the claims of the New +Thought fakers with contempt; but have I not shown the Catholic Church +publishing long lists of money-miracles? Have I not shown the Church +of Good Society, our exclusive and aristocratic Protestant Episcopal +communion, pretending to call rain and to banish pestilence, to +protect crops and win wars and heal those who are "sick in +estate"--that is, who are in business trouble? + +The reader will say that I am a cynic, despising my fellows; but that +is not so. I am an economic scientist, analyzing the forces which +operate in human societies. I blame the prophets and priests and +healers for their fall from idealism; but I blame still more the +competitive wage-system, which presents them with the alternative to +swindle or to starve. + +For, you see, the prophet has to have food. He has frequently got +along with almost none, and with only a rag for clothing; in Palestine +and India, where the climate is warm, a sincere faith has been +possible for short periods. But the modern prophet who expects to +influence the minds of men has to have books and newspapers; he will +find a telephone and a typewriter and postage-stamps hardly to be +dispensed with, also in Europe and America some sort of a roof over +his meeting place. So the prophet is caught, like all the rest of us, +in the net of the speculator and the landlord. He has to get money, +and in order to get it he has to impress those who already have +it--people whose minds and souls have been deformed by the system of +parasitism and exploitation. + +So the prophet becomes a charlatan; or, if he refuses, he becomes a +martyr, and founds a church which becomes a church of charlatans. I +care not how sincere, how passionately proletarian a religious prophet +may be, that is the fate which sooner or later befalls him in a +competitive society--to be the founder of an organization of fools, +conducted by knaves, for the benefit of wolves. That fate befell +Buddha and Jesus, it befell Ignatius Loyola and Francis of Assisi, +John Fox and John Calvin and John Wesley. + +A friend of mine who has made a study of "Spiritualism" describes to +me the conditions in that field. The mediums are people, mostly women, +with a peculiar gift; whether we believe in the survival of +personality, or whether we call it telepathy, does not alter the fact +that they have a rare and special sensitiveness, a new faculty which +science must investigate. They come, poor people mostly--for the +well-to-do will seldom give their time to exacting and wearisome +experiments. They come, wearing frayed and thin clothing, shivering +with cold, obviously undernourished; and their survival depends upon +their producing "phenomena"--which phenomena are capricious, and will +not come at call. So, what more natural than that mediums should +resort to faking? That the whole field should be reeking with fraud, +and science should be held back from understanding an extraordinary +power of the subconscious mind? + +Ever since we came to Pasadena, various ladies have been telling us +about the wondrous powers of a mulatto-woman, a manicurist at the +city's most fashionable hotel. The other day, out of curiosity, my +wife and I went; the moment the "medium" opened her mouth my wife +recognized her as the person who has been trying for several months to +get me on the telephone to tell me how the spirit of Jack London is +seeking to communicate with me! The #séance# was a public one, a +gathering composed, half of wealthy and cultured society-women, and +half of confederates, people with the dialect and manners of a +vaudeville troupe. A megaphone was set in the middle of the floor, the +room was made dark, a couple of hymns were sung, and then the spirit +of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes spoke through the megaphone with a Bowery +accent, and gave communications from relatives and friends of the +various confederates. "Jesus is with us", said Dr. Holmes. "The spirit +of Jesus bids you to study spiritualism." And then came the voice of a +child: "Mamma! Mamma!" "It is little Georgie!" cried Dr. Holmes; and +one of the society ladies started, and answered, and presently burst +into tears. A marvelous piece of evidence--especially when you recall +that the story of this mother's bereavement had been published in all +the papers a couple of months before! + +And this kind of swindling is going on every night in every city of +America. It goes on wholesale for months every summer at Lily Dale, in +New York State, where the spiritualists hold their combination of +Chautauqua and Coney Island. And the same thing is going on in the +field of mental healing, and of all other "occult" forces and powers, +whether real or imaginary. It is going on with new spiritual fervors, +new moral idealisms, new poetry, new music, new painting, new +sculpture. The faker, the charlatan is everywhere--using the mental +and moral and artistic forces of life as a means of delivering himself +from economic servitude. Everywhere I turn I see it--credulity being +exploited, and men of practical judgment, watching the game and seeing +through it, made hard in their attitude of materialism. How many men I +know who sit by in sullen protest while their wives drift from one new +quackery to another, wasting their income seeking health and happiness +in futile emotionalism! How many kind and sensitive spirits I +know--both men and women--who pour their treasures of faith and +admiration into the laps of hierophants who began by fooling all +mankind and ended by fooling themselves! + +In each one of the cults of what I have called the "Church of the +Quacks", there are thousands, perhaps millions of entirely sincere, +self-sacrificing people. They will read this book--if anyone can +persuade them to read it--with pain and anger; thinking that I am +mocking at their faith, and have no appreciation of their devotion. +All that I can say is that I am trying to show them how they are being +trapped, how their fine and generous qualities are being used by +exploiters of one sort or another; and how this must continue, world +without end, until there is order in the material affairs of the race, +until justice has been established as the law of man's dealing with +his fellows. + + * * * * * + + + + +#BOOK SEVEN# + +#The Church of the Social Revolution# + + They have taken the tomb of our Comrade Christ-- + Infidel hordes that believe not in man; + Stable and stall for his birth sufficed, + But his tomb is built on a kingly plan. + They have hedged him round with pomp and parade, + They have buried him deep under steel and stone-- + But we come leading the great Crusade + To give our Comrade back to his own. + + Waddell. + + * * * * * + + + + +#Christ and Caesar# + +In the most deeply significant of the legends concerning Jesus, we are +told how the devil took him up into a high mountain and showed him all +the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time; and the devil said unto +him: "All this power will I give unto thee, and the glory of them, for +that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it. If +thou, therefore, wilt worship me, all shall be thine." Jesus, as we +know, answered and said "Get thee behind me, Satan!" And he really +meant it; he would have nothing to do with worldly glory, with +"temporal power;" he chose the career of a revolutionary agitator, and +died the death of a disturber of the peace. And for two or three +centuries his church followed in his footsteps, cherishing his +proletarian gospel. The early Christians had "all things in common, +except women;" they lived as social outcasts, hiding in deserted +catacombs, and being thrown to lions and boiled in oil. + +But the devil is a subtle worm; he does not give up at one defeat, for +he knows human nature, and the strength of the forces which battle for +him. He failed to get Jesus, but he came again, to get Jesus' church. +He came when, through the power of the new revolutionary idea, the +Church had won a position of tremendous power in the decaying Roman +Empire; and the subtle worm assumed the guise or no less a person than +the Emperor himself, suggesting that he should become a convert to the +new faith, so that the Church and he might work together for the +greater glory of God. The bishops and fathers of the Church, ambitious +for their organization, fell for this scheme, and Satan went off +laughing to himself. He had got everything he had asked from Jesus +three hundred years before; he had got the world's greatest religion. +How complete and swift was his success you may judge from the fact +that fifty years later we find the Emperor Valentinian compelled to +pass an edict limiting the donations of emotional females to the +church in Rome! + +From that time on Christianity has been what I have shown in this +book, the chief of the enemies of social progress. From the days of +Constantine to the days of Bismarck and Mark Hanna, Christ and Caesar +have been one, and the Church has been the shield and armor of +predatory economic might. With only one qualification to be noted: +that the Church has never been able to suppress entirely the memory of +her proletarian Founder. She has done her best, of course; we have +seen how her scholars twist his words out of their sense, and the +Catholic Church even goes so far as to keep to the use of a dead +language, so that her victims may not hear the words of Jesus in a +form they can understand. + + 'Tis well that such seditious songs are sung Only by + priests, and in the Latin tongue! + +But in spite of this, the history of the Church has been one incessant +struggle with upstarts and rebels who have filled themselves with the +spirit of the Magnificat and the Sermon on the Mount, and of that +bitterly class-conscious proletarian, James, the brother of Jesus. + +And here is the thing to be noted, that the factor which has given +life to Christianity, which enables it to keep its hold on the hearts +of men today, is precisely this new wine of faith and fervor which has +been poured into it by generation after generation of poor men who +live like Jesus as outcasts, and die like Jesus as criminals, and are +revered like Jesus as founders and saints. The greatest of the early +Church fathers were bitterly fought by the Church authorities of their +own time. St. Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, was turned out of +office, exiled and practically martyred; St. Basil was persecuted by +the Emperor Valens; St. Ambrose excommunicated the tyrannical Emperor +Theodosius; St. Cyprian gave all his wealth to the poor, and was +exiled and finally martyred. In the same way, most of the heretics +whom the Holy Inquisition tortured and burned were proletarian rebels; +the saints whom the Church reveres, the founders of the orders which +gave it life for century after century, were men who sought to return +to the example of the carpenter's son. Let us hear a Christian scholar +on this point, Prof. Rauschenbusch: + + The movement of Francis of Assisi, of the Waldenses, of the + Humiliati and Bons Hommes, were all inspired by democratic + and communistic ideals. Wiclif was by far the greatest + doctrinal reformer before the reformation; but his eyes, + too, were first opened to the doctrinal errors of the Roman + Church by joining in a great national and patriotic movement + against the alien domination and extortion of the Church. + The Bohemian revolt, made famous by the name of John Huss, + was quite as much political and social as religious. + Savonarola was a great democrat as well as a religious + prophet. In his famous interview with the dying Lorenzo de + Medici he made three demands as a condition for granting + absolution. Of the man he demanded a living faith in God's + mercy. Of the millionaire he demanded restitution of his + ill-gotten wealth. Of the political usurper he demanded the + restoration of the liberties of the people of Florence. It + is significant that the dying sinner found it easy to assent + to the first, hard to assent to the second, and impossible + to concede the last. + +#Locusts and Wild Honey# + +This proletarian strain in Christianity goes back to a time long +before Jesus; it seems to have been inherent in the religious +character of the Jews--that stubborn independence, that stiff-necked +insistence on the right of a man to interview God for himself and to +find out what God wants him to do; also the inclination to find that +God wants him to oppose earthly rulers and their plundering of the +poor. What is it that gives to the Bible the vitality it has today? +Its literary style? To say that is to display the ignorance of the +cultured; for elevation of style is a by-product of passionate +conviction; it is what the Jewish writers had to say, and not the way +they said it, that has given them their hold upon mankind. Was it +their insistence upon conscience, their fear of God as the beginning +of wisdom? But that same element appears in the Babylonian psalms, +which are as eloquent and as sincere as those of the Hebrews, yet are +read only by scholars. Was it their sense of the awful presence of +divinity, of the soul immortal in its keeping? The Egyptians had that +far more than the Hebrews, and yet we do not cherish their religious +books. Or was it the love of man for all things living, the lesson of +charity upon which the Catholics lay such stress? The gentle Buddha +had that, and had it long before Christ; also his priests had +metaphysical subtlety, greater than that of John the Apostle or Thomas +Aquinas. + +No, there is one thing and one only which distinguishes the Hebrew +sacred writings from all others, and that is their insistent note of +proletarian revolt, their furious denunciations of exploiters, and of +luxury and wantonness, the vices of the rich. Of that note the +Assyrian and Chaldean and Babylonian writing contain not a trace, and +the Egyptian hardly enough to mention. The Hindoos had a trace of it; +but the true, natural-born rebels of all time were the Hebrews. They +were rebels against oppression in ancient Judea, as they are today in +Petrograd and New York; the spirit of equality and brotherhood which +spoke through Ezekiel and Amos and Isaiah, through John the Baptist +and Jesus and James, spoke in the last century through Marx and +Lassalle and Jaures, and speaks today through Liebknecht and Rosa +Luxemburg and Karl Kautsky and Israel Zangwill and Morris Hillquit and +Abraham Cahan and Emma Goldman and the Joseph Fels endowment. + +The legal rate of interest throughout the Babylonian Empire was 20%; +the laws of Manu permitted 24%, while the laws of the Egyptians only +stepped in to prevent more than 100%. But listen to this Hebrew law: + + If thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, + then thou shalt relieve him, yea, though he be a stranger or + a sojourner, that he may live with thee: Take thou no + interest of him, or increase; but fear thy God that thy + brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him any + money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase. + +And so on, forbidding that Hebrews be sold as bond servants, and +commanding that at the end of fifty years all debtors shall have their +debts forgiven and their lands returned to them. And note that this is +not the raving of agitators, the demand of a minority party; it is the +law of the Hebrew land. + +There has been of late a great deal of new discovery concerning the +early Jews. Conrad Noel summarizes the results as follows: + + The land-mark law, which sternly forbids encroachment upon + peasant rights; consideration for the foreigner; additional + sanitary and food laws; tithe regulations on behalf of + widows, orphans, foreigners, etc.; that those who have no + economic independence should eat and be satisfied; that + loans should be given cheerfully, not only without any + interest, but even at the risk of losing the principal. To + withhold a loan because the year of release is at hand in + which the principal is no longer recoverable, is described + as a grave sin. When you are compelled to free your slaves, + you must give them sufficient capital to embark upon some + industry which shall prevent their falling back into + slavery. A number of holidays are insisted upon. There must + be no more crushing of the poor out of existence, for God + cares for these people who have been driven to poverty, and + they shall never cease out of the land. Howbeit there shall + be no poor with you, for the Lord will bless you, if you + will obey these laws. + +But then prosperity came, and culture, which meant contact with the +capitalist ideas of the heathen empires. The Jews fell from the stern +justice of their fathers; and so came the prophets, wild-eyed men of +the people, clad in camel's hair and living upon locusts and wild +honey, breaking in upon priests and kings and capitalists with their +furious denunciations. And always they incited to class war and social +disturbance. I quote Conrad Noel again: + + Nathan and Gad had been David's political advisers, Abijah + had stirred Jeroboam to revolt, Elijah had resisted Ahab, + Elisha had fanned the rebellion of Jehu, Amos thunders + against the misrule of the king of Israel, Isaiah denounces + the landlords and the usurers, Micah charges them with + blood-guiltiness; Jeremiah and the latter prophets, though + they strike a more intimate note of personal repentance, + strike it as the prelude to that national restoration for + which they hunger as exiles. + + The first chapters of Isaiah are typical of the Old + Testament point of view. Just as the prophets of the + nineteenth century thundered against the "Christian" + employers of Lancashire, and told them their houses were + cemented with the blood of little children, so Isaiah cries + against his generation: "Your governing classes companion + with thieves; behold you build up Sion with blood." Their + ceremonial and their Sabbath keeping are an abomination to + God. "When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes + from you. Your hands are full of blood." The poor man is + robbed. The rich exact usury. "Woe unto you that lay house + to house and field to field, that ye may dwell alone in the + midst of the land." "Wash you, make you clean, put away the + evil of your doing from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; + learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, + judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, let us + reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be + blood-colored, they shall be as white as snow; though they + be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing + and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. But if ye + refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured by the sword. + +#Mother Earth# + +And nowadays we have the Socialist and Anarchist agitators, following +the same tradition, possessed by the same dream as the ancient Hebrew +prophets. I have mentioned Emma Goldman; it may be that the reader is +not familiar with her writings, and does not realize how very Biblical +she is, both in point of view and style. Let me quote a few sentences +from a recent issue of her paper, "Mother Earth", on the subject of +our ruling classes and their social responsibility: + + Yes, you idle rich, you may howl about what we mean to do to you! + Your riches are rotten and your fine clothes are falling from your + backs. Your stocks and bonds are so tainted that the ink on them + should turn to acid and eat holes in your pockets and your skins. You + have piled up your dirty millions, but what wages have you paid to the + poor devils of farm hands you have robbed? And do you imagine they + won't remember it when the revolution comes? You loll on soft couches + and amuse yourselves with your mistresses; you think you are "it" and + the world is yours. You send militiamen and shoot down our organizers, + and we are helpless. But wait, comrades, our time is coming. + +Doubtless the reader is well satisfied that the author of this tirade +is now in jail, where she can no longer defy the laws of good taste. +They always put the ancient prophets in jail; that is the way to know +a prophet when you meet him. Let me quote another prophet who is now +behind bars--Alexander Berkman, in his "Prison Memoirs of an +Anarchist", discussing the same subject of plutocratic pretension: + + Tell me, you four hundred, where did you get it? Who gave it + to you? Your grandfather, you say? Your father? Can you go + all the way back and show there is no flaw anywhere in your + title? I tell you that the beginning and the root of your + wealth is necessarily in injustice. And why? Because Nature + did not make this man rich and that man poor from the start. + Nature does not intend for one man to have capital and + another to be a wage-slave. Nature made the earth to be + cultivated by all. The idea we Anarchists have of the rich + is of highwaymen, standing in the street and robbing every + one that passes. + +Or take "Big Bill" Haywood, chief of the I.W.W. Hear what he has to +say in a pamphlet addressed to the harvest-hands he is seeking to +organize: + + How much farther do you plutes expect to go with your + grabbing? Do you want to be the only people left on earth? + Why else do you drive out the workers from all share in + Nature, and claim everything for yourselves? The earth was + made for all, rich and poor alike; where do you get your + title deeds to it? Nature gave everything for all men to use + alike; it is only your robbery which makes your so-called + "ownership". Capital has no rights. The land belongs to + Nature, and we are all Nature's sons. + +Or take Eugene V. Debs, three times candidate of the Socialist Party +for President. I quote from one of his pamphlets: + + The propertied classes are like people who go into a public + theatre and refuse to let anyone else come in, treating as + private property what is meant for social use. If each man + would take only what he needs, and leave the balance to + those who have nothing, there would be no rich and no poor. + The rich man is a thief. + +I might go on citing such quotations for many pages; but I know that +Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman and Bill Haywood and Gene Debs may +read this book, and I don't want them to close it in the middle and +throw it at me. Therefore let me hasten to explain my poor joke; the +sentiments I have been quoting are not those of our modern agitators, +but of another group of ancient ones. The first is not from Emma +Goldman, nor did I find it in "Mother Earth". I found it in the +Epistle of James, believed by orthodox authorities to have been James, +the brother of Jesus. It is exactly what he wrote--save that I have +put it into modern phrases, and changed the swing of the sentences, in +order that those familiar with the Bible might read it without +suspicion. The second passage is not in the writings of Alexander +Berkman, but in those of St. John Chrysostom, most famous of the early +fathers, who lived 374-407. The third is not from the pen of "Big +Bill" but from that of St. Ambrose, a father of the Latin Church, +340-397, and the fourth is not by Comrade Debs, but by St. Basil of +the Greek Church, 329-379. And if the reader objects to my having +fooled him for a minute or two, what will he say to the Christian +Church, which has been fooling him for sixteen hundred years? + +#The Soap Box# + +This book will be denounced from one end of Christendom to the other +as the work of a blasphemous infidel. Yet it stands in the direct line +of the Christian tradition: written by a man who was brought up in the +Church, and loved it with all his heart and soul, and was driven out +by the formalists and hypocrites in high places; a man who thinks of +Jesus more frequently and with more devotion than he thinks of any +other man that lives or has ever lived on earth; and who has but one +purpose in all that he says and does, to bring into reality the dream +that Jesus dreamed of peace on earth and good will toward men. + +I will go farther yet and say that not merely is this book written for +the cause of Jesus, but it is written in the manner of Jesus. We read +his bitter railings at the Pharisees, and miss the point entirely, +because the word Pharisee has become to us a word of reproach. But +this is due solely to Jesus; in his time the word was a holy word, it +meant the most orthodox and respectable, the ultra high-church +devotees of Jerusalem. The way to get the spirit of the tirades of +Jesus is to do with him what we did with the early church +fathers--translate him into American. This time, since the reader +shares the secret, it will not be necessary to disguise the Bible +style, and we may follow the text exactly. Let me try the twenty-third +chapter of Matthew, omitting seven verses which refer to subtleties of +Hebrew casuistry, for which we should have to go to Lyman Abbott or +St. Alphonsus to find a parallel: + + Then Jesus mounted upon a soap-box, and began a speech, + saying, The doctors of divinity and Episcopalians fill the + Fifth Avenue churches; and it would be all right if you were + to listen to what they preach, and do that; but don't follow + their actions, for they never practice what they preach. + They load the backs of the working-classes with crushing + burdens, but they themselves never move a finger to carry a + burden, and everything they do is for show. They wear + frock-coats and silk hats on Sundays, and they sit at the + speakers' table at the banquets of the Civic Federation, and + they occupy the best pews in the churches, and their doings + are reported in all the papers; they are called leading + citizens and pillars of the church. But don't you be called + leading citizens, for the only useful man is the man who + produces. (Applause). And whoever exalts himself shall be + abased, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. + + Woe unto you, doctors of divinity and Catholics, hypocrites! + for you shut up the kingdom of Heaven against men; you don't + go in yourself and you don't let others go in. Woe unto you, + doctors of divinity and Presbyterians, hypocrites! for you + foreclose mortgages on widows' houses, and for a pretense + you make long prayers. For this you will receive the greater + damnation! Woe unto you, doctors of divinity and Methodists, + hypocrites! for you send missionaries to Africa to make one + convert, and when you have made him, he is twice as much a + child of hell as yourselves. (Applause). Woe unto you, blind + guides, with your subtleties of doctrine, your + transubstantiation and consubstantiation and all the rest of + it; you fools and blind! Woe unto you, doctors of divinity + and Episcopalians, hypocrites! for you drop your checks into + the collection-plate and you pay no heed to the really + important things in the Bible, which are justice and mercy + and faith in goodness. You blind guides, who strain at a + gnat and swallow a camel! (Laughter). Woe unto you, doctors + of divinity and Anglicans, hypocrites! for you bathe + yourselves and dress in immaculate clothing but within you + are full of extortion and excess. You blind high churchmen, + clean first your hearts, so that the clothes you wear may + represent you. Woe unto you, doctors of divinity and + Baptists, hypocrites! for you are like marble tombs which + appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead + men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you appear + righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and + iniquity. (Applause). Woe unto you, doctors of divinity and + Unitarians, hypocrites! because you erect statues to dead + reformers, and put wreathes upon the tombs of old-time + martyrs. You say, if we had been alive in those days, we + would not have helped to kill those good men. That ought to + show you how to treat us at present. (Laughter). But you are + the children of those who killed the good men; so go ahead + and kill us too! You serpents, you generation of vipers, how + can you escape the damnation of hell? + +At this point, according to the report published in the Jerusalem +"Times", a police sergeant stepped up to the orator and notified him +that he was under arrest; he submitted quietly, but one of his +followers attempted to use a knife, and was severely clubbed. Jesus +was taken to the station-house followed by a riotous throng, and held +upon a charge of disorderly conduct. Next morning the Rev. Dr. +Caiaphas of Old Trinity appeared against him, and Magistrate Pilate +sentenced him to six months on Blackwell's Island, remarking that from +this time on he proposed to make an example of those soap-box orators +who persist in using threatening and abusive language. Just as the +prisoner was being led away, a detective appeared with a requisition +from the Governor, ordering that Jesus be taken to San Francisco, +where he is under indictment for murder in the first degree, it being +charged that his teachings helped to incite the Preparedness Day +explosion. + +#The Church Machine# + +The Catholics of His time came to Jesus and said, "Master, we would +have a sign of Thee"--meaning that they wanted him to do some magic, +to prove to their vulgar minds that his power came from God. He +answered by calling them an evil and adulterous generation--which is +exactly what I have said about the Papal machine. The Baptists and +Methodists and Presbyterians and other book-worshippers of his time +accused him of violating the sacred commands so definitely set down in +their ancient texts, and to them he answered that the Sabbath was made +for man and not man for the Sabbath; he called them hypocrites, and +quoted Karl Marx at them--"This people honoreth me with their lips, +but their heart is far from me." Because he despised the company of +the respectables, and went among the humble and human folk of his own +class in the places where they gathered--the public houses--the +churchly scandal-mongers called him "a man gluttonous and a +wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners"--precisely as in the +old days they used to sneer at the Socialists for having their +meetings in the backrooms of saloons, and precisely as they still +denounce us as free-lovers and atheists. + +But the longing for justice between man and man, which is the Kingdom +of Heaven on earth, is the deepest instinct of the human heart, and +the voice of the carpenter cannot be confined within the thickest +church-walls, nor drowned by all the pealing organs in Christendom. +Even in these days, when the power of Mammon is more widespread, more +concentrated and more systematized than ever before in history--even +in these days of Morgan and Rockefeller, there are Christian clergymen +who dare to preach as Jesus preached. One by one they are cast out of +the Church--Father McGlynn, George D. Herron, Alexander Irvine, J. +Stitt Wilson, Austin Adams, Algernon Crapsey, Bouck White; but their +voices are not silenced, they are like the leaven, to which Jesus +compared the kingdom of God--a woman took it and hid it in three +measures of meal till the whole was leavened. The young theological +students read, and some of them understand; I know three brothers in +one family who have just gone into the Church, and are preaching +straight social revolution--and the scribes and the pharisees have not +yet dared to cast them out. + +In this book I have portrayed the Christian Church as the servant and +henchman of Big Business, a part of the system of Mammon. Every church +is necessarily a money machine, holding and administering property. +And it is not alone the Catholic Church which is in politics, seeking +favors from the state--the exemption of church property from taxation, +exemption of ministers from military service, free transportation for +them and their families on the railroads, the control of charity and +education, laws to deprive people of amusements on Sunday--so on +through a long list. As the churches have to be built with money, you +find that in them the rich possess the control and demand the +deference, while the poor are humble, and in their secret hearts +jealous and bitter; in other words, the class struggle is in the +churches, as everywhere else in the world, and the social revolution +is coming in the churches, just as it is coming in industry. + +It is a fact of deep significance that the majority of ministers are +proletarians, eking out their existence upon a miserable salary, and +beholden in all their comings and goings to the wealthy holders of +privilege. Even in the Roman Catholic Church that is true. The +ordinary priest is a man of the working class, and knows what working +people suffer and feel. So in the Catholic Church there are +proletarian rebellions; there is many a priest who does not carry out +the political orders of his superiors, but goes to the polls and votes +for his class instead of for his pope. In Ireland, as I write, the +young priests are defying their bishops and joining the Sinn Fein, a +non-religious movement for an Irish Republic. + +What is it that keeps the average workingman in subjection to the +exploiter? Simply terror, the terror of losing his job. And if you +could get into the inmost soul of Christian ministers, you would find +that precisely the same force is keeping many of them slaves to +Tradition. They are educated men, and thousands of them must resent +the dilemma which compels them to be either fools or hypocrites. They +have caught enough of the spirit of their time not to enjoy having to +pose as miracle-mongers, rain-makers and witch-doctors; they would +like to say frankly that they do not believe that Jonah ever swallowed +the whale, and even that they are dubious about Hercules and Achilles +and other demigods. But they are part of a machine, and the old men +and the rich men who run the machine have laid down the law. Those who +find themselves tempted to think, remember suddenly that they have +wives and children; they have only one profession, they have been +unfitted for any other by a life-time of study of dead things, as well +as by the practice of altruism. + +But now the Social Revolution is coming; coming upon swift wings--it +may be here before this book sees the light. And who knows but then we +may see in America that wonderful sight which we saw in Russia, when +Christian monks assembled and burned their holy books, and petitioned +the state to take them in as citizens and human beings? It is my +belief that when the power of exploitation is broken, we shall see the +Dead Hand crumble into dust, as a mummy crumbles when it is exposed to +the air. All those men who stay in the Church and pretend to believe +nonsense, because it affords an easy way to earn a living, will +suddenly realize that it is possible to earn a living outside; that +any man can go into a factory, clean and well-ventilated and humanly +run, and by four hours work can earn the purchasing power of ten or +fifteen dollars. Do you not think that there may be some who will +choose freedom and self-respect on those terms? + +And what of those thousands and tens of thousands who join the church +because it is a part of the regime of respectability, a way to make +the acquaintance of the rich, to curry favor and obtain promotion, to +get customers if you are a tradesman, to extend your practice if you +are a professional man? And what about the millions who go to church +because they are poor, and because life is a desperate struggle, and +this is one way to keep the favor of the boss, to get a little better +chance for the children, to get charity if you fall into need; in +short, to acquire influence with the well-to-do and powerful, who +stand together, and like to see the poor humble and reverent, +contented in that state of life to which it has pleased God to call +them? + +#The Church Redeemed# + +Do I mean that I expect to see the Church--all churches--perish and +pass away? I do not, for I believe that the Church answers one of the +fundamental needs of man. The Social Revolution will abolish poverty +and parasitism, it will make temptations fewer, and the soul's path +through life much easier; but it will not remove the necessity of +struggle for individual virtue, it will only clear the way for the +discovery of newer and higher types of virtue. Men will gather more +than ever in beautiful places to voice their love of life and of one +another; but the places in which they gather will be places swept +clean of superstition and tyranny. As the Reformation compelled the +Catholic Church to cleanse itself and abolish the grossest of its +abuses, so the Social Revolution will compel it to repudiate its +defense of parasitism and exploitation. I will record the prophecy +that by the year 1950 all Catholic authorities will be denying that +the Church ever opposed Socialism--true Socialism; just as today they +deny that the Church ever tortured Galileo, ever burned men for +teaching that the earth moves around the sun, ever sold the right to +commit crime, ever gave away the New World to Spain and Portugal, ever +buried newly-born infants in the cellars of nunneries. + +The Social Revolution will compel all churches, Christian, Hebrew, +Buddhist, Confucian, or what you will, to drive out their formalists +and traditionalists. If there is any church that refuses so to adapt +itself, the swift progress of enlightenment and freedom will leave it +without followers. But in the great religions, which have a soul of +goodness and sincerity, we may be sure that reformers will arise, +prophets and saints who, as of old, will preach the living word of +God. In many churches today we can see the beginning of that new +Counter-Reformation. Even in the Catholic Church there is a +"modernist" rebellion; read the books of the "Sillon", and Fogazzaro's +trilogy of novels, "The Saint", and you will see a genuine and vital +protest against the economic corruption of the Church. In America, the +"Knights of Slavery" have been forced by public pressure to support a +"War for Democracy", and even to compete with the Y.M.C.A. in the +training camps. They are doing good work, I am told. + +This gradual conquest of the old religiosity by the spirit of modern +common sense is shown most interestingly in the Salvation Army. +William Booth was a man with a great heart, who took his life into his +hands and went out with a bass-drum to save the lost souls of the +slums. He was stoned and jailed, but he persisted, and brought his +captives to Jesus--- + + Vermin-eaten saints with mouldy breath, + Unwashed legions with the ways of death. + +Incidentally the "General" learned to know his slum population. He had +not wanted to engage in charity and material activities; he feared +hypocrisy and corruption. But in his writings he lets us see how +utterly impossible it is for a man of real heart to do anything for +the souls of the slum-dwellers without at the same time helping their +diseased and hunger-racked bodies. So the Salvation army was forced +into useful work--old clothes depots, nights lodgings, Christmas +dinners, farm colonies--until today the bare list of the various kinds +of enterprises it carries on fills three printed pages. It is all done +with the money of the rich, and is tainted by subservience to +authority, but no one can deny that it is better than "Gibson's +Preservative", and the fox-hunting parsons filling themselves with +port. + +And in Protestant Churches the advance has been even greater. Here and +there you will find a real rebel, hanging onto his job and preaching +the proletarian Jesus; while even the great Fifth Avenue churches are +making attempts at "missions" and "settlements" in the slums. The more +vital churches are gradually turning themselves into societies for the +practical betterment of their members. Their clergy are running boys +clubs and sewing-schools for girls, food conservation lectures for +mothers, social study clubs for men. You get prayer-meetings and +psalm-singing along with this; but here is the fact that hangs always +before the clergyman's face--that with prayer-meetings and +psalm-singing alone he has a hard time, while with clubs and +educational societies and social reforms he thrives. + +And now the War has broken upon the world, and caught the churches, +like everything else, in its mighty current; the clergy and the +congregations are confronted by pressing national needs, they are +forced to take notice of a thousand new problems, to engage in a +thousand practical activities. No one can see the end of this--any +more than he can see the end of the vast upheaval in politics and +industry. But we who are trained in revolutionary thought can see the +main outlines of the future. We see that in these new church +activities the clergy are inspired by things read, not in ancient +Hebrew texts, but in the daily newspapers. They are responding to the +actual, instant needs of their boys in the trenches and the camps; and +this is bound to have an effect upon their psychology. Just as we can +say that an English girl who leaves the narrow circle of her old life, +and goes into a munition factory and joins a union and takes part in +its debates, will never after be a docile home-slave; so we can say +that the clergyman who helps in Y.M.C.A. work in France, or in Red +Cross organization in America, will be less the bigot and formalist +forever after. He will have learned, in spite of himself, to adjust +means to ends; he will have learned co-operation and social solidarity +by the method which modern educators most favor--by doing. Also he +will have absorbed a mass of ideas in news despatches from over the +world. He is forced to read these despatches carefully, because the +fate of his own boys is involved; and we Socialists will see to it +that the despatches are well filled with propaganda! + +#The Desire of Nations# + +So the churches, like all the rest of the world, are caught in the +great revolutionary current, and swept on towards a goal which they do +not forsee, and from which they would shrink in dismay: the Church of +the future, the Church redeemed by the spirit of Brotherhood, the +Church which we Socialists will join. They call us materialists, and +say that we think about nothing but the belly--and that is true, in a +way; because we are the representatives of a starving class, which +thinks about its belly precisely as does any individual who is +ravening with hunger. But give us what that arrant materialist, James, +the brother of Jesus, calls "those things which are needful to the +body," and then we will use our minds, and even discover that we have +souls; whereas at present we are led to despise the very word +"spiritual", which has become the stock-in-trade of parasites and +poseurs. + +We have children, whom we love, and whose future is precious to us. We +would be glad to have them trained in ways of decency and +self-control, of dignity and grace. It would make us happy if there +were in the world institutions conducted by men and women of +consecrated life who would specialize in teaching a true morality to +the young. But it must be a morality of freedom, not of slavery; a +morality founded upon reason, not upon superstition. The men who teach +it must be men who know what truth is, and the passionate loyalty +which the search for truth inspires. They cannot be the pitiful +shufflers and compromisers we see in the churches today, the Jowetts +who say they used to believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy +Ghost. Rather than trust our children to such shameless cynics, we +will make shift to train them ourselves--we amateurs, not knowing much +about children, and absorbed in the desperate struggle against +organized wrong. + +It is a statement which many revolutionists would resent, yet it is a +fact nevertheless, that we need a new religion, need it just as badly +as any of the rest of our pitifully groping race. That we need it is +proven by the rivalries and quarrels in our midst--the schisms which +waste the greater part of our activities, and which are often the +result of personal jealousies and petty vanities. To lift men above +such weakness, to make them really brothers in a great cause--that is +the work of "personal religion" in the true and vital sense of the +words. + +We pioneers and propagandists may not live to see the birth of the new +Church of Humanity; but our children will see it, and the dream of it +is in our hearts; our poets have sung of it with fervor and +conviction. Read these lines from "The Desire of Nations," by Edwin +Markham, in which he tells of the new Redeemer who is at hand: + + And when he comes into the world gone wrong, + He will rebuild her beauty with a song. + To every heart he will its own dream be: + One moon has many phantoms in the sea. + Out of the North the norns will cry to men: + "Baldur the Beautiful has come again!" + The flutes of Greece will whisper from the dead: + "Apollo has unveiled his sunbright head!" + The stones of Thebes and Memphis will find voice: + "Osiris comes: Oh tribes of Time, rejoice!" + And social architects who build the State, + Serving the Dream at citadel and gate, + Will hail Him coming through the labor-hum. + And glad quick cries will go from man to man: + "Lo, He has come, our Christ the artisan, + The King who loved the lilies, He has come!" + +#The Knowable# + +The new religion will base itself upon the facts of life, as +demonstrated by experience and reason; for to the modern thinker the +basis of all interest is truth, and the wonders of the microscope and +the telescope, of the new psychology and the new sociology are more +wonderful than all the magic recorded in ancient Mythologies. And even +if this were not so, the business of the thinker is to follow the +facts. The history of all philosophy might be summed up in this +simile: The infant opens his eyes and sees the moon, and stretches out +his hands and cries for it; but those in charge do not give it to him, +and so after a while the infant tires of crying, and turns to his +mother's breast and takes a drink of milk. + +Man demands to know the origin of life; it is intolerable for him to +be here, and not know how, or whence, or why. He demands the knowledge +immediately and finally, and invents innumerable systems and creeds. +He makes himself believe them, with fire and torture makes other men +believe them; until finally, in the confusion of a million theories, +it occurs to him to investigate his instruments, and he makes the +discovery that his tools are inadequate, and all their products +worthless. His mind is finite, while the thing he seeks is infinite; +his knowledge is relative, while the First Cause is absolute. + +This realization we owe to Immanuel Kant, the father of modern +philosophy. In his famous "antinomies", he proved four propositions: +first, that the universe is limitless in time and space; second, that +matter is composed of simple, indivisible elements; third, that free +will is impossible; and fourth, that there must be an absolute or +first cause. And having proven these things, he turned round and +proved their opposites, with arguments exactly as unanswerable. Any +one who follows these demonstrations and understands them, takes all +his metaphysical learning and lays it on the shelf with his astrology +and magic. + +It is a fact, which every one who wishes to think must get clear, that +when you are dealing with absolutes and ultimates, you can prove +whatever you want to prove. Metaphysics is like the fourth dimension; +you fly into it and come back upside down, hindside foremost, inside +out; and when you get tired of this condition, you take another +flight, and come back the way you were before. So metaphysical +thinking serves the purpose of Catholic cheats like Cardinal Newman +and Professor Chatterton-Hill; it serves hysterical women like +"Mother" Eddy; it serves the New-thoughters, who wish to fill their +bellies with wind; it serves the charlatans and mystagogs who wish to +befuddle the wits of the populace. Real thinkers avoid it as they +would a bottomless swamp; they avoid, not merely the idealism of +Platonists and Hegelians, but the monism of Haeckel, and the +materialism of Buechner and Jacques Loeb. The simple fact is that it +is as impossible to prove the priority of origin and the ultimate +nature of matter as it is of mind; so that the scientist who lays down +a materialist dogma is exactly as credulous as a Christian. + +How then are we to proceed? Shall we erect the mystery into an +Unknowable, like Spencer, and call ourselves Agnostics with a capital +letter, like Huxley? Shall we follow Frederic Harrison, making an +inadequate divinity out of our impotence? I have read the books of the +"Positivists", and attended their imitation church in London, but I +did not get any satisfaction from them. In the midst of their dogmatic +pronouncements I found myself remembering how the egg falls apart and +reveals a chicken, how the worm suddenly discovers itself a butterfly. +The spirit of man is a breaker of barriers, and it seems a futile +occupation to set limits upon the future. Our business is not to say +what men will know ten thousand years from now, but to content +ourselves with the simple statement of what men know #now#. What we +know is a procession of phenomena called an environment; our life +being an act of adjustment to its changes, and our faith being the +conviction that this adjustment is possible and worth while. + +In the beginning the guide is instinct, and the act of trust is +automatic. But with the dawn of reason the thinker has to justify his +faith; to convince himself that life is sincere, that there is +worth-whileness in being, or in seeking to be; that there is order in +creation, laws which can be discovered, processes which can be +applied. Just as the babe trusts life when it gropes for its mother's +breast, so the most skeptical of scientists trusts it when he declares +that water is made of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, and sets +it down for a certainty that this will always be so--that he is not +being played with by some sportive demon, who will today cause H20 to +behave like water, and tomorrow like benzine. + +#Nature's Insurgent Son# + +Life has laws, which it is possible to ascertain; and with each bit of +knowledge acquired, the environment is changed, the life becomes a new +thing. Consider, for example, what a different place the world became +to the man who discovered that the force which laid the forest in +ashes could be tamed and made to warm a cave and make wild grains +nutritious! In other words, man can create life, he can make the world +and himself into that which his reason decides it ought to be, The +means by which he does this is the most magical of all the tools he +has invented since his arboreal ancestor made the first club; the tool +of experimental science--and when one considers that this weapon has +been understood and deliberately employed for but two or three +centuries, he realizes that we are indeed only at the beginning of +human evolution. + +To take command of life, to replace instincts by reasoned and +deliberate acts, to make the world a conscious and ordered +product--that is the task of man. Sir Ray Lankester has set this forth +with beautiful precision in his book, "The Kingdom of Man". We are, at +this time, in an uncomfortable and dangerous transition stage, as a +child playing with explosives. This child has found out how to alter +his environment in many startling ways, but he does not yet know why +he wishes to alter it, nor to what purpose. He finds that certain +things are uncomfortable, and these he proceeds immediately to change. +Discovering that grain fermented dispels boredom, he creates a race of +drunkards; discovering that foods can be produced in profusion, and +prepared in alluring combinations, he makes himself so many diseases +that it takes an encyclopedia to tell about them. Discovering that +captives taken in war can be made to work, he makes a procession of +empires, which are eaten through with luxury and corruption, and fall +into ruins again. + +This is Nature's way; she produces without limit, groping blindly, +experimenting ceaselessly, eliminating ruthlessly. It takes a million +eggs to produce one salmon; it has taken a million million men to +produce one idea--algebra, or the bow and arrow, or democracy. +Nature's present impulse appears as a rebellion against her own +methods; man, her creature, will emancipate himself from her law, will +save himself from her blindness and her ruthlessness. He is "Nature's +insurgent son"; but, being the child of his mother, goes at the task +in her old blundering way. Some men are scheduled to elimination +because of defective eyesight; they are furnished with glasses, and +the breeding of defective eyes begins. The sickly or imbecile child +would perish at once in the course of Nature; it is saved in the name +of charity, and a new line of degenerates is started. + +What shall we do? Return to the method of the Spartans, exposing our +sickly infants? We do not have to do anything so wasteful, because we +can replace the killing of the unfit by a scientific breeding which +will prevent the unfit from getting a chance at life. We can replace +instinct by self-discipline. We can substitute for the regime of +"Nature red in tooth and claw with ravin" the regime of man the +creator, knowing what he wishes to be and how to set about to be it. +Whether this can happen, whether the thing which we call civilization +is to be the great triumph of the ages, or whether the human race is +to go back into the melting pot, is a question being determined by an +infinitude of contests between enlightenment and ignorance: precisely +such a contest as occurs now, when you, the reader, encounter a man +who has thought his way out to the light, and comes to urge you to +perform the act of self-emancipation, to take up the marvellous new +tools of science, and to make yourself, by means of exact knowledge, +the creator of your own life and in part of the life of the race. + +#The New Morality# + +Life is a process of expansion, of the unfoldment of new powers; +driven by that inner impulse which the philosophers of Pragmatism call +the #élan vital#. Whenever this impulse has its way, there is an +emotion of joy; whenever it is balked, there is one of distress. So +pleasure and pain are the guides of life, and the final goal is a +condition of free and constantly accelerating growth, in which joy is +enduring. + +That man will ever reach such a state is more than we can say. It is a +perfectly conceivable thing that tomorrow a comet may fall upon the +earth and wipe out all man's labor's. But on the other hand, it is a +conceivable thing that man may some day learn to control the movements +of comets, and even of starry systems. It seems certain that if he is +given time, he will make himself master of the forces of his immediate +environment--- + + The untamed giants of nature shall bow down--- + The tides, the tempest and the lightning cease + From mockery and destruction, and be turned + Unto the making of the soul of man. + +It is a conceivable thing that man may learn to create his food from +the elements without the slow processes of agriculture; it is +conceivable that he may master the bacteria which at present prey upon +his body, and so put an end to death. It is certain that he will +ascertain the laws of heredity, and create human qualities as he has +created the spurs of the fighting-cock and the legs of the greyhound. +He will find out what genius is, and the laws of its being, and the +tests whereby it may be recognized. In the new science of +psycho-analysis he has already begun the work of bringing an infinity +of subconsciousness into the light of day; it may be that in the +evidence of telepathy which the psychic researchers are accumulating, +he is beginning to grope his way into a universal consciousness, which +may come to include the joys and griefs of the inhabitants of Mars, +and of the dark stars which the spectroscope and the telescope are +disclosing. + +All these are fascinating possibilities. What stands in the way of +their realization? Ignorance and superstition, fear and submission, +the old habits of rapine and hatred which man has brought with him +from his animal past. These make him a slave, a victim of himself and +of others; to root them out of the garden of the soul is the task of +the modern thinker. + +The new morality is thus a morality of freedom. It teaches that man is +the master, or shall become so; that there is no law, save the law of +his own being, no check upon his will save that which he himself +imposes. + +The new morality is a morality of joy. It teaches that true pleasure +is the end of being, and the test of all righteousness. + +The new morality is a morality of reason. It teaches that there is no +authority above reason; no possibility of such authority, because if +such were to appear, reason would have to judge it, and accept or +reject it. + +The new morality is a morality of development. It teaches that there +can no more be an immutable law of conduct, than there can be an +immutable position for the steering-wheel of an aeroplane. The +business of the pilot of an aeroplane is to keep his machine aloft +amid shifting currents of wind. The business of a moralist is to +adjust life to a constantly changing environment. An action which was +suicide yesterday becomes heroism today, and futility or hypocrisy +tomorrow. + +This new morality, like all things in a world of strife, is fighting +for existence, using its own weapons, which are reason and love. +Obviously it can use no others, without self-destruction; yet it has +to meet enemies who fight with the old weapons of force and fraud. +Whether it will prevail is more than any prophet can say. Perhaps it +is too much to ask that it should succeed--this insolent effort of the +pigmy man to leap upon the back of his master and fit a bridle into +his mouth. Perhaps it is nothing but a dream in the minds of a few, +the scientists and poets and inventors, the dreamers of the race. +Perhaps the nerve of the pigmy will fail him at the critical moment, +and he will fall from the back of his master, and under his master's +hoofs. + +The hour of the decision is now; for this we can see plainly, and as +scientists we can proclaim it--the human race is in a swift current of +degeneration, which a new morality alone can check. The struggle is at +its height in our time; if it fails, if the fibre of the race +continues to deteriorate, the soul of the race to be eaten out by +poverty and luxury, by insanity and disease, by prostitution, crime +and war--then mankind will slip back into the abyss, the untamed +giants of Nature will resume their ancient sway, and the tides, the +tempest and the lightning will sweep the earth clean again. I do not +believe that this calamity will befall us. I know that in the diseased +social body the forces of resistance are gathering--the Socialist +movement, in the broad sense--the activities of all who believe in the +possibility of reconstructing society upon a basis of reason, justice +and love. To such people this book goes out: to the truly religious +people, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness here and now, +who believe in brotherhood as a reality, and are willing to bear pain +and ridicule and privation for the sake of its ultimate achievement. + + From discord and defeat, + From doubt and lame division, + We pluck the fruit and eat; + And the mouth finds it bitter, and the spirit sweet.... + O sorrowing hearts of slaves, + We heard you beat from far! + We bring the light that saves, + We bring the morning star; + Freedom's good things we bring you, whence all good things are.... + +#Envoi# + +I have come to the end of my task; but one question troubles me. I +think of the "young men and maidens meek" who will read this book, and +I wonder what they will make of it. We have had a lark together; we +have gone romping down the vista of the ages, swatting every venerable +head that showed itself, beating the dust out of ancient delusions. +You would like all your life to be that kind of lark; but you may not +find it so, and perhaps you will suffer disillusionment and vexation. + +I have known hundreds of young radicals in my life; they have nearly +all been gallant and honest, but they have not all been wise, and +therefore not so happy as they might have been. In the course of time +I have formulated to myself the peril to which young radicals are +exposed. We see so much that is wrong in ancient things, it gets to be +a habit with us to reject them. We have only to know that a thing is +old to feel an impulse of impatient scorn; on the other hand, we are +tempted to welcome anything which can prove itself to be +unprecedented. There is a common type of radical whose aim in life is +to be several jumps ahead of mankind; whose criterion of conduct is +that it shocks the bourgeois. If you do not know that type, you may +find him--and her--in the newest of the Bohemian cafes, drinking the +newest red chemicals, smoking the newest brand of cigarettes, and +discussing the newest form of #psycopathia sexualis#. After you have +watched them a while, you realize that these ultra-new people have +fallen victim to the oldest form of logical fallacy, the non sequitur, +and likewise to the oldest form of slavery, which is self-indulgence. + +If it is true that much in the old moral codes is based upon +ignorance, and cultivated by greed, it is also true that much in the +old moral codes is based upon facts which will not change so long as +man is what he is--a creature of impulses, good and bad, wise and +foolish, selfish and generous, and compelled to make choice between +these impulses; so long as he is a material body and a personal +consciousness, obliged to live in society and adjust himself to the +rights of others. What I would like to say to young radicals--if there +is any way to say it without seeming a prig--is that in choosing their +own path through life, they will need not merely enthusiasm and +radical fervor, but wisdom and judgment and hard study. + +It is our fundamental demand that society shall cease to repeat over +and over the blunders of the past, the blunders of tyranny and +slavery, of luxury and poverty, which wrecked the ancient societies; +and surely it is a poor way to begin by repeating in our own persons +the most ancient blunders of the moral life. To light the fires of +lust in our hearts, and let them smoulder there, and imagine we are +trying new experiments in psychology! Who does not know the radical +woman who demonstrates her emancipation from convention by destroying +her nerves with nicotine? Who does not know the genius of revolt who +demonstrates his repudiation of private property by permitting his +lady loves to support him? Who does not know the man who finds in the +phrases of revolution the most effective devices for the seducing of +young girls? + +You will have read this book to ill purpose if you draw the conclusion +that there is anything in it to spare you the duty of getting yourself +moral standards and holding yourself to them. On the contrary, because +your task is the highest and hardest that man has yet undertaken--for +this reason you will need standards the most exacting ever formulated. +Let me quote some words from a teacher you will not accuse of holding +to the slave-moralities: + + Free dost thou call thyself? Thy ruling thoughts will I + hear, and not that thou hast escaped a yoke. + + Art thou such a one that can escape a yoke? Free from what? + What is that to Zarathustra! Clear shall your eye tell me: + free to what? + + Canst thou give to thyself thy good and thine evil, and hang + thy will above thee as thy law? Canst thou be thine own + judge, and avenger of thy law? + + Fearful it is to be alone with the judge and the avenger of + thy law. So is a stone flung out into empty space and into + the icy breath of isolation. + +Out of the pit of ignorance and despair we emerge into the sunlight of +knowledge, to take control of a world, and to make it over, not +according to the will of any gods, but according to the law in our own +hearts. For that task we have need of all the resources of our being; +of courage and high devotion, of faith in ourselves and our comrades, +of clean, straight thinking, of discipline both of body and mind. We +go to this task with a knowledge as old as the first moral impulse of +mankind--the knowledge that our actions determine the future of life, +not merely for ourselves but for all the race. For this is one of the +laws of the ancient Hebrews which modern science has not repealed, but +on the contrary has reinforced with a thousand confirmations--that the +sins of the fathers are visited upon the children unto the third and +fourth generations. + +I get letters from the readers of my books; nearly always they are +young people, so I feel like the father of a large family. I gather +them now about my knee, and pronounce upon them a benediction in the +ancient patriarchal style. Children and grandchildren of my hopes, for +ages men suffered and fought, so that the world might be turned over +to you. Now the day is coming, the glad, new day which blinds us with +the shining of its wings; it is coming so swiftly that I am afraid of +it. I thought we should have more time to get ready for the taking +over of the world! But the old managers of it went insane, they took +to tearing each other's eyes out, and now they lie dead about us. So, +whether we will or not, we have to take charge of the world; we have +to decide what to do with it, even while we are doing it. Let us not +fail, young comrades; let us not write on the scroll of history that +mankind had to go through yet new generations of wars and tumults and +enslavements, because the youth of the international revolution could +not lift themselves above those ancient personal vices which wrecked +the fair hopes of their fathers--bigotry and intolerance, +vindictiveness and vanity, envy, hatred and malice and all +uncharitableness! + + * * * * * + + + + +INDEX + +A + +Abbott, Lyman 175-191 +Abbott, L.F. 189 +Adams 214 +Adventists 237 +Amberley 52 +Anglican Church 47-88 +Appeal to Reason 144 +Archer 133 +Assyria 32 +Atkinson 267 +Austria 155 +Aztecs 32 + +B + +Babists 254 +Babylonia 26, 32, 50 +Baxter 183 +Beilhardt 254 +Berkman 288 +Besant 250 +Bible-students 246 +Bismarck 153 +Black Magic 253 +Blavatsky 23, 256 +Blougram 109 +Bonzano 121, 126 +Booth 298 +Bootstrap-lifting 11, 266 +Brougher 209 +Brown 268 +Buchanan 68, 159 +Buckle 41 +Burns 75 + +C + +Cæsar 161 +Cannon 143 +Carlyle 163 +Carnegie 177 +Catholic Church 27, 105-157, 295 +Catholic Encyclopedia 67 +Centrum 152 +Charcot 258 +Chatterton-Hill 220 +Chinese 74 +Christian Endeavor World 216 +Christian Science 254-264 +Churchman 101, 102 +Clark 23 +Clough 235 +Columbus 115 +Conway 127 +Curates 71 + +D + +Darwin 56 +Day 205 +Debs 289 +Dixon 204, 205 +Dowie 242 +Durham 80 + +E + +Eastman 140 +Eddy 257, 261 +Education 81 +England 49, 73, 75 +England, Church of 47-88 +Episcopal Church 89-102 +Eucharist 59 + +F + +Ferrer 51, 133 +Fish 65 +Flint 78, 79 +Fogazzaro 298 +Foraker 143 +Frederick 163 + +G + +Galileo 51 +Gallipoli 61 +Garrison 167 +Gladstone 57, 58, 81 +Goldman 287 +Goode 59, 61 +Green 63 +Gurney 254 + +H + +Hagen 219 +Hale 213 +Hammurabi 85 +Hampton 181 +Ha'nish 250 +Hanna 122, 142, 153, 213 +Harris 72 +Harrison 304 +Haywood 288 +Hebrew 36, 173, 284, 285 +Henry the Eighth 66, 67 +Hill, Joe 219 +Hill, Rev. J.W. 204 +Holmes 276 +Holy Rollers 242, 243 +Hubbard 190 +Huss 38, 41 +Huxley 56, 58 +Hyndman 256 +Hyslop 223 + +I + +Inquisition 39, 51 +Ireland 43 +Isaiah 287 + +J + +Janet 258 +Jastrow 32 +Jehovah 35, 36 +Jesuits 148 +Jesus 74, 100, 101, 161, + 172, 174, 175, 176, 197, 221, + 258, 281, 282, 290, 291, 292 +Jews 284, 286 +Job 25, 26, 55 +Joshua 37 +Jowett 54 +Jungle 190, 194, 197 +Junker 152 + +K + +Kaiser 164-166 +Kant 303 +Kemp 19 +King Coal 137 +Kingsley 34 +Knights of Columbus 123 +Koreshanity 248 + +L + +La Follette 260 +Landor 34 +Lankester 306 +Lea 39 +Leeky 136 +Leo XIII 119, 123 +Ligouri 174 +Li Hung Chang 75 +London 276 +Los Angeles 149, 150, 208, 209, 217 +L.A. Examiner 149 +L.A. Times 44, 151 +Lourdes 258 +Luther 161, 163 + +M + +MacGill 42 +Machen 273 +Mallock 77 +Malthus 77 +Manning 118 +Manu 285 +Markham 302 +Marx 71, 173 +Massey 55 +Mazdaznan 250 +McCabe 148 +McDonald 139 +Mellen 185 +Menace 135 +Milton 199 +Morality 308 +More 85 +Morgan 99, 101 +Mormon 239, 240 +Moses 36, 37 + +N + +Nazarite 29 +New Haven 180, 181 +New Thought 264 +N.Y. Evening Post 223 +N.Y. Sun 193 +N.Y. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Profits of Religion, Fifth Edition + +Author: Upton Sinclair + +Release Date: August 7, 2005 [EBook #16470] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROFITS OF RELIGION *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jayam Subramanian and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p> +[Transcriber's note: The spelling inconsistencies of the original +are retained in this etext.] +</p> + + +<div style="background-color: white; color: black; border-style: ridge;"> +<center> +<h1>The Profits of Religion</h1></center></div> +<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +<h2><i>An Essay in Economic Interpretation</i></h2> +<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +<h3><i>By</i></h3> +<br /> +<h2>UPTON SINCLAIR</h2> +<br /> <br /> +<center><img alt="illustration" +src="images/image01.jpg" width="139" height="178" /></center> + + <br /> <br /> +<h3><a href="#CONTENTS">CONTENTS</a></h3> +<h4>NEW YORK<br /> +VANGUARD PRESS</h4> +<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> + + + +<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +<h6> +VANGUARD PRINTINGS<br /> +<i>First—January</i>, 1927<br /> +<i>Second—April</i>, 1927<br /> +<i>Third—June</i>, 1928</h6> + +<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +<h5>PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</h5> +<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +<h4>OFFERTORY</h4> +<p> +This book is a study of Supernaturalism from a new point of view—as a +Source of Income and a Shield to Privilege. I have searched the +libraries through, and no one has done it before. If you read it, you +will see that it needed to be done. It has meant twenty-five years of +thought and a year of investigation. It contains the facts.</p> +<p>I publish the book myself, so that it may be available at the lowest +possible price. I am giving my time and energy, in return for one +thing which you may give me—the joy of speaking a true word and +getting it heard.</p> +<p>Note to fifth edition, 1926: "The Profits of Religion" was first +published early in 1917. The present edition represents a sale of over +60,000 copies, without counting a dozen translations. In this edition +a few errors have been corrected, but otherwise the book has not been +changed. The reader will understand that references to the World War +are of the date 1917, prior to America's entrance.</p> +<p>This book is the first of a series of volumes, an economic +interpretation of culture, which now includes "The Brass Check," "The +Goose-step," "The Goslings," and "Mammonart."</p> +<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +<h3><a name="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</a></h3> + +<br /> <br /> +<ul> +<li><h3>Introductory</h3></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_11"><b>Bootstrap-lifting</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_16"><b>Religion</b></a><br /> <br /></li> + +<li><h3>Book One: The Church of the Conquerors</h3></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_21"><b>The Priestly Lie</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_24"><b>The Great Fear</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_27"><b>Salve Regina!</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_28"><b>Fresh Meat</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_31"><b>Priestly Empires</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_33"><b>Prayer-wheels</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_35"><b>The Butcher-Gods</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_38"><b>The Holy Inquisition</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_41"><b>Hell-fire</b></a><br /><br /></li> + +<li><h3>Book Two: The Church of Good Society</h3></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_47"><b>The Rain Makers</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_50"><b>The Babylonian Fire-God</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_52"><b>The Medicine-men</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_55"><b>The Canonization of Incompetence</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_58"><b>Gibson's Preservative</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_62"><b>The Elders</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_66"><b>Church History</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_68"><b>Land and Livings</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_71"><b>Graft in Tail</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_73"><b>Bishops and Beer</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_76"><b>Anglicanism and Alcohol</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_80"><b>Dead Cats</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_84"><b>"Suffer Little Children"</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_89"><b>The Court-circular</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_92"><b>Horn-blowing</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_94"><b>Trinity Corporation</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_97"><b>Spiritual Interpretation</b></a><br /><br /></li> + +<li><h3>Book Three: The Church of the Servant Girls</h3></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_105"><b>Charity</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_109"><b>God's Armor</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_113"><b>Thanksgivings</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_115"><b>The Holy Roman Empire</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_118"><b>Temporal Power</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_120"><b>Knights of Slavery</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_122"><b>Priests and Police</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_125"><b>The Church Militant</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_128"><b>The Church Triumphant</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_131"><b>God in the Schools</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_133"><b>The Menace</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_137"><b>King Coal</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_141"><b>The Unholy Alliance</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_144"><b>Secret Service</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_146"><b>Tax Exemption</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_148"><b>Holy History</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_152"><b>Das Centrum</b></a><br /><br /></li> + +<li><h3>Book Four: The Church of the Slavers</h3></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_161"><b>The Face of Caesar</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_163"><b>Deutsehland ueber Alles</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_164"><b>Der Tag</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_167"><b>King Cotton</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_170"><b>Witches and Women</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_173"><b>Moth and Rust</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_176"><b>To Lyman Abbott</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_180"><b>The Octopus</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_183"><b>The Industrial Shelley</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_187"><b>The Outlook for Graft</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_191"><b>Clerical Camouflage</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_195"><b>The Jungle</b></a><br /><br /></li> + +<li><h3>Book Five: The Church of the Merchants</h3></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_201"><b>The Head Merchant</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_203"><b>"Herr Beeble"</b></a></li> +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_207"><b>Holy Oil</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_212"><b>Rhetorical Black-hanging</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_214"><b>The Great American Fraud</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_217"><b>Riches in Glory</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_219"><b>Captivating Ideals</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_222"><b>Spook Hunting</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_225"><b>Running the Rapids</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_227"><b>Birth Control</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_230"><b>Sheep</b></a><br /><br /></li> + +<li><h3>Book Six: The Church of the Quacks</h3></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_237"><b>Tabula Rasa</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_239"><b>The Book of Mormon</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_242"><b>Holy Rolling</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_245"><b>Bible Prophecy</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_248"><b>Koreshanity</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_250"><b>Mazdaznan</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_253"><b>Black Magic</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_257"><b>Mental Malpractice</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_261"><b>Science and Wealth</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_264"><b>New Nonsense</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_267"><b>"Dollars Want Me!"</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_270"><b>Spiritual Financiering</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_273"><b>The Graft of Grace</b></a><br /><br /></li> + +<li><h3>Book Seven: The Church of the Social Revolution</h3></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_281"><b>Christ and Caesar</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_284"><b>Locusts and Wild Honey</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_287"><b>Mother Earth</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_290"><b>The Soap Box</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_292"><b>The Church Machine</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_296"><b>The Church Redeemed</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_300"><b>The Desire of Nations</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_302"><b>The Knowable</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_305"><b>"Nature's Insurgent Son"</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_308"><b>The New Morality</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_311"><b>Envoi</b></a></li> + +<li class="indent"> +<a href="#Page_317"><b>INDEX</b></a></li> + +</ul> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> + +<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +<a href="#CONTENTS"><b>CONTENTS</b></a> +<hr /> +<h3><a name="INTRODUCTORY" id="INTRODUCTORY">INTRODUCTORY</a></h3> +<hr /><br /> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Bootstrap-lifting</b></p> +<p> +Bootstrap-lifting? says the reader.</p> +<p> +It is a vision I have seen: upon a vast plain, men and women are +gathered in dense throngs, crouched in uncomfortable and distressing +positions, their fingers hooked in the straps of their boots. They are +engaged in lifting themselves; tugging and straining until they grow +red in the face, exhausted. The perspiration streams from their +foreheads, they show every symptom of distress; the eyes of all are +fixed, not upon each other, nor upon their boot-straps, but upon the +sky above. There is a look of rapture upon their faces, and now and +then, amid grunts and groans, they cry out with excitement and +triumph.</p> +<p> +I approach one and say to him, "Friend, what is this you are doing?"</p> +<p> +He answers, without pausing to glance at me, "I am performing +spiritual exercises. See how I rise?"</p> +<p> +"But," I say, "you are not rising at all!"</p> +<p> +Whereat he becomes instantly angry. "You are one of the scoffers!"</p> +<p> +"But, friend," I protest, "don't you feel the earth under your feet?"</p> +<p> +"You are a materialist!"</p> +<p> +"But, friend, I can see—"</p> +<p> +"You are without spiritual vision!"</p> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +And so I move on among the sweating and groaning hordes. Being of a +sympathetic turn of mind, I cannot help being distressed by the +prevalence of this singular practice among so large a portion of the +human race. How is it possible that none of them should suspect the +futility of their procedure? Or can it really be that I am +uncomprehending? That in some way they are actually getting off the +ground, or about to get off the ground?</p> +<p> +Then I observe a new phenomenon: a man gliding here and there among +the bootstrap-lifters, approaching from the rear and slipping his +hands into their pockets. The position of the spiritual exercisers +greatly facilitates his work; their eyes being cast up to heaven, they +do not see him, their thoughts being occupied, they do not heed him; +he goes through their pockets at leisure, and transfers the contents +to a bag he carries, and then moves on to the next victim. I watch him +for a while, and finally approach and ask, "What are you doing, sir?"</p> +<p> +He answers, "I am picking pockets."</p> +<p> +"Oh," I say, puzzled by his matter-of-course tone. "But—I beg +pardon—are you a thief?"</p> +<p> +"Oh, no," he answers, smilingly, "I am the agent of the Wholesale +Pickpockets' Association. This is Prosperity."</p> +<p> +"I see," I reply. "And these people let you—"</p> +<p> +"It is the law," he says. "It is also the gospel."</p> +<p> +I turn, following his glance, and observe another person +approaching—a stately figure, clad in scarlet and purple robes, +moving with slow dignity. Ha gazes about at the sweating and grunting +hordes; now and then he stops and lifts his hands in a gesture of +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> + +benediction, and proclaims in rolling tones, "Blessed are the +Bootstrap-lifters, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." He moves on, +and after a bit stops and announces again, "Man doth not live by bread +alone, but by every word that cometh out of the mouth of the prophets +and priests of Bootstrap-lifting."</p> +<p> +Watching a while longer, I see this majestic one approach the agent of +the Wholesale Pickpockets' Association. The agent greets him as a +friend, and proceeds to transfer to the pockets of his capacious robes +a generous share of the loot which he has collected. The majestic one +does not cringe, nor does he make any effort to hide what is going on. +On the contrary he cries aloud, "It is more blessed to give than to +receive!" And again he cries, "The laborer is worthy of his hire!" And +a third time he cries, yet more sternly, "Render unto Caesar the +things which are Caesar's!" And the Bootstrap-lifters pause long +enough to answer: "Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to +keep this law!" Then they renew their straining and tugging.</p> +<p> +I step up, and in timid tones begin, "Reverend sir, will you tell me +by what right you take this wealth?"</p> +<p> +Instantly a frown comes upon his face, and he cries in a voice of +thunder, "Blasphemer!" And all the Bootstrap-lifters desist from their +lifting, and menace me with furious looks. There is a general call for +a policeman of the Wholesale Pickpockets' Association; and so I fall +silent, and slink away in the throng, and thereafter keep my thoughts +to myself.</p> +<p> +Over the vast plain I wander, observing a thousand strange and +incredible and terrifying manifestations of the Bootstrap-lifting +impulse. There is, I discover, a +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> + regular propaganda on foot; a long +time ago—no man can recall how far back—the Wholesale Pickpockets +made the discovery of the ease with which a man's pockets could be +rifled while he was preoccupied with spiritual exercises, and they +began offering prizes for the best essays in support of the practice. +Now their propaganda is everywhere triumphant, and year by year we see +an increase in the rewards and emoluments of the prophets and priests +of the cult. The ground is covered with stately temples of various +designs, all of which I am told are consecrated to Bootstrap-lifting. +I come to where a group of people are occupied in laying the +corner-stone of a new white marble structure; I inquire and am +informed it is the First Church of Bootstrap-lifters, Scientist. As I +stand watching, a card is handed to me, informing me that a lady will +do my Bootstrap-lifting at five dollars per lift.</p> +<p> +I go on to another building, which I am told is a library containing +volumes in defense of the Bootstrap-lifters, published under the +auspices of the Wholesale Pickpockets. I enter, and find endless +vistas of shelves, also several thousand current magazines and papers. +I consult these—for my legs have given out in the effort to visit and +inspect all phases of the Bootstrap-lifting practice. I discover that +hardly a week passes that some one does not start a new cult, or +revive an old one; if I had a hundred life-times I could not know all +the creeds and ceremonies, the services and rituals, the litanies and +liturgies, the hymns, anthems and offertories of Bootstrap-lifting. +There are the Holy Roman Bootstrap-lifters, whose priests are fed by +Transubstantiation; the established Anglican Bootstrap-lifters, whose +priests live +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> + by "livings"; the Baptist Bootstrap-lifters, whose +preachers practice total immersion in Standard Oil. There are Yogi +Bootstrap-lifters with flowing robes of yellow silk; Theosophist +Bootstrap-lifters with green and purple auras; Mormon +Bootstrap-lifters, Mazdaznan Bootstrap-lifters, Spiritualist and +Spirit-Fruit, Millerite and Dowieite, Holy Roller and Holy Jumper, +Come-to-glory negro, Billy Sunday base-ball and Salvation Army +bass-drum Bootstrap-lifters. There are the thousand varieties of "New +Thought" Bootstrap-lifters; the mystic and transcendentalist, +Swedenborgian and Jacob Boehme Bootstrap-lifters; the Elbert Hubbard +high-art Bootstrap-lifters with half a million magazinelets at two +bits apiece; the "uplift" and "optimist," the Ralph Waldo Trine and +Orison Swett Marden Bootstrap-lifters with a hundred thousand volumes +at one dollar per volume. There are the Platonist and Hegelian and +Kantian professors of collegiate metaphysical Bootstrap-lifting at +several thousand dollars per year each. There are the Nietzschean +Bootstrap-lifters, who lift themselves to the Superman, and the +art-for-art's-sake, neo-Pagan Bootstrap-lifters, who lift themselves +down to the Ape.</p> +<p> +Excepting possibly the last-mentioned group, the priests of all these +cults, the singers, shouters, prayers and exhorters of +Bootstrap-lifting have as their distinguishing characteristic that +they do very little lifting at their own bootstraps, and less at any +other man's. Now and then you may see one bend and give a delicate +tug, of a purely symbolical character: as when the Supreme Pontiff of +the Roman Bootstrap-lifters comes once a year to wash the feet of the +poor; or when the Sunday-school Superintendent of the Baptist +Bootstrap-lifters +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> + shakes the hand of one of his Colorado +mine-slaves. But for the most part the priests and preachers of +Bootstrap-lifting walk haughtily erect, many of them being so swollen +with prosperity that they could not reach their bootstraps if they +wanted to. Their role in life is to exhort other men to more vigorous +efforts at self-elevation, that the agents of the Wholesale +Pickpockets' Association may ply their immemorial role with less +chance of interference.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Religion</b></p> +<p> + +The reader, offended by this raillery, asks if I mean to impugn the +sincerity of all who preach the supremacy of the soul. No; I admit the +honesty of the heroes and madmen of history. All I ask of the preacher +is that he shall make an effort to practice his doctrine. Let him be +tormented like Don Quixote; let him go mad like Nietzsche; let him +stand upon a pillar and be devoured by worms like Simeon Stylites—on +these terms I grant to any dreamer the right to hold himself above +economic science.</p> +<p> +Man is an evasive beast, given to cultivating strange notions about +himself. He is humiliated by his simian ancestry, and tries to deny +his animal nature, to persuade himself that he is not limited by its +weaknesses nor concerned in its fate. And this impulse may be +harmless, when it is genuine. But what are we to say when we see the +formulas of heroic self-deception made use of by unheroic +self-indulgence? What are we to say when we see asceticism preached to +the poor by fat and comfortable retainers of the rich? What are we to +say when we see idealism become hypocrisy, and the moral and spiritual +heritage of mankind twisted to the knavish +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> + purposes of +class-cruelty and greed? What I say is—Bootstrap-lifting!</p> +<p> +It is the fate of many abstract words to be used in two senses, one +good and the other bad. Morality means the will to righteousness, or +it means Anthony Comstock; democracy means the rule of the people, or +it means Tammany Hall. And so it is with the word "Religion". In its +true sense Religion is the most fundamental of the soul's impulses, +the impassioned love of life, the feeling of its preciousness, the +desire to foster and further it. In that sense every thinking man must +be religious; in that sense Religion is a perpetually self-renewing +force, the very nature of our being. In that sense I have no thought +of assailing it, I would make clear that I hold it beyond assailment.</p> +<p> +But we are denied the pleasure of using the word in that honest sense, +because of another which has been given to it. To the ordinary man +"Religion" means, not the soul's longing for growth, the "hunger and +thirst after righteousness", but certain forms in which this hunger +has manifested itself in history, and prevails today throughout the +world; that is to say, institutions having fixed dogmas and +"revelations", creeds and rituals, with an administering caste +claiming supernatural sanction. By such institutions the moral +strivings of the race, the affections of childhood and the aspirations +of youth are made the prerogatives and stock in trade of +ecclesiastical hierarchies. It is the thesis of this book that +"Religion" in this sense is a source of income to parasites, and the +natural ally of every form of oppression and exploitation.</p> +<p> +If by my jesting at "Bootstrap-lifting" I have wounded +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> + some dear +prejudice of the reader, let me endeavor to speak in a more persuasive +voice. I am a man who has suffered, and has seen the suffering of +others; I have devoted my life to analyzing the causes of the +suffering, to find out if it be necessary and fore-ordained, or if by +any chance there be a way of escape for future generations. I have +found that the latter is the case; the suffering is needless, it can +with ease and certainty be banished from the earth. I know this with +the knowledge of science—in the same way that the navigator of a ship +knows his latitude and longitude, and the point of the compass to +which he must steer in order to reach the port.</p> +<p> +Come, reader, let us put aside prejudice, and the terrors of the cults +of the unknown. The power which made us has given us a mind, and the +impulse to its use; let us see what can be done with it to rid the +earth of its ancient evils. And do not be troubled if at the outset +this book seems to be entirely "destructive". I assure you that I am +no crude materialist, I am not so shallow as to imagine that our race +will be satisfied with a barren rationalism. I know that the old +symbols came out of the heart of man because they corresponded to +certain needs of the heart of man. I know that new symbols will be +found, corresponding more exactly to the needs of our time. If here I +set to work to tear down an old and ramshackle building, it is not +from blind destructfulness, but as an architect who means to put a new +and sounder structure in its place. Before we part company I shall +submit the blue print of that new home of the spirit. +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +</p> +<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +<a href="#CONTENTS"><b>CONTENTS</b></a> +<hr /> +<h3>BOOK ONE</h3> +<hr/> +<br /> +<h4>The Church of the Conquerors</h4> +<br /> +<blockquote class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">I saw the Conquerors riding by<br /></span> +<span class="i4">With trampling feet of horse and men:<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Empire on empire like the tide<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Flooded the world and ebbed again;<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">A thousand banners caught the sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And cities smoked along the plain,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And laden down with silk and gold<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And heaped up pillage groaned the wain.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="quotsig"> Kemp.</p> +</blockquote> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> + + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Priestly Lie</b></p> +<p> +When the first savage saw his hut destroyed by a bolt +of lightning, he fell down upon his face in terror. He +had no conception of natural forces, of laws of electricity; +he saw this event as the act of an individual intelligence. +To-day we read about fairies and demons, +dryads and fauns and satyrs, Wotan and Thor and Vulcan, +Freie and Flora and Ceres, and we think of all these +as pretty fancies, play-products of the mind; losing sight +of the fact that they were originally meant with entire +seriousness—that not merely did ancient man believe in +them, but was forced to believe in them, because the +mind must have an explanation of things that happen, +and an individual intelligence was the only explanation +available. The story of the hero who slays the devouring +dragon was not merely a symbol of day and night, of +summer and winter; it was a literal explanation of the +phenomena, it was the science of early times.</p> +<p> +Men imagined supernatural powers such as they +could comprehend. If the lightning god destroyed a hut, +obviously it must be because the owner of the hut had +given offense; so the owner must placate the god, using +those means which would be effective in the quarrels +of men—presents of roast meats and honey and fresh +fruits, of wine and gold and jewels and women, accompanied +by friendly words and gestures of submission. +And when in spite of all things the natural evil did not +cease, when the people continued to die of pestilence, +then came the opportunity for hysterical or ambitious +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> + +persons to discover new ways of penetrating the mind +of the god. There would be dreamers of dreams and +seers of visions and hearers of voices; readers of the +entrails of beasts and interpreters of the flight of birds; +there would be burning bushes and stone tablets on +mountain-tops, and inspired words dictated to aged disciples +on lonely islands. There would arise special castes +of men and women, learned in these sacred matters; and +these priestly castes would naturally emphasize the importance +of their calling, would hold themselves aloof +from the common herd, endowed with special powers and +entitled to special privileges. They would interpret the +oracles in ways favorable to themselves and their order; +they would proclaim themselves friends and confidants +of the god, walking with him in the night-time, receiving +his messengers and angels, acting as his deputies in forgiving +offenses, in dealing punishments and in receiving +gifts. They would become makers of laws and moral +codes. They would wear special costumes to distinguish +them, they would go through elaborate ceremonies to +impress their followers, employing all sensuous effects, +architecture and sculpture and painting, music and +poetry and dancing, candles and incense and bells and +gongs</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">And storied windows richly dight,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Casting a dim religious light.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">There let the pealing organ blow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To the full-voiced choir below,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In service high and anthem clear,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As may with sweetness through mine ear<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Dissolve me into ecstacies,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And bring all heaven before mine eyes.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> +So builds itself up, in a thousand complex and complicated +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> + +forms, the Priestly Lie. There are a score of +great religions in the world, each with scores or hundreds +of sects, each with its priestly orders, its complicated +creed and ritual, its heavens and hells. Each has +its thousands or millions or hundreds of millions of "true +believers"; each damns all the others, with more or less +heartiness—and each is a mighty fortress of Graft.</p> +<p> +There will be few readers of this book who have not +been brought up under the spell of some one of these +systems of Supernaturalism; who have not been taught +to speak with respect of some particular priestly order, +to thrill with awe at some particular sacred rite, to seek +respite from earthly woes in some particular ceremonial +spell. These things are woven into our very fibre in +childhood; they are sanctified by memories of joys and +griefs, they are confused with spiritual struggles, they +become part of all that is most vital in our lives. The +reader who wishes to emancipate himself from their +thrall will do well to begin with a study of the beliefs +and practices of other sects than his own—a field where +he is free to observe and examine without fear of sacrilege. +Let him look into Madame Blavatsky's "Secret +Doctrine", or her "Isis Unveiled"—encyclopedias of the +fantastic inventions which terror and longing have wrung +out of the tortured soul of man. Here are mysteries and +solemnities, charms and spells, illuminations and transmigrations, +angels and demons, guides, controls and +masters—all of which it is permissible to refuse to support +with gifts. Let the reader then go to James Freeman +Clarke's "Ten Great Religions", and realize how +many billions of humans have lived and died in the solemn +certainty that their welfare on earth and in heaven +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> + +depended upon their accepting certain ideas and practicing +certain rites, all mutually exclusive and incompatible, +each damning the others and the followers of the +others. So gradually the realization will come to him +that the test of a doctrine about life and its welfare must +be something else than the fact that one was born to it.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Great Fear</b></p> +<p> +It was not the fault of primitive man that he was +ignorant, nor that his ignorance made him a prey to dread. +The traces of his mental suffering will inspire in us only +pity and sympathy; for Nature is a grim school-mistress, +and not all her lessons have yet been learned. We have +a right to scorn and anger only when we see this dread +being diverted from its true function, a stimulus to a +search for knowledge, and made into a means of clamping +down ignorance upon the mind of the race. That +this has been the deliberate policy of institutionalized +Religion no candid student can deny.</p> +<p> +The first thing brought forth by the study of any +religion, ancient or modern, is that it is based upon Fear, +born of it, fed by it—and that it cultivates the source +from which its nourishment is derived. "The fear of +divine anger", says Prof. Jastrow, "runs as an undercurrent +through the entire religious literature of Babylonia +and Assyria." In the words of Tabi-utul-Enlil, King of +ancient Nippur:</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Who is there that can grasp the will of the gods in heaven?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The plan of a god is full of mystery—who can understand it?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He who is still alive at evening is dead the next morning.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In an instant he is cast into grief, in a moment he is crushed.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> +And that cry might be duplicated from almost any +page of the Hebrew scriptures: the only difference being +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> + +that the Hebrews combined all their fears into one Great +Fear. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," +we are told by Solomon of the thousand wives; +and the Psalmist repeats it. "Dominion and fear are with +Him," cries Job. "How then can any man be just before +God? Or how can he be clean that is born of a +woman? Behold, even the moon hath no brightness, and +the stars are not pure in His sight: How much less man, +that is a worm? And the son of man, which is a worm?" +He goes on, in his lyrical rapture, "Sheol is naked before +Him, and Destruction hath no covering.... The pillars +of heaven tremble and are astonished at His rebuke. +... The thunder of His power who can understand?" +That all this is some of the world's great poetry +does not in the least alter the fact that it is an abasement +of the soul, an hysterical perversion of the facts of life, +and a preparation of the mind for the seeds of Priestcraft.</p> +<p> +The Book of Job has been called a "Wisdom-drama": +and what is the denouement of this drama, what is ancient +Hebrew wisdom's last word about life? "Wherefore +I abhor myself," says Job, "and repent in dust and +ashes." The poor fellow has done nothing; we have been +told at the beginning that he "was perfect and upright, +and one that feared God, and eschewed evil." But the +Sabeans and the Chaldeans rob him, and "the fire of God" +falls from heaven and burns up his sheep and his servants, +and "a great wind from the wilderness" kills his +sons and daughters; and then his body becomes covered +with boils—a phenomenon caused in part by worry, and +the consequent nervous indigestion, but mainly by excess +of starch and deficiency of mineral salts in the diet. Job, +however, has never heard of the fasting cure for disease, +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +and so he takes him a potsherd to scrape himself withal, +and he sits among the ashes—a highly unsanitary procedure +enforced by his religious ritual. So naturally he +feels like a worm, and abhors himself, and cries out: "I +know that Thou canst do all things, and that no purpose +of Thine can be restrained." By which utter, unreasoning +humility he succeeds in appeasing the Great Fear, and +his friends make a sacrifice of seven bullocks and seven +rams—a feast for a whole templeful of priests—and then +"the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.... +And after this Job lived an hundred and forty years, and +saw his sons and his sons' sons, even four generations."</p> +<p> +You do not have to look very deeply into this "Wisdom-drama" +to find out whose wisdom it is. Confess +your own ignorance and your own impotence, abandon +yourself utterly, and then we, the sacred Caste, the Keepers +of the Holy Secrets, will secure you pardon and respite—in +exchange for fresh meat. Here are verses from +a psalm of the ancient Babylonians, which "heathen" +chant is identical in spirit and purpose with the utterances +of Job:</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">The Sin that I have wrought, I know not;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The unclean that I have eaten, I know not;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The offense into which I have walked, I know not....<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The lord, in the wrath of his heart, hath regarded me;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The god, in the anger of his heart, hath surrounded me;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A goddess, known or unknown, hath wrought me sorrow....<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I sought for help, but no one took my hand;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I wept, but no one harkened to me....<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The feet of my goddess I kiss, I touch them;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To the god, known or unknown, I utter my prayer;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">O god, known or unknown, turn thy countenance, accept my sacrifice;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">O goddess, known or unknown, look mercifully on me, accept my sacrifice!<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Salve Regina!</b></p> +<p> +And now let the reader leap three thousand years of +human history, of toil and triumph of the intellect of +man; and instead of a Hebrew manuscript or a Babylonian +brick there confronts him a little publication, +printed on a modern rotary press in the capital of the +United States of America, bearing the date of October, +1914, and the title "Salve Regina". In it we find "a +beautiful prayer", composed by the late cardinal Rampolla; +we are told that "Pius X. attached to it an indulgence +of 100 days, each time it is piously recited, applicable +to the souls in purgatory."</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +O Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, cast a glance from +Heaven, where thou sittest as Queen, upon this poor sinner, +your servant. Though conscious of his unworthiness.... he +blesses and exalts thee from his whole heart as the purest, the +most beautiful and the most holy of creatures. He blesses thy +holy name. He blesses thy sublime prerogatives as real Mother +of God, ever Virgin, conceived without stain of sin, as co-Redemptress +of the human race. He blesses the Eternal Father +who chose you, etc. He blesses the Incarnate Word, etc. He +blesses the Divine Spirit, etc. He blesses, exalts and thanks +the most august Trinity, etc. O Virgin, holy and merciful.... +be pleased to accept this little homage of your servant, and +obtain for him also from your divine Son pardon for his sins, +Amen.</p> + +</div> +<p> +And then, looking more closely, we discover the purpose +of this "beautiful prayer", and of the neat little +paper which prints it. "Salve Regina" is raising funds +for the "National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception", +a home for more priests, and Catholic ladies who +desire to collect for it may receive little books which +they are requested to return within three months. Pius +X writes a letter of warm endorsement, and sets an example +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> + +by giving four hundred dollars "out of his poverty"—or, +to be more precise, out of the poverty of the pitiful +peasantry of Italy. There is included in the paper a form +of bequest for "devoted clients of Our Blessed Mother", +and at the top of the editorial page the most alluring of +all baits for the loving hearts of the flock—that the names +of deceased relatives and friends may be written in the +collection books, and will be transferred to the records +of the Shrine, and these persons "will share in all its spiritual +benefits". In the days of Job it was with threats +of boils and poverty that the Priestly Lie maintained itself; +but in the case of this blackest of all Terrors, transplanted +to our free Republic from the heart of the Dark +Ages, the wretched victims see before their eyes the glare +of flames, and hear the shrieks of their loved ones writhing +in torment through uncounted ages and eternities.</p> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Fresh Meat</b></p> +<p> +In the days when I was experimenting with vegetarianism, +I sought earnestly for evidence of a non-meat-eating +race; but candor compelled me to admit that man +was like the monkey and the pig and the bear—he was +vegetarian when he could not help it. The advocates of +the reform insist that meat as a diet causes muddy +brains and dulled nerves; but you would certainly never +suspect this from a study of history. What you find in +history is that all men crave meat, all struggle for it, and +the strongest and cleverest get it. Everywhere you find +the subject classes living in the midst of animals which +they tend, but whose flesh they rarely taste. Even in +modern America, sweet land of liberty, our millions of +tenant farmers raise chickens and geese and turkeys, and +hardly venture to consume as much as an egg, but save +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> + +everything for the summer-boarder or the buyer from the +city. It would not be too much to say of the cultural records +of early man that they all have to do, directly or +indirectly, with the reserving of fresh meat to the masters. +In J.T. Trowbridge's cheerful tale of the adventures +of Captain Seaborn, we are told by the cannibal +priest how idol-worship has ameliorated the morals of +the tribe—</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"><p> +<span class="i2">For though some warriors of renown<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Continue anthropophagous,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">'Tis rare that human flesh goes down<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The low-caste man's aesophagus!<br /></span> +</p></div> +</blockquote> +<p> +I suspect that we should have to go back to the days +of the cave-man to find the first lover of the flesh-pots +who put a taboo upon meat, and promised supernatural +favors to all who would exercise self-control, and instead +of consuming their meat themselves, would bring it and +lay it upon the sacred griddle, or altar, where the god +might come in the night-time and partake of it. Certainly, +at any rate, there are few religions of record in +which such devices do not appear. The early laws of the +Hebrews are more concerned with delicatessen for the +priests than with any other subject whatever. Here, for +example, is the way to make a Nazarite:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +He shall offer his offering up to the Lord, one he lamb of +the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe +lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering, and +one ram without blemish for peace offerings, and a basket of +unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and +wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their meat +offerings.</p> + +</div> +<p> +And the law goes on to instruct the priests to take +certain choice parts and "wave them for a wave offering +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> + +before the Lord: this is holy for the priest." What was +done with the other portions we are not told; but earlier +in this same "Book of Numbers" we find the general +law that</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +Every offering of all the holy things of the children of +Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his. And every +man's hallowed things shall be his: whatsoever any man +giveth to the priest, it shall be his.</p> + +</div> +<p> +In the same way we are told by Viscount Amberley +that the priests of Ceylon first present the gifts to the +god, and then eat them. Among the Parsees, when a man +dies, the relatives must bring four new robes to the +priests; if they do this, the priests wear the robes; if they +fail to do it, the dead man appears naked before the judgment-throne. +The devotees are instructed that "he who +performs this rite succeeds in both worlds, and obtains +a firm footing in both worlds." Among the Buddhists, +the followers give alms to the monks, and are told specifically +what advantages will thereby accrue to them. In +the Aitareyo Brahmanam of the Rig-Veda we read</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +He who, knowing this, sacrifices according to this rite, is +born from the womb of Agni and the offerings, participates in +the nature of the Rik, Yajus, and Saman, the Veda (sacred +knowledge), the Brahma (sacred element) and immortality, and +is absorbed into the deity.</p> +</div> +<p> +Among the Parsees the priest eats the bread and drinks +the haoma, or juice of a plant, considered to be both a +plant and a god. Among the Episcopalians, a contemporary +Christian sect, the sacred juice is that of the +grape, and the priest is not allowed to throw away what +is left of it, but is ordered "reverently to consume it." In +as much as the priest is the sole judge of how much good +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> + +sherry wine he shall consecrate previous to the ceremony, +it is to be expected that the priests of this cult +should be lukewarm towards the prohibition movement, +and should piously refuse to administer their sacrament +with unfermented and uninteresting grape-juice.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Priestly Empires</b></p> +<p> +In every human society of which we have record +there has been one class which has done the hard and +exhausting work, the "hewers of wood and drawers of +water"; and there has been another, much smaller class +which has done the directing. To belong to this latter +class is to work also, but with the head instead of the +hands; it is also to enjoy the good things of life, to live +in the best houses, to eat the best food, to have choice of +the most desirable women; it is to have leisure to cultivate +the mind and appreciate the arts, to acquire graces +and distinctions, to give laws and moral codes, to shape +fashions and tastes, to be revered and regarded—in +short, to have Power. How to get this Power and to +hold it has been the first object of the thoughts of men +from the beginning of time.</p> +<p> +The most obvious method is by the sword; but this +method is uncertain, for any man may take up a sword, +and some may succeed with it. It will be found that +empires based upon military force alone, however cruel +they may be, are not permanent, and therefore not so +dangerous to progress; it is only when resistance is paralyzed +by the agency of Superstition, that the race can +be subjected to systems of exploitation for hundreds and +even thousands of years. The ancient empires were all +priestly empires; the kings ruled because they obeyed +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> + +the will of the priests, taught to them from childhood as +the word of the gods.</p> +<p> +Thus, for instance, Prescott tells us:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +Terror, not love, was the spring of education with the Aztecs....Such +was the crafty policy of the priests, who, by +reserving to themselves the business of instruction, were enabled +to mould the young and plastic mind according to their +own wills, and to train it early to implicit reverence for religion +and its ministers.</p> +</div> +<p> +The historian goes on to indicate the economic harvest +of this teaching:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +To each of the principal temples, lands were annexed for +the maintenance of the priests. The estates were augmented +by the policy or devotion of successive princes, until, under the +last Montezuma, they had swollen to an enormous extent, and +covered every district of the empire.</p> + +</div> +<p> +And this concerning the frightful system of human +sacrifices, whereby the priestly caste maintained the prestige +of its divinities:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +At the dedication of the temple of Huitzilopochtli, in 1486, +the prisoners, who for some years had been reserved for the +purpose, were ranged in files, forming a procession nearly two +miles long. The ceremony consumed several days, and seventy +thousand captives are said to have perished at the shrine of +this terrible deity.</p> + +</div> +<p> +The same system appears in Professor Jastrow's account +of the priesthood of Babylonia and Assyria:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +The ultimate source of all law being the deity himself, the +original legal tribunal was the place where the image or symbol +of the god stood. A legal decision was an oracle or omen, +indicative of the will of the god. The power thus lodged in the +priests of Babylonia and Assyria was enormous. They virtually +held in their hands the life and death of the people.</p> + +</div> +<p> +And of the business side of this vast religious system: +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +The temples were the natural depositories of the legal archives, +which in the course of centuries grew to veritably enormous +proportions. Records were made of all decisions; the +facts were set forth, and duly attested by witnesses. Business +and marriage contracts, loans and deeds of sale were in like +manner drawn up in the presence of official scribes, who were +also priests. In this way all commercial transactions received +the written sanction of the religious organization. The temples +themselves—at least in the large centres—entered into +business relations with the populace. In order to maintain the +large household represented by such an organization as that of +the temple of Enlil of Nippur, that of Ningirsu at Lagash, that +of Marduk at Babylon, or that of Shamash at Sippar, large holdings +of land were required which, cultivated by agents for the +priests, or farmed out with stipulations for a goodly share of +the produce, secured an income for the maintenance of the +temple officials. The enterprise of the temples was expanded +to the furnishing of loans at interest—in later periods, at 20%—to +barter in slaves, to dealings in lands, besides engaging labor +for work of all kinds directly needed for the temples. A large +quantity of the business documents found in the temple archives +are concerned with the business affairs of the temple, and we +are justified in including the temples in the large centres as +among the most important business institutions of the country. +In financial or monetary transactions the position of the temples +was not unlike that of national banks....</p> + +</div> +<p> +And so on. We may venture the guess that the +learned professor said more in that last sentence than +he himself intended, for his lectures were delivered in +that temple of plutocracy, the University of Pennsylvania, +and paid out of an endowment which specifies +that "all polemical subjects shall be positively excluded!"</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Prayer-wheels</b></p> +<p> +These priestly empires exist in the world today. If +we wish to find them we have only to ask ourselves: +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +What countries are making no contribution to the progress +of the race? What countries have nothing to give +us, whether in art, science, or industry?</p> +<p> +For example, Gervaise tells us of the Talapoins, or +priests of Siam, that "they are exempted from all public +charges, they salute nobody, while everybody prostrates +himself before them. They are maintained at the public +expense." In the same way we read of the negroes of +the Caribbean islands that "their priests and priestesses +exercise an almost unlimited power." Miss Kingsley, in +her "West African Studies", tells us that if we desire to +understand the institutions of this district, we must study +the native's religion.</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +For his religion has so firm a grasp upon his mind that +it influences everything he does. It is not a thing apart, as the +religion of the Europeans is at times. The African cannot say, +"Oh, that is all right from a religious point of view, but one +must be practical." To be practical, to get on in the world, to +live the day and night through, he must be right in the religious +point of view, namely, must be on working terms with the +great world of spirits around him. The knowledge of this spirit +world constitutes the religion of the African, and his customs +and ceremonies arise from his idea of the best way to influence +it.</p> + +</div> +<p> +Or consider Henry Savage Lander's account of +Thibet:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +In Lhassa and many other sacred places fanatical pilgrims +make circumambulations, sometimes for miles and miles, and for +days together, covering the entire distance lying flat upon their +bodies.... From the ceiling of the temple hang hundreds of +long strips, katas, offered by pilgrims to the temple, and becoming +so many flying prayers when hung up—for mechanical +praying in every way is prominent in Thibet.... Thus instead +of having to learn by heart long and varied prayers, all you +have to do is to stuff the entire prayer-book into a prayer-wheel,</p> + +</div> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> + +and revolve it while repeating as fast as you can four words +meaning, "O God, the gem emerging from the lotus-flower." ... +The attention of the pilgrims is directed to a large box, or often +a big bowl, where they may deposit whatever offerings they can +spare, and it must be said that their religious ideas are so +strongly developed that they will dispose of a considerable portion +of their money in this fashion.... The Lamas are very +clever in many ways, and have a great hold over the entire +country. They are ninety per cent of them unscrupulous +scamps, depraved in every way and given to every sort of vice. +So are the women Lamas. They live and sponge on the credulity +and ignorance of the crowds; it is to maintain this ignorance, +upon which their luxurious life depends, that foreign influence +of every kind is strictly kept out of the country.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Butcher-Gods</b></p> +<p> +In this last sentence we have summed up the fundamental +fact about institutionalized religion. Wherever +belief and ritual have become the means of livelihood of +a class, all innovation will of necessity be taken as an +attack upon that class; it will be literally a crime-robbing +the priests of their age-long privileges. And of +course they will oppose the robber—using every weapon +of terrorism, both of this world and the next. They will +require the submission, not merely of their own people, +but of their neighbors, and their jealousy of rival priestly +castes will be a cause of wars. The story of the early +days of mankind is a sickening record of torture and +slaughter in the name of ten thousand butcher-gods.</p> +<p> +Thus, for example, we read in the Hebrew religious +records how the priests were engaged in establishing the +prestige of a fetish called "the ark"; and how the people +of one tribe violated this fetish and wakened the wrath +of Jehovah, the god. +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> + +And he smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had +looked into the ark of the Lord, even he smote of the people +fifty thousand and three score and ten men; and the people +lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people +with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth-shemesh said, +Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?</p> +<p> +This terrible old Hebrew divinity said of himself that +he was "a jealous god". Throughout the time of his sway +he issued through his ministers precise instructions for +the most revolting cruelties, the extermination of whole +nations of men, women and children, whose sole offense +was that they did not pay tribute to Jehovah's priests. +Thus, for example, the chief of his prophets, Moses, called +the people together, and with all solemnity, and with +many warnings, handed down ten commandments graven +upon stone tablets; he went on to set forth how the people +were to set upon and rob their neighbors, and gave +them these blood-thirsty instructions:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land +whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations +before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the +Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, +and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than +thou; And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before +thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou +shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto +them: ... But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy +their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their +groves, and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art +a holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath +chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people +that are upon the face of the earth.</p> +</div> +<p> +The records of this Jehovah are full of similar horrors. +He sent his chosen people out to destroy the Midianites, +and they slew all the males, but this was not +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +sufficient, and Moses was wroth, and commanded them +to kill all the married women, and to take the single +women "for themselves". We are told that sixteen thousand +single women were spared, of whom "the Lord's +tribute was thirty and two!" In the Book of Joshua we +read that he had an interview with a supernatural personage +called "the captain of the Lord's host", and how +this captain had given to him a magic spell which would +destroy the city of Jericho. The city should be accursed, +"even it and all that are therein, to the Lord"; every +living thing except one traitor-harlot was to be slaughtered, +and all the wealth of the city reserved to the +priestly caste. This was carried out to the letter, except +that "Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son +of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed +thing"—that is, he hid some gold and silver in his tent; +whereupon the army met with a defeat, and everybody +knew that something was wrong, and Joshua rent his +clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark +of the Lord, and got another message from Jehovah, to +the effect that the guilty man should be burned with +fire, "he and all that he hath."</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son +of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of +gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his +asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they +brought them unto the Valley of Achor. And Joshua said, Why +hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. +And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with +fire, after they had stoned him with stones.</p> +</div> +<p> +We have no means of knowing what was the character +of the unfortunate inhabitants of the city of Jericho, +nor of the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +and all the rest of the victims of Jehovah. To be sure, +we are told by the Hebrew priests that they sacrificed +their children to their gods; but then, consider what we +should believe about the Hebrew religion, if we took the +word of rival priestly castes! Consider, for example, that +in this twentieth century we saw an orthodox Jew tried +in a Russian court of law for having made a sacrifice of +Christian babies; nevertheless we know that the Jews +represent a considerable part of the intelligence and +idealism of Russia. We know in the same way that the +Moors had most of the culture and all of the scientific +knowledge of Spain, that the Huguenots had most of the +conscience and industry of France; and we know that +they were massacred or driven out to death by the +priestly castes of the Middle Ages.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Holy Inquisition</b></p> +<p> +Let us have one glimpse of the conditions in those +mediaeval times, so that we may know what we ourselves +have escaped. In the fifteenth century there was +established in Europe the cult of a three-headed god, +whose priests had won lordship over a continent. They +were enormously wealthy, and unthinkably corrupt; they +sold to the rich the license to commit every possible +crime, and they held the poor in ignorance and degradation. +Among the comparatively intelligent and freedom-loving +people of Bohemia there arose a great reformer, +John Huss, himself a priest, protesting against the corruptions +of his order. They trapped him into their power +by means of a "safe-conduct"—which they repudiated +because no promise to a heretic could have validity. +They found him guilty of having taught the hateful doctrine +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> + +that a priest who committed crimes could not give +absolution for the crimes of others; and they held an auto +de fe—which means a "sentence of faith." As we read +in Lea's "History of the Inquisition":</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +The cathedral of Constance was crowded with Sigismund +(the Emperor) and his nobles, the great officers of the empire +with their insignia, the prelates in their splendid robes. While +mass was sung, Huss, as an excommunicate, was kept waiting +at the door; when brought in he was placed on an elevated +bench by a table on which stood a coffer containing priestly +vestments. After some preliminaries, including a sermon by +the Bishop of Lodi, in which he assured Sigismund that the +events of that day would confer on him immortal glory, the +articles of which Huss was convicted were recited. In vain he +protested that he believed in transubstantiation and in the +validity of the sacrament in polluted hands. He was ordered +to hold his tongue, and on his persisting the beadles were told +to silence him, but in spite of this he continued to utter protests. +The sentence was then read in the name of the council, condemning +him both for his written errors and those which had +been proven by witnesses. He was declared a pertinacious and +incorrigible heretic who did not desire to return to the Church; +his books were ordered to be burned, and himself to be degraded +from the priesthood and abandoned to the secular court. +Seven bishops arrayed him in priestly garb and warned him to +recant while yet there was time. He turned to the crowd, and +with broken voice declared that he could not confess the errors +which he never entertained, lest he should lie to God, when the +bishops interrupted him, crying that they had waited long +enough, for he was obstinate in his heresy. He was degraded +in the usual manner, stripped of his sacerdotal vestments, his +fingers scraped; but when the tonsure was to be disposed of, an +absurd quarrel arose among the bishops as to whether the head +should be shaved with a razor or the tonsure be destroyed with +scissors. Scissors won the day, and a cross was cut in his +hair. Then on his head was placed a conical paper cap, a cubit +in height, adorned with painted devils and the inscription, "This +is the heresiarch."</p> + +<p><span class="newpage"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +The place of execution was a meadow near the river, to +which he was conducted by two thousand armed men, with +Palsgrave Louis at their head, and a vast crowd, including many +nobles, prelates, and cardinals. The route followed was circuitous, +in order that he might be carried past the episcopal +palace, in front of which his books were burning, whereat he +smiled. Pity from man there was none to look for, but he +sought comfort on high, repeating to himself, "Christ Jesus, +Son of the living God, have mercy upon us!" and when he +came in sight of the stake he fell on his knees and prayed. He +was asked if he wished to confess, and said that he would gladly +do so if there were space. A wide circle was formed, and Ulrich +Schorand, who, according to custom, had been providently empowered +to take advantage of final weakening, came forward, +saying, "Dear sir and master, if you will recant your unbelief +and heresy, for which you must suffer, I will willingly hear +your confession; but if you will not, you know right well that, +according to canon law, no one can administer the sacrament to +a heretic." To this Huss answered, "It is not necessary: I +am not a mortal sinner." His paper crown fell off and he +smiled as his guards replaced it. He desired to take leave of +his keepers, and when they were brought to him he thanked +them for their kindness, saying that they had been to him rather +brothers than jailers. Then he commenced to address the crowd +in German, telling them that he suffered for errors which he +did not hold, and he was cut short. When bound to the stake, +two cartloads of fagots and straw were piled up around him, +and the palsgrave and vogt for the last time adjured him to +abjure. Even yet he could save himself, but only repeated that +he had been convicted by false witnesses on errors never entertained +by him. They clapped their hands and then withdrew, +and the executioners applied the fire. Twice Huss was heard +to exclaim, "Christ Jesus, Son of the living God, have mercy +upon me!" then a wind springing up and blowing the flames and +smoke into his face checked further utterances, but his head +was seen to shake and his lips to move while one might twice +or thrice recite a paternoster. The tragedy was over; the sorely-tried +soul had escaped from its tormentors, and the bitterest +enemies of the reformer could not refuse to him the praise that +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> + +no philosopher of old had faced death with more composure +than he had shown in his dreadful extremity. No faltering of +the voice had betrayed an internal struggle. Palsgrave Louis, +seeing Huss's mantle on the arm of one of the executioners, +ordered it thrown into the flames lest it should be reverenced +as a relic, and promised the man to compensate him. With the +same view the body was carefully reduced to ashes and thrown +into the Rhine, and even the earth around the stake was dug +up and carted off; yet the Bohemians long hovered around +the spot and carried home fragments of the neighboring clay, +which they reverenced as relics of their martyr. The next day +thanks were returned to God in a solemn procession in which +figured Sigismund and his queen, the princes and nobles, nineteen +cardinals, two patriarchs, seventy-seven bishops, and all +the clergy of the council. A few days later Sigismund, who had +delayed his departure for Spain to see the matter concluded, +left Constance, feeling that his work was done.</p> +</div> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Hell-Fire</b></p> +<p> +If such a scene could be witnessed in the world today, +it would only be in some remote and wholly savage +place, such as the mountains of Hayti, or the Solomon +Islands. It could no longer happen in any civilized +country; the reason being, not any abatement of the pretensions +of the priesthood, but solely the power of +science, embodied in the physical arm of a secular State. +The advance of that arm the church has fought systematically, +in every country, and at every point. To +quote Buckle: "A careful study of the history of religious +toleration will prove that in every Christian +country where it has been adopted, it has been forced +upon the clergy by the authority of the secular classes." +The wolf of superstition has been driven into its lair, +but it has backed away snarling, and it still crouches, +watching for a chance to spring. The Church which +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +burned John Huss, which burned Giordano Bruno for +teaching that the earth moves round the sun—that same +church, in the name of the same three-headed god, sent +out Francesco Ferrer to the firing-squad; if it does not +do the same thing to the author of this book, it will be +solely because of the police. Not being allowed to burn +me here, the clergy will vent their holy indignation by +sentencing me to eternal burning in a future world which +they have created, and which they run to suit themselves.</p> +<p> +It is a fact, the significance of which cannot be exaggerated, +that the measure of the civilization which any +nation has attained is the extent to which it has curtailed +the power of institutionalized religion. Those peoples +which are wholly under the sway of the priesthood, +such as Thibetans and Koreans, Siamese and Caribbeans, +are peoples among whom the intellectual life does not +exist. Farther in advance are Hindoos and Turks, who +are religious, but not exclusively. Still farther on the +way are Spaniards and Irish; here, for example, is a flashlight +of the Irish peasantry, given by one of their number, +Patrick MacGill:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +The merchant was a great friend of the parish priest, who +always told the people if they did not pay their debts they +would burn for ever and ever in hell. "The fires of eternity +will make you sorry for the debts that you did not pay," said the +priest. "What is eternity?" he would ask in a solemn voice +from the altar steps. "If a man tried to count the sands on +the sea-shore and took a million years to count every single +grain, how long would it take him to count them all? A long +time, you'll say. But that time is nothing to eternity. Just +think of it! Burning in hell while a man, taking a million years +to count a grain of sand, counts all the sand on the sea-shore. +And this because you did not pay Farley McKeown his lawful +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +debts, his lawful debts within the letter of the law." That concluding +phrase, "within the letter of the law," struck terror +into all who listened, and no one, maybe not even the priest +himself, knew what it meant.</p> +</div> + +<p> +There is light in Ireland to-day, and hope for an +Irish culture; the thing to be noted is that it comes from +two movements, one for agricultural co-operation and +the other for political independence—both of them definitely +and specifically non-religious. This same thing +has been true of the movements which have helped on +happier nations, such as the republics of France and +America, which have put an end to the power of the +priestly caste to take property by force, and to dominate +the mind of the child without its parents' consent.</p> +<p> +This is as far as any nation has so far gone; it has +apparently not yet occurred to any legislature that the +State may owe a duty to the child to protect its mind +from being poisoned, even though it has the misfortune +to be born of poisoned parents. It is still permitted that +parents should terrify their little ones with images of a +personal devil and a hell of eternal brimstone and sulphur; +it is permitted to found schools for the teaching +of devil-doctrines; it is permitted to organize gigantic +campaigns and systematically to infect whole cities full +of men, women and children with hell-fire phobias. In +the American city where I write one may see gatherings +of people sunk upon their knees, even rolling on the +ground in convulsions, moaning, sobbing, screaming to +be delivered from such torments. I open my morning +paper and read of the arrest of five men and seven +women in Los Angeles, members of a sect known as the +"Church of the Living God", upon a charge of having +disturbed the peace of their neighbors. The police officers +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +testified that the accused claimed to be possessed +of the divine spirit, and that as signs of this possession +they "crawled on the floor, grunted like pigs and barked +like dogs." There were "other acts, even more startling", +about which the newspapers did not go into details. +And again, a week or two later, I read how a woman +has been heard screaming, and found tied to a bed-post, +being whipped by a man. She belonged to a religious +sect which had found her guilty of witchcraft. Another +woman was about to shoot her, but this woman's +nerve failed, and the "high priest" was called in, who +decreed a whipping. The victim explained to the police +that she would have deserved to be whipped had she +really been a witch, but a mistake had been made—it +was another woman who was the witch. And again in +the Los Angeles "Times" I read a perfectly serious news +item, telling how a certain man awakened one morning, +and found on his pillow where his head had lain a perfect +reproduction of the head of Christ with its crown of +thorns. He called in his neighbors to witness the miracle, +and declared that while he was not superstitious, +he knew that such a thing could not have happened by +chance, and he knew what it was intended to signify—he +would buy more Liberty Bonds and be more ardent +in his support of the war!</p> +<p> +And this is the world in which our scientists and +men of culture think that the battle of the intellect is +won, and that it is no longer necessary to spend our +energies in fighting "Religion!"</p> + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +<a href="#CONTENTS"><b>CONTENTS</b></a> +<hr /> +<h3>BOOK TWO</h3> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Church of Good Society</b></p><br /> +<blockquote class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i6"> the House of Mammon his priesthood stands alert<br /></span> +<span class="i2">By mysteries attended, by dusk and splendors girt,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Knowing, for faiths departed, his own shall still endure,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And they be found his chosen, untroubled, solemn, sure.<br /></span></p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Within the House of Mammon the golden altar lifts<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where dragon-lamps are shrouded as costly incense drifts—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A dust of old ideals, now fragrant from the coals,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To tell of hopes long-ended, to tell the death of souls.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="quotsig">Sterling.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Rain Makers</b></p> +<p> +I begin with the Church of Good Society, because it happens to be the +Church in which I was brought up. Heading this statement, some of my +readers suspected me of snobbish pride. I search my heart; yes, it +brings a hidden thrill that as far back as I can remember I knew this +atmosphere of urbanity, that twice every Sunday those melodious and +hypnotizing incantations were chanted in my childish ears! I take up +the book of ritual, done in aristocratic black leather with gold +lettering, and the old worn volume brings me strange stirrings of +recollected awe. But I endeavor to repress these vestigial emotions +and to see the volume—not as a message from God to Good Society, but +as a landmark of man's age-long struggle against myth and dogma used +as a source of income and a shield to privilege.</p> +<p> +In the beginning, of course, the priest and the magician ruled the +field. But today, as I examine this "Book of Common Prayer", I +discover that there is at least one spot out of which he has been +cleared entirely; there appears no prayer to planets to stand still, +or to comets to go away. The "Church of Good Society" has discovered +astronomy! But if any astronomer attributes this to his instruments +with their marvelous accuracy, let him at least stop to consider my +"economic interpretation" of the phenomenon—the fact that the +heavenly bodies affect the destinies of mankind so little that there +has not been sufficient emolument to justify the priest in holding on +to his job as astrologer.</p> +<p> +But when you come to the field of meteorology, what a difference! Has +any utmost precision of barometer +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> + been able to drive the priest +out of his prerogatives as rainmaker? Not even in the most civilized +of countries; not in that most decorous and dignified of institutions, +the Protestant Episcopal Church of America! I study with care the +passage wherein the clergyman appears as controller of the fate of +crops. I note a chastened caution of phraseology; the church will not +repeat the experience of the sorcerer's apprentice, who set the demons +to bringing water, and then could not make them stop! The spell +invokes "moderate rain and showers"; and as an additional precaution +there is a counter-spell against "excessive rains and floods": the +weather-faucet being thus under exact control.</p> +<p> +I turn the pages of this "Book of Common Prayer", and note the +remnants of magic which it contains. There are not many of the +emergencies of life with which the priest is not authorized to deal; +not many natural phenomena for which he may not claim the credit. And +in case anything should have been overlooked, there is a blanket +order upon Providence: "Graciously hear us, that those evils which the +craft or subtilty of the devil or man worketh against us, be brought +to nought!" I am reminded of the idea which haunted my childhood, +reading fairy-stories about the hero who was allowed three wishes that +would come true. I could never understand why the hero did not settle +the matter once for all—by wishing that everything he wished might +come true!</p> +<p> +Most of these incantations are harmless, and some are amiable; but now +and then you come upon one which is sinister in its implications. The +volume before me happens to be of the Church of England, which is even +more +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> + forthright in its confronting of the Great Magic. Many years +ago I remember talking with an English army officer, asking how he +could feel sure of his soldiers in case of labor strikes; did it +never occur to him that the men had relatives among the workers, and +might some time refuse to shoot them? His answer was that he was aware +of it, the military had worked out its technique with care. He would +never think of ordering his men to fire upon a mob in cold blood; he +would first start the spell of discipline to work, he would march them +round the block, and get them in the swing, get their blood moving to +military music; then, when he gave the order, in they would go. I have +never forgotten the gesture, the animation with which he illustrated +their going—I could hear the grunting of bayonets in the flesh of +men. The social system prevailing in England has made necessary the +perfecting of such military technique; also, you discover, English +piety has made necessary the providing of a religious sanction for it. +After the job has been done and the bayonets have been wiped clean, +the company is marched to church, and the officer kneels in his family +pew, and the privates kneel with the parlor-maids, and the clergyman +raises his hands to heaven and intones: "We bless thy Holy Name, that +it hath pleased Thee to appease the seditious tumults which have been +lately raised up among us!"</p> +<p> +And sometimes the clergyman does more than bless the killers—he even +takes part in their bloody work. In the Home Office Records of the +British Government I read (vol. 40, page 17) how certain miners were on +strike against low wages and the "truck" system, and the Vicar of +Abergavenny put himself at the head of the yeomanry +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> + and the Greys. +He wrote the Home Office a lively account of his military operations. +All that remained was to apprehend certain of the strikers, "and then +I shall be able to return to my Clerical duties." Later he wrote of +the "sinister influences" which kept the miners from returning to +their work, and how he had put half a dozen of the most obstinate in +prison.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Babylonian Fire-god</b></p> +<p> +So we come to the most important of the functions of the tribal god, +as an ally in war, an inspirer to martial valour. When in ancient +Babylonia you wished to overcome your enemies, you went to the shrine +of the Fire-god, and with awful rites the priest pronounced +incantations, which have been preserved on bricks and handed down for +the use of modern churches. "Pronounce in a whisper, and have a bronze +image therewith," commands the ancient text, and runs on for many +strophes in this fashion:</p> + +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Let them die, but let me live!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Let them be put under a ban, but let me prosper!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Let them perish, but let me increase!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Let them become weak, but let me wax strong!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">O, fire-god, mighty, exalted among the gods,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thou art the god, thou art my lord, etc.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> + +<p> +This was in heathen Babylon, some three thousand years ago. Since +then, the world has moved on—</p> + +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Three thousand years of war and peace and glory,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of hope and work and deeds and golden schemes,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of mighty voices raised in song and story,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of huge inventions and of splendid dreams—<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> + +<p> +And in one of the world's leading nations the people stand up and bare +their heads, and sing to their god to save their king and punish those +who oppose him—</p> + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> + + +<blockquote class="poem"> + + <div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i1">O Lord our God, arise, <br /></span> +<span class="i2">Scatter his enemies, <br /></span> +<span class="i2">And make them fall;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Confound their politics, <br /></span> +<span class="i1">Frustrate their knavish tricks, <br /></span> +<span class="i1">On him our hopes we fix,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">God save us all. <br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> + +<p> +Recently, I understand, it has become the custom to omit this stanza +from the English national anthem; but it is clear that this is because +of its crudity of expression, not because of objection to the idea of +praying to a god to assist one nation and injure others; for the same +sentiment is expressed again and again in the most carefully edited of +prayer-books:</p> + +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p><span class="i2">Abate their pride, assuage their malice, and confound their devices.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Defend us, Thy humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Strengthen him (the King) that he may vanquish and overcome all his enemies.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">There is none other that fighteth for us, but only Thou, O God.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> + +<p> +Prayers such as these are pronounced in every so-called civilized +nation today. Behind every battle-line in Europe you may see the +priests of the Babylonian Fire-god with their bronze images and their +ancient incantations; you may see magic spells being wrought, magic +standards sanctified, magic bread eaten and magic wine drunk, +fetishes blessed and hoodoos lifted, eternity ransacked to find means +of inciting soldiers to the mood where they will "go in". Throughout +all civilization, the phobias and manias of war have thrown the people +back into the toils of the priest, and that church which forced +Galileo to recant under threat of torture, and had Ferrer shot beneath +the walls of the fortress of Montjuich, is rejoicing in a "rebirth of +religion".</p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Medicine-men</b></p> +<p> +Andrew D. White tells us that</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + It was noted that in the 14th century, after the great + plague, the Black Death, had passed, an immensely increased + proportion of the landed and personal property of every + European country was in the hands of the Church. Well did a + great eclesiastic remark that "pestilences are the harvests + of the ministers of God." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And so naturally the clergy hold on to their prerogative as banishers +of epidemics. Who knows what day the Lord may see fit to rebuke +the upstart teachers of impious and atheistical inoculation, and +scourge the people back into His fold as in the good old days of +Moses and Aaron? Viscount Amberley, in his immensely learned and +half-suppressed work, "The Analysis of Religious Belief", quotes some +missionaries to the Fiji islanders, concerning the ideas of these +benighted heathen on the subject of a pestilence. It was the work of a +"disease-maker", who was burning images of the people with +incantations; so they blew horns to frighten this disease-maker from +his spells. The missionaries undertook to explain the true cause of +the affliction—and thereby revealed that they stood upon the same +intellectual level as the heathen they were supposed to instruct! It +appeared that the natives had been at war with their neighbors, and +the missionaries had commanded them to desist; they had refused to +obey, and God had sent the epidemic as punishment for savage +presumption!</p> +<p> +And on precisely this same Fijian level stands the "Book of Common +Prayer" of our most decorous and cultured of churches. I remember as a +little child lying on a bed of sickness, occasioned by the prevalence +in our +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> + home of the Southern custom of hot bread three times a day; +and there came an amiable clerical gentleman and recited the service +proper to such pastoral calls: "Take therefore in good part the +visitation of the Lord!" And again, when my mother was ill, I remember +how the clergyman read out in church a prayer for her, specifying all +sickness, "in mind, body or estate". I was thinking only of my mother, +and the meaning of these words passed over my childish head; I did not +realize that the elderly plutocrat in black broadcloth who knelt in +the pew in front of me was invoking the aid of the Almighty so that +his tenements might bring in their rentals promptly; so that his +little "flyer" in cotton might prove successful; so that the children +in his mills might work with greater speed.</p> +<p> +Somebody asked Voltaire if you could kill a cow by incantations, and +he answered, "Yes, if you use a little strychnine with it." And that +would seem to be the attitude of the present-day Anglican +church-member; he calls in the best physician he knows, he makes sure +that his plumbing is sound, and after that he thinks it can do no harm +to let the Lord have a chance. It makes the women happy, and after +all, there are a lot of things we don't yet know about the world. So +he repairs to the family pew, and recites over the venerable prayers, +and contributes his mite to the maintenance of an institution which, +fourteen Sundays every year, proclaims the terrifying menaces of the +Athanasian Creed:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Whoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary + that he hold the Catholick faith. Which faith, except one do + keep whole and undefiled; without doubt he shall perish + everlastingly. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +For the benefit of the uninitiated reader, it may be +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> + explained that +the "Catholick faith" here referred to is not the Roman Catholic, but +that of the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church of +America. This creed of the ancient Alexandrian lays down the truth +with grim and menacing precision—forty-four paragraphs of +metaphysical minutiae, closing with the final doom: "This is the +Catholick faith: which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be +saved."</p> +<p> +You see, the founders of this august institution were not content with +cultured complacency; what they believed they believed really, with +their whole hearts, and they were ready to act upon it, even if it +meant burning their own at the stake. Also, they knew the ceaseless +impulse of the mind to grow; the terrible temptation which confronts +each new generation to believe that which is reasonable. They met the +situation by setting out the true faith in words which no one could +mistake. They have provided, not merely the Creed of Athanasius, but +also the "Thirty-nine Articles"—which are thirty-nine separate and +binding guarantees that one who holds orders in the Episcopal Church +shall be either a man of inferior mentality, or else a sophist and +hypocrite. How desperate some of them have become in the face of this +cruel dilemma is illustrated by the tale which is told of Dr. Jowett, +of Balliol College, Oxford: that when he was required to recite the +"Apostle's Creed" in public, he would save himself by inserting the +words "used to" between the words "I believe", saying the inserted +words under his breath, thus, "I used to believe in the Father, the +Son, and the Holy Ghost." Perhaps the eminent divine never did this; +but the fact that his students told it, and thought it funny, is +sufficient indication of their attitude +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> + toward their "Religion." +The son of William George Ward tells in his biography how this leader +of the "Tractarian Movement" met the problem with cynicism which seems +almost sublime: "Make yourself clear that you are justified in +deception; and then lie like a trooper!"</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Canonization of Incompetence</b></p> +<p> +The supreme crime of the church to-day is that everywhere and in all +its operations and influences it is on the side of sloth of mind; that +it banishes brains, it sanctifies stupidity, it canonizes +incompetence. Consider the power of the Church of England and its +favorite daughter here in America; consider their prestige with the +press and in politics, their hold upon literature and the arts, their +control of education and the minds of children, of charity and the +lives of the poor: consider all this, and then say what it means to +society that such a power must be, in every new issue that arises, on +the side of reaction and falsehood. "So it was in the beginning, is +now, and ever shall be," runs the church's formula; and this per se +and a priori, of necessity and in the nature of the case.</p> +<p> +Turn over the pages of history and read the damning record of the +church's opposition to every advance in every field of science, even +the most remote from theological concern. Here is the Reverend Edward +Massey, preaching in 1772 on "The Dangerous and Sinful Practice of +Inoculation"; declaring that Job's distemper was probably confluent +small-pox; that he had been inoculated doubtless by the devil; that +diseases are sent by Providence for the punishment of sin; and that +the proposed attempt to prevent them is "a diabolical operation". +Here +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> + are the Scotch clergy of the middle of the nineteenth century +denouncing the use of chloroform in obstetrics, because it is seeking +"to avoid one part of the primeval curse on woman". Here is Bishop +Wilberforce of Oxford anathematizing Darwin: "The principle of natural +selection is absolutely incompatible with the word of God"; it +"contradicts the revealed relation of creation to its creator"; it "is +inconsistent with the fulness of His glory"; it is "a dishonoring view +of nature". And the Bishop settled the matter by asking Huxley whether +he was descended from an ape through his grandmother or grandfather.</p> +<p> +Think what it means, friends of progress, that these ecclesiastical +figures should be set up for the reverence of the populace, and that +every time mankind is to make an advance in power over Nature, the +pioneers of thought have to come with crow-bars and derricks and heave +these figures out of the way! And you think that conditions are +changed to-day? But consider syphilis and gonorrhea, about which we +know so much, and can do almost nothing; consider birth-control, which +we are sent to jail for so much as mentioning! Consider the divorce +reforms for which the world is crying—and for which it must wait, +because of St. Paul! Realize that up to date it has proven impossible +to persuade the English Church to permit a man to marry his deceased +wife's sister! That when the war broke upon England the whole nation +was occupied with a squabble over the disestablishment of the church +of Wales! Only since 1888 has it been legally possible for an +unbeliever to hold a seat in Parliament; while up to the present day +men are tried for blasphemy and convicted under the decisions of +Lord +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> + Hale, to the effect that "it is a crime either to deny the +truth of the fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion or to +hold them up to contempt or ridicule." Said Mr. Justice Horridge, at +the West Riding Assizes, 1911: "A man is not free in any public place +to use common ridicule on subjects which are sacred."</p> +<p> +The purpose, as outlined by the public prosecutor in London, is "to +preserve the standard of outward decency." And you will find that the +one essential to prosecution is always that the victim shall be +obscure and helpless; never by any chance is he a duke in a +drawing-room. I will record an utterance of one of the obscure victims +of the British "standard of outward decency", a teacher of mathematics +named Holyoake, who presumed to discuss in a public hall the +starvation of the working classes of the country. A preacher objected +that he had discussed "our duty to our neighbor" and neglected "our +duty to God"; whereupon the lecturer replied: "Our national Church and +general religious institutions cost us, upon accredited computation, +about twenty million pounds annually. Worship being thus expensive, I +appeal to your heads and your pockets whether we are not too poor to +have a God. While our distress lasts, I think it would be wise to put +deity upon half pay." And for that utterance the unfortunate teacher +of mathematics served six months in the common Gaol at Gloucester!</p> +<p> +While men were being tried for publishing the "Free-thinker", the +Premier of England was William Ewart Gladstone. And if you wish to +know what an established church can do by way of setting up dullness +in high places, get a volume of this "Grand Old Man's" writings on +theological and religious questions. Read his "Juventus +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> + Mundi", in +the course of which he establishes a mystic connection between the +trident of Neptune and the Christian Trinity! Read his efforts to +prove that the writer of Genesis was an inspired geologist! This +writer of Genesis points out in Nature "a grand, fourfold division, +set forth in an orderly succession of times: First, the water +population; secondly, the air population; thirdly, the land population +of animals; fourthly, the land population consummated in man." And it +seems that this division and sequence "is understood to have been so +affirmed in our time by natural science that it may be taken as a +demonstrated conclusion and established fact." Hence we must conclude +of the writer of Genesis that "his knowledge was divine"! Consider +that this was actually published in one of the leading British +monthlies, and that it was necessary for Professor Huxley to answer +it, pointing out that so far is it from being true that "a fourfold +division and orderly sequence" of water, air and land animals "has +been affirmed in our time by natural science", that on the contrary, +the assertion is "directly contradictory to facts known to everyone +who is acquainted with the elements of natural science". The +distribution of fossils proves that land animals originated before +sea-animals, and there has been such a mixing of land, sea and air +animals as utterly to destroy the reputation of both Genesis and +Gladstone as possessing a divine knowledge of Geology.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Gibson's Preservative</b></p> +<p>I have a friend, a well-known "scholar", who permits me the use of his +extensive library. I stand in the middle and look about me, and see +in the dim shadows walls lined from floor to ceiling with decorous and +grave-looking +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> + books, bound for the most part in black, many of +them fading to green with age. There are literally thousands of such, +and their theme is the pseudo-science of "divinity". I close my, eyes, +to make the test fair, and walk to the shelves and put out my hand and +take a book. It proves to be a modern work, "A History of the English +Prayer-book in Relation to the Doctrine of the Eucharist". I turn the +pages and discover that it is a study of the variations of one minute +detail of church doctrine. This learned divine—he has written many +such works, as the advertisements inform us—fills up the greater part +of his pages with foot-notes from hundreds of authorities, arguments +and counter-arguments over supernatural subtleties. I will give one +sample of these footnotes—asking the reader to be patient:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + I add the following valuable observation, of Dean Goode: + ("On Eucharist", II p 757. See also Archbishop Ware in + Gibson's "Preservative", vol. N, Chap II) "One great point + for which our divines have contended, in opposition to + Romish errors, has been the reality of that presence of + Christ's Body and Blood to the soul of the believer which is + affected through the operation of the Holy Spirit + notwithstanding the absence of that Body and Blood in + Heaven. Like the Sun, the Body of Christ is both present and + absent; present, really and truly present, in one + sense—that is, by the soul being brought into immediate + communion with—but absent in another sense—that is, as + regards the contiguity of its substance to our bodies. The + authors under review, like the Romanists, maintain that + this is not a Real Presence, and assuming their own + interpretation of the phrase to be the only true one, press + into their service the testimony of divines who, though + using the phrase, apply it in a sense the reverse of theirs. + The ambiguity of the phrase, and its misapplication by the + Church of Rome, have induced many of our divines to + repudiate it, etc." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Realize that of the work from which this "valuable +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> + observation" is +quoted, there are at least two volumes, the second volume containing +not less than 757 pages I Realize that in Gibson's "Preservative" +there are not less than ten volumes of such writing! Realize that in +this twentieth century a considerable portion of the mental energies +of the world's greatest empire is devoted to that kind of learning!</p> +<p> +I turn to the date upon the volume, and find that it is 1910. I was in +England within a year of that time, and so I can tell what was the +condition of the English people while printers were making and papers +were reviewing and book-stores were distributing this work of +ecclesiastical research. I walked along the Embankment and saw the +pitiful wretches, men, women and sometimes children, clad in filthy +rags, starved white and frozen blue, soaked in winter rains and +shivering in winter winds, homeless, hopeless, unheeded by the doctors +of divinity, unpreserved by Gibson's "Preservative". I walked on +Hampstead Heath on Easter day, when the population of the slums turns +out for its one holiday; I walked, literally trembling with horror, +for I had never seen such sights nor dreamed of them. These creatures +were hardly to be recognized as human beings; they were some new +grotesque race of apes. They could not walk, they could only shamble; +they could not laugh, they could only leer. I saw a hand-organ +playing, and turned away—the things they did in their efforts to +dance were not to be watched. And then I went out into the beautiful +English country; cultured and charming ladies took me in swift, smooth +motor-cars, and I saw the pitiful hovels and the drink-sodden, +starch-poisoned inhabitants—slum-populations everywhere, even on the +land! When the newspaper +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> + reporters came to me, I said that I had +just come from Germany, and that if ever England found herself at war +with that country, she would regret that she had let the bodies and +the minds of her people rot; for which expression I was severely taken +to task by more than one British divine.</p> +<p> +The bodies—and the minds; the rot of the latter being the cause of +the former. All over England in that year of 1910, in thousands of +schools, rich and poor, and in the greatest centres of learning, men +like Dean Goode were teaching boys dead languages and dead sciences +and dead arts; sending them out to life with no more conception of the +modern world than a monk of the Middle Ages; sending them out with +minds made hard and inflexible, ignorant of science, indifferent to +progress, contemptuous of ideas. And then suddenly, almost overnight, +this terrified people finds itself at war with a nation ruled and +disciplined' by modern experts, scientists and technicians. The awful +muddle that was in England during the first two years of the war has +not yet been told in print; but thousands know it, and some day it +will be written, and it will finish forever the prestige of the +British ruling caste. They rushed off an expedition to Gallipoli, and +somebody forgot the water-supply, and at one time they had ninety-five +thousand cases of dysentery!</p> +<p> +They always "muddle through", they tell you; that is the motto of +their ruling caste. But this time they did not "muddle through"—they +had to come to America for help. As I write, our Congress is voting +billions and tens of billions of dollars, and a million of the best of +our young manhood are being taken from their homes—because in 1910 +the mind of England was occupied with +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> + Dean Goode "On Eucharist", +and the ten volumes of Gibson's "Preservative".</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Elders</b></p> +<p> +What the Church means in human affairs is the rule of the aged. It +means old men in the seats of authority, not merely in the church, but +in the law-courts and in Parliament, even in the army and navy. For a +test I look up the list of bishops of the Church of England in +Whitaker's Almanac; it appears that there are 40 of these +functionaries, including the archbishops, but not the suffragans; and +that the total salary paid to them amounts to more than nine hundred +thousand dollars a year. This, it should be understood, does not +include the pay of their assistants, nor the cost of maintaining their +religious establishments; it does not include any private incomes +which they or their wives may possess, as members of the privileged +classes of the Empire. I look up their ages in Who's Who, and I find +that there is only one below fifty-three; the oldest of them is +ninety-one, while the average age of the goodly company is seventy. +There have been men in history who have retained their flexibility of +mind, their ability to adjust themselves to new circumstances at the +age of seventy, but it will always be found that these men were +trained in science and practical affairs, never in dead languages and +theology. One of the oldest of the English prelates, the Archbishop of +Canterbury, recently stated to a newspaper reporter that he worked +seventeen hours a day, and had no time to form an opinion on the labor +question.</p> +<p> +And now—here is the crux of the argument—do these aged gentlemen +rule of their own power? They do not! They do literally nothing of +their own power; they could +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> + not make their own episcopal robes, +they could net even cook their own episcopal dinners. They have to be +maintained in all their comings and goings. Who supports them, and to +what end?</p> +<p> +The roots of the English Church are in the English land system, which +is one of the infamies of the modern world. It dates from the days of +William the Norman, who took possession of Britain with his sword, and +in order to keep possession for himself and his heirs, distributed the +land among his nobles and prelates. In those days, you understand, a +high ecclesiastic was a man of war, who did not stoop to veil his +predatory nature under pretense of philanthropy; the abbots and +archbishops of William wore armor and had their troops of knights like +the barons and the dukes. William gave them vast tracts, and at the +same time he gave them orders which they obeyed. Says the English +chronicler, "Stark he was. Bishops he stripped of their bishopricks, +abbots of their abbacies". Green tells us that "the dependence of the +church on the royal power was strictly enforced. Homage was exacted +from bishop as from baron." And what was this homage? The bishop knelt +before William, bareheaded and without arms, and swore: "Hear my lord, +I become liege man of yours for life and limb and earthly regard, and +I will keep faith and loyalty to you for life and death, God help me."</p> +<p> +The lands which the church got from William the Norman, she has held, +and always on the same condition—that she shall be "liege man for +life and limb and earthly regard". In this you have the whole story of +the church of England, in the twentieth century as in the eleventh. +The balance of power has shifted from time +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> + to time; old families +have lost the land and new families have gotten it; but the loyalty +and homage of the church have been held by the land, as the needle of +the compass is held by a mass of metal. Some two hundred and fifty +years ago a popular song gave the general impression—</p> + +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">For this is law that I'll maintain<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Until my dying day, sir:<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That whatsoever king shall reign<br /></span> +<span class="i4">I'll still be vicar of Bray, sir!<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> + +<p> +So, wherever you take the Anglican clergy, they are Tories and +Royalists, conservatives and reactionaries, friends of every injustice +that profits the owning class. And always among themselves you find +them intriguing and squabbling over the dividing of the spoils; always +you find them enjoying leisure and ease, while the people suffer and +the rebels complain. One can pass down the corridor of English history +and prove this statement by the words of Englishmen from every single +generation. Take the fourteenth century; the "Good Parliament" +declares that</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Unworthy and unlearned caitiffs are appointed to benefices + of a thousand marks, while the poor and learned hardly + obtain one of twenty. God gave the sheep to be pastured, not + to be shaven and shorn. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And a little later comes the poet of the people, Piers Plowman—</p> + +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">But now is Religion a rider, a roamer through the streets,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A leader at the love-day, a buyer of the land,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Pricking on a palfrey from manor to manor,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A heap of hounds at his back, as tho he were a lord;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And if his servant kneel not when he brings his cup,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He loureth on him asking who taught him courtesy.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Badly have lords done to give their heirs' lands<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Away to the Orders that have no pity;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Money rains upon their altars.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">There where such parsons be living at ease<br /></span> +<span class="i2">They have no pity on the poor; that is their "charity".<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ye hold you as lords; your lands are too broad,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But there shall come a king and he shall shrive you all<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And beat you as the bible saith for breaking of your Rule.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +<p> +Another step through history, and in the early part of the sixteenth +century here is Simon Fish, addressing King Henry the Eighth, in the +"Supplicacyon for the Beggars", complaining of the "strong, puissant +and counterfeit holy and ydell" which "are now increased under your +sight, not only into a great nombre, but ynto a kingdome."</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + They have begged so importunatly that they have gotten ynto + their hondes more than a therd part of all youre Realme. + The goodliest lordshippes, maners, londes, and territories, + are theyres. Besides this, they have the tenth part of all + the corne, medowe, pasture, grasse, wolle, coltes, calves, + lambes, pigges, gese and chikens. Ye, and they looke so + narowly uppon theyre proufittes, that the poore wyves must + be countable to thym of every tenth eg, or elles she gettith + not her rytes at ester, shal be taken as an heretike.... Is + it any merveille that youre people so compleine of povertie? + The Turke nowe, in your tyme, shulde never be abill to get + so moche grounde of christendome.... And whate do al these + gredy sort of sturdy, idell, holy theves? These be they that + have made an hundredth thousand idell hores in your realme. + These be they that catche the pokkes of one woman, and bere + them to an other. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +The petitioner goes on to tell how they steal wives and all their +goods with them, and if any man protest they make him a heretic, "so +that it maketh him wisshe that he had not done it". Also they take +fortunes for masses and then don't say them. "If the Abbot of +west-minster +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> + shulde sing every day as many masses for his founders +as he is bounde to do by his foundacion, 1000 monkes were too few." +The petitioner suggests that the king shall "tie these holy idell +theves to the cartes, to be whipped naked about every market towne +till they will fall to laboure!"</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Church History</b></p> +<p>King Henry did not follow this suggestion precisely, but he took away +the property of the religious orders for the expenses of his many +wives and mistresses, and forced the clergy in England to forswear +obedience to the Pope and make his royal self their spiritual head. +This was the beginning of the Anglican Church, as distinguished from +the Catholic; a beginning of which the Anglican clergy are not so +proud as they would like to be. When I was a boy, they taught me what +they called "church history", and when they came to Henry the Eighth +they used him as an illustration of the fact that the Lord is +sometimes wont to choose evil men to carry out His righteous purposes. +They did not explain why the Lord should do this confusing thing, nor +just how you were to know, when you saw something being done by a +murderous adulterer, whether it was the will of the Lord or of Satan; +nor did they go into details as to the motives which the Lord had been +at pains to provide, so as to induce his royal agent to found the +Anglican Church. For such details you have to consult another set of +authorities—the victims of the plundering.</p> +<p> +When I was in college my professor of Latin was a gentleman with bushy +brown whiskers and a thundering voice of which I was often the +object—for even in those early days I had the habit of persisting in +embarrassing +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> + questions. This professor was a devout Catholic, and +not even in dealing with ancient Romans could he restrain his +propaganda impulses. Later on in life he became editor of the +"Catholic Encyclopedia", and now when I turn its pages, I imagine that +I see the bushy brown whiskers, and hear the thundering voice: "Mr. +Sinclair, it is so because I tell you it is so!"</p> +<p> +I investigate, and find that my ex-professor knows all about King +Henry the Eighth, and his motives in founding the Church of England; +he is ready with an "economic interpretation", as complete as the most +rabid muckraker could desire! It appears that the king wanted a new +wife, and demanded that the Pope should grant the necessary +permission; in his efforts to browbeat the Pope into such betrayal of +duty, King Henry threatened the withdrawal of the "annates" and the +"Peter's pence". Later on he forced the clergy to declare that the +Pope was "only a foreign bishop", and in order to "stamp out overt +expression of disaffection, he embarked upon a veritable reign of +terror".</p> +<p> +In Anglican histories, you are assured that all this was a work of +religious reform, and that after it the Church was the pure vehicle of +God's grace. There were no more "holy idell theves", holding the land +of England and plundering the poor. But get to know the clergy, and +see things from the inside, and you will meet some one like the +Archbishop of Cashell, who wrote to one of his intimates:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + I conclude that a good bishop has nothing more to do than to + eat, drink and grow fat, rich and die; which laudable + example <i>I</i> propose for the remainder of my days to follow. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +If you say that might be a casual jest, hear what +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> + Thackeray +reports of that period, the eighteenth century, which he knew with +peculiar intimacy:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + I read that Lady Yarmouth (my most religious and gracious + King's favorite) sold a bishopric to a clergyman for 5600 + pounds. (She betted him the 5000 pounds that he would not be + made a bishop, and he lost, and paid her.) Was he the only + prelate of his time led up by such hands for consecration? + As I peep into George II's St. James, I see crowds of + cassocks pushing up the back-stairs of the ladies of the + court; stealthy clergy slipping purses into their laps; that + godless old king yawning under his canopy in his Chapel + Royal, as the chaplain before him is discoursing. + Discoursing about what?—About righteousness and judgment? + Whilst the chaplain is preaching, the king is chattering in + German and almost as loud as the preacher; so loud that the + clergyman actually burst out crying in his pulpit, because + the defender of the faith and the dispenser of bishoprics + would not listen to him! +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Land and Livings</b></p> +<p>And how is it in the twentieth century? Have conditions been much +improved? There are great Englishmen who do not think so. I quote +Robert Buchanan, a poet who spoke for the people, and who therefore +has still to be recognized by English critics. He writes of the "New +Rome", by which he means present-day England:</p> + +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">The gods are dead, but in their name<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Humanity is sold to shame,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">While (then as now!) the tinsel'd priest<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sitteth with robbers at the feast,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Blesses the laden, blood-stained board,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Weaves garlands round the butcher's sword,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And poureth freely (now as then)<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The sacramental blood of Men!<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> + +<p> +You see, the land system of England remains—the changes having been +for the worse. William the Conqueror +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> + wanted to keep the Saxon +peasantry contented, so he left them their "commons"; but in the +eighteenth century these were nearly all filched away. We saw the same +thing done within the last generation in Mexico, and from the same +motive—because developing capitalism needs cheap labor, whereas +people who have access to the land will not slave in mills and mines. +In England, from the time of Queen Anne to that of William and Mary, +the parliaments of the landlords passed some four thousand separate +acts, whereby more than seven million acres of the common land were +stolen from the people. It has been calculated that these acres might +have supported a million families; and ever since then England has had +to feed a million paupers all the time.</p> +<p> +As an old song puts the matter:</p> + +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Why prosecute the man or woman<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Who steals a goose from off the common,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And let the greater felon loose<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Who steals the common from the goose?<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> + +<p> +In our day the land aristocracy is rooted like the native oak in +British soil: some of them direct descendants of the Normans, others +children of the court favorites and panders who grew rich in the days +of the Tudors and the unspeakable Stuarts. Seven men own practically +all the land of the city and county of London, and collect tribute +from seven millions of people. The estates are entailed—that is, +handed down from father to oldest son automatically; you cannot buy +any land, but if you want to build, the landlord gives you a lease, +and when the lease is up, he takes possession of your buildings. The +tribute which London pays is more than a hundred million dollars a +year. So absolute is the right of the land-owner +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> + that he can sue +for trespass the driver on an aeroplane which flies over him; he +imposes on fishermen a tax upon catches made many hundred of yards +from the shore.</p> +<p> +And in this graft, of course, the church has its share. Each church +owns land—not merely that upon which it stands, but farms and city +lots from which it derives income. Each cathedral owns large tracts; +so do the schools and universities in which the clergy are educated. +The income from the holdings of a church constitutes what is called a +"living"; these livings, which vary in size, are the prerogatives of +the younger sons of the ruling families, and are intrigued and +scrambled for in exactly the fashion which Thackeray describes in the +eighteenth century.</p> +<p> +About six thousand of these "livings" are in the gift of great land +owners; one noble lord alone disposes of fifty-six such plums; and +needless to say, he does not present them to clergymen who favor +radical land-taxes. He gives them to men like himself—autocratic to +the poor, easy-going to members of his own class, and cynical +concerning the grafts of grace.</p> +<p> +In one English village which I visited the living was worth seven +hundred pounds, with the use of a fine mansion; as the incumbent had a +large family, he lived there. In another place the living was worth a +thousand pounds, and the incumbent hired a curate, himself appearing +twice a year, on Christmas day and on the King's birth-day, to preach +a sermon; the rest of the time he spent in Paris. It is worth noting +that in 1808 a law was proposed compelling absentee pluralists—that +is, clergymen holding more than one "living"—to furnish curates to do + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> + their work; it might be interesting to note that this law met with +strenuous clerical opposition, the house of Bishops voting against it +without a division. Thus we may understand the sharp saying of Karl +Marx, that the English clergy would rather part with thirty-eight of +their thirty-nine articles than with one thirty-ninth of their income.</p> +<p> +There is always a plentiful supply of curates in England. They are the +sons of the less influential ruling families, and of the clergy; they +have been trained at Oxford or Cambridge, and possess the one +essential qualification, that they are gentlemen. Their average price +is two hundred and fifty pounds a year; their function was made clear +to me when I attended my first English tea-party. There was a wicker +table, perhaps a foot and a half square, having three shelves, one +below the other—on the top layer the plates and napkins, on the next +the muffins, and on the lowest the cake. Said the hostess, "Will you +pass the curate, please?" I looked puzzled, and she pointed. "We call +that the curate, because it does the work of a curate."</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Graft in Tail</b></p> +<p>As one of America's head muck-rakers, I found that I was popular with +the British ruling classes; they found my books useful in their +campaigns against democracy, and they were surprised and disconcerted +when they found I did not agree with their interpretation of my +writings. I had told of corruption in American politics; surely I must +know that in England they had no such evils! I explained that they did +not have to; their graft, to use their own legal phrase, was "in +tail"; the grafters had, as a matter of divine right, the things which +in +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> + America they had to buy. In America, for instance, we had a +Senate, a "Millionaire's Club", for admission to which the members +paid in cash; but in England the same men came to the same position as +their birth-right. Political corruption is not an end in itself, it is +merely a means to exploitation; and of exploitation England has even +more than America. When I explained this, my popularity with the +British ruling classes vanished quickly.</p> +<p> +As a matter of fact, England is more like America than she realizes; +her British reticence has kept her ignorant about herself. I could not +carry on my business in England, because of the libel laws, which have +as their first principle "the greater the truth, the greater the +libel". Englishmen read with satisfaction what I write about America; +but if I should turn my attention to their own country, they would +send me to jail as they sent Frank Harris. The fact is that the new +men in England, the lords of coal and iron and shipping and beer, have +bought their way into the landed aristocracy for cash, just as our +American senators have done; they have bought the political parties +with campaign gifts, precisely as in America; they have taken over the +press, whether by outright purchase like Northcliffe, or by +advertising subsidy—both of which methods we Americans know. Within +the last decade or two another group has been coming into control; and +not merely is this the same class of men as in America, it frequently +consists of the same individuals. These are the big money-lenders, the +international financiers who are the fine and final flower of the +capitalist system. These gentlemen make the world their home—or, as +Shakespeare puts it, +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> + their oyster. They know how to fit themselves +to all environments; they are Catholics in Rome and Vienna, country +gentlemen in London, bons vivants in Paris, democrats in Chicago, +Socialists in Petrograd, and Hebrews wherever they are.</p> +<p> +And of course, in buying the English government, these new classes +have bought the English Church. Skeptics and men of the world as they +are, they know that they must have a Religion. They have read the +story of the French revolution, and the shadow of the guillotine is +always over their thoughts; they see the giant of labor, restless in +his torment, groping as in a nightmare for the throat of his enemy. +Who can blind the eyes of this giant, who can chain him to his couch +of slumber? There is but one agent, without rival—the Keeper of the +Holy Secrets, the Deputy of the Almighty Awfulness, the Giver and +Withholder of Eternal Life. Tremble, slave! Fall down and bow your +forehead in the dust! I can see in my memory the sight that thrilled +my childhood—my grim old Bishop, clad in his gorgeous ceremonial +robes, stretching out his hands over the head of the new priest, and +pronouncing that most deadly of all the Christian curses:</p> +<p> +"Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins thorn +dost retain, they are retained!"</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Bishops and Beer</b></p> +<p>For example, the International Shylocks wanted the diamond mines of +South Africa—wanted them more firmly governed and less firmly taxed +than could be arranged with the Old Man of the Boers. So the armies of +England were sent to subjugate the country. You might think they would +have had the good taste to +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> + leave the lowly Jesus out of this +affair—but if so, you have missed the essential point about +established religion. The bishops, priests, and deacons are set up for +the populace to revere, and when the robber-classes need a blessing +upon some enterprise, then is the opportunity for the bishops, priests +and deacons to earn their "living." During the Boer war the blood-lust +of the English clergy was so extreme that writers in the dignified +monthly reviews felt moved to protest against it. When the pastors of +Switzerland issued a collective protest against cruelties to women and +children in the South African concentration-camps, it was the Right +Reverend Bishop of Winchester who was brought forward to make reply. +Nowadays all England is reading Bernhardi, and shuddering at Prussian +glorification of war; but no one mentions Bishop Welldon of Calcutta, +who advocated the Boer war as a means of keeping the nation "virile"; +nor Archbishop Alexander, who said that it was God's way of making +"noble natures".</p> +<p>The British God had other ways of improving nations—for example, the +opium traffic. The British traders had been raising the poppy in India +and selling its juice to the Chinese. They had made perhaps a hundred +million "noble natures" by this method; and also they were making a +hundred million dollars a year. The Chinese, moved by their new +"virility," undertook to destroy some opium, and to stop the traffic; +whereupon it was necessary to use British battle-ships to punish and +subdue them. Was there any difficulty in persuading the established +church of Jesus to bless this holy war? There was not! Lord +Shaftesbury, himself the most devout of Anglicans, commented with +horror +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> + upon the attitude of the clergy, and wrote in his diary:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + I rejoice that this cruel and debasing opium war is + terminated. We have triumphed in one of the most lawless, + unnecessary, and unfair struggles in the records of history; + and Christians have shed more heathen blood in two years, + than the heathens have shed of Christian blood in two + centuries. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +That was in 1843; for seventy years thereafter pious England continued +to force the opium traffic upon protesting China, and only in the last +two or three years has the infamy been brought to an end. Throughout +the long controversy the attitude of the church was such that Li Hung +Chang was moved to assert in a letter to the Anti-Opium Society:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Opium is a subject in the discussion of which England and + China can never meet on a common ground. China views the + whole question from a moral standpoint, England from a + fiscal. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And just as the Chinese people were poisoned with opium, so the +English people are being poisoned with alcohol. Both in town and +country, labor is sodden with it. Scientists and reformers are +clamoring for restriction;—and what prevents? Head and front of the +opposition for a century, standing like a rock, has been the +Established Church. The Rev. Dawson Burns, historian of the early +temperance movement, declares that "among its supporters I cannot +recall one Church of England minister of influence." When Asquith +brought in his bill for the restriction of the traffic in beer, he was +confronted with petitions signed by members of the clergy, protesting +against the act. And what was the basis of their protest? That beer is +a food and not a poison? Yes, of course; but also that there was +property invested in brewing it. Three hundred and thirty-two +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> + +clergy of the diocese of Peterborough declared:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + We do strongly protest against the main provisions of the + present bill as creating amongst our people a sense of grave + injustice as amounting to a confiscation of private + property, spelling ruin for thousands of quite innocent + people, and provoking deep and widespread resentment, which + must do harm to our cause and hinder our aims. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +I have come upon references to another and even more plainspoken +petition, signed by 1,280 clergymen; but war-time facilities for +research have not enabled me to find the text. In Prof. Henry C. +Vedder's "Jesus Christ and the Social Question," we read:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + It was authoritatively stated a short time ago that Mr. + Asquith's temperance bill was defeated in Parliament through + the opposition of clergymen who had invested their savings + in brewery stock, the profits of which might have been + lessened by the bill. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Also the power of the clergy, combined with the brewer, was sufficient +to put through Parliament a provision that no prohibition legislation +should ever be passed without providing for compensation to the owners +of the industry. Today, all over America, appeals are being made to +the people to eat less grain; the grain is being shipped to England, +some of it to be made into beer; and a high Anglican prelate, his +Grace the Archbishop of York, comes to America to urge us to increased +sacrifices, and in his first newspaper interview takes occasion to +declare that his church is not in favor of prohibition as a measure of +war-time economy!</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Anglicanism and Alcohol</b></p> +<p> +This partnership of Bishops and Beer is painfully familiar to British +radicals; they see it at work in +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> + every election—the publican +confusing the voters with spirits, while the parson confuses them with +spirituality. There are two powerful societies in England employing +this deadly combination—the "Anti-Socialist Union" and the "Liberty +and Property Defense League." If you scan the lists of the organizers, +directors and subsidizers of these satanic institutions, you find Tory +politicians and landlords, prominent members of the higher clergy, and +large-scale dealers in drunkenness. I attended in London a meeting +called by the "Liberty and Property Defense League," to listen to a +denunciation of Socialism by W.H. Mallock, a master sophist of Roman +Catholicism; upon the platform were a bishop and half a dozen members +of the Anglican clergy, together with the secretary of the Federated +Brewers' Association, the Secretary of the Wine, Spirit, and Beer +Trade Association, and three or four other alcoholic magnates.</p> +<p> +In every public library in England and many in America you will find +an assortment of pamphlets published by these organizations, and +scholarly volumes endorsed by them, in which the stock +misrepresentations of Socialism are perpetuated. Some of these +writings are brutal—setting forth the ethics of exploitation in the +manner of the Rev. Thomas Malthus, the English clergyman who supplied +for capitalist depredation a basis in pretended natural science. Said +this shepherd of Jesus:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + A man who is born into a world already possessed, if he + cannot get subsistence from his parents, and if society does + not Want his labor, has no claim of right to the smallest + portion of food, and in fact has no business to be where he + is. At Nature's +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> + mighty feast there is no cover for him. + She tells him to be gone, and will quickly execute her own orders. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Such was the tone of the ruling classes in the nineteenth century; but +it was found that for some reason this failed to stop the growth of +Socialism, and so in our time the clerical defenders of Privilege have +grown subtle and insinuating. They inform us now that they have a deep +sympathy with our fundamental purposes; they burn with pity for the +poor, and they would really and truly wish happiness to everyone, not +merely in Heaven, but right here and now. However, there are so many +complications—and so they proceed to set out all the anti-Socialist +bug-a-boos. Here for example, is the Rev. James Stalker, D.D., +expounding "The Ethics of Jesus," and admonishing us extremists:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Efforts to transfer money and property from one set of hands + to another may be inspired by the same passions as have + blinded the present holders to their own highest good, and + may be accompanied with injustice as extreme as has ever + been manifested by the rich and powerful. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And again, the Rev. W. Sanday, D.D., an especially popular clerical +author, gives us this sublime utterance of religion on wage-slavery:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The world is full of mysteries, but some clear lines run + through them, of which this is one. Where God has been so + patient, it is not for us to be impatient. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And again, Professor Robert Flint, of Edinburgh University, a +clergyman, author of a big book attacking Socialism, and bringing us +back to the faith of our fathers:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The great bulk of human misery is due, not to social + arrangements, but to personal vices. + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +</p></div> +<p> +I study Professor Flint's volume in the effort to find just what, if +anything, he would have the church do about the evils of our time. I +find him praising the sermons of Dr. Westcott, Bishop of Durham, as +being the proper sort for clergymen to preach. Bishop Westcott, +whether he is talking to a high society congregation, or to one of +workingmen, shows "an exquisite sense of knowing always where to +stop." So I consulted the Bishop's volume, "The Social Aspects of +Christianity" and I see at once why he is popular with the +anti-Socialist propagandists—neither I or any other man can possibly +discover what he really means, or what he really wants done.</p> +<p> +I was fascinated by this Westcott problem; I thought maybe if I kept +on the good Bishop's trail, I might in the end find something a plain +man could understand; so I got the beautiful two-volume "Life of +Brooke Westcott, by his Son"—and there I found an exposition of the +social purposes of bishops! In the year 1892 there was a strike in +Durham, which is in the coal country; the employers tried to make a +cut in wages, and some ten thousand men walked out, and there was a +long and bitter struggle, which wrung the episcopal heart. There was +much consultation and correspondence on episcopal stationery, and at +last the masters and men were got together, with the Bishop as +arbitrator, and the dispute was triumphantly settled—how do you +suppose? On the basis of a ten per cent reduction in wages!</p> +<p> +I know nothing quainter in the history of English graft than the +<b>NAIVETÉ</b> with which the Bishop's biographer and son tells the story +of this episcopal venture into reality. The prelate came out from the +conference +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> + "all smiles, and well satisfied with the result of his +day's work." As for his followers, they were in ecstacies; they +"seized and waltzed one another around on the carriage drive as madly +as ever we danced at a flower show ball. Hats and caps are thrown into +the air, and we cheer ourselves hoarse." The Bishop proceeds to his +palace, and sends one more communication on episcopal stationery—an +order to all his clergy to "offer their humble and hearty thanks to +God for our happy deliverance from the strife by which the diocese has +been long afflicted." Strange to say, there were a few varlets in +Durham who did not appreciate the services of the bold Bishop, and one +of them wrote and circulated some abusive verses, in which he made +reference to the Bishop's comfortable way of life. The biographer then +explains that the Bishop was so tender-hearted that he suffered for +the horses who drew his episcopal coach, and so ascetic that he would +have lived on tea and toast if he had been permitted to. A curious +condition in English society, where the Bishop would have lived on tea +and toast, but was not permitted to; while the working people, who +didn't want to live on tea and toast, were compelled to!</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Dead Cats </b></p> +<p> +For more than a hundred years the Anglican clergy have been fighting +with every resource at their command the liberal and enlightened men +of England who wished to educate the masses of the people. In 1807 the +first measure for a national school-system was denounced by the +Archbishop of Canterbury as "derogatory to the authority of the +Church." As a counter-measure, +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> + his supporters established the +"National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the +Doctrines of the Established Church"; and the founder of the +organization, a clergyman, advocated a barn as a good structure for a +school, and insisted that the children of the workers "should not be +taught beyond their station." In 1840 a Committee of the Privy Council +on Education was appointed, but bowed to the will of the Archbishops, +setting forth the decree of "their lord-ships" that "the first purpose +of all instruction must be the regulation of the thoughts and habits +of the children by the doctrine and precepts of revealed religion." In +1850 a bill for secular education was denounced as presenting to the +country "a choice between Heaven or Hell, God or the Devil." In 1870, +Forster, author of the still unpassed bill, wrote that while the +parsons were disputing, the children of the poor were "growing into +savages."</p> +<p> +As with Education, so with Social Reform. During the struggle to +abolish slavery in the British colonies, some enthusiasts endeavored +to establish the doctrine that Christian baptism conferred +emancipation upon negroes who accepted it; whereupon the Bishop of +London laid down the formula of exploitation: "Christianity and the +embracing of the gospel do not make the least alteration of civil +property."</p> +<p> +Gladstone, who was a democrat when he was not religious, spoke of the +cultured classes of England:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + In almost every one, if not every one, of the greatest + political controversies of the last fifty years, whether + they affected the franchise, whether they affected commerce, + whether they affected religion, whether they affected the + bad and abominable institution +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> + of slavery, or what + subject they touched, these leisured classes, these educated + classes, these titled classes have been in the wrong. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +The "Great Commoner" did not add "these religious classes ", for he +belonged to the religious classes himself; but a study of the record +will supply the gap. The Church opposed all the reform measures which +Gladstone himself put through. It opposed the Reform Bill of 1832. It +opposed all the social reforms of Lord Salisbury. This noble-hearted +Englishman complained that at first only a single minister of religion +supported him, and to the end only a few. He expressed himself as +distressed and puzzled "to find support from infidels and +non-professors; opposition or coldness from religionists or +declaimers."</p> +<p> +And to our own day it has been the same. In 1894 the House of Bishops +voted solidly against the Employers' Liability Law. The House of +Bishops opposed Home Rule, and beat it; The House of Bishops opposed +Womans' Suffrage, and voted against it to the end. Concerning this +establishment Lord Salisbury, himself the most devout of Englishmen, +used the vivid phrase: "This vast aquarium full of cold-blooded life." +He told the Bishops that he would give up preaching to them about +ecclesiastical reform, because he knew that they would never begin. +Another member of the British aristocracy, the Hon. Geo. Russel, has +written of their record and adventures:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + They were defenders of absolutism, slavery, and the bloody + penal code; they were the resolute opponents of every + political or social reform; and they had their reward from + the nation outside parliament. The Bishop of Bristol had his + palace sacked and burnt; the Bishop of London could not keep + an engagement to +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> + preach lest the congregation should + stone him. The Bishop of Litchfield barely escaped with his + life after preaching at St. Bride's, Fleet Street. + Archbishop Howley, entering Canterbury for his primary + visitation, was insulted, spat upon, and only brought by a + circuitous route to the Deanery, amid the execrations of the + mob. On the 5th of November the Bishops of Exeter and + Winchester were burnt in effigy close to their own palace + gates. Archbishop Howley's chaplain complained that a dead + cat had been thrown at him, when the Archbishop—a man of + apostolic meekness—replied: "You should be thankful that it + was not a live one." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +The people had reason for this conduct—as you will always find they +have, if you take the trouble to inquire. Let me quote another member +of the English ruling classes, Mr. Conrad Noel, who gives "an +instance, of the procedure of Church and State about this period":</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + In 1832 six agricultural labourers in South Dorsetshire, led + by one of their class, George Loveless, in receipt of 9s. a + week each, demanded the 10s. rate of wages usual in the + neighbourhood. The result was a reduction to 8s. An appeal + was made to the chairman of the local bench, who decided + that they must work for whatever their masters chose to pay + them. The parson, who had at first promised his help, now + turned against them, and the masters promptly reduced the + wage to 7s., with a threat of further reduction. Loveless + then formed an agricultural union, for which all seven were + arrested, treated as convicts, and committed to the assizes. + The prison chaplain tried to bully them into submission. The + judge determined to convict them, and directed that they + should be tried for mutiny under an act of George III, + specially passed to deal with the naval mutiny at the Nore. + The grand jury were landowners, and the petty jury were + farmers; both judge and jury were churchmen of the + prevailing type. The judge summed up as follows: "Not for + anything that you have done, or that I can prove that you + intend to do, but for an example to others I consider it my + duty to pass the sentence of +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> + seven years' penal + transportation across His Majesty's high seas upon each and + every one of you." +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Suffer Little Children</b></p> +<p> +The founder of Christianity was a man who specialized in children. He +was not afraid of having His discourses disturbed by them, He did not +consider them superfluous. "Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven", He +said; and His Church is the inheritor of this tradition—"feed my +lambs". There were children in Great Britain in the early part of the +nineteenth century, and we may see what was done with them by turning +to Gibbin's "Industrial History of England":</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Sometimes regular traffickers would take the place of the + manufacturer, and transfer a number of children to a factory + district, and there keep them, generally in some dark + cellar, till they could hand them over to a mill owner in + want of hands, who would come and examine their height, + strength, and bodily capacities, exactly as did the slave + oweners in the American markets. After that the children + were simply at the mercy of their oweners, nominally as + apprentices, but in reality as mere slaves, who got no + wages, and whom it was not worth while even to feed and + clothe properly, because they were so cheap and their places + could be so easily supplied. It was often arranged by the + parish authorities, in order to get rid of imbeciles, that + one idiot should be taken by the mill owener with every + twenty sane children. The fate of these unhappy idiots was + even worse than that of the others. The secret of their + final end has never been disclosed, but we can form some + idea of their awful sufferings from the hardships of the + other victims to capitalist greed and cruelty. The hours of + their labor were only limited by exhaustion, after many + modes of torture had been unavailingly applied to force + continued work. Children were often worked sixteen hours a + day, by day and by night. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +In the year 1819 an act of Parliament was proposed limiting the labor +of children nine years of age to fourteen +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> + hours a day. This would +seem to have been a reasonable provision, likely to have won the +approval of Christ; yet the bill was violently opposed by Christian +employers, backed by Christian clergymen. It was interfering with +freedom of contract, and therefore with the will of Providence; it was +anathema to an established Church, whose function was in 1819, as it +is in 1918, and was in 1918 B.C., to teach the divine origin and +sanction of the prevailing economic order. "Anu and Baal called me, +Hammurabi, the exalted prince, worshipper of the gods" ... so begins +the oldest legal code which has come down to us, from 2250 B.C.; and +the coronation service of the English church is made whole out of the +same thesis. The duty of submission, not merely to divinely chosen +King, but to divinely chosen Landlord and divinely chosen +Manufacturer, is implicit in the church's every ceremony, and explicit +in many of its creeds. In the Litany the people petition for "increase +of grace to hear meekly Thy Word"; and here is this "Word," as little +children are made to learn it by heart. If there exists in the world a +more perfect summary of slave ethics, I do not know where to find it.</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + My duty towards my neighbour is ... To honour and obey the + King, and all that are put in authority under him; To submit + myself to all my governours, teachers, spiritual pastors, + and masters: To order myself lowly and reverently to all my + betters.... Not to covet nor desire other men's goods; But + to learn and labour truly to get mine own living, and to do + my duty in that state of life, unto which it shall please + God to call me. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +A hundred years ago one of the most popular of British writers was +Hannah More. She and her sister Martha went to live in the +coal-country, to teach this +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> + "catechism" to the children of the +starving miners. The "Mendip Annals" is the title of a book in which +they tell of their ten years' labors in a village popularly known as +"Little Hell." In this place two hundred people were crowded into +nineteen houses. "There is not one creature in it that can give a cup +of broth if it would save a life." In one winter eighteen perished of +"a putrid fever", and the clergyman "could not raise a six-pence to +save a life."</p> +<p> +And what did the pious sisters make of all this? From cover to cover +you find in the "Mendip Annals" no single word of social protest, not +even of social suspicion. That wages of a shilling a day might have +anything to do with moral degeneration was a proposition beyond the +mental powers of England's most popular woman writer. She was +perfectly content that a woman should be sentenced to death for +stealing butter from a dealer who had asked what the woman thought too +high a price. When there came a famine, and the children of these +mine-slaves were dying like flies, Hannah More bade them be happy +because God had sent them her pious self. "In suffering by the +scarcity, you have but shared in the common lot, with the pleasure of +knowing the advantage you have had over many villages in your having +suffered no scarcity of religious instruction." And in another place +she explained that the famine was caused by God to teach the poor to +be grateful to the rich!</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Let me remind you that probably that very scarcity has been + permitted by an all-wise and gracious Providence to unite + all ranks of people together, to show the poor how + immediately they are dependent upon the rich, and to show + both rich and +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> + poor that they are all dependent upon + Himself. It has also enabled you to see more clearly the + advantages you derive from the government and constitution + of this country—to observe the benefits flowing from the + distinction of rank and fortune, which has enabled the high + to so liberally assist the low.</p></div> +<p> + It appears that the villagers were entirely convinced by + this pious reasoning; for they assembled one Saturday night + and burned an effigy of Tom Paine! This proceeding led to a + tragic consequence, for one of the "common people," known as + Robert, "was overtaken by liquor," and was unable to appear + at Sunday School next day. This fall from grace occasioned + intense remorse in Robert. "It preyed dreadfully upon his + mind for many months," records Martha More, "and despair + seemed at length to take possession of him." Hannah had some + conversation with him, and read him some suitable passages + from "The Rise and Progress". "At length the Almighty was + pleased to shine into his heart and give him comfort."</p> +<p> + Nor should you imagine that this saintly stupidity was in + any way unique in the Anglican establishment. We read in the + letters of Shelley how his father tormented him with + Archdeacon Paley's "Evidences" as a cure for atheism. This + eminent churchman wrote a book, which he himself ranked + first among his writings, called "Reasons for Contentment, + addressed to the Labouring Classes of the British Public." + In this book he not merely proved that religion "smooths all + inequalities, because it unfolds a prospect which makes all + earthly distinctions nothing"; he went so far as to prove + that, quite apart from religion, the British exploiters were + less fortunate than those to whom they paid a shilling a + day. +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + Some of the conditions which poverty (if the condition of + the labouring part of mankind must be so called) imposes, + are not hardships, but pleasures. Frugality itself is a + pleasure. It is an exercise of attention and contrivance, + which, whenever it is successful, produces satisfaction.... + This is lost among abundance. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And there was William Wilberforce, as sincere a philanthropist as +Anglicanism ever produced, an ardent supporter of Bible societies and +foreign missions, a champion of the anti-slavery movement, and also of +the ruthless "Combination Laws," which denied to British wage-slaves +all chance of bettering their lot. Wilberforce published a "Practical +View of the System of Christianity", in which he told unblushingly +what the Anglican establishment is for. In a chapter which he +described as "the basis of all politics," he explained that the +purpose of religion is to remind the poor</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + That their more lowly path has been allotted to them by the + hand of God; that it is their part faithfully to discharge + its duties, and contentedly to bear its inconveniences; that + the objects about which worldly men conflict so eagerly are + not worth the contest; that the peace of mind, which + Religion offers indiscriminately to all ranks, affords more + true satisfaction than all the expensive pleasures which are + beyond the poor man's reach; that in this view the poor have + the advantage; that if their superiors enjoy more abundant + comforts, they are also exposed to many temptations from + which the inferior classes are happily exempted; that, + "having food and raiment, they should be therewith content," + since their situation in life, with all its evils, is better + than they have deserved at the hand of God; and finally, + that all human distinctions will soon be done away, and the + true followers of Christ will all, as children of the same + Father, be alike admitted to the possession of the same + heavenly inheritance. Such are the blessed effects of + Christianity on the temporal well-being of political + communities. +</p></div> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Court-Circular</b></p> +<p> +The Anglican system of submission has been transplanted intact to the +soil of America. When King George the Third lost the sovereignty of +the colonies, the bishops of his divinely inspired church lost the +control of the clergy across the seas; but this revolution was purely +one of Church politics—in doctrine and ritual the "Protestant +Episcopal Church of America" remained in every way Anglican. The +little children of our free republic are taught the same +slave-catechism, "to order myself lowly and reverently to all my +betters." The only difference is that instead of being told "to honour +and obey the King," they are told "to honour and obey the civil +authority."</p> +<p> +It is the Church of Good Society in England, and it is the same in +Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Charleston. +Just as our ruling classes have provided themselves with imitation +English schools and imitation English manners and imitation English +clothes—so in their Heaven they have provided an imitation English +monarch. I wonder how many Americans realize the treason to democracy +they are committing when they allow their children to be taught a +symbolism and liturgy based upon absolutist ideas. I take up the +hymn-book—not the English, but the sturdy, independent, democratic +American hymn-book. I have not opened it for twenty years, yet the +greater part of its contents is as familiar to me as the syllables of +my own name. I read:</p> + +<blockquote class="poem"> +<p> + +<span class="i1">Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Cherubim and seraphim bowing down before Thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Which wert, and art, and ever more shall be!</span> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> + +<p>One might quote a hundred other hymns made thus out of royal +imagery. I turn at random to the part headed "General," and find +that there is hardly one hymn in which there is not "king," +"throne," or some image of homage and flattery. The first hymn +begins—</p> + +<blockquote class="poem"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Ancient of days, Who sittest, throned in glory;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To Thee all knees are bent, all voices pray.<br /></span> +</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p> +And the second—</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + + +<p> +<span class="i2">Christ, whose glory fills the skies—<br /></span> +</p> + +</blockquote> +<p> +And the third—</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<p> +<span class="i2">Lord of all being, throned afar,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thy glory flames from sun and star.<br /></span> +</p> + +</blockquote> +<p> +There is a court in Heaven above, to which all good Britons look up, +and about which they read with exactly the same thrills as they read +the Court Circular. The two courts have the same ethical code and the +same manners; their Sovereigns are jealous, greedy of attention, +self-conscious and profoundly serious, punctilious and precise; their +existence consisting of an endless round of ceremonies, and they being +incapable of boredom. No member of the Royal Family can escape this +regime even if he wishes; and no more can any member of the Holy +Family—not even the meek and lowly Jesus, who chose a carpenter's +wife for his mother, and showed all his earthly days a preference for +low society.</p> +<p> +This unconventional Son lived obscurely; he never carried weapons, he +could not bear to have so much as a human ear cut off in his presence. +But see how he figures in the Court Circular:</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> +<p> +<span class="i1">The Son of God goes forth to war,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A kingly crown to gain:<br /></span> + +<span class="i1">His blood-red banner streams afar:<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Who follows in His train?<br /></span> +</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +<p> + +This carpenter's son was one of the most unpretentious men on earth; +utterly simple and honest—he would not even let anyone praise him. +When some one called him "good Master," he answered, quickly, "Why +callest thou me good? There is none good save one, that is, God." But +this simplicity has been taken with deprecation by his church, which +persists in heaping compliments upon him in conventional, courtly +style:</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">The company of angels<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Are praising Thee on high;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And mortal men, and all things<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Created, make reply:<br /></span> +<span class="i2">All Glory, laud and honour,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">To Thee, Redeemer, King....<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> +The impression a modern man gets from all this is the unutterable +boredom that Heaven must be. Can one imagine a more painful occupation +than that of the saints—casting down their golden crowns around the +glassy sea—unless it be that of the Triumvirate itself, compelled to +sit through eternity watching these saints, and listening to their +mawkish and superfluous compliments!</p> +<p> +But one can understand that such things are necessary in a monarchy; +they are necessary if you are going to have Good Society, and a Good +Society church. For Good Society is precisely the same thing as +Heaven; that is, a place to which only a few can get admission, and +those few are bored. They spend their time going through costly +formalities—not because they enjoy it, but because of its effect upon +the populace, which reads about them and sees their pictures in the +papers, and now and then is allowed to catch a glimpse of their +physical Presences, as at the horse-show, or the opera, or the +coaching-parade. +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Horn-blowing</b></p> +<p> + +I know the Church of Good Society in America, having studied it from +the inside. I was an extraordinarily devout little boy; one of my +earliest recollections—I cannot have been more than four years of +age—is of carrying a dust-brush about the house as the choir-boy +carried the golden cross every Sunday morning. I remember asking if I +might say the "Lord's prayer" in this fascinating play; and my +mother's reply: "If you say it reverently." When I was thirteen, I +attended service, of my own volition and out of my own enthusiasm, +every single day during the forty days of Lent; at the age of fifteen +I was teaching Sunday-school. It was the Church of the Holy Communion, +at Sixth Avenue and Twentieth Street, New York; and those who know the +city will understand that this is a peculiar location—precisely half +way between the homes of some of the oldest and most august of the +city's aristocracy, and some of the vilest and most filthy of the +city's slums. The aristocracy were paying for the church, and occupied +the best pews; they came, perfectly clad, aus dem Ei gegossen, as the +Germans say, with the manner they so carefully cultivate, gracious, +yet infinitely aloof. The service was made for them—as all the rest +of the world is made for them; the populace was permitted to occupy a +fringe of vacant seats.</p> +<p> +The assistant clergyman was an Englishman, and a gentleman; orthodox, +yet the warmest man's heart I have ever known. He could not bear to +have the church remain entirely the church of the rich; he would go +persistently into the homes of the poor, visiting the old slum women +in their pitifully neat little kitchens, and luring their children +with entertainments and Christmas candy. +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> + They were corralled into +the Sunday-school, where it was my duty to give them what they needed +for the health of their souls.</p> +<p> +I taught them out of a book of lessons; and one Sunday it would be +Moses in the Bulrushes, and next Sunday it would be Jonah and the +Whale, and next Sunday it would be Joshua blowing down the walls of +Jericho. These stories were reasonably entertaining, but they seemed +to me futile, not to the point. There were little morals tagged to +them, but these lacked relationship to the lives of little slum-boys. +Be good and you will be happy, love the Lord and all will be well with +you; which was about as true and as practical as the procedure of the +Fijians, blowing horns to drive away a pestilence.</p> +<p> +I had a mind, you see, and I was using it. I was reading the papers, +and watching politics and business. I followed the fates of my little +slum-boys—and what I saw was that Tammany Hall was getting them. The +liquor-dealers and the brothel-keepers, the panders and the pimps, the +crap-shooters and the petty thieves—all these were paying the +policeman and the politician for a chance to prey upon my boys; and +when the boys got into trouble, as they were continually doing, it was +the clergyman who consoled them in prison—but it was the Tammany +leader who saw the judge and got them out. So these boys got their +lesson, even earlier in life than I got mine—that the church was a +kind of amiable fake, a pious horn-blowing; while the real thing was +Tammany.</p> +<p> +I talked about this with the vestrymen and the ladies of Good Society; +they were deeply pained, but I noticed that they did nothing practical +about it; and gradually, as I went on to investigate, I discovered the +reason—<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>that their incomes came from real estate, traction, gas +and other interests, which were contributing the main part of the +campaign expenses of the corrupt Tammany machine, and of its equally +corrupt rival. So it appeared that these immaculate ladies and +gentlemen, aus dem Ei gegossen, were themselves engaged, +unconsciously, perhaps, but none the less effectively, in spreading +the pestilence against which they were blowing their religious horns!</p> +<p> +So little by little I saw my beautiful church for what it was and is: +a great capitalist interest, an integral and essential part of a +gigantic predatory system. I saw that its ethical and cultural and +artistic features, however sincerely they might be meant by individual +clergymen, were nothing but a bait, a device to lure the poor into the +trap of submission to their exploiters. And as I went on probing into +the secret life of the great Metropolis of Mammon, and laying bare its +infamies to the world, I saw the attitude of the church to such work; +I met, not sympathy and understanding, but sneers and +denunciation—until the venerable institution which had once seemed +dignified and noble became to me as a sepulchre of corruption.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Trinity Corporation</b></p> +<p>There stands on the corner of Broadway and Wall Street a towering +brown-stone edifice, one of the most beautiful and most famous +churches in America. As a child I have walked through its church yard +and read the quaint and touching inscriptions on its grave-stones; +when I was a little older, and knew Wall Street, it seemed to me a +sublime thing that here in the very heart of the world's infamy there +should be raised, +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> + like a finger of warning, this symbol of Eternity and Judgment. +Its great bell rang at noon-time, and all the traders and their +wage-slaves had to listen, whether they would or no! Such was Old +Trinity to my young soul; and what is it in reality?</p> +<p> +The story was told some ten years ago by Charles Edward Russell. +Trinity Corporation is the name of the concern, and it is one of the +great landlords of New York. In the early days it bought a number of +farms, and these it has held, as the city has grown up around them, +until in 1908 their value was estimated at anywhere from forty to a +hundred million dollars. The true amount has never been made public; +to quote Russell's words:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +The real owners of the property are the communicants of the church. +For 94 years none of the owners has known the extent of the property, +nor the amount of the revenue therefrom, nor what is done with the +money. Every attempt to learn even the simplest fact about these +matters has been baffled. The management is a self perpetuating body, +without responsibility and without supervision.</p></div> +<p> +And the writer goes on to describe the business policy of this great +corporation, which is simply the English land system complete. It +refuses to sell the land, but rents it for long periods, and the +tenant builds the house, and then when the lease expires, the +Corporation takes over the house for a nominal sum. Thus it has +purchased houses for as low as $200, and made them into tenements, and +rented them to the swarming poor for a total of fifty dollars a month. +The houses were not built for tenements, they have no conveniences, +they are not fit for the habitation of animals.</p> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> + The article, in Everybody's Magazine for July, 1908, gives +pictures of them, which are horrible beyond belief. To quote the +writer again:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +Decay, neglect and squalor seem to brood wherever Trinity is an owner. +Gladly would I give to such a charitable and benevolent institution +all possible credit for a spirit of improvement manifested anywhere, +but I can find no such manifestation. I have tramped the Eighth Ward +day after day with a list of Trinity properties in my hand, and of all +the tenement houses that stand there on Trinity land, I have not found +one that is not a disgrace to civilization and to the City of New +York.</p></div> +<p> +It happens that I once knew the stately prelate who presided over this +Corporation of Corruption. I imagine how he would have shivered and +turned pale had some angel whispered to him what devilish utterances +were some day to proceed from the lips of the little cherub with +shining face and shining robes who acted as the bishop's attendant in +the stately ceremonials of the Church! Truly, even into the goodly +company of the elect, even to the most holy places of the temple, +Satan makes his treacherous way! Even under the consecrated hands of +the bishop! For while the bishop was blessing me and taking me into +the company of the sanctified, I was thinking about what the papers +had reported, that the bishop's wife had been robbed of fifty thousand +dollars worth of jewels! It did not seem quite in accordance with the +doctrine of Jesus that a bishop's wife should possess fifty thousand +dollars worth of jewels, or that she should be setting the bloodhounds +of the police on the train of a human being. I asked my clergyman +friend about it, and remember his patient explanation—that the bishop +had to know all classes and conditions of men: his wife had to go +among +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> + the rich as well as the poor, and must be able to dress so +that she would not be embarrassed. The Bishop at this time was making +it his life-work to raise a million dollars for the beginning of a +great Episcopal cathedral; and this of course compelled him to spend +much time among the rich!</p> +<p> +The explanation satisfied me; for of course I thought there had to be +cathedrals—despite the fact that both St. Stephen and St. Paul had +declared that "the Lord dwelleth not in temples made with hands." In +the twenty-five years which have passed since that time the good +Bishop has passed to his eternal reward, but the mighty structure +which is a monument to his visitations among the rich towers over the +city from its vantage-point on Morningside Heights. It is called the +Cathedral of St. John the Divine; and knowing what I know about the +men who contributed its funds, and about the general functions of the +churches of the Metropolis of Mammon, it would not seem to me less +holy if it were built, like the monuments of ancient ravagers, out of +the skulls of human beings.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Spiritual Interpretation</b></p> +<p>There remains to say a few words as to the intellectual functions of +the Fifth Avenue clergy. Let us realize at the outset that they do +their preaching in the name of a proletarian rebel, who was crucified +as a common criminal because, as they said, "He stirreth up the +people." An embarrassing "Savior" for the church of Good Society, you +might imagine; but they manage to fix him up and make him respectable.</p> +<p> +I remember something analogous in my own boyhood. +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> + All day Saturday +I ran about with the little street rowdies, I stole potatoes and +roasted them in vacant lots, I threw mud from the roofs of +apartment-houses; but on Saturday night I went into a tub and was +lathered and scrubbed, and on Sunday I came forth in a newly brushed +suit, a clean white collar and a shining tie and a slick derby hat and +a pair of tight gloves which made me impotent for mischief. Thus I was +taken and paraded up Fifth Avenue, doing my part of the duties of Good +Society. And all church-members go through this same performance; the +oldest and most venerable of them steal potatoes and throw mud all +week—and then take a hot bath of repentance and put on the clean +clothing of piety. In this same way their ministers of religion are +occupied to scrub and clean and dress up their disreputable +Founder—to turn him from a proletarian rebel into a +stained-glass-window divinity.</p> +<p> +The man who really lived, the carpenter's son, they take out and +crucify all over again. As a young poet has phrased it, they nail him +to a jeweled cross with cruel nails of gold. Come with me to the New +Golgotha and witness this crucifixion; take the nails of gold in your +hands, try the weight of the jeweled sledges! Here is a sledge, in the +form of a dignified and scholarly volume, published by the exclusive +house of Scribner, and written by the Bishop of my boyhood, the Bishop +whose train I carried in the stately ceremonials: "The Citizen in His +Relation to the Industrial Situation," by the Right Reverend Henry +Codman Potter, D.D., L.L.D., D.C.L.—a course of lectures delivered +before the sons of our predatory classes at Yale University, under the +endowment of a millionaire mining king, founder +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> + of the Phelps-Dodge +corporation, which the other day carried out the deportation from +their homes of a thousand striking miners at Bisbee, Arizona. Says my +Bishop:</p><div class="blockquote"> +<p> +Christ did not denounce wealth any more than he denounced pauperism. +He did not abhor money; he used it. He did not abhor the company of +rich men; he sought it. He did not invariably scorn or even resent a +certain profuseness of expenditure.</p> +</div> +<p> +And do you think that the late Bishop of J.P. Morgan and Company +stands alone as an utterer of scholarly blasphemy, a driver of golden +nails? In the course of this book there will march before us a long +line of the clerical retainers of Privilege, on their way to the New +Golgotha to crucify the carpenter's son: the Rector of the Money +Trust, the Preacher of the Coal Trust, the Priest of the Traction +Trust, the Archbishop of Tammany, the Chaplain of the Millionaires' +Club, the Pastor of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Religious Editor of +the New Haven, the Sunday-school Superintendent of Standard Oil. We +shall try the weight of their jewelled sledges—books, sermons, +newspaper-interviews, after-dinner speeches—wherewith they pound +their golden nails of sophistry into the bleeding hands and feet of +the proletarian Christ.</p> +<p> +Here, for example, is Rev. F.G. Peabody, Professor of Christian Morals +at Harvard University. Prof. Peabody has written several books on the +social teachings of Jesus; he quotes the most rabid of the carpenter's +denunciations of the rich, and says:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +Is it possible that so obvious and so limited a message as this, a +teaching so slightly distinguished from the curbstone +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> + rhetoric of a +modern agitator, can be an adequate reproduction of the scope and +power of the teaching of Jesus?</p></div> +<p> +The question answers itself: Of course not! For Jesus was a gentleman; +he is the head of a church attended by gentlemen, of universities +where gentlemen are educated. So the Professor of Christian Morals +proceeds to make a subtle analysis of Jesus' actions; demonstrating +therefrom that there are three proper uses to be made of great wealth: +first, for almsgiving—"The poor ye have always with you!"; second, +for beauty and culture—buying wine for wedding-feasts, and +ointment-boxes and other <b>objets de vertu</b>; and third, "stewardship," +"trusteeship"—which in plain English is "Big Business."</p> +<p> +I have used the illustration of soap and hot water; one can imagine he +is actually watching the scrubbing process, seeing the proletarian +Founder emerging all new and respectable under the brush of this +capitalist professor. The professor has a rule all his own for reading +the scriptures; he tells us that when there are two conflicting +sayings, the rule of interpretation is that "the more spiritual is to +be preferred." Thus, one gospel makes Jesus say: "Blessed are ye +poor." Another puts it: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." The first +one is crude and literal; obviously the second must be what Jesus +meant! In other words, the professor and his church have made for +their economic masters a treacherous imitation virtue to be taught to +wage-slaves, a quality of submissiveness, impotence and futility, +which they call by the name of "spirituality". This virtue they exalt +above all others, and in its name they +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> + cut from the record of Jesus +everything which has relation to the realities of life!</p> +<p> +So here is our Professor Peabody, sitting in the Plummer chair at +Harvard, writing on "Jesus Christ and the Social Question," and +explaining:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +The fallacy of the Socialist program is not in its radicalism, but in +its externalism. It proposes to accomplish by economic change what can +be attained by nothing less than spiritual regeneration.</p></div> +<p> +And here is "The Churchman," organ of the Episcopalians of New York, +warning us:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +It is necessary to remember that something more than material and +temporal considerations are involved. There are things of more +importance to the purposes of God and to the welfare of humanity than +economic readjustments and social amelioration.</p></div> +<p> +And again:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +Without doubt there is a strong temptation today, bearing upon clergy +and laity alike, to address their religious energies too exclusively +to those tasks whereby human life may be made more abundant and +wholesome materially.... We need constantly to be reminded that +spiritual things come first.</p></div> + +<p> +There come before my mental eye the elegant ladies and gentlemen for +whom these comfortable sayings are prepared: the vestrymen and pillars +of the Church, with black frock coats and black kid gloves and shiny +tophats; the ladies of Good Society with their Easter costumes in +pastel shades, their gracious smiles and their sweet intoxicating +odors. I picture them as I have seen them at St. George's, where that +aged wild boar, Pierpont Morgan, the elder, used to pass the +collection plate; at Holy Trinity, where they drove downtown in +old-fashioned carriages with grooms and footmen sitting like twin +statues of insolence; at St. Thomas', +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> + where you might see all the +"Four Hundred" on exhibition at once; at St. Mary the Virgin's, where +the choir paraded through the aisles, swinging costly incense into my +childish nostrils, the stout clergyman walking alone with nose +upturned, carrying on his back a jewelled robe for which some adoring +female had paid sixty thousand dollars. "Spiritual things come first?" +Ah, yes! "Seek first the kingdom of God, and the jewelled robes shall +be added unto you!" And it is so dreadful about the French and German +Socialists, who, as the "Churchman" reports, "make a creed out of +materialism." But then, what is this I find in one issue of the organ +of the "Church of Good Society"?</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +Business men contribute to the Y.M.C.A. because they realize that if +their employes are well cared for and religiously influenced, they can +be of greater service in business!</p></div> +<p> +Who let that material cat out of the spiritual bag?</p> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +</p> + +<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +<a href="#CONTENTS"><b>CONTENTS</b></a> +<hr /> +<h3>BOOK THREE</h3> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Church of the Servant-girls</b></p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Was it for this—that prayers like these<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Should spend themselves about thy feet,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And with hard, overlabored knees<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Kneeling, these slaves of men should beat<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Bosoms too lean to suckle sons<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And fruitless as their orisons?<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Was it for this—that men should make<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Thy name a fetter on men's necks,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Poor men made poorer for thy sake,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And women withered out of sex?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Was it for this—that slaves should be—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thy word was passed to set men free?<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="quotsig">Swinburne.</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Charity</b></p> +<p> + +As everyone knows, the "society lady" is not an independent and +self-sustaining phenomenon. For every one of these exquisite, +sweet-smelling creatures that you meet on Fifth Avenue, there must be +at home a large number of other women who live sterile and empty +lives, and devote themselves to cleaning up after their luckier +sisters. But these "domestics" also are human beings; they have +emotions—or, in religious parlance, "souls;" it is necessary to +provide a discipline to keep them from appropriating the property of +their mistresses, also to keep them from becoming <b>enceinte.</b> So it +comes about that there are two cathedrals in New York: one, St. John +the Divine, for the society ladies, and the other, St. Patrick's, for +the servant-girls. The latter is located on Fifth Avenue, where its +towering white spires divide with the homes of the Vanderbilts the +interest of the crowds of sight-seers. Now, early every Sunday +morning, before "Good Society" has opened its eyes, you may see the +devotees of the Irish snake-charmer hurrying to their orisons, each +with a little black prayer-book in her hand. What is it they do +inside? What are they taught about life? This is the question to which +we have next to give attention.</p> +<p> +Some years ago Mr. Thomas F. Ryan, traction and insurance</p> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> + magnate of New York, favored me with his justification of his own +career and activities. He mentioned his charities, and, speaking as +one man of the world to another, he said: "The reason I put them into +the hands of Catholics is not religious, but because I find they are +efficient in such matters. They don't ask questions, they do what you +want them to do, and do it economically."</p> +<p> +I made no comment; I was absorbed in the implications of the +remark—like Agassiz when some one gave him a fossil bone, and his +mind set to work to reconstruct the creature.</p> +<p> +When a man is drunk, the Catholics do not ask if it was long hours and +improper working-conditions which drove him to desperation; they do +not ask if police and politicians are getting a rake-off from the +saloon, or if traction magnates are using it as an agency for the +controlling of votes; they do not plunge into prohibition movements or +good government campaigns—they simply take the man in, at a standard +price, and the patient slave-sisters and attendants get him sober, and +then turn him out for society to make him drunk again. That is +"charity," and it is the special industry of Roman Catholicism. They +have been at it for a thousand years, cleaning up loathsome and +unsightly messes—"plague, pestilence and famine, battle and murder +and sudden death." Yet—puzzling as it would seem to anyone not +religious—there were never so many messes, never so many different +kinds of messes, as now at the end of the thousand years of charitable +activity!</p> +<p> +But the Catholics go on and on; like the patient spider, building and +rebuilding his web across a door-way;<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +like soldiers under the command of a ruling class with a "muddling +through" tradition—</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Theirs not to reason why,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Theirs but to do and die.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> +And so of course all magnates and managers of industry who have messes +to be cleaned up, human garbage-heaps to be carted away quickly and +without fuss, turn to the Catholic Church for this service, no matter +what their personal religious beliefs or lack of beliefs may be. +Somewhere in the neighborhood of every steel-mill, every coal-mine or +other place of industrial danger, you will find a Catholic hospital, +with its slave-sisters and attendants. Once when I was "muck-raking" +near Pittsburgh, I went to one of these places to ask information as +to the frequency of industrial accidents and the fate of the victims. +The "Mother Superior" received me with a look of polite dismay. "These +concerns pay us!" she said. "You must see that as a matter of business +it would not do for us to talk about them."</p> +<p> +Obey and keep silence: that is the Catholic law. And precisely as it +is with the work of nursing and almsgiving, so it is with the work of +vote-getting, the elaborate system of policemen and saloon-keepers and +ward-heelers which the Catholic machine controls. This industry of +vote-getting is a comparatively new one; but the Church has been +handling the masses for so many centuries that she quickly learned +this new way of "democracy," and has established her supremacy over +all rivals. She has the schools for training the children, the +confessional for controlling the women; she has the intellectual +machinery, the purgatory and the code of slave-ethics. She has the +supreme advantage that the rank and file of her +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> + mighty host really +believe what she teaches; they do not have to listen to table-rappings +and flounder through swamps of automatic writings in order to bolster +their hope of the survival of personality after death!</p> +<p> +So it comes about that our captains of industry and finance have been +driven to a more or less reluctant alliance with the Papacy. The +Church is here, and her followers are here, before the war several +hundred thousand of them pouring into the country every year. It is no +longer possible to do without Catholics in America; not merely do +ditches have to be dug, roads graded, coal mined, and dishes washed, +but franchises have to be granted, tariff-schedules adjusted, juries +and courts manipulated, police trained and strikes crushed. Under +our native political system, for these purposes millions of votes +are needed; and these votes belong to people of a score of +nationalities—Irish and German and Italian and French-Canadian and +Bohemian and Mexican and Portuguese and Polish and Hungarian. Who but +the Catholic Church can handle these polyglot hordes? Who can furnish +teachers and editors and politicians familiar with all these +languages?</p> +<p> +Considering how complex is the service, the price is extremely +moderate—the mere actual expenses of the campaign, the cost of red +fire and torch-lights, of liquor and newspaper advertisements. The +rest may come out of the public till, in the form of exemption from +taxation of church buildings and lands, a share of the public funds +for charities and schools, the control of the police for +saloon-keepers and district leaders, the control of police-courts and +magistrates, of municipal administrations and boards of education, of +legislatures and governors; with +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> + a few higher offices now and then, +to flatter our sacred self-esteem, a senator or a justice on the +Supreme Court Bench; and on state occasions, to keep up our necessary +prestige, some cabinet-members and legislators and justices to attend +High Mass, and be blessed in public by Catholic prelates and +dignitaries.</p> +<p> +You think this is empty rhetoric—you comfortable, easy-going, +ultra-cultured Americans? You professors in your classic shades, +absorbed in "the passionless pursuit of passionless +intelligence"—while the world about you slides down into the pit! You +ladies of Good Society, practicing your "sweet little charities," +pursuing your "dear little ideals," raising your families of one or +two lovely children—while Irish and French-Canadians and Italians and +Portuguese and Hungarians are breeding their dozens and scores, and +preparing to turn you out of your country!</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>God's Armor</b></p> +<p>You remember "Bishop Blougram's Apology," Browning's study of the +psychology of a modern Catholic ecclesiastic. He is not unaware of +modern thought, this bishop; he is a man of culture, who wants to have +beauty about him, to be a "cabin passenger":</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">There's power in me and will to dominate<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Which I must exercise, they hurt me else;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In many ways I need mankind's respect,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Obedience, and the love that's born of fear.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> +He wishes that he had faith—faith in anything; he understands that +faith is all-important—</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Enthusiasm's the best thing, I repeat.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> +But you cannot get faith just by wishing for it—</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">But paint a fire, it will not therefore burn!<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +He tries to imagine himself going on a crusade for truth, but he +asks what there would be in it for him—</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i4">State the facts,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Read the text right, emancipate the world—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The emancipated world enjoys itself<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With scarce a thank-you. Blougram told it first<br /></span> +<span class="i2">It could not owe a farthing,—not to him<br /></span> +<span class="i2">More than St. Paul!<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> +So the bishop goes on with his role, but uneasily conscious of the +contempt of intellectual people.</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">I pine among my million imbeciles<br /></span> +<span class="i2">(You think) aware some dozen men of sense<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Eye me and know me, whether I believe<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In the last winking virgin as I vow,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And am a fool, or disbelieve in her,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And am a knave.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> +But, as he says, you have to keep a tight hold upon the chain of +faith, that is what</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Gives all the advantage, makes the difference,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With the rough, purblind mass we seek to rule.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We are their lords, or they are free of us,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Just as we tighten or relax that hold.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> +So he continues, but not with entire satisfaction, in his role of +shepherd to those whom he calls "King Bomba's lazzaroni," and +"ragamuffin saints."</p> +<p> +I wander into a Catholic bookstore and look to see what Bishop +Blougram is doing with his lazzaroni and his ragamuffin saints here in +this new country of the far West. It is easy to acquire the +information, for the saleswoman is polite and the prices fit my purse. +America is going to war, and Catholic boys are being drafted to be +trained for battle; so for ten cents I obtain a firmly bound little +pamphlet called "God's Armor, a Prayer Book for Soldiers." It is +marked "Copyright by +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> + the G.R.C. Central-Verein," and bears the +"Nihil Obstat" of the "Censor Theolog." and the "Imprimatur" of +"Johannes Josephus, Archiepiscopus Sti. Ludovici"—which last you may +at first fail to recognize as a well-known city on the Mississippi +River. Do you not feel the spell of ancient things, the magic of the +past creeping over you, as you read those Latin trade-marks? Such is +the Dead Hand, and its cunning, which can make even St. Louis sound +mysterious!</p> +<p> +In this booklet I get no information as to the commercial causes of +war, nor about the part which the clerical vote may have played +throughout Europe in supporting military systems. I do not even find +anything about the sacred cause of democracy, the resolve of a +self-governing people to put an end to feudal rule. Instead I discover +a soldier-boy who obeys and keeps silent, and who, in his inmost +heart, is in the grip of terrors both of body and soul. Poor, pitiful +soldier-boy, marking yourself with crosses, performing genuflexions, +mumbling magic formulas in the trenches—how many billions of you have +been led out to slaughter by the greeds and ambitions of your +religious masters, since first this accursed Antichrist got its grip +upon the hearts of men!</p> +<p> +I quote from this little book:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Start this day well by lifting up your heart to God. Offer + yourself to Him, and beg grace to spend the day without sin. + Make the sign of the cross. Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, + and Holy Ghost, behold me in Thy Divine Presence. I adore + Thee and give Thee thanks. Grant that all I do this day be + for Thy Glory, and for the salvation of my immortal soul.</p> +<p> + During the day lift your heart frequently to God. Your + prayers need not be long nor read from a book. Learn a few + of +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> + these short ejaculations by heart and frequently + repeat them. They will serve to recall God to your heart and + will strengthen you and comfort you. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +You remember a while back about the prayer-wheels of the Thibetans. +The Catholic religion was founded before the Thibetan, and is less +progressive; it does not welcome mechanical devices for saving labor. +You have to use your own vocal apparatus to keep yourself from hell; +but the process has been made as economical as possible by kindly +dispensations of the Pope. Thus, each time that you say "My God and my +all," you get fifty days indulgence; the same for "My Jesus, mercy," +and the same for "Jesus, my God, I love Thee above all things." For +"Jesus, Mary, Joseph," you get three hundred days—which would seem by +all odds the best investment of your spare breath.</p> +<p> +And then come prayers for all occasions: "Prayer before Battle"; +"Prayer for a Happy Death"; "Prayer in Temptation"; "Prayer before and +after Meals"; "Prayer when on Guard"; "Prayer before a long March"; +"Prayer of Resignation to Death"; "Prayer for Those in their Agony"—I +cannot bear to read them, hardly to list them. I remember standing in +a cathedral "somewhere in France" during the celebration of some +special Big Magic. There was brilliant white light, and a suffocating +strange odor, and the thunder of a huge organ, and a clamor of voices, +high, clear voices of young boys mounting to heaven, like the hands of +men in a pit reaching up, trying to climb over the top of one another. +It sent a shudder into the depths of my soul. There is nothing left in +the modern world which can carry the mind so far back into the ancient +nightmare +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> + of anguish and terror which was once the mental life of +mankind, as these Roman Catholic incantations with their frantic and +ceaseless importunity. They have even brought in the sex-spell; and +the poor, frightened soldier-boy, who has perhaps spent the night with +a prostitute, now prostrates himself before a holy Woman-being who is +lifted high above the shames of the flesh, and who stirs the thrills +of awe and affection which his mother brought to him in early +childhood. Read over the phrases of this "Litany of the Blessed +Virgin":</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Holy Mary, Pray for us. Holy Mother of God. Holy Virgin of + Virgins. Mother of Christ. Mother of divine grace. Mother + most pure. Mother most chaste. Mother inviolate. Mother + undefiled. Mother most amiable. Mother most admirable. + Mother of good counsel. Mother of our Creator. Mother of our + Savior. Virgin most prudent. Virgin most venerable. Virgin + most renowned. Virgin most powerful. Virgin most merciful. + Virgin most faithful. Mirror of justice. Seat of wisdom. + Cause of our joy. Spiritual vessel. Vessel of honor. + Singular vessel of devotion. Mystical rose. Tower of David. + Tower of ivory. House of gold. Ark of the covenant. Gate of + heaven. Morning Star. Health of the sick. Refuge of sinners. + Comforter of the afflicted. Help of Christians. Queen of + Angels. Queen of Patriarchs. Queen of Prophets. Queen of + Apostles. Queen of Martyrs. Queen of Confessors. Queen of + Virgins. Queen of all Saints. Queen conceived without + original sin. Queen of the most holy Rosary. Queen of Peace, + Pray for us. +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Thanksgivings</b></p> +<p> +For another five cents—how cheaply a man of insight can obtain +thrills in this fantastic world!—I purchase a copy of the "Messenger +of the Sacred Heart", a magazine published in New York, the issue for +October, 1917. There are pages of advertisements of +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> + schools and +colleges with strange titles: "Immaculata Seminary", "Holy Cross +Academy", "Holy Ghost Institute", "Ladycliff", "Academy of Holy Child +Jesus". The leading article is by a Jesuit, on "The Spread of the +Apostleship of Prayer among the Young"; and then "Sister Clarissa" +writes a poem telling us "What are Sorrows"; and then we are given a +story called "Prayer for Daddy"; and then another Jesuit father tells +us about "The Hills that Jesus Loved". A third father tells us about +the "Eucharistic Propaganda"; and we learn that in July, 1917, it +distributed 11,699 beads, and caused the expenditure of 57,714 hours +of adoration; and then the faithful are given a form of letter which +they are to write to the Honorable Baker, Secretary of War, imploring +him to intimate to the French government that France should withdraw +from one of her advances in civilization, and join with mediaeval +America in exempting priests from being drafted to fight for their +country. And then there is a "Question Box"—just like the Hearst +newspapers, only instead of asking whether she should allow him to +kiss her before he has told her that he loves her, the reader asks +what is the Pauline Privilege, and what is the heroic Act, and is +Robert a saint's name, and if food remains in the teeth from the night +before, would it break the fast to swallow it before Holy Communion. +(No, I am not inventing this.)</p> +<p> +I quoted the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, and pointed out how +deftly the Church has managed to slip in a prayer for worldly +prosperity. But the Catholic Church does not show any squeamishness in +dealing with its "million imbeciles", its "rough, purblind mass".</p> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> + There is a department of the little magazine entitled +"Thanksgiving", and a statement at the top that "the total number of +Thanksgivings for the month is 2,143,911." I am suspicious of that, as +of German reports of prisoners taken; but I give the statement as it +stands, not going through the list and picking out the crudest, but +taking them as they come, classified by states:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +GENERAL FAVORS: For many of these favors Mass and publication were +promised, for others the Badge of Promoter's Cross was used, for +others the prayers of the Associates had been asked.</p> +<p> +Alabama—Jewelry found, relief from pain, protection during storm.</p> +<p> +Alaska—Safe return, goods found.</p> +<p> +Arizona—Two recoveries, suitable boarding place, illness averted, +safe delivery.</p> +<p> +British Honduras—Successful operation.</p> +<p> +California—Seventeen recoveries, six situations, two successful +examinations, house rented, stocks sold, raise in salary, return to +religious duties, sight regained, medal won, Baptism, preservation +from disease, contract obtained, success in business, hearing +restored, Easter duty made, happy death, automobile sold, mind +restored, house found, house rented, successful journey, business +sold, quarrel averted, return of friends, two successful operations.</p> +</div> +<p> +And for all these miraculous performances the Catholic machine is +harvesting the price day by day—harvesting with that ancient fervor +which the Latin poet described as "auri sacra fames". As Christopher +Columbus wrote from Jamaica in 1503: "Gold is a wonderful thing. By +means of gold we can even get souls into Paradise."</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Holy Roman Empire</b></p> +<p> +The system thus self-revealed you admit is appalling +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> + in its +squalor; but you say that at least it is milder and less perilous than +the Church which burned Giordano Bruno and John Huss. But the very +essence of the Catholic Church is that it does not change; <b>semper +eadem</b> is its motto: the same yesterday, today and forever—the same +in Washington as in Rome or Madrid—the same in a modern democracy as +in the Middle Ages. The Catholic Church is not primarily a religious +organization; it is a political organization, and proclaims the fact, +and defies those who would shut it up in the religious field. The Rev. +S.B. Smith, a Catholic doctor of divinity, explains in his "Elements +of Ecclesiastical Law":</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Protestants contend that the entire power of the Church + consists in the right to teach and exhort, but not in the + right to command, rule, or govern; whence they infer that + she is not a perfect society or sovereign state. This theory + is false; for the Church, as was seen, is vested <b>Jure + divino</b> with power, (1) to make laws; (2) to define and + apply them <b>(potestas judicialis)</b>; (3) to punish those who + violate her laws <b>(potestas coercitiva).</b> +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And this is not one scholar's theory, but the formal and repeated +proclamation of infallible popes. Here is the "Syllabus of Errors", +issued by Pope Pius IX, Dec. 8th, 1864, declaring in substance that</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The state has not the right to leave every man free to + profess and embrace whatever religion he shall deem true.</p> +<p> + It has not the right to enact that the ecclesiastical power + shall require the permission of the civil power in order to + the exercise of its authority. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Then in the same Syllabus the rights and powers of the Church are +affirmed in substance:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> + She has the right to require the state not to leave every + man free to profess his own religion. She has the right to exercise + her power without the permission or consent of the state.</p> +<p> +She has the right of perpetuating the union of church and state.</p> +<p> +She has the right to require that the Catholic religion shall be the +only religion of the state, to the exclusion of all others.</p> +<p> +She has the right to prevent the state from granting the public +exercise of their own worship to persons immigrating from it.</p> +<p> +She has the power of requiring the state not to permit free expression +of opinion. +</p> +</div> +<p> +You see, the Holy Office is unrepentant and unchastened. You, who +think that liberty of conscience is the basis of civilization, ought +at least to know what the Catholic Church has to say about the matter. +Here is Mgr. Segur, in his "Plain Talk About Protestantism of Today", +a book published in Boston and extensively circulated by American +Catholics:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Freedom of thought is the soul of Protestantism; it is + likewise the soul of modern rationalism and philosophy. It + is one of those impossibilities which only the levity of a + superficial reason can regard as admissable. But a sound + mind, that does not feed on empty words, looks upon this + freedom of thought only as simply absurd, and, what is more, + as sinful. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +You take the liberty of thinking, nevertheless; you feel safe because +the Law will protect you. But do you imagine that this "Law" applies +to your Catholic neighbors? Do you imagine that they are bound by the +restraints that bind <b>you</b>? Here is Pope Leo XIII, in his Encyclical +of 1890—and please remember that Leo XIII was the <b>beau ideal</b> of our +capitalist statesmen and editors, as wise and kind and gentle-souled a +pope as ever roasted a heretic. He says:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + If the laws of the state are openly at variance with the + laws of God—if they inflict injury upon the Church—or set + at naught +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> + the authority of Jesus Christ which is vested + in the Supreme Pontiff, then indeed it becomes a duty to + resist them, a sin to render obedience. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And consider how many fields there are in which the laws of a +democratic state do and forever must contravene the "laws of God" as +interpreted by the Catholic Church. Consider for example, that the +Pope, in his decree <b>Ne Temere</b>, has declared that Catholics who are +married by civil authorities or by Protestant clergymen will be living +in "filthy concubinage"! Consider, in the same way, the problems of +education, burial, prison discipline, blasphemy, poor relief, +incorporation, mortmain, religious endowments, vows of celibacy. To +the above list, as given by Gladstone, one might add many issues, such +as birth control, which have arisen since his time.</p> +<p> +What the Church means is to rule. Her literature is full of +expressions of that intention, set forth in the boldest and haughtiest +and most uncompromising manner. For example, Cardinal Manning, in the +Pro-Cathedral at Kensington, speaking in the name of the Pope:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"><p> +I acknowledge no civil power; I am the subject of no prince; I claim +more than this—I claim to be the supreme judge and director of the +consciences of men—of the peasant that tills the field, and of the +prince that sits upon the throne; of the household of privacy, and the +legislator that makes laws for kingdoms; I am the sole, last supreme +judge of what is right and wrong.</p> +</div> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Temporal Power</b></p> +<p> +What this means is, that here in our American democracy the Catholic +Church is a rebel; a prisoner of war who bides his time, watching for +the moment to rise in revolt, and meantime making no secret of his +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> + +intentions. The pious Leo XIII, addressing all true believers in +America, instructed them as to their attitude in captivity:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The Church amongst you, unopposed by the Constitution and + government of your nation, fettered by no hostile + legislation, protected against violence by the common laws + and the impartiality of the tribunals, is free to live and + act without hindrance. Yet, though all this is true, it + would be very erroneous to draw the conclusion that in + America is to be sought the type of the most desirable + status of the church, or that it would be universally lawful + or expedient for state and church to be, as in America, + dissevered and divorced. The fact that Catholicity with you + is in good condition, nay, is even enjoying a prosperous + growth, is by all means to be attributed to the fecundity + with which God has endowed His Church—But she would bring + forth more abundant fruits if, in addition to liberty, she + enjoyed the favor of the laws and patronage of the public + authority. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Accordingly, here is Father Phelan of St. Louis, addressing his flock +in the "Western Watchman", June 27,1913:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Tell us we are Catholics first and Americans or Englishmen + afterwards; of course we are. Tell us, in the conflict + between the church and the civil government we take the side + of the church; of course we do. Why, if the government of + the United States were at war with the church, we would say + tomorrow, To hell with the government of the United States; + and if the church and all the governments of the world were + at war, we would say, To hell with all the governments of + the world....Why is it that in this country, where we have + only seven per cent of the population, the Catholic church + is so much feared? She is loved by all her children and + feared by everybody. Why is it that the Pope has such + tremendous power? Why, the Pope is the ruler of the world. + All the emperors, all the kings, all the princes, all the + presidents of the world, are as these altar boys of mine. + The Pope is the ruler of the world. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +You recall what I said at the outset about Power; +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> + the ability to +control the lives of other men, to give laws and moral codes, to shape +fashions and tastes, to be revered and regarded. Here is a man swollen +to bursting with this Power. Dressed in his holy robes, with his holy +incense in his nostrils, and the faces of the faithful gazing up at +him awe-stricken, hear him proclaim:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The Church gives no bonds for her good behavior. She is the + judge of her own rights and duties, and of the rights and + duties of the state. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And lest you think that an extreme example of ultramontanist +arrogance, listen to the Boston "Pilot", April 6, 1912, speaking for +Cardinal O'Connell, whose official organ it is:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + It must be borne in mind that even though Cardinals Farley, + O'Connell and Gibbons are at heart patriotic Americans and + members of an American hierarchy, yet they are as cardinals + foreign princes of the blood, to whom the United States, as + one of the great powers of the world, is under an obligation + to concede the same honors that they receive abroad.</p> +<p> + Thus, were Cardinal Farley to visit an American man-of-war, + he would be entitled to the salutes and to naval honors + reserved for a foreign royal personage, and at any official + entertainment at Washington the Cardinal will outrank not + merely every cabinet officer, the speaker of the house and + the vice-president, but also the foreign ambassadors, coming + immediately next to the chief magistrate himself.</p> +<p> + Incidentally, it may be mentioned that when a royal + personage not of sovereign rank visits New York it is his + duty to make the first call on Cardinal Farley. +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Knights of Slavery</b></p> +<p> +Such is the worldly station of these apostles of the lowly Jesus. And +what is their attitude towards their brothers in God, the rank and +file of the membership, whose pennies grease the wheels of the +ecclesiastical +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> + machine? His Holiness, the Pope, sent over a +delegate to represent him in America, and at a convention of the +Federation of Catholic Societies held in New Orleans in November, +1910, this gentleman, Diomede Falconio, delivered himself on the +subject of Capital and Labor. We have heard the slave-code of the +Anglican disciples of Jesus, the revolutionary carpenter; now let us +hear the slave-code of his Roman disciples:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Human society has its origin from God and is constituted of + two classes of people, the rich and the poor, which + respectively represent Capital and Labor.</p> +<p> + Hence it follows that according to the ordinance of God, + human society is composed of superiors and subjects, masters + and servants, learned and unlettered, rich and poor, nobles + and plebeians. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And lest this should not be clear enough, the Pope sent a second +representative, Mgr. John Bonzano, who, speaking at a general meeting +of the German Catholic Central-Verein, St. Louis, 1917, declared:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + One of the worst evils that may grow out of the European war + is the spreading of the doctrine of Socialism, and the + Catholic Church must be ready to counteract such doctrines. + We must be ready to prevent the spread of Socialism and to + work against it. As I understand, you have a society of + wealthy people in St. Louis ready for such a campaign. You + have experienced leaders who are masters in their kind of + work. They are always insistent to show that this wealth was + and is in close touch with the Church, and therefore it will + not fail. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +This, you perceive, is the complete thesis of the present book, which +therefore no doubt will be entitled to the 'Nihil Obstat" of the +"Censor Theolog.", and the "Imprimatur" of "Johannes Josephus, +Archiepiscopus Sti. Ludovici." No wonder that the "experienced +leaders" of America, our captains of industry and exploiters +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> + of +labor, are forced, whatever their own faith may be, to make use of +this system of subjection. A few years ago we read in our papers how a +Jewish millionaire of Baltimore was presenting a fortune to the +Catholic Church, to be used in its war upon Socialism. The late Mark +Hanna, the shrewdest and most far-seeing man that Big Business ever +brought into power, said that in twenty years there would be two +parties in America, a capitalist and a socialist; and that it would be +the Catholic church that would save the country from Socialism. That +prophecy was widely quoted, and sank into the souls of our steel and +railway and money magnates; from which time you might see, if you +watched political events, a new tone of deference to the Roman +Hierarchy on the part of our ruling classes. Today you cannot get an +expression of opinion hostile to Catholicism into any newspaper of +importance. The Associated Press does not handle news unfavorable to +the Church, and from top to bottom, the politician takes off his hat +when the Sacred Host goes by. Said Archbishop Quigley, speaking before +the children of the Mary Sodality:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + I'd like to see the politician who would try to rule against + the church in Chicago. His reign would be short indeed. +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Priests and Police</b></p> +<p> +And how is it in our national capital, the palladium of our liberties? +As a means of demonstrating the power of the church and the +subservience of our politicians, the Catholics have invented what they +call the "Cardinal's Day Mass": An elaborate procession of high +ecclesiastics, dressed in gorgeous robes and jewels, through the +streets of Washington, accompanied by a +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> + small army of policemen, +paid by non-Catholic taxpayers. The Cardinal seats himself upon a +throne, and our political rulers make obeisance before him. On Sunday, +January 14, 1917, there were present at this political mass the +following personages: Four cabinet members and their wives; the +speaker of the House; a large group of senators and representatives; a +general of the army and his wife; an admiral of the navy and his wife; +the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and his wife, and another +Justice of the Supreme Court and his wife.</p> +<p> +And understand that the church makes no secret of its purpose in +conducting such public exhibitions. Here is the pious Pope Leo XIII +again, in his Encyclical of Nov. 1, 1885:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + All Catholics must make themselves felt as active elements + in daily political life in the countries where they live. + They must penetrate, wherever possible, in the + administration of civil affairs; must constantly exert the + utmost vigilance and energy to prevent the usages of liberty + from going beyond the limits fixed by God's law. All + Catholics should do all in their power to cause the + constitutions of states and legislation to be modeled on the + principles of the true Church. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And following these instructions, the Catholics are organized for +political work. There are the various Catholic Societies, such as the +Knights of Columbus, secret, oath-bound organizations, the military +arm of the Papal Power. These societies boast some three million +members, and control not less than that many votes. The one thing that +you can be certain about these votes is that on every public question, +of whatever nature, they will be cast on the side of ignorance and +reaction. Thus, it was the influence of the Catholic Societies +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> + +which put upon our national statute books the infamous law providing +five years imprisonment and five thousand dollars fine for the sending +through the mail of information about the prevention of conception. It +is their influence which keeps upon the statute-books of New York +state the infamous law which permits divorce only for infidelity, and +makes it "collusion" if both parties desire the divorce. It is these +societies which, in every city and town in America, are pushing and +plotting to get Catholics upon library boards, so that the public may +not have a chance to read scientific books; to get Catholics into the +public schools and on school-boards, so that children may not hear +about Galileo, Bruno, and Ferrer; to have Catholics in control of +police and on magistrates benches, so that priests who are caught in +brothels may not be exposed or punished.</p> +<p> +You are shocked at this, you think it a vulgar jest, perhaps; but +during a period of "vice raids" in New York I was told by a captain of +police, himself a Catholic, that it was a common thing for them to get +priests in their net. "Of course," the official added, good-naturedly, +"we let them slip out." I understood that he had to do that; for the +Pope, in his "Motu Proprio" decree, has forbidden Catholics to bring a +priest into court for any civil crime whatsoever; he has forbidden +Catholic policemen to arrest, Catholic judges to try, and Catholic +law-makers to make laws affecting any priest of the Church of Rome. +And of course we know, upon the authority of a cardinal, that the Pope +is "the sole, last, supreme judge of what is right and wrong." He has +held that position for a thousand years and more; +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> + and wherever you +consult the police records throughout the thousand years, you find the +same entries concerning Catholic ecclesiastics. I turn to Riley's +"Illustrations of London Life from Original Documents," and I find in +the year 1385 a certain chaplain, whose name is considerately +suppressed, had a breviary stolen from him by a loose woman, because +he has not given her any money, either on that night or the one +previous. In 1320 John de Sloghtre, a priest, is put in the tower "for +being found wandering about the city against the peace", and Richard +Heyring, a priest, is indicted in the ward of Farringdon and in the +ward of Crepelgate "as being a bruiser and nightwalker." That this has +been going on for six hundred years is due, not to any special +corruption of the Catholic heart, but to the practice of clerical +celibacy, which is contrary to nature, a transgression of fundamental +instinct. It should be noted that the purpose of this transgression, +which pretends to be spiritual, is really economic; it was the means +whereby the church machine built up its power through the Middle Ages. +The priests had children then, as they have them today; but these +children not being recognized, the church machine remained the sole +heir of the property of its clergy.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Church Militant</b></p> +<p> +Knowing what we know today, we marvel that it was possible for Germany +to prepare through so many years for her assault on civilization, and +for England to have slept through it all. In exactly the same way, the +historian of a generation from now will marvel that America should +have slept, while the New Inquisition was planning to strangle her. +For we are told with the +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> + utmost explicitness precisely what is to +be done. We are to see wiped out these gains of civilization for which +our race has bled and agonized for many centuries; the very gains are +to serve as the means of their own destruction! Have we not heard Pope +Leo tell his faithful how to take advantage of what they find in +America—our easy-going trust, our quiet certainty of liberty, our +open-handed and open-homed and hail-fellow-well-met democracy?</p> +<p> +We see the army being organized and drilled under our eyes; and we can +read upon its banners its purpose proclaimed. Just as the Prussian +military caste had its slogan "Deutschland ueber Alles!" so the +Knights of Slavery have their slogan: "Make America Catholic!"</p> +<p> +Their attitude to democratic institutions is attested by the fact that +none of their conventions ever fails in its resolutions to "deeply +deplore the loss of the temporal power of Our Father, the Pope." Their +subjection to priestly domination is indicated by such resolutions as +this, bearing date of May 13th, 1914:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The Knights of Columbus of Texas in annual convention + assembled, prostrate at the feet of Your Holiness, present + filial regards with assurances of loyalty and obedience to + the Holy See and request the Papal blessing. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +On June 10th, 1912, one T.J. Carey of Palestine, Texas, wrote to +Archbishop Bonzano, the Apostolic Delegate: "Must I, as a Catholic, +surrender my political freedom to the Church? And by this I mean the +right to vote for the Democratic, Socialist, or Republican parties +when and where I please?" The answer was: "You should submit to the +decisions of the Church, even at the cost of sacrificing political +principles." And to +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> + the same effect Mgr. Preston, in New York City, +Jan, 1, 1888: "The man who says, 'I will take my faith from Peter, but +I will not take my politics from Peter,' is not a true Catholic."</p> +<p> +Such is the Papal machine; and not a day passes that it does not +discover some new scheme to advance the Papal glory; a "Catholic +battle-ship" in the United States navy; Catholic chaplains on all +ships of the navy; Catholic holidays—such as Columbus Day—to be +celebrated by all Protestants in America; thirty million dollars worth +of church property exempted from taxation in New York City; mission +bells to be set up at the expense of the state of California; state +support for parish schools—or, if this cannot be had, exemption of +Catholics from taxation for school purposes. So on through the list +which might continue for pages.</p> +<p> +More than anything else, of course, the Papal machine is concerned +with education, or rather, with the preventing of education. It was in +its childish days that the race fell under the spell of the Priestly +Lie; it is in his childish days that the individual can be most safely +snared. Suffer little children to come unto the Catholic priest, and +he will make upon their sensitive minds an impression which nothing in +after life can eradicate. So the mainstay of the New Inquisition is +the parish-school, and its deadliest enemy is the American school +system. Listen to the Rev. James Conway, of the Society of Jesus, in +his book, "The Rights of Our Little Ones":</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Catholic parents cannot, in conscience, send their children + to +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> + American public schools, except for very grave reasons + approved by the ecclesiastical authorities. +</p> + + +<p> +While state education removes illiteracy and puts a limited amount of +knowledge within the reach of all, it cannot be said to have a +beneficial influence on civilization in general.</p> +<p> +The state cannot justly enforce compulsory education, even in case of +utter illiteracy, so long as the essential physical and moral +education are sufficiently provided for.</p> +</div> +<p> +And so, at all times and in all places, the Catholic Church is +fighting the public school. Eternal vigilance is necessary; as +"America", the organ of the Jesuits, explains:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Sometimes it is a new building code, or an attempt at taxing + the school buildings, which creates hardships to the + parochial and other private schools. Now it is the free text + book law that puts a double burden on the Catholics. Then + again it is the unwise extension of the compulsory school + age that forces children to be in school until they are 16 + to 18 years old. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And if you wish to know the purpose of the Catholic schools, hear +Archbishop Quigley of Chicago, speaking before the children of the +Mary Sodality in the Holy Name Parish-School:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Within twenty years this country is going to rule the world. + Kings and emperors will pass away, and the democracy of the + United States will take their place. The West will dominate + the country, and what I have seen of the Western parochial + schools has proved that the generation which follows us will + be exclusively Catholic. When the United States rules the + world the Catholic Church will rule the world. +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Church Triumphant</b></p> +<p> +The question may be asked, What of it? What if the Church were to +rule? There are not a few Americans who believe that there have to be +rich and poor, and that rule by Roman Catholics might be preferable + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +to rule by Socialists. Before you decide, at least do not fail to +consider what history has to tell about priestly government. We do not +have to use our imaginations in the matter, for there was once a +Golden Age such as Archbishop Quigley dreams of, when the power of the +church was complete, when emperors and princes paid homage to her, and +the civil authority made haste to carry out her commands. What was the +condition of the people in those times? We are told by Lea, in his +"History of the Inquisition" that:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The moral condition of the laity was unutterably depraved. + Uniformity of faith had been enforced by the Inquisition and + its methods, and so long as faith was preserved, crime and + sin was comparatively unimportant except as a source of + revenue to those who sold absolution. As Theodoric Vrie + tersely puts it, hell and purgatory would be emptied if + enough money could be found. The artificial standard thus + created is seen in a revelation of the Virgin to St. + Birgitta, that a Pope who was free from heresy, no matter + how polluted by sin and vice, is not so wicked but that he + has the absolute power to bind and loose souls. There are + many wicked popes plunged in hell, but all their lawful acts + on earth are accepted and confirmed by God, and all priests + who are not heretics administer true sacraments, no matter + how depraved they may be. Correctness of belief was thus the + sole essential; virtue was a wholly subordinate + consideration. How completely under such a system religion + and morals came to be dissociated is seen in the remarks of + Pius II, that the Franciscans were excellent theologians, + but cared nothing about virtue.</p> +<p> + This, in fact, was the direct result of the system of + persecution embodied in the Inquisition. Heretics who were + admitted to be patterns of virtue were ruthlessly + exterminated in the name of Christ, while in the same holy + name the orthodox could purchase absolution for the vilest + of crimes for a few coins. When the only unpardonable + offence was persistence in some trifling error of belief, + such as the poverty of Christ; when men +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> + had before them + the example of their spiritual guides as leaders in vice and + debauchery and contempt of sacred things, all the sanctions + of morality were destroyed and the confusion between right + and wrong became hopeless. The world has probably never seen + a society more vile than that of Europe in the fourteenth + and fifteenth centuries. The brilliant pages of Froissart + fascinate us with their pictures of the artificial + courtesies of chivalry; the mystic reveries of Rysbroek and + of Tauler show us that spiritual life survived in some rare + souls, but the mass of the population was plunged into the + depths of sensuality and the most brutal oblivion of the + moral law. For this Alvaro Pelayo tells us that the + priesthood were accountable, and that, in comparison with + them, the laity were holy. What was that state of + comparative holiness he proceeds to describe, blushing as he + writes, for the benefit of confessors, giving a terrible + sketch of universal immorality which nothing could purify + but fire and brimstone from heaven. The chroniclers do not + often pause in their narrations to dwell on the moral + aspects of the times, but Meyer, in his annals of Flanders, + under date of 1379, tells us that it would be impossible to + describe the prevalence everywhere of perjuries, + blasphemies, adulteries, hatreds, quarrels, brawls, murder, + rapine, thievery, robbery, gambling, whoredom, debauchery, + avarice, oppression of the poor, rape, drunkenness, and + similar vices, and he illustrates his statement with the + fact that in the territory of Ghent, within the space of ten + months, there occurred no less than fourteen hundred murders + committed in the bagnios, brothels, gambling-houses, + taverns, and other similar places. When, in 1396, Jean sans + Peur led his Crusaders to destruction at Micopolis, their + crimes and cynical debauchery scandalized even the Turks, + and led to the stern rebuke of Bajazet himself, who as the + monk of St. Denis admits was much better than his Christian + foes. The same writer, moralizing over the disaster at + Agincourt, attributes it to the general corruption of the + nation. Sexual relations, he says, were an alternation of + disorderly lust and of incest; commerce was nought but fraud + and treachery; avarice withheld from the Church her tithes, + and ordinary conversation was a succession of blasphemies. + The Church, set up by God as a model and protector of the + people, was false to all its obligations. The bishops, +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> + + through the basest and most criminal of motives, were + habitual accepters of persons; they annointed themselves + with the last essence extracted from their flocks, and there + was in them nothing of holy, of pure, of wise, or even of + decent. +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>God in the Schools</b></p> +<p> +But that, you may say, was a long time ago. If so, let us take a +modern country in which the Catholic Church has worked its will. Until +recently, Spain was such a country. Now the people are turning against +the clerical machine; and if you ask why, turn to Rafael Shaw's "Spain +From Within":</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + On every side the people see the baleful hand of the Church, + interfering or trying to interfere in their domestic life, + ordering the conditions of employment, draining them of + their hard-won livelihood by trusts and monopolies + established and maintained in the interest of the Religious + Orders, placing obstacles in the way of their children's + education, hindering them in the exercise of their + constitutional rights, and deliberately ruining those of + them who are bold enough to run counter to priestly + dictation. Riots suddenly break out in Barcelona; they are + instigated by the Jesuits. The country goes to war in + Morocco; it is dragged into it solely in defense of the + mines owned, actually, if not ostensibly, by the Jesuits. + The consumes cannot be abolished because the Jesuits are + financially interested in their continuance. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +We have read the statement of a Jesuit father, that "the state cannot +justly enforce compulsory education, even in case of utter +illiteracy." How has that doctrine worked out in Spain? There was an +official investigation of school conditions, the report appearing in +the "Heraldo de Madrid" for November, 1909. In 1857 there had been +passed a law requiring a certain number of schools in each of the 79 +provinces: this requirement being below the very low standards +prevailing +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> + at that time in other European countries. Yet in 1909 +it was found that only four provinces had the required number of +elementary schools, and at the rate of increase then prevailing it +would have taken 150 years to catch up. Seventy-five per cent of the +population were wholly illiterate, and 30,000 towns and villages had +no government schools at all. The government owed nearly a million and +a half dollars in unpaid salaries to the teachers. The private schools +were nearly all "nuns' schools", which taught only needle-work and +catechism; the punishments prevailing in them were "cruel and +disgusting."</p> +<p> +As to the location of the schools, a report of the Minister of +Education to the Cortes, the Parliament of Spain, sets forth as +follows:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + More than 10,000 schools are on hired premises, and many of + these are absolutely destitute of hygienic conditions. There + are schools mixed up with hospitals, with cemeteries, with + slaughter houses, with stables. One school forms the + entrance to a cemetery, and the corpses are placed on the + master's table while the last responses are being said. + There is a school into which the children cannot enter until + the animals have been sent out to pasture. Some are so small + that as soon as the warm weather begins the boys faint for + want of air and ventilation. One school is a manure-heap in + process of fermentation, and one of the local authorities + has said that in this way the children are warmer in winter. + One school in Cataluna adjoins the prison. Another, in + Andalusia, is turned into an enclosure for the bulls when + there is a bull-fight in the town. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +These conditions excited the indignation of a Spanish educator by the +name of Francesco Ferrer. He founded what he called a "modern school", +in which the pupils should be taught science and common sense. He +drew, of course, the bitter hatred of the Catholic hierarchy, +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> + +which saw in the spread of his principles the end of their mastery of +the people. When the Barcelona insurrection took place, they had +Ferrer seized upon a charge of having been its instigator; they had +him tried in secret before a military tribunal, convicted upon forged +documents, and shot beneath the walls of the fortress of Montjuich. +The case was thoroughly investigated by William Archer, one of +England's leading critics, a man of scrupulous rectitude of mind. His +conclusion is that Ferrer was absolutely innocent of the charges +against him, and that his execution was the result of a clerical plot. +Of Ferrer's character Archer writes:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Fragmentary though they be, the utterances which I have + quoted form a pretty complete revelation. From first to last + we see in him an ardent, uncompromising, incorruptible + idealist. His ideals are narrow, and his devotion to them + fanatical; but it is devoid, if not of egoism, at any rate + of self-interest and self-seeking. As he shrank from + applying the money entrusted him to ends of personal luxury, + so also he shrank from making his ideas and convictions + subserve any personal ambition or vanity. +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Menace</b></p> +<p> +There are, of course, many people in America who will not rest idle +while their country falls into the condition of Spain. There are +anti-Catholic propaganda societies, which send out lecturers to +discuss the Church and its records; and this is exasperating to devout +believers, who regard the Church as holy, and any criticism of it as +blasphemy. So we have opportunity to observe the working out of the +doctrine that the Church is superior to the civil law.</p> +<p> +On June 12th, 1913, there came to the little town of +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> + Oelwein, +Iowa, a former priest of the Catholic Church, named Jeremiah J. +Crowley, to deliver a lecture exposing the Papal propaganda. The +Catholics of the town made efforts to intimidate the owner of the +place in which the lecture was to be given; the priest of the town, +Father O'Connor, preached a sermon furiously denouncing the lecturer; +and after the lecture the unfortunate Crowley was surrounded by a mob +of men, women and boys, and although he was six feet three in size, he +was beaten almost to death. At the trial which followed it developed +that Father O'Connor and also his brother, a judge on the Superior +Bench, were accessories before the fact.</p> +<p> +Nor is this a solitary instance. The Catholic military societies, with +their uniforms and their armories, are not maintained for nothing. As +Archbishop Quigley declared before the German Catholic Central Verein:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + We have well ordered and efficient organizations, all at the + beck and nod of the hierarchy and ready to do what the + church authorities tell them to do. With these bodies of + loyal Catholics ready to step into the breach at any time + and present an unbroken front to the enemy we may feel + secure. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And so, on the evening of April 15th, 1914, a group of Catholics +entered the Pierce Hotel in Denver, Colorado, overpowered a police +guard and seized the Rev. Otis L. Spurgeon, an anti-Catholic lecturer. +They bound and gagged him, took him to a lonely woods, and beat him to +insensibility. The same thing happened to the Rev. Augustus Barnett, +at Buffalo; the Rev. William Black was killed at Marshall, Texas. In +each case the assailants avowed themselves Knights of Columbus, and +efforts to punish them failed, because no jury can +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> + be got to +convict a Catholic, fighting for his Pope against a godless state. The +most pious Leo XIII has laid down:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + It is an impious deed to break the laws of Jesus Christ for + the purpose of obeying the magistrates, or to transgress the + law of the Church under the pretext of observing the civil + law. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +There are papers published to warn Americans against the plotting of +this political Church. One of them, "The Menace," has a circulation of +more than a million; and naturally the Knights of Slavery do not enjoy +reading it. Year after year they have marshalled their power to have +this paper barred from the mails—so far, in vain. They caused an +obscenity prosecution, which failed; so finally the press rooms of the +paper were blown up with dynamite. At the present time there is a +"Catholic Truth Society" with a publication called "Truth", to oppose +the anti-Catholic campaign; and that is all right, of course—except +when the agents who collect the two-dollar subscriptions to this +publication make use of Untruth in their labors—promising absolution +and salvation to the families, dead and living, of those who "come +across" with subscriptions. In the "Bulletin of the American +Federation of Catholic Societies" for September, 1915, I find a record +of the ceaseless plotting to bar criticism of the Catholic Church from +the mails. Fitzgerald, a Tammany Catholic congressman, proposes a bill +in Washington; and Judge St. Paul, of New Orleans, a member of the +Federation's "law committee", points out the difficulties in the way +of such legislation. You cannot pass a law against ridiculing +religion, because the Catholics want to ridicule Christian Science, +Mormonism, and the +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> + "Holy Ghost and Us" Society! The Judge thinks +the purpose of the Papal plotters will be accomplished if they can +slip into the present law the words "scurrilous and slanderous"; he +hopes that this much can be done without the American people catching +on!</p> +<p> +You read these things for the first time, perhaps, and you want to +start an American "Kultur-kampf." I make haste, therefore, to restate +the main thesis of this book. It is not the New Inquisition which is +our enemy today; it is hereditary Privilege. It is not Superstition, +but Big Business which makes use of Superstition as a wolf makes use +of sheep's clothing.</p> +<p> +You remember how, when Americans first awakened to the universal +corruption of our politics, we used to attribute it to the "ignorant +foreign vote." Turn to Lecky's "Democracy and Liberty" and you will +see how reformers twenty years ago explained our political depravity. +But we probed deeper, and discovered that the purely American +communities, such as Rhode Island, were the most corrupt of all. It +dawned upon us that wherever there was a political boss paying bribes +on election day, there was a captain of industry furnishing the money +for the bribes, and taking some public privilege in return. So we came +to realize that political corruption is merely a by-product of Big +Business.</p> +<p> +And when we come to probe this problem of the spread of Superstition in +America, this amazing renascence of Romanism in a democracy, we find +precisely the same phenomenon. It is not the poor foreigner who +troubles us. Our human magic would win him—our easy-going trust, our +quiet certainty of liberty, our open-handed and open-homed and +hail-fellow-well-met +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> + democracy. We should break down the Catholic +machine, and not all the priests in the hierarchy could stop us—were +it not for the Steel Trust and the Coal Trust and the Beef Trust, the +Liquor Trust and the Traction Trust and the Money Trust—those masters +of America who do not want citizens, free and intelligent and +self-governing, but who want the slave-hordes as they come, ignorant, +inert, physically, mentally and morally helpless!</p> +<p> +No, do not let yourself be lured into a Kultur-kampf. It is not the +pennies of the servant-girls which build the towering cathedrals; it +is not the two-dollar contributions for the salvation of souls which +support the Catholic Truth Society and the Knights of Columbus and the +Holy Name Society and the Mary Sodality and the National Shrine of the +Immaculate Conception and all the rest of the machinery of the Papal +propaganda. These help, of course; but the main sources of growth are, +first, the subsidies of industrial exploiters, the majority of whom +are non-Catholic, and second, the privilege of public plunder granted +as payment for votes by politicians who are creatures and puppets of +Big Business.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>King Coal</b></p> +<p> +The proof of these statements is written all over the industrial life +of America. I will stop long enough to present an account of one +industry, asking the reader to accept my statement that if space +permitted I could present the same sort of proof for a dozen other +industries which I have studied—the steel-mills of Western +Pennsylvania, the meat-factories of Chicago, the glass-works of +Southern Jersey, the silk-mills of +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> + Paterson, the cotton-mills of +North Carolina, the woolen-mills of Massachusetts, the lumber-camps of +Louisiana, the copper-mines of Michigan, the sweat-shops of New York.</p> +<p> +In a lonely part of the Rocky Mountains lies a group of enormously +valuable coal-mines owned by the Rockefellers and other Protestant +exploiters. The men who work these mines, some twelve or fifteen +thousand in number, come from all the nations of Europe and Asia, and +their fate is that of the average wage-slave. I do not ask anyone to +take my word, but present sworn testimony, taken by the United States +Commission on Industrial Relations in 1914. Here is the way the +Italian miners live, as described in a doctor's report:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Houses up the canyon, so-called, of which eight are + habitable, and forty-six simply awful; they are disreputably + disgraceful. I have had to remove a mother in labor from one + part of the shack to another to keep dry. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And here is the testimony of the Rev. Eugene S. Gaddis, former +superintendent of the Sociological Department of the Colorado Fuel and +Iron Company:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The C.F. & I. Company now own and rent hovels, shacks and + dug-outs that are unfit for the habitation of human beings + and are little removed from the pig-sty make of dwellings. + And the people in them live on the very level of a pig-sty. + Frequently the population is so congested that whole + families are crowded into one room; eight persons in one + small room was reported during the year. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And here is what this same clergyman has to say about the bosses whom +the Rockefellers employ:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The camp superintendents as a whole impressed me as most + uncouth, ignorant, immoral, and in many instances, the most + brutal set of men that I have ever met. Blasphemous bullies. +</p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> + +</div> +<p> +Sometimes the miner grows tired of being robbed of his weights, and +applies for the protection which the law of the state allows him. What +happens then?</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + "When a man asked for a checkweighman, in the language of + the super he was getting too smart." +</p> <p>"And he got what?"</p> <p> "He + got it in the neck, generally." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And when these wage-slaves, goaded beyond endurance, went on strike, +in the words of the Commission's report:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Five strikers, one boy, and thirteen women and children in + the strikers' tent colony were shot to death by militiamen + and guards employed by the coal companies, or suffocated and + burned to death when these militiamen and guards set fire to + the tents in which they made their homes. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And now, what is the position of education in such camps? The Rev. +James McDonald, a Methodist preacher, testified that the school +building was dilapidated and unfit. One year there were four teachers, +the next three, and the next only two. The teacher of the primary +grade had a hundred and twenty children en-rolled, ninety per cent of +whom could not speak a word of English.</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Every little bench was seated with two or three. It was + over-crowded entirely, and she could hardly get walking room + around there. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And as to the political use made of this deliberately cultivated +ignorance, former United States Senator Patterson testified that the +companies controlled all elections and all nominations:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Election returns from the two or three counties in which the + large companies operate show that in the precincts in which + the +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> + mining camps are located the returns are nearly + unanimous in favor of the men or measures approved by the + companies, regardless of party. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And now comes the all-important question. What of the Catholic Church +and these evils? The majority of these mine-slaves are Catholics, it +is this Church which is charged with their protection. There are +priests in every town, and in nearly every camp. And do we find them +lifting their voices in behalf of the miners, protesting against the +starving and torturing of thirty or forty thousand human beings? Do we +find Catholic papers printing accounts of the Ludlow massacre? Do we +find Catholic journalists on the scene reporting it, Catholic lawyers +defending the strikers, Catholic novelists writing books about their +troubles? We do not!</p> +<p> +Through the long agony of the fourteen months strike, I know of just +one Catholic priest, Father Le Fevre, who had a word to say for the +strikers. One of the first stories I heard when I reached the +strike-field was of a priest who had preached on the text that +"Idleness is the root of all evil," and had been reported as a "scab" +and made to shut up. "Who made him?" I asked, naively, thinking of +his, church superiors. My informant, a union miner, laughed. "<b>We</b> +made him!" he said.</p> +<p> +I talked with another priest who was prudently saving souls and could +not be interested in questions of worldly greed. Max Eastman, +reporting the strike in the "Masses", tells of an interview with a +Catholic sister.</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + "Has the Church done anything to try to help these people, + or to bring about peace?" we asked. "I consider it the most + useless thing in the world to attempt it," she replied. +</p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> + +</div> +<p> +The investigating committee of Congress came to the scene, and several +clergymen of the Protestant Church appeared and bore testimony to the +outrages which were being committed against the strikers; but of all +the Catholic priests in the district not one appeared—not one! +Several Protestant clergymen testified that they had been driven from +the coal-camps—not because they favored the unions, but because the +companies objected to having their workers educated at all; but no one +ever heard of the Catholic Church having trouble with the operators. +To make sure on this point I wrote to a former clergyman of Trinidad +who watched the whole strike, and is now a first lieutenant in the +First New Mexico Infantry. He answered:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The Catholic Church seemed to get along with the companies + very cordially. The Church was permitted in all the camps. + The impression was abroad that this was due to favoritism. I + honor what good the Church does, but I know of no instance, + during the Colorado coal-strike or at any other time or + place, when the Catholic Church has taken any special + interest in the cause of the laboring men. Many Catholics, + especially the men, quit the church during the coal-strike. +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Unholy Alliance</b></p> +<p> +Everywhere throughout America today the ultimate source of all power, +political, social, and religious, is economic exploitation. To all +other powers and all other organizations it speaks in these words: +"Help us, and you will thrive; oppose us, and you will be destroyed." +It has spoken to the Catholic Church, for sixteen hundred years the +friend and servant of every ruling class; and the Church has hastened +to fit itself into the situation, continuing its pastoral role as +shepherd to the wage-slave vote. +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +</p> +<p> +In New York and Boston and Chicago the Church is "Democratic"; so in +the Elaine campaign it was possible for a Republican clergyman to +describe the issue as "Rum, Romanism and Rebellion." But the Holy +Office was shrewd and socially ambitious, and the Grand Old Party was +desperately in need of votes, so under the regime of Mark Hanna, the +President-Maker, there began a rapprochement between Big Business and +the New Inquisition. Under Hanna the Catholic Church got +representation in the Cabinet; under him the Cardinal's Mass became a +government institution, a Catholic College came to the fore in +Washington, and Catholic prelates were introduced in the role of +eminent publicists, their reactionary opinions on important questions +being quoted with grave solemnity by a prostitute press. It was Mark +Hanna himself who founded the National Civic Federation, upon whose +executive committee Catholic cardinals and archbishops might work hand +in glove with Catholic labor-leaders for the chloroforming of the +American working-class. Hanna's biographer naively calls attention to +the President-maker's popularity among Catholics, high and low, and +the support they gave him. "Archbishop Ireland was in frequent +correspondence with him, and used his influence in Mr. Hanna's +behalf."</p> +<p> +And this tradition, begun under Hanna, was continued under Roosevelt, +and reached its finest flower in the days of Taft, the most pliant +tool of the forces of evil who has occupied the White House since the +days of the Slave Power. President Taft was himself a Unitarian; yet +it was under his administration that the Catholic Church achieved one +of its dearest ambitions, +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> + and broke into the Supreme Court. Why +not? We can imagine the powers of the time in conference. It is +desired to pack the Court against the possibility of progress; it is +desired to find men who will stand like a rock against change—and who +better than those who have been trained from childhood in the idea of +a divine sanction for doctrine and morals? After all, what is it that +Hereditary Privilege wants in America? A Roman Catholic code of +property rights, with a supreme tribunal to play the part of an +infallible Pope!</p> +<p> +Under this Taft administration the country was governed by the +strangest legislative alliance our history ever saw; a combination of +the Old Guard of the Republican Party with the leaders of the Tammany +Democracy of New York. "Bloody shirt" Foraker, senator from Ohio, +voting with the sons of those Irish Catholic mob-leaders whom the +Federal troops shot down in the draft-riots! By this unholy +combination a pledge to reduce the tariff was carried out by a bill +which greatly increased its burdens; by this combination the public +lands and resources of the country were fed to a gang of vultures by a +thievish Secretary of the Interior. And of course under such an +administration the cause of "Religion" made tremendous strides. +Catholic officials were appointed to public office, Catholic +ecclesiastics were accorded public honors, and Catholic favor became a +means to political advancement. You might see a hard-swearing old +political pirate like "Uncle Joe" Cannon, taking his cigar out of the +corner of his blasphemous mouth and betaking himself to the +"Cardinal's Day Mass", to bend his stiff knees and bow his hoary +unrepentant head before a jeweled prelate on +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> + a throne. You might +see an emissary of the United States government proceeding to Rome, +prostrating himself before the Pope, and paying over seven million +dollars of our taxes for lands which the filthy and sensual friars of +the Philippine Islands had filched from the wretched serfs of that +country and which the wretched serfs had won back by their blood in a +revolution.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Secret Service</b></p> +<p> +This Taft administration, urged on by the Catholic intrigue, made the +most determined efforts to prevent the spread of radical thought. +Because the popular magazines were opposing the plundering of the +country, a bill was introduced into Congress to put them out of +business by a prohibitive postal tax; the President himself devoted +all his power to forcing the passage of this bill. At the same time +the Socialist press was handicapped by every sort of persecution. I +was at that time in intimate touch with the "Appeal to Reason", and I +know that scarcely a month passed that the Post Office Department did +not invent some new "regulation" especially designed to limit its +circulation. I recall one occasion when I met the editor on his way to +Washington with a trunkful of letters from subscribers who complained +that their postmasters refused to deliver the paper to them; and later +on this same editor was prosecuted by a Catholic Attorney General and +sentenced to prison for seeking to awaken the people concerning the +Moyer-Haywood case.</p> +<p> +From my personal knowledge I can say that under the administration of +President Taft t the Roman Catholic Church and the Secret Service of +the Federal Government +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> + worked hand in hand for the undermining of +the radical movement in America. Catholic lecturers toured the +country, pouring into the ears of the public vile slanders about the +private morality of Socialists; while at the same time government +detectives, paid out of public funds, spent their time seeking +evidence for these Catholic lecturers to use. I know one man, a +radical labor-leader, whose morals happened to approach those of the +average capitalist politician, and who was prevented by threats of +exposure and scandal from accepting the Socialist nomination for +President. I know a dozen others who were shadowed and spied upon; I +know one case—myself—a man who was asking a divorce from his wife, +and whose mail was opened for months.</p> +<p> +This subject is one on which I naturally speak with extreme +reluctance. I will only say that my opponent in the suit made no +charge of misconduct against me; but those in control of our political +police evidently thought it likely that a man who was not living with +his wife might have something to hide; so for months my every move was +watched and all my mail intercepted. In such a case one might at first +suspect one's private opponent; but it soon became evident that this +net was cast too wide for any private agency. Not merely was my own +mail opened, but the mail of all my relatives and friends—people +residing in places as far apart as California and Florida. I recall +the bland smile of a government official to whom I complained about +this matter: "If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear." +My answer was that a study of many labor cases had taught me the +methods of the +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> + agent provocateur. He is quite willing to take real +evidence if he can find it; but if not, he has familiarized himself +with the affairs of his victim, and can make evidence which will be +convincing when exploited by the yellow press. In my own case, the +matter was not brought to a test, for I went abroad to live; when I +made my next attack on Big Business, the Taft administration had been +repudiated at the polls, and the Secret Service of the government was +no longer at the disposal of the Catholic machine.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Tax Exemption</b></p> +<p> +Today the Catholic Church is firmly established and everywhere +recognized as one of the main pillars of American capitalism. It has +some fifteen thousand churches, fourteen million communicants, and +property valued at half a billion dollars. Upon this property it pays +no taxes, municipal, state or national; which means, quite obviously, +that you and I, who do not go to church, but who do pay taxes, furnish +the public costs of Catholicism. We pay to have streets paved and +lighted and cleaned in front of Catholic churches; we pay to have +thieves kept away from them, fires put out in them, records preserved +for them—all the services of civilization given to them gratis, and +this in a land whose constitution provides that Congress (which +includes all state and municipal legislative bodies) "shall make no +law respecting an establishment of religion." When war is declared, +and our sons are drafted to defend the country, all Catholic monks and +friars, priests and dignitaries are exempted. They are "ministers of +religion"; whereas we Socialists may not even +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> + have the status of +"conscientious objectors." We do not teach "religion"; we only teach +justice and humanity, decency and truth.</p> +<p> +In defense of this tax-exemption graft, the stock answer is that the +property is being used for purposes of "education" or "charity". It is +a school, in which children are being taught that "liberty of +conscience is a most pestiferous error, from which arises revolution, +corruption, contempt of sacred things, holy institutions, and laws." +(Pius IX). It is a "House of Refuge", to which wayward girls are +committed by Catholic magistrates, and in which they are worked twelve +hours a day in a laundry or a clothing sweat-shop. Or it is a +"parish-house", in which a celibate priest lives under the care of an +attractive young "house-keeper". Or it is a nunnery, in which young +girls are held against their will and fed upon the scraps from their +sisters' plates to teach them humility, and taught to lie before the +altar, prostrate in the form of a cross, while their "Superiors" walk +upon their bodies to impress the religious virtues. "I was a teacher +in the Catholic schools up to a very recent period," writes the woman +friend who tells me of these customs, "and I know about the whole +awful system which endeavors to throttle every genuine impulse of the +human will."</p> +<p> +Concerning a large part of this church property, the claim of +"religious" use has not even the shadow of justification. In every +large city of America you will find acres of land owned by the +Catholic machine, and supposed to be the future site of some +institution; but as time goes on and property values increase, the +church decides to build on a cheaper site, and proceeds +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> + to cash in +the profits of its investment, precisely as does any other real estate +speculator. Everywhere you turn in the history of Romanism you find it +at this same game, doing business under the cloak of philanthropy and +in the holy name of Christ. Read the letter which the Catholic Bishop +of Mexico sent to the Pope in 1647, complaining of the Jesuit fathers +and their boundless graft. In McCabe's "Candid History of the Jesuits" +appears a summary:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + A remarkable account is given of the worldly property of the + fathers. They hold, it seems, the greater part of the wealth + of Mexico. Two of their colleges own 300,000 sheep, besides + cattle and other property. They own six large sugar + refineries, worth from half a million to a million crowns + each, and making an annual profit of 100,000 crowns each, + while all the other monks and clergy of Mexico together own + only three small refineries. They have immense farms, rich + silver mines, large shops and butcheries, and do a vast + trade. Yet they continually intrigue for legacies—a woman + has recently left them 70,000 crowns—and they refuse to pay + the appointed tithe on them. It is piquant to add to this + authoritative description that the Jesuit congregation at + Rome were still periodically forbidding the fathers to + engage in commerce, and Jesuit writers still gravely + maintain that the society never engaged in commerce. It + should be added that the missionaries were still heavily + subsidized by the King of Spain, that there were (the Bishop + says) only five or six Jesuits to each of their + establishments, and that they conducted only ten colleges. +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p><b>"Holy History"</b></p> +<p> +And if you think this tax-exemption privilege should be taken away +from the church grafters, let me suggest a course of procedure. Write +a letter about it to your daily newspaper; and if the letter is not +published, go and see the editor and ask why; so you will +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> + learn +something about the partnership between Superstition and Big Business!</p> +<p> +It is not too much to say that today no daily newspaper in any large +American city dares to attack the emoluments of the Catholic Church, +or to advocate restrictions upon the ecclesiastical machine. As I +write, they are making a new Catholic bishop in Los Angeles, and all +the newspapers of that graft-ridden city herald it as an important +social event. Each paper has the picture of the new prelate, with his +shepherd's crook upraised, his empty face crowned with a rhomboidal +fool's cap, and enough upholstery on him to outfit a grand opera +company. The Los Angeles "Examiner", the only paper in the city with a +pretense to radicalism, turns loose its star-writer—one of those +journalist virtuosos who will describe you a Wild West "rodeo" one +day, and a society elopement the next, and a G.O.P. convention the +next; and always with his picture, one inch square, at the head of his +effusion. He takes in the Catholic festivity; and does it phaze him? +It does not! He is a newspaper man, and if his city editor sent him to +hell, he would take the assignment and write like the devil. To read +him now you might think he had been reared in a convent; his soul is +uplifted, and he bursts forth in pure spontaneous ecstacy:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Solemnly magnificent, every brilliant detail symbolically + picturing the holy history of the Roman Catholic Church in + the inexorable progress of its immense structure, which + rises from the rock of Peter, with its beacons of faith and + devotion piercing the fog of doubt and fear which surround + the world and the worldly, was the ceremony yesterday at the + Cathedral of St. Vibiana, whereby Bishop John J. Cantwell + was installed in his diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles. +</p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> + +</div> +<p> +And then, a month later, conies another occasion of state—the +twenty-third Annual Banquet. the Merchants' and Manufacturers' +Association of Los Angeles. I should have to write a little essay to +make clear the sociological significance of that function; explaining +first, a nation-wide organization which has been proven by +congressional investigation and by the publication of its secret +documents to be a machine for the corruption of our political life; +and then exhibiting our "City of the Angels", from which all Angels +have long since fled; a city in the first crude stage of land +speculation, without order, dignity or charm; a city of real estate +agents, who exist by selling climate to new arrivals from the East; a +city whose intellectual life is "boosting", whose standards of truth +are those of the horse-trade. Its newspapers publish a table of +temperatures, showing the daily contrast between Southern California +and the East. This device is effective in the winter-time; but last +June, when for five days the temperature went to over 110, and several +times 114—the Los Angeles space was left empty!</p> +<p> +In the same way, there is a rule that our earth-quake shocks are never +mentioned, unless they destroy whole towns. On the afternoon of Jan. +26th, 1918, a cyclone hit Pasadena, of violence sufficient to lift a +barn over a church-steeple and deposit it in the pastor's front yard. +That evening a friend of mine in Los Angeles called up the office of +the "Times" to make inquiry; and although they are only thirteen miles +away, and have a branch office and a special correspondent in +Pasadena, the answer was that they had heard nothing about the +cyclone! And next morning I made a careful, +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> + search of their +columns. On the front page I read: "Fourth Blizzard of Season Raging +in East"; also: "Another Earthquake in Guatemala". But not a line +about the Pasadena cyclone. That there was plenty of space in that +issue, you may judge from the fact that there were twenty headlines +like the following—many of them representing full page and half page +illustrated "write-ups":</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Where Spring is January; Wealth Waits in California; The + Bright Side of Sunshine Land; Come to California: + Southland's Arms Outstretched in Cordial Invitation to the + East; Flower Stands Make Gay City Streets; Southland Climate + Big Manufacturing Factor; Joy of Life Demonstrated in Los + Angeles' Beautiful Homes; Nymphs Knit and Bathe at Ocean's + Sunny Beach; etc. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Now we are in the War and our business is booming, we are making money +hand over fist. It is all the more delightful, because we are putting +our souls into it, we are lending our money to the government and +saving the world for Democracy! Our labor unionists have been driven +to other cities, and our Mexican agitators and I.W.W.'s are in jail; +so, in the gilt ball-room of our palatial six-dollar-a-day hotel the +four hundred masters of our prosperity meet to pat themselves on the +back, and they invite the new Catholic bishop to come and confer the +grace of God upon their eating.</p> +<p> +The Bishop comes; and I take up the "Times"—the labor-hating, +labor-baiting, fire-and-slaughter-breathing "Times"—and here is the +episcopal picture on the front page, the arms stretched four columns +wide in oratorical beneficence. How the shepherd of Jesus does love +the Merchants and Manufacturers! How his eloquence is poured out upon +them! "You represent, gentlemen, +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> + the largest and the most +civilizing secular body in the country. You are the pioneers of +American civilization.... I am glad to be among you; glad that my +lines have fallen in this glorious land by the sunset sea, and honored +to meet in intimate acquaintance the big men who have raised here in a +few years a city of metropolitan proportions."</p> +<p> +And then, bearing in mind his responsibilities as guardian of +Exploitation, the Bishop goes on to tell them about the coming +class-war. "On the one side a statesman preaching patience and respect +for vested rights, strict observance of public faith; on the other a +demagog speaking about the tyranny of capitalists and usurers." And +then, of course, the inevitable religious tag: "How will men obey you, +if they believe not in God, who is the author of all authority?" At +which, according to the "Times", "prolonged applause and cheers" from +the Merchants and Manufacturers! The editor of the "Times" goes back +to his office, and inspired by this episcopal eloquence writes a +"leader" with the statement that: "<b>We have no proletariat in +America!</b>"</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Das Centrum</b></p> +<p> +In order to see clearly the ultimate purpose of this Unholy Alliance, +this union of Superstition and the Merchants' and Manufacturers' +Association, we have to go to Europe, where the arrangement has been +working for a thousand years. In Europe to-day we see the whole world +in conflict with a band of criminals who have been able to master the +minds and lives of a hundred million highly civilized people. As I +write, the Junker aristocracy is at bay, and soon to have its throat +cut; but there comes +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> + a Holy Father to its rescue, with the cross +of Jesus uplifted, and a series of pleas for mercy, written in Vienna, +edited in Berlin, and sent out from Rome. The Holy Father loves all +mankind with a tender and touching love; his heart bleeds at the sight +of bloodshed and suffering, and he pleads the sacred cause of peace on +earth and good-will toward men.</p> +<p> +But what was the Holy Father doing through the forty-three years that +the Potsdam gang were preparing for their assault on the world? How +was the Holy Father manifesting his love of peace and good will? He +is, you understand, the "sole, last, supreme judge of what is right +and wrong," and his followers obey him with the utmost promptness and +devotion—they express themselves as "prostrate at his feet." And when +the masters of Prussia came to him and said: "Give us the power to +turn this nation into the world's greatest military empire"—what did +the Roman Church answer? Did it speak boldly for the gentle Jesus, and +the cause of peace on earth and good-will towards men? No, it did not. +To Bismarck in Germany it said, precisely as it said to Mark Hanna in +America: "Give us honors and prestige; give us power over the minds of +the young, so that we may plunder the poor and build our cathedrals +and feed fat our greed; and in return we will furnish you with votes, +so that you may rule the state and do what you will."</p> +<p> +You think there is exaggeration in that statement? Why, we know the +very names of the prelates with whom the master-cynic of the +Junkerthum made his "deal." He had tried the method of the +Kultur-kampf, and had failed; but before he repealed the anti-Catholic +laws, he made sure that the Church had learned its lesson, and would + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> + nevermore oppose the Prussian ruling caste. We know how this +bargain was carried out; we have the record of the Centrum, the +Catholic party of Germany, whose hundred deputies were the solid rock +upon which the military regime of Prussia was erected. Not a +battle-ship nor a Zeppelin was built for which the Black Terror did +not vote the funds; not a school-child was beaten in Posen or Alsace +that the New Inquisition did not shout its "Hoch!" The writer sat in +the visitors' gallery of the Reichstag when the Socialists were +protesting against the torturing of miserable Herreros in Africa, and +he heard the deputies of the Holy Father's political party screaming +their rage like jaguars in a jungle night. All over Europe the +Catholic Church organized fake labor unions, the "yellows," as they +were called, to scab upon the workers and undermine the revolutionary +movement. The Holy Father himself issued precise instructions for the +management of these agencies of betrayal. Hear the most pious and +benevolent Leo XIII:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"They must pay special and principal attention to piety and morality, +and their internal discipline must be directed precisely by these +considerations; otherwise they entirely lose their special character, +and come to be very little better than those societies which take no +account of Religion at all."</p> +</div> +<p> +It is so hard, you see, to keep a man thinking about piety and +morality while he is starving! I am quoting from the Encyclical Letter +on "The Condition of Labor," issued in 1891, and addressed "to our +Venerable Brethren, all Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops and Bishops +of the Catholic World in Grace and Communion with the Apostolic +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> + +See." The purpose of the letter is "to refute false teaching," and the +substance of its message is:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + This great labor question cannot be solved except by + assuming as a principle that private property must be held + sacred and inviolable. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And again, the purpose of churches proclaimed in language as frank as +any used in the present book:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The chief thing to be secured is the safe-guarding, by legal + enactment and policy, of private property. Most of all it is + essential in these times of covetous greed, to keep the + multitude within the line of duty; for if all may justly + strive to benefit their condition, yet neither justice nor + the common good allows any one to seize that which belongs + to another, or, under the pretext of futile and ridiculous + equality, to lay hands on other peoples' fortunes. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And this, you understand, in lands where rapine and conquest, +class-tyranny and priestly domination have been the custom since the +dawn of history; in which no property-right can possibly trace back to +any other basis than force. In Austria, for example—Austria, the +leader and guardian of the Holy Alliance—Austria, which had no +Reformation, no Revolution, no Kultur-kampf—Austria, in which the +income of the Catholic Primate is $625,000 a year! In other words, +Austria is still to a large extent a "Priestly Empire;" and it was +Austria which began the war—began it in a religious quarrel, with a +Slav people which does not acknowledge the Holy Father as the ruler of +the world, but persists in adhering to the Eastern Church. So of +course to-day, when Austria is learning the bitter lesson that they +who draw the sword shall perish by the sword, the heart of the Holy +Father is wrung with grief, and he sends out these eloquent +peace-notes, written in Vienna and edited in Berlin. +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> + And at the +same time his private chaplain is convicted and sentenced to prison +for life as Austria's Master-Spy in Rome!</p> +<p> +It is a curious thing to observe—the natural instinct which, all over +the world, draws Superstition and Exploitation together. This war, +which is hailed as a war against autocracy, might almost as accurately +be described as a war against the clerical system. Wherever in the +world you find the Papal power strong, there you find sympathy with +the Prussian infamy and there you find German intrigue. In Spain, for +example; in Ireland and Quebec, and in the Argentine. The treatment of +Belgium was a little too raw—too many priests were shot at the +outset, and so Cardinal Mercier denounces the Germans; but you notice +that he pleads in vain with the Vatican, which stands firm by its +beloved Austria, and against the godless kingdom of Italy. The Kaiser +allows the hope of restoration of the temporal power at the peace +settlement; and meantime the law forbidding the presence of the +Jesuits in Germany has been repealed, and all over the world the +propagandists of this order are working for the Kaiser. Sir Roger +Casement was raised a Catholic, and so also "Jim" Larkin, the Irish +labor-leader who <i>is</i> touring America denouncing the Allies. The +Catholic Bishop of Melbourne opposed and beat conscription in +Australia, and it was Catholic propaganda of treachery among the +ignorant peasant-soldiers from Sicily which caused the breaking of the +Italian line at Tolmino. So deeply has this instinct worked that, in +the fall of 1917 while the Socialist party in New York was campaigning +for immediate peace, the Catholic Irish suddenly forgot their ancient +horrors. The Catholic "Freeman's +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> + Journal" published nine articles +favoring Socialism in a single issue; while even "The Tablet," the +diocesan paper, began to discover that the Socialists were not such +bad fellows after all. The same "Tablet" which a few years ago allowed +Father Belford to declare that Socialists were mad dogs who should be +"stopped with a bullet"!</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + P. S. The reader will be interested to know that for the + statements on <a href="#Page_155">page 155</a>, Upton Sinclair was described as a + "scoundrel" by a former primeminister of the Austrian + Empire, and brought suit against the gentleman, and after a + court trial was awarded damages of 500,000 crowns—about $7 + in American money. +</p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +</div> + + + +<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +<a href="#CONTENTS"><b>CONTENTS</b></a> +<hr /> +<h3>BOOK FOUR</h3> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Church of the Slavers</b></p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Bee, underneath the Crown of Thorn,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The eye-balls fierce, the features grim!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And merrily from night to morn<br /></span> +<span class="i4">We chaunt his praise and worship him—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Great Christus-Jingo, at whose feet<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Christian and Jew and Atheist meet!<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">A wondrous god! most fit for those<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Who cheat on 'Change, then creep to prayer;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Blood on his heavenly altar flows,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Hell's burning incense fills the air,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And Death attests in street and lane<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The hideous glory of his reign.<br /></span></p> +<p class="quotsig">—Buchanan</p> +</div> +</blockquote> + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Face of Caesar</b></p> +<p> +The thesis of this book is the effect of fixed dogma in producing +mental paralysis, and the use of this mental paralysis by Economic +Exploitation. From that standpoint the various Protestant sects are +better than the Catholic, but not much better. The Catholics stand +upon Tradition, the Protestants upon an Inspired Word; but since this +Word is the entire literary product, history and biography, science +and legislation, poetry, drama and fiction of a whole people for +something like a thousand years, it is possible by judicious selection +of texts to prove anything you wish to prove and to justify anything +you wish to do. The "Holy Book" being full of polygamy, slavery, rape +and wholesale murder, committed by priests and rulers under the direct +orders of God, it was a very simple matter for the Protestant Slavers +to construct a Bible defense of their system.</p> +<p> +They get poor Jesus because he was given to irony, that most dangerous +form of utterance. If he could come back to life, and see what men +have done with his little joke about the face of Caesar on the Roman +coin, I think he would drop dead. As for Paul, he was a Roman +bureaucrat, with no nonsense in his make-up; when he ordered, +"Servants obey your masters," he meant exactly what he said. The Roman +official stamp which he put upon the gospel of Jesus has been the +salvation of the Slavers from the Reformation on.</p> +<p> +In the time of Martin Luther, the peasants of Germany were suffering +the most atrocious and awful misery; Luther himself knew about it, he +had denounced the princely robbers and the priestly land-exploiters +with that picturesque violence of which he was a master. But +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> + +nothing had been done about it, nothing ever is done about it—until +at last the miserable peasants attempted to organize and win their own +rights. Their demands do not seem to us so very criminal as we read +them today; the privilege of electing their own pastors, the abolition +of villeinage, the right to hunt and fish and cut wood in the forest, +the reduction of exorbitant rents, extra payment for extra labor, +and—that universal cry of peasant communes whether in Russia, +England, Mexico or sixteenth century Germany—the restoration to the +village of lands taken by fraud. But Luther would hear nothing of +slaves asserting their own rights, and took refuge in the Pauline +sociology: If they really wished to follow Christ, they would drop the +sword and resort to prayer; the gospel has to do with spiritual, not +temporal, affairs; earthly society cannot exist without inequalities, +etc.</p> +<p> +And when the peasants went on in spite of this, he turned upon them +and denounced them to the princes; he issued proclamations which might +have been the instructions of Mr. John Wanamaker to the police-force +of his "City of Brotherly Love": "One cannot answer a rebel with +reason, but the best answer is to hit him with the fist until blood +flows from the nose." He issued a letter: "Against the Murderous and +Thieving Mob of Peasants," which might have come from the Reverend +Woelfkin, Fifth Avenue Pastor of Standard Oil: "The ass needs to be +beaten, and the populace needs to be controlled with a strong hand. +God knew this well, and therefore he gave the rulers, not a fox's +tail, but a sword." He implored these rulers, after the fashion of +Methodist Chancellor Day of the University of Syracuse: "Do not be +troubled about the severity of their repression, for it +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> + will save +many souls." With such pious exhortations in their ears the princes +set to work, and slaughtered a hundred thousand of the miserable +wretches; they completely aborted the social hopes of the Reformation, +and cast humanity into the pit of wage-slavery and militarism for four +centuries. As a church scholar, Prof. Rauschenbusch, puts it:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The glorious years of the Lutheran Reformation were from + 1517 to 1525, when the whole nation was in commotion, and a + great revolutionary tidal wave seemed to be sweeping every + class and every higher interest one step nearer to its ideal + of life.... The Lutheran Reformation had been most truly + religious and creative when it embraced the whole of human + life and enlisted the enthusiasm of all ideal men and + movements. When it became "religious" in the narrow sense, + it grew scholastic and spiny, quarrelsome, and impotent to + awaken high enthusiasm and noble life. +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Deutschland ueber Alles</b></p> +<p> +As a result of Luther's treason to humanity, his church became the +state church of Prussia, and Bible-worship and Devil-terror played +their part, along with the Mass and the Confessional, in building up +the Junker dream. A court official—the Oberhofprediger—was set up, +and from that time on the Hohenzollerns were the most pious criminals +in Europe. Frederick the Great, the ancestral genius, was an atheist +and a scoffer, but he believed devoutly in religion for his subjects. +He said: "If my soldiers were to begin to think, not one would remain +in the ranks." And Carlyle, instinctive friend of autocrats, tells +with jocular approval how he kept them from thinking:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + He recognizes the uses of Religion; takes a good deal of + pains with his Preaching Clergy; will suggest texts to them; + and +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> + for the rest expects to be obeyed by them, as by his + Sergeants and Corporals. Indeed, the reverend men feel + themselves to be a body of Spiritual Sergeants, Corporals, + and Captains, to whom obedience is the rule, and discontent + a thing not to be indulged in by any means. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +So the soldiers stayed in the ranks, and Frederick raided Silesia and +Poland. His successors ordered all the Protestant sects into one, so +that they might be more easily controlled; from which time the +Lutheran Church has been a department of the Prussian state, in some +cases a branch of the municipal authority.</p> +<p> +In 1848, when the people of various German states demanded their +liberty, it was an ultra-pious king of Prussia who sent his troops and +shot them down—precisely as Luther had advised to shoot down the +peasants. At this time the future maker of the German Empire rose in +the Landtag and made his bow before the world; a young Prussian +land-magnate, Otto von Bismarck by name, he shook his fist in the face +of the new German liberalism, and incidentally of the new German +infidelity:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Christianity is the solid basis of Prussia; and no state + erected upon any other foundation can permanently exist. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +The present Hohenzollern has diligently maintained this tradition of +his line. It was his custom to tour the Empire in a train of blue and +white cars, carrying as many costumes as any stage favorite, most of +them military; with him on the train went the Prussian god, and there +was scarcely a performance at which this god did not appear, also in +military costume. After the failure of the "Kultur-kampf," the +official Lutheran religion was ordered to make friends with its +ancient enemy, the Catholic Church. Said the Kaiser:</p> + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + I make no difference between the adherents of the Catholic and + Protestant creeds. Let them both stand upon the foundation of + Christianity, and they are both bound to be true citizens and + obedient subjects. Then the German people will be the rock of + granite upon which our Lord God can build and complete his work + of Kultur in the world. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And here is the oath required of the Catholic clergy, upon their +admission to equality of trustworthiness with their Protestant +confreres:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + I will be submissive, faithful and obedient to his Royal + Majesty,—and his lawful successors in the government,—as + my most gracious King and Sovereign; promote his welfare + according to my ability; prevent injury and detriment to + him; and particularly endeavor carefully to cultivate in the + minds of the people under my care a sense of reverence and + fidelity towards the King, love for the Fatherland, + obedience to the laws, and all those virtues which in a + Christian denote a good citizen; and I will not suffer any + man to teach or act in a contrary spirit. In particular I + vow that I will not support any society or association, + either at home or abroad, which might endanger the public + security, and will inform His Majesty of any proposal made, + either in my diocese or elsewhere, which might prove + injurious to the State. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And later on this heaven-guided ruler conceived the scheme of a +Berlin-Bagdad railway, for which he needed one religion more; he paid +a visit to Constantinople, and made another debut and produced another +god—with the result that millions of Turks are fighting under the +belief that the Kaiser is a convert to the faith of Mo-hammed!</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Der Tag.</b></p> +<p> +All this was, of course, in preparation for the great event to which +all good Germans looked forward—to which all German officers drank +their toasts at banquets—the Day. +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +</p> +<p> +This glorious day came, and the field-gray armies marched forth, and +the Pauline-Lutheran God marched with them. The Kaiser, as usual, +acted as spokesman:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Remember that the German people are the chosen of God. On + me, the German emperor, the spirit of God has descended. I + am His sword, His weapon and His viceregent. Woe to the + disobedient and death to cowards and unbelievers. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +As to the Prussian state religion, its attitude to the war is set +forth in a little book written by a high clerical personage, the Herr +Consistorialrat Dietrich Vorwerk, containing prayers and hymns for the +soldiers, and for the congregations at home. Here is an appeal to the +Lord God of Battles:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Though the warrior's bread be scanty, do Thou work daily + death and tenfold woe unto the enemy. Forgive in merciful + long-suffering each bullet and each blow which misses its + mark. Lead us not into the temptation of letting our wrath + be too tame in carrying out Thy divine judgment. Deliver us + and our ally from the Infernal Enemy and his servants on + earth. Thine is the kingdom, the German land; may we, by the + aid of Thy steel-clad hand, achieve the fame and the glory. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +It is this Herr Consistorialrat who has perpetrated the great +masterpiece of humor of the war—the hymn in which he appeals to that +God who keeps guard over Cherubim, Seraphim, and Zeppelins. You have +to say over the German form of these words in order to get the effect +of their delicious melody—"Cherubinen, Seraphinen, Zeppelinen!" And +lest you think that this too-musical clergyman is a rara avis, turn to +the little book which has been published in English under the same +title as Herr Vorwerk's "Hurrah and Hallelujah." Here is the Reverend +S. Lehmann:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Germany is the center of God's plans for the world. + Germany's +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> + fight against the whole world is in reality the + battle of the spirit against the whole world's infamy, + falsehood and devilish cunning. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And here is Pastor K. Koenig:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + It was God's will that we should will the war. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And Pastor J. Rump:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Our defeat would mean the defeat of His Son in humanity. We + fight for the cause of Jesus within mankind. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And here is an eminent theological professor:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The deepest and most thought-inspiring result of the war is + the German God. Not the national God such as the lower + nations worship, but "our God," who is not ashamed of + belonging to us, the peculiar acquirement of our heart. +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>King Cotton</b></p> +<p> +It is a cheap way to gain applause in these days, to denounce the +Prussian system; my only purpose is to show that Bible-worship, +precisely as saint-worship or totem-worship, delivers the worshipper +up to the Slavers. This truth has held in America, precisely as in +Prussia. During the middle of the last century there was fought out a +mighty issue in our free republic; and what was the part played in +this struggle by the Bible-cults? Hear the testimony of William Lloyd +Garrison: "American Christianity is the main pillar of American +slavery." Hear Parker Pillsbury: "We had almost to abolish the Church +before we could reach the dreadful institution at all."</p> +<p> +In the year 1818 the Presbyterian General Assembly, which represented +the churches of the South as well as of the North, passed by a +<b>unanimous</b> vote a resolution to the effect that "Slavery is utterly +inconsistent with the law of God, which requires us to love +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> + our +neighbor as ourselves." But in a generation the views of the entire +South, including the Presbyterian Church, had changed entirely. What +was the reason? Had the "law of God" been altered? Had some new +"revelation" been handed down? Nothing of the kind; it was merely that +a Yankee by the name of Eli Whitney had perfected a machine to take +the seeds out of short staple cotton. The cotton crop of the South +increased from four thousand bales in 1791 to four hundred and fifty +thousand in 1820 and five million, four hundred thousand in 1860.</p> +<p> +There was a new monarch, King Cotton, and his empire depended upon +slaves. According to the custom of monarchs since the dawn of history, +he hired the ministers of God to teach that what he wanted was right +and holy. From one end of the South to the other the pulpits rang with +the text: "Cursed be Canaan; a servant to servants shall he be to his +brethren." The learned Bishop Hopkins, in his "Bible View of Slavery", +gave the standard interpretation of this text:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The Almighty, forseeing the total degredation of the Negro + race, ordained them to servitude or slavery under the + descendants of Shem and Japheth, doubtless because he judged + it to be their fittest condition. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +I might fill the balance of this volume with citations from defenses +of the "peculiar institution" in the name of Jesus Christ—and not +only from the South, but from the North. For it must be understood +that leading families of Massachusetts and New York owed their power +to Slavery; their fathers had brought molasses from New Orleans and +made it into rum, and taken it to the coast of Africa to be exchanged +for +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> + slaves for the Southern planters. And after this trade was +outlawed, the slave-grown cotton had still to be shipped to the North +and spun; so the traders of the North must have divine sanction for +the Fugitive Slave law. Here is the Bishop of Vermont declaring: "The +slavery of the negro race appears to me to be fully authorized both in +the Old and New Testaments." Here in the "True Presbyterian", of New +York, giving the decision of a clerical man of the world: "There is no +debasement in it. It might have existed in Paradise, and it may +continue through the Millenium."</p> +<p> +And when the slave-holding oligarchy of the South rose in arms against +those who presumed to interfere with this divine institution, the men +of God of the South called down blessings upon their armies in words +which, with the proper change of names, might have been spoken in +Berlin in August, 1914. Thus Dr. Thornwell, one of the leading +Presbyterian divines of the South: "The triumph of Lincoln's +principles is the death-knell of slavery.... Let us crush the serpent +in the egg." And the Reverend Dr. Smythe of Charleston: "The war is a +war against slavery, and is therefore treasonable rebellion against +the Word, Providence and Government of God." I read in the papers, as +I am writing, how the clergy of Germany are thundering against +President Wilson's declaration that that country must become +democratic. Here is a manifesto of the German Evangelical League, made +public on the four hundredth anniversary of the Reformation:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + We especially warn against the heresy, promulgated from + America, that Christianity enjoins democratic institutions, + and that they are an essential condition of the kingdom of + God on earth. +</p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> + +</div> +<p> +In exactly the same way the religious bodies of the entire South +united in an address to Christians throughout the world, early in the +year 1863:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The recent proclamation of the President of the United + States, seeking the emancipation of the slaves of the South, + is in our judgment occasion of solemn protest on the part of + the people of God. +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Witches and Women</b></p> +<p> +To whatever part of the world you travel, to whatever page of history +you turn, you find the endowed and established clergy using the word +of God in defense of whatever form of slave-driving may then be +popular and profitable. Two or three hundred years ago it was the +custom of Protestant divines in England and America to hang poor old +women as witches; only a hundred and fifty years ago we find John +Wesley, founder of Methodism, declaring that "the giving up of +witchcraft is in effect the giving up of the Bible." And if you +investigate this witch-burning, you will find that it is only one +aspect of a blot upon civilization, the Christian Mysogyny. You see, +there were two Hebrew legends—one that woman was made out of a man's +rib, and the other that she ate an apple; therefore in modern England +a wife must be content with a legal status lower than a domestic +servant.</p> +<p> +Perhaps the most comical of the clerical claims is this—that +Christianity has promoted chivalry and respect for womanhood. In +ancient Greece and Rome the woman was the equal and helpmate of man; +we read in Tacitus about the splendid women of the Germans, who took +part in public councils, and even fought in battles. Two thousand +years before the Christian era +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> + we are told by Maspero that the +Egyptian woman was the mistress of her house; she could inherit +equally with her brothers, and had full control of her property. We +are told by Paturet that she was "juridically the equal of man, having +the same rights and being treated in the same fashion." But in +present-day England, under the common law, woman can hold no office of +trust or power, and her husband has the sole custody of her person, +and of her children while minors. He can steal her children, rob her +of her clothing, and beat her with a stick provided it is no thicker +than his thumb. While I was in London the highest court handed down a +decision on the law which does not permit a woman to divorce her +husband for infidelity, unless it has been accompanied by cruelty; a +man had brought his mistress into his home and compelled his wife to +work for and wait upon her, and the decision was that this was not +cruelty in the meaning of the law!</p> +<p> +And if you say that this enslavement of Woman has nothing to do with +religion—that ancient Hebrew fables do not control modern English +customs—then listen to the Vicar of Crantock, preaching at St. +Crantock's, London, Aug. 27th, 1905, and explaining why women must +cover their heads in church:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +(1) Man's priority of creation. Adam was first formed, then Eve.</p> +<p> +(2) The manner of creation. The man is not of the woman, but the woman +of the man.</p> +<p> +(3) The purport of creation. The man was not created for the woman, +but the woman for the man.</p> +<p> +(4) Results in creation. The man is the image of the glory of God, but +woman is the glory of man.</p> +<p> +(5) Woman's priority in the fall. Adam was not deceived; but the +woman, being deceived, was in the transgression. +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +</p> +<p> +(6) The marriage relation. As the Church is subject to Christ, so let +the wives be to their husbands.</p> +<p> +(7) The headship of man and woman. The head of every man is Christ, +but the head of the woman is man.</p> +</div> +<p> +I say there is no modern evil which cannot be justified by these +ancient texts; and there is nowhere in Christendom a clergy which +cannot be persuaded to cite them at the demand of ruling classes. In +the city where I write, three clergymen are being sent to jail for six +months for protesting against the use of the name of Jesus in the +wholesale slaughter of men. Now, I am backing this war. I know that it +has to be fought, and I want to see it fought as hard as possible; but +I want to leave Jesus out of it, for I know that Jesus did not believe +in war, and never could have been brought to support a war. I object +to clerical cant on the subject; and I note that an eminent +theological authority, "Billy" Sunday, appears to agree with me; for I +find him on the front page of my morning paper, assailing the three +pacifist clergymen, and making his appeal not to Jesus, but to the +blood-thirsty tribal diety of the ancient Hebrews:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + I suppose they think they know more than God Almighty, who + commanded the sun to stand still while Joshua won the battle + for the Lord; more than the God who made Samson strong so he + could slay thousands of his nation's enemies in a righteous + cause. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Right you are, Billy! And if the capitalist system continues to +develop unchecked, we shall some day see it dawn upon the masters of +the world how wasteful it is to permit the superannuated workers to +perish by slow starvation. So much more sensible to make use of them! +So we shall have a Bible defense of cannibalism; +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> + we shall hear our +evangelists quoting Leviticus: "<b>They shall eat the flesh of their own +sons and daughters.</b>" Or perhaps some of our leisure-class ladies +might make the discovery that the flesh of working-class babies is +relished by pomeranians and poodles. If so, the Billy Sundays of the +twenty-first century may discover the text: "<b>Happy shall be he that +taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.</b>"</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Moth and Rust</b></p> +<p> +It is especially interesting to notice what happens when the Bible +texts work against the interests of the Slavers and their clerical +retainers. Then they are null and void—and no matter how precise and +explicit and unmistakable they may be! Take for example the Sabbath +injunction: "Six days shalt thou labor and do all that thou hast to +do." Karl Marx records of the pious England of his time that</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Occasionally in rural districts a day-labourer is condemned + to imprisonment for desecrating the Sabbath by working in + his front garden. The same labourer is punished for breach + of contract if he remains away from his metal, paper or + glass works on the Sunday, even if it be from a religious + whim. The orthodox Parliament will hear nothing of + Sabbath-breaking if it occurs in the process of expanding + capital. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Or consider the attitude of the Church in the matter of usury. +Throughout ancient Hebrew history the money-lender was an outcast; +both the law and the prophets denounced him without mercy, and it was +made perfectly clear that what was meant was, not the taking of high +interest, but the taking of any interest whatsoever. The early church +fathers were explicit, and the Catholic Church for a thousand years +consigned +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> + money-lenders unhesitatingly to hell. But then came the +modern commercial system, and the money-lenders became the masters of +the world! There is no more amusing illustration of the perversion of +human thought than the efforts of the Jesuit casuists to escape from +the dilemma into which their Heavenly Guides had trapped them.</p> +<p> +Here, for example is Alphonso Ligouri, a Spanish Jesuit of the +eighteenth century, a doctor of the Church, now worshipped as St. +Alphonsus, presenting a long and elaborate theory of "mental usury"; +concluding that, if the borrower pay interest of his own free will, +the lender may keep it. In answer to the question whether the lender +may keep what the borrower pays, not out of gratitude, but out of fear +that otherwise loans will be refused to him in future, Ligouri says +that "to be usury, it must be paid by reason of a contract, or as +justly due; payment by reason of such a fear does not cause interest +to be paid as an actual price." Again the great saint and doctor tells +us that "it is not usury to exact something in return for the danger +and expense of regaining the principal!" Could the house of J. P. +Morgan and Company ask more of their ecclesiastical department?</p> +<p> +The reader may think that such sophistications are now out of date; +but he will find precisely the same knavery in the efforts of +present-day Slavers to fit Jesus Christ into the system of competitive +commercialism. Jesus, as we have pointed out, was a carpenter's son, a +thoroughly class-conscious proletarian. He denounced the exploiters of +his own time with ferocious bitterness, he drove the money-changers +out of the +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> + temple with whips, and he finally died the death of a +common criminal. If he had forseen the whole modern cycle of +capitalism and wage-slavery, he could hardly have been more precise in +his exortations to his followers to stand apart from it. But did all +this avail him? Not in the least!</p> +<p> +I place upon the witness-stand an exponent of Bible-Christianity whom +all readers of our newspapers know well: a scholar of learning, a +publicist of renown; once pastor of the most famous church in +Brooklyn; now editor of our most influential religious weekly; a +liberal both in theology and politics; a modernist, an advocate of +what he calls industrial democracy. His name is Lyman Abbott, and he +is writing under his own signature in his own magazine, his subject +being "The Ethical Teachings of Jesus". Several times I have tried to +persuade people that the words I am about to quote were actually +written and published by this eminent doctor of divinity, and people +have almost refused to believe me. Therefore I specify that the +article may be found in the "Outlook", the bound volumes of which are +in all large libraries: volume 94, page 576. The words are as follows, +the bold face being Dr. Abbott's, not mine:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + My radical friend declares that the teachings of Jesus are + not practicable, that we cannot carry them out in life, and + that we do not pretend to do so. Jesus, he reminds us, said, + 'Lay not up for yourself treasures upon earth;' and + Christians do universally lay up for themselves treasures + upon earth; every man that owns a house and lot, or a share + of stock in a corporation, or a life insurance policy, or + money in a savings bank, has laid up for himself treasure + upon earth. But Jesus did not say, "Lay not up for + yourselves treasures upon earth." He said, "Lay not up for + yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth + corrupt and where thieves break through and steal." And + no +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> + sensible American does. Moth and rust do not get at + Mr. Rockefeller's oil wells, nor at the Sugar Trust's sugar, + and thieves do not often break through and steal a railway + or an insurance company or a savings bank. What Jesus + condemned was hoarding wealth. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Strange as it may sound to some of the readers of this book, I count +myself among the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. His example has meant +more to me than that of any other man, and all the experiences of my +revolutionary life have brought me nearer to him. Living in the great +Metropolis of Mammon, I have felt the power of Privilege, its scourge +upon my back, its crown of thorns upon my head. When I read that +article in the "Outlook", I felt just as Jesus himself would have +felt; and I sat down and wrote a letter—</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>To Lyman Abbott</b></p> +<p> +This discovery of a new method of interpreting the Bible is one of +such very great interest and importance that I cannot forbear to ask +space to comment upon it. May I suggest that Dr. Abbott elaborate this +exceedingly fruitful lea, and write us another article upon the extent +to which the teachings of the Inspired Word are modified by modern +conditions, by the progress of invention and the scientific arts? The +point of view which Dr. Abbott takes is one which had never occurred +to me before, and I had therefore been completely mistaken as to the +attitude of Jesus on the question. Also I have, like Dr. Abbott, many +radical friends who are still laboring under error.</p> +<p> +Jesus goes on to bid his hearers: "Consider the lilies of the field, +how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin." What an apt +simile is this for the "great +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> + mass of American wealth," in Dr. +Abbott's portrayal of it! "It is serving the community," he tells us; +"it is building a railway to open a new country to settlement by the +homeless; it is operating a railway to carry grain from the harvests +of the West to the unfed millions of the East," etc. Incidentally, it +is piling up dividends for its pious owners; and so everybody is +happy—and Jesus, if he should come back to earth, could never know +that he had left the abodes of bliss above.</p> +<p> +Truly, there should be a new school of Bible interpretation founded +upon this brilliant idea. Jesus says, "Therefore when thou doest thine +alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the +synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men." +Verily not; for of what avail are trumpets, compared with the millions +of copies of newspapers which daily go forth to tell of Mr. +Rockefeller's benefactions? How transitory are they, compared with the +graven marble or granite which Mr. Carnegie sets upon the front of +each of his libraries!</p> +<p> +There is the paragraph, "Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because +thou canst not make one hair white or black." I have several among my +friends who are Quakers; presumably Dr. Abbott has also; and he should +not fail to point out to them the changes which scientific discovery +has wrought in the significance of this command against swearing. We +can now make our hair either white or black, or a combination of both. +We can make it a brilliant peroxide golden; we could, if pushed to an +extreme, make it purple or green. So we are clearly entitled to swear +all we please by our head. +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +</p> +<p> +Nor should we forget to examine other portions of the Bible according +to this method. "Look not upon the wine when it is red," we are told. +Thanks to the activities of that Capitalism which Dr. Abbott praises +so eloquently, we now make our beverages in the chemical laboratory, +and their color is a matter of choice. Also, it should be pointed out +that we have a number of pleasant drinks which are not wine at +all—"high-balls" and "gin rickeys" and "peppered punches"; also +<b>vermouthe and creme de menthe and absinthe</b>, which I believe, are +green in hue, and therefore entirely safe.</p> +<p> +Then there are the Ten Commandments. "Thou shalt not make unto thee +any graven image." See how completely our understanding of this +command is changed, so soon as we realize that we are free to make +images of molten metal! And that we may with impunity bow down to them +and worship them and serve them—even, for instance, a Golden Calf!</p> +<p> +"The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy <i>God</i>; in it thou +shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy +manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that +is within thy gates." This, again, it will be noted, is open to new +interpretations. It specifies maidservants, but does not prevent one's +employing as many married women as he pleases. It also says nothing +about the various kinds of labor-saving machinery which we have now +taught to work for us—sail-boats, naptha launches, yachts, +automobiles, and private cars—all of which may be busily occupied +during the seventh day of the week. The men who run these +machines—the guides, boatmen, stokers, pilots, chauffeurs, and +engineers—would all indignantly +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> + resent being regarded +as-"servants", and so they do not come under the prohibition any more +than the machines.</p> +<p> +"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy +neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, +nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's." I read this +paragraph over for the first time in quite a while, and I came with a +jolt to its last words. I had been intending to point out that it said +nothing about a neighbor's automobile, nor a neighbor's oil wells, +sugar trusts, insurance companies and savings banks. The last words, +however, stop one of-abruptly. One is almost tempted to imagine that +the Divine Intelligence must have foreseen Dr. Abbott's ingenious +method of interpretation, and taken this precaution against him. And +this was a great surprise to me—for, truly, I had not supposed it +possible that such an interpretation could have been foreseen, even by +Omniscience itself. I will conclude this communication by venturing +the assertion that it could not have been foreseen by any other person +or thing, in the heavens above, on the earth beneath, or the waters +under the earth. Dr. Abbott may accept my congratulations upon having +achieved the most ingenious and masterful exhibition of casuistical +legerdemain that it has ever been my fortune to encounter in my +readings in the literatures of some thirty centuries and seven +different languages.</p> +<p> +And I will also add that I respectfully challenge Dr. Abbott to +publish this letter. And I announce to him in advance that if he +refuses to publish it, I will cause it to be published upon the first +page of the "Appeal to +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> + Reason", where it will be read by some five +hundred thousand Socialists, and by them set before several million +followers of Jesus Christ, the world's first and greatest +revolutionist, whom Dr. Lyman Abbott has traduced and betrayed by the +most amazing piece of theological knavery that it has ever been my +fortune to encounter.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Octopus</b></p> +<p> +Dr. Lyman Abbott published this letter! In his editorial comment +thereon he said that he did not know which of two biblical injunctions +to follow: "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou be +thought like unto him"; or "Answer a fool according to his folly, lest +he be wise in his own conceit". I replied by pointing out a third text +which the Reverend Doctor had possibly overlooked: "He that calleth +his neighbor a fool shall be in danger of hell-fire." But the Reverend +Doctor took refuge in his dignity, and I bided my time and waited for +that revenge which comes sooner or later to us muck-rakers. In this +case it came speedily. The story is such a perfect illustration of the +functions of religion as oil to the machinery of graft that I ask the +reader's permission to recite it at length.</p> +<p> +For a couple of decades the political and financial life of New +England has been dominated by a gigantic aggregation of capital, the +New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. It is a "Morgan" concern; +its popular name, "The New Haven", stands for all the railroads of six +states, nearly all the trolley-lines and steamship-lines, and a group +of the most powerful banks of Boston and New York. It is controlled by +a little group of insiders, who followed the custom of +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> + +rail-road-wrecking familiar to students of American industrial life: +buying up new lines, capitalizing them at fabulous sums, and unloading +them on the investing public; paying dividends out of capital, +"passing" dividends as a means of stock manipulation, accumulating +surpluses and cutting "melons" for the insiders, while at the same +time crushing labor unions, squeezing wages, and permitting +rolling-stock and equipment to go to wreck.</p> +<p> +All these facts were perfectly well known in Wall Street, and could +not have escaped the knowledge of any magazine editor dealing with +current events. In eight years the "New Haven" had increased its +capitalization 1501 per cent; and what that meant, any office boy in +"the Street" could have told. What attitude should a magazine editor +take to the matter?</p> +<p> +At that time there were still two or three free magazines in America. +One of them was Hampton's, and the story of its wrecking by the New +Haven criminals will some day serve in school text-books as the +classic illustration of that financial piracy which brought on the +American social revolution. Ben Hampton had bought the old derelict +"Broadway Magazine", with twelve thousand subscribers, and in four +years, by the simple process of straight truth-telling, had built up +for it a circulation of 440,000. In two years more he would have had a +million; but in May, 1911, he announced a series of articles dealing +with the New Haven management.</p> +<p> +The articles, written by Charles Edward Russell, were so exact that +they read today like the reports of the Interstate Commerce +Commission, dated three +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> + years later. A representative of the New +Haven called upon the editor of Hampton's with a proof of the first +article—obtained from the printer by bribery—and was invited to +specify the statements to which he took exception; in the presence of +witnesses he went over the article line by line, and specified two +minor errors, which were at once corrected. At the end of the +conference he announced that if the articles were published, Hampton's +Magazine would be "on the rocks in ninety days."</p> +<p> +Which threat was carried out to the letter. First came a campaign +among the advertisers of the magazine, which lost an income of +thousands of dollars a month, almost over night. And then came a +campaign among the banks—the magazine could not get credit. Anyone +familiar with the publishing business will understand that a magazine +which is growing rapidly has to have advances to meet each month's +business. Hampton undertook to raise the money by selling stock; +whereupon a spy was introduced into his office as bookkeeper, his list +of subscribers was stolen, and a campaign was begun to destroy their +confidence.</p> +<p> +It happened that I was in Hampton's office in the summer of 1911, when +the crisis came. Money had to be had to pay for a huge new edition; +and upon a property worth two millions of dollars, with endorsements +worth as much again, it was impossible to borrow thirty thousand +dollars in the city of New York. Bankers, personal friends of the +publisher, stated quite openly that word had gone out that any one who +loaned money to him would be "broken". I myself sent telegrams to +everyone I knew who might by any chance be able to +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> + help; but there +was no help, and Hampton retired without a dollar to his name, and the +magazine was sold under the hammer to a concern which immediately +wrecked it and discontinued publication.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Industrial Shelley</b></p> +<p> +Such was the fate of an editor who opposed the "New Haven". And now, +what of those editors who supported it? Turn to "The Outlook, a Weekly +Journal of Current Events," edited by Lyman Abbott—the issue of Dec. +25th, nineteen hundred and nine years after Christ came down to bring +peace on earth and good-will toward Wall Street. You will there find +an article by Sylvester Baxter entitled "The Upbuilding of a Great +Railroad." It is the familiar "slush" article which we professional +writers learn to know at a glance. "Prodigious", Mr. Baxter tells us, +has been the progress of the New Haven; this was "a masterstroke", +that was "characteristically sagacious". The road had made "prodigious +expenditures", and to a noble end: "Transportation efficiency +epitomizes the broad aim that animated these expenditures and other +constructive activities." There are photographs of bridges and +stations—"vast terminal improvements", "a masterpiece of modern +engineering", "the highest, greatest and most architectural of +bridges". Of the official under whom these miracles were being +wrought—President Mellen—we read: "Nervously organized, of delicate +sensibility, impulsive in utterance, yet with an extraordinarily +convincing power for vividly logical presentation." An industrial +Shelley, or a Milton, you perceive; and all this prodigious genius +poured out for the general welfare! "To study out the sort of +transportation +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> + service best adapted to these ends, and then to +provide it in the most efficient form possible, that is the life-task +that President Mellen has set himself."</p> +<p> +There was no less than sixteen pages of these raptures—quite a +section of a small magazine like the "Outlook". "The New Haven +ramifies to every spot where industry flourishes, where business +thrives." "As a purveyor of transportation it supplies the public with +just the sort desired." "Here we have the new efficiency in a +nutshell." In short, here we have what Dr. Lyman Abbott means when he +glorifies "the great mass of American wealth". "It is serving the +community; it is building a railway to open a new country to +settlement by the homeless; it is operating a railway to carry grain +from the harvests of the West to the unfed millions of the East," etc. +The unfed millions—my typewriter started to write "underfed +millions"—are humbly grateful for these services, and hasten to buy +copies of the pious weekly which tells about them.</p> +<p> +The "Outlook" runs a column of "current events" in which it tells what +is happening in the world; and sometimes it is compelled to tell of +happenings against the interests of "the great mass of American +wealth". The cynical reader will find amusement in following its +narrative of the affairs of the New Haven during the five years +subsequent to the publication of the Baxter article.</p> +<p> +First came the collapse of the road's service; a series of accidents +so frightful that they roused even clergymen and chambers of commerce +to protest. A number of the "Outlook's" subscribers are New Haven +"commuters", and the magazine could not fail to refer +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> + to their +troubles. In the issue of Jan. 4th, 1913, three years and ten days +after the Baxter rhapsody, we read:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The most numerous accidents on a single road since the last + fiscal year have been, we believe, those on the New Haven. + In the opinion of the Connecticut Commission, the Westport + wreck would not have occurred if the railway company had + followed the recommendation of the Chief Inspector of Safety + Appliances of the Interstate Commerce Commission in its + report on a similar accident at Bridgeport a year ago. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And by June 28th, matters had gone farther yet; we find the "Outlook" +reporting:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Within a few hours of the collision at Stamford, the wrecked + Pullman car was taken away and burned. Is this criminal + destruction of evidence? +</p> +</div> + +<p> +This collapse of the railroad service started a clamor for +investigation by the Interstate Commerce Commission, which of course +brought terror to the bosoms of the plunderers. On Dec. 20,1913, we +find the "Outlook" "putting the soft pedal" on the public indignation. +"It must not be forgotten that such a road as the New Haven is, in +fact if not in terms, a National possession, and as it goes down or +up, public interests go down or up with it." But in spite of all pious +admonitions, the Interstate Commerce Commission yielded to the public +clamor, and an investigation was made—revealing such conditions of +rottenness as to shock even the clerical retainers of Privilege. +"Securities were inflated, debt was heaped upon debt", reports the +horrified "Outlook"; and when its hero, Mr. Mellen—its industrial +Shelley, "nervously organized, of delicate sensibility"—admitted that +he had no authority as to the finances of the road and no +understanding of them, but had taken all his +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> + orders from Morgan, +the "Outlook" remarks, deeply wounded: "A pitiable position for the +president of a great railway to assume." A little later, when things +got hotter yet, we read:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + In the search for truth the Commissioners had to overcome + many obstacles, such as the burning of books, letters and + documents, and the obstinacy of witnesses, who declined to + testify until criminal proceedings were begun. The New Haven + system has more than three hundred subsidiary corporations + in a web of entangling alliances, many of which were + seemingly planned, created and manipulated by lawyers + expressly retained for the purpose of concealment or + deception. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +But do you imagine even that would sicken the pious jackals of their +offal? If so, you do not know the sturdiness of the pious stomach. A +compromise was patched up between the government and the thieves who +were too big to be prosecuted; this bargain was not kept by the +thieves, and President Wilson declared in a public statement that the +New Haven administration had "broken an agreement deliberately and +solemnly entered into," in a manner to the President "inexplicable and +entirely without justification." Which, of course, seemed to the +"Outlook" dreadfully impolite language to be used concerning a +"National possession"; it hastened to rebuke President Wilson, whose +statement was "too severe and drastic."</p> +<p> +A new compromise was made between the government and the thieves who +were too big to be prosecuted, and the stealing went on. Now, as I +work over this book, the President takes the railroads for war use, +and reads to Congress a message proposing that the securities based +upon the New Haven swindles, together with all the mass of other +railroad swindles, shall +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> + be sanctified and secured by dividends +paid out of the public purse. New Haven securities take a big jump; +and the "Outlook", needless to say, is enthusiastic for the +President's policy. Here is a chance for the big thieves to baptize +themselves—or shall we say to have the water in their stocks made +"holy"? Says our pious editor, for the government to take property +without full compensation "would be contrary to the whole spirit of +America."</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Outlook for Graft</b></p> +<p> +Anyone familiar with the magazine world will understand that such +crooked work as this, continued over a long period, is not done for +nothing. Any magazine writer would know, the instant he saw the Baxter +article, that Baxter was paid by the New Haven, and that the "Outlook" +also was paid by the New Haven. Generally he has no way of proving +such facts, and has to sit in silence; but when his board bill falls +due and his landlady is persistent, he experiences a direct and +earnest hatred of the crooks of journalism who thrive at his expense. +If he is a Socialist, he looks forward to the day when he may sit on a +Publications' Graft Commission, with access to all magazine books +which have not yet been burned!</p> +<p> +In the case of the New Haven, we know a part of the price—thanks to +the labors of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Needless to say, you +will not find the facts recorded in the columns of the Outlook; you +might have read it line by line from the palmy days of Mellen to our +own, and you would have got no hint of what the Commission revealed +about magazine and +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> + newspaper graft. Nor would you have got much +more from the great metropolitan dailies, which systematically "played +down" the expose, omitting all the really damaging details. You would +have to go to the reports of the Commission—or to the files of +"Pearson's Magazine", which is out of print and not found in +libraries!</p> +<p> +According to the New Haven's books, and by the admission of its own +officials, the road was spending more than four hundred thousand +dollars a year to influence newspapers and magazines in favor of its +policies. (President Mellen stated that this was relatively less than +any other railroad in the country was spending). There was a professor +of the Harvard Law School, going about lecturing to boards of trade, +urging in the name of economic science the repeal of laws against +railroad monopolies—and being paid for his speeches out of railroad +funds! There was a swarm of newspaper reporters, writing on railroad +affairs for the leading papers of New England, and getting twenty-five +dollars weekly, or two or three hundred on special occasions. Sums had +been paid directly to more than a thousand newspapers—$3,000 to the +Boston "Republic", and when the question was asked "Why?" the answer +was, "That is Mayor Fitzgerald's paper." Even the ultra-respectable +"Evening Transcript", organ of the Brahmins of culture, was down for +$144 for typing, mimeographing and sending out "dope" to the country +press. There was an item of $381 for 15,000 "Prayers"; and when asked +about that President Mellen explained that it referred to a pamphlet +called "Prayers from the Hills", embodying the yearnings of the +back-country people for trolley-franchises to be +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> + issued to the New +Haven. Asked why the pamphlet was called "Prayers", Mr. Mellen +explained that "there was lots of biblical language in it."</p> +<p> +And now we come to the "Outlook"; after five years of waiting, we +catch our pious editors with the goods on them! There appears on the +pay-roll of the New Haven, as one of its regular press-agents, getting +sums like $500 now and then—would you think it possible?—Sylvester +Baxter! And worse yet, there appears an item of $938.64 to the +"Outlook", for a total of 9,716 copies of its issue of Dec. 25th, +nineteen hundred and nine years after Christ came to bring peace on +earth and good will towards Wall Street!</p> +<p> +The writer makes a specialty of fair play, even when dealing with +those who have never practiced it towards him. He wrote a letter to +the editor of the "Outlook", asking what the magazine might have to +say upon this matter. The reply, signed by Lawrence F. Abbott, +President of the "Outlook" Company, was that the "Outlook" did not +know that Mr. Baxter had any salaried connection with the New Haven, +and that they had paid him for the article at the usual rates. Against +this statement must be set one made under oath by the official of the +New Haven who had the disbursing of the corruption fund—that the +various papers which used the railroad material paid nothing for it, +and "they all knew where it came from." Mr. Lawrence Abbott states +that "the New Haven Railroad bought copies of the 'Outlook' without +any previous understanding or arrangement as anybody is entitled to +buy copies of the 'Outlook'." I might point out that this does not +really say as much as it seems to; for the President of every +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> + +magazine company in America knows without any previous understanding +or arrangement that any time he cares to print an article such as Mr. +Baxter's, dealing with the affairs of a great corporation, he can sell +ten thousand copies to that corporation. The late unlamented Elbert +Hubbard wrote a defense of the Rockefeller slaughter of coal-miners, +published it in "The Fra," and came down to New York and unloaded +several tons at 26 Broadway; he did the same thing in the case of the +copper strike in Michigan, and again in the case of "The Jungle"—and +all this without the slightest claim to divine inspiration or +authority!</p> +<p> +Mr. Abbott answers another question: "We certainly did not return the +amount to the railroad company." Well, a sturdy conscience must be a +comfort to its possessor. The President of the "Outlook" is in the +position of a pawnbroker caught with stolen goods in his +establishment. He had no idea they were stolen; and we might believe +it, if the thief were obscure. But when the thief is the most +notorious in the city—when his picture has been in the paper a +thousand times? And when the thief swears that the broker knew him? +And when the broker's shop is full of other suspicious goods? Why did +the "Outlook" practically take back Mr. Spahr's revelations concerning +the Powder barony of Delaware? Why did it support so vigorously the +Standard Oil ticket for the control of the Mutual Life Insurance +Company—and with James Stillman, one of the heads of Standard Oil, +president of Standard Oil's big bank in New York, secretly one of its +biggest stockholders!</p> +<p> +Also, why does the magazine refuse to give its +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> + readers a chance to +judge its conduct? Why is it that a search of its columns reveals no +mention of the revelations concerning Mr. Baxter—not even any mention +of the $400,000 slush fund of its paragon of transportation virtues? I +asked that question in my letter, and the president of the "Outlook" +Company for some reason failed to notice it. I wrote a second time, +courteously reminding him of the omission; and also of another, +equally significant—he had not informed me whether any of the editors +of the "Outlook", or the officers or directors of the Company, were +stockholders in the New Haven. His final reply was that the questions +seem to him "wholly unimportant"; he does not know whether the +"Outlook" published anything about the Baxter revelations, nor does he +know whether any of the editors or officers or directors of the +"Outlook" Company are or ever have been stockholders of the New York, +New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company. The fact "would not in the +slightest degree affect either favorably or unfavorably our editorial +treatment of that corporation." Caesar's wife, it appears is above +suspicion—even when she is caught in a brothel!</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Clerical Camouflage</b></p> +<p> +I have seen a photograph from "Somewhere in France", showing a wayside +shrine with a statue of the Virgin Mary, innocent and loving, with her +babe in her arms. If you were a hostile aviator, you might sail over +and take pictures to your heart's content, and you would see nothing +but a saintly image; you would have to be on the enemy's side, and +behind the lines, to make the discovery that under the image had been +dug a hole +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> + for a machine-gun. When I saw that picture, I thought to +myself—<b>there</b> is capitalist Religion!</p> +<p> +You see, if cannon and machine-guns are out in the open, they are +almost instantly spotted and put out of action; and so with magazines +like "Leslie's Weekly", or "Munsey's", or the "North American Review", +which are frankly and wholly in the interest of Big Business. If an +editor wishes really to be effective in holding back progress, he must +protect himself with a camouflage of piety and philanthropy, he must +have at his tongue's end the phrases of brotherhood and justice, he +must be liberal and progressive, going a certain cautious distance +with the reformers, indulging in carefully measured fair play—giving +a dime with one hand, while taking back a dollar with the other!</p> +<p> +Let us have an illustration of this clerical camouflage. Here are the +wives and children of the Colorado coal-miners being shot and burned +in their beds by Rockefeller gun-men, and the press of the entire +country in a conspiracy of silence concerning the matter. In the +effort to break down this conspiracy, Bouck White, Congregational +clergyman, author of "The Call of the Carpenter", goes to the Fifth +Avenue Church of Standard Oil and makes a protest in the name of +Jesus. I do not wish to make extreme statements, but I have read +history pretty thoroughly, and I really do not know where in nineteen +hundred years you can find an action more completely in the spirit and +manner of Jesus than that of Bouck White. The only difference was that +whereas Jesus took a real whip and lashed the money-changers, White +politely asked the pastor to discuss with him the question whether or +not Jesus condemned the +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> + holding of wealth. He even took the +precaution to write a letter to the clergyman announcing in advance +what he intended to do! And how did the clergyman prepare for him? +With the sword of truth and the armor of the spirit? No—but with two +or three dozen strong-arm men, who flung themselves upon the Socialist +author and hurled him out of the church. So violent were they that +several of White's friends, also one or two casual spectators, were +moved to protest; what happened then, let us read in the New York +"Sun", the most bitterly hostile to radicalism of all the metropolitan +newspapers. Says the "Sun's" report:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + A police billy came crunching against the bones of Lopez's + legs. It struck him as hard as a man could swing it eight + times. A fist planted on Lopez's jaw knocked out two teeth. + His lip was torn open. A blow in the eye made it swell and + blacken instantly. A minute later Lopez was leaning against + the church with blood running to the doorsill. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And now, what has the clerical camouflage to say on this proceeding? +Does it approve it? Oh no! It was "a mistake", the "Outlook" protests; +it intensifies the hatred which these extremists feel for the church. +The proper course would have been to turn the disturber aside with a +soft answer; to give him some place, say in a park, where he could +talk his head off to people of his own sort, while good and decent +Christians continued to worship by themselves in peace, and to have +the children of their mine-slaves shot and burned in their beds. Says +our pious editor:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The true way to repress cranks is not to suppress them; it + is to give them an opportunity to air their theories before + any who wish to learn, while forbidding them to compel those + to listen who do not wish to do so. +</p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> + +</div> +<p> +Or take another case. Twelve years ago the writer made an effort to +interest the American people in the conditions of labor in their +packing-plants. It happened that incidentally I gave some facts about +the bedevilment of the public's meat-supply, and the public really did +care about that. As I phrased it at the time, I aimed at the public's +heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach. There was a terrible +clamor, and Congress was forced to pass a bill to remedy the evils. As +a matter of fact this bill was a farce, but the public was satisfied, +and soon forgot the matter entirely. The point to be noted here is +that so far as concerned the atrocious miseries of the working-people, +it was not necessary even to pretend to do anything. The slaves of +Packingtown went on living and working as they were described as doing +in "The Jungle", and nobody gave a further thought to them. Only the +other day I read in my paper—while we are all making sacrifices in a +"War for Democracy"—that Armour and Company had paid a dividend of +twenty-one per cent, and Swift and Company a dividend of thirty-five +per cent.</p> +<p> +This prosperity they owe in good part to their clerical camouflage. +Listen to our pious "Outlook", engaged in countermining "The Jungle". +The "Outlook" has no doubt that there are genuine evils in the +packing-plants; the conditions of the workers ought of course to be +improved; BUT—</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + To disgust the reader by dragging him through every + conceivable horror, physical and moral, to depict with lurid + excitement and with offensive minuteness the life in jail + and brothel—all this is to overreach the object.... Even + things actually terrible may become distorted when a writer + screams them out in +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> + a sensational way and in a high + pitched key.... More convincing if it were less hysterical. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Don't you see what these clerical crooks are for?</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Jungle</b></p> +<p> +A four years' war was fought in America, a million men were killed and +half a continent was devastated, in order to abolish chattel slavery +and put wage slavery in its place. I have made a thorough study of +both these industrial systems, and I freely admit that there is one +respect in which the lot of the wage slave is better than that of the +chattel slave. The wage slave is free to think; and by squeezing a few +drops of blood from his starving body, he may possess himself of +machinery for the distribution of his ideas. Taking his chances of the +policeman's club and the jail, he may found revolutionary +organizations, and so he has the candle of hope to light him to his +death-bed. But excepting this consideration, and taking the +circumstances of the wage slave from the material point of view alone, +I hold it beyond question that the average lot of the chattel slave of +1860 was preferable to that of the modern slave of the Beef Trust, the +Steel Trust, or the Coal Trust. It was the Southern master's real +concern, his business interest, that the chattel slave should be kept +physically sound; but it is nobody's business to care anything about +the wage slave. The children of the chattel slave were valuable +property, and so they got plenty to eat, and a happy outdoor life, and +medical attention if they fell ill. But the children of the sweat-shop +or the cotton-mill or the canning-factory are raised in a city slum, +and never know what it is to have enough to eat, never know a feeling +of security or rest— +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<p> +<span class="i2">We are weary in our cradles<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From our mother's toil untold;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We are born to hoarded weariness<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As some to hoarded gold.<br /></span></p> + +</blockquote> +<p> +The system of competitive commercialism, of large-scale capitalist +industry in its final flowering! I quote from "The Jungle":</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Here in this city tonight, ten thousand women are shut up in + foul pens, and driven by hunger to sell their bodies to + live. Tonight in Chicago there are ten thousand men, + homeless and wretched, willing to work and begging for a + chance, yet starving, and fronting with terror the awful + winter cold! Tonight in Chicago there are a hundred thousand + children wearing out their strength and blasting their lives + in the effort to earn their bread! There are a hundred + thousand mothers who are living in misery and squalor, + struggling to earn enough to feed their little ones! There + are a hundred thousand old people, cast off and helpless, + waiting for death to take them from their torments! There + are a million people, men and women and children, who share + the curse of the wage-slave; who toil every hour they can + stand and see, for just enough to keep them alive; who are + condemned till the end of their days to monotony and + weariness, to hunger and misery, to heat and cold, to dirt + and disease, to ignorance and drunkenness and vice! And then + turn over the page with me, and gaze upon the other side of + the picture. There are a thousand—ten thousand, maybe—who + are the masters of these slaves, who own their toil. They do + nothing to earn what they receive, they do not even have to + ask for it—it comes to them of itself, their only care is + to dispose of it. They live in palaces, they riot in luxury + and extravagance—such as no words can describe, as makes + the imagination reel and stagger, makes the soul grow sick + and faint. They spend hundreds of dollars for a pair of + shoes, a handkerchief, a garter; they spend millions for + horses and automobiles and yachts, for palaces and banquets, + for little shiny stones with which to deck their bodies. + Their life is a contest among themselves for supremacy in + ostentation and recklessness, in the destroying of useful + and necessary things, in the wasting of the labor and the + lives of their fellow-creatures, +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> + the toil and anguish of + the nations, the sweat and tears and blood of the human + race! It is all theirs—it comes to them; just as all the + springs pour into streamlets, and the streamlets into + rivers, and the rivers into the ocean—so, automatically and + inevitably, all the wealth of society comes to them. The + farmer tills the soil, the miner digs in the earth, the + weaver tends the loom, the mason carves the stone; the + clever man invents, the shrewd man directs, the wise man + studies, the inspired man sings—and all the results, the + products of the labor of brain and muscle, are gathered into + one stupendous stream and poured into their laps! +</p> +</div> + +<p> +This is the system. It is the crown and culmination of all the wrongs +of the ages; and in proportion to the magnitude of its exploitation, +is the hypocrisy and knavery of the clerical camouflage which has been +organized in its behalf. Beyond all question, the supreme irony of +history is the use which has been made of Jesus of Nazareth as the +Head God of this blood-thirsty system; it is a cruelty beyond all +language, a blasphemy beyond the power of art to express. Read +the man's words, furious as those of any modern agitator that +I have heard in twenty years of revolutionary experience: "Lay +not up for yourselves treasures on earth!—Sell that ye have +and give alms!—Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of +Heaven!—Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your +consolation!—Verily, I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly +enter into the kingdom of Heaven!—Woe unto you also, you lawyers!—Ye +serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of +hell?"</p> +<p> +"And this man"—I quote from "The Jungle" again—"they have made into +the high-priest of property and smug respectability, a divine sanction +of all the horrors and abominations of modern commercial civilization! + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> + Jewelled images are made of him, sensual priests burn insense to +him, and modern pirates of industry bring their dollars, wrung from +the toil of helpless women and children, and build temples to him, and +sit in cushioned seats and listen to his teachings expounded by +doctors of dusty divinity!" +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +</p> + + +<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +<a href="#CONTENTS"><b>CONTENTS</b></a> +<hr /> +<h3>BOOK FIVE</h3> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Church of the Merchants</b></p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i8">Mammon led them on—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From Heaven; for even in Heaven his looks and thoughts<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Were always downward bent, admiring more<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The riches of Heaven's pavement, trodden gold,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In vision beatific.... Let none admire<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Deserve the precious bane.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> + +<p class="quotsig">Milton.</p> + +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Head Merchant</b></p> +<p> +Ours is the era of commerce, as its propagandists never weary of +telling us. Business is the basis of our material lives, and +consequently of our culture. Business men control our politics and +dictate our laws; business men own our newspapers and direct their +policy; business men sit on our school boards, and endow and manage +our universities. The Reformation was a revolt of the newly-developing +merchant classes against the tyrannies and abuses of feudal +clericalism: so in all Protestant Christianity one finds the spirit, +ideals, and language of Trade. We have shown how the symbolism of the +Anglican Church is of the palace and the throne; in the same way that +of the non-conformist sects may be shown to be of the counting-house. +In the view of the middle-class Britisher, the nexus between man and +man is cent per cent; and so in their Sunday services the worshippers +sing such hymns as this:</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Whatever, Lord, we lend to Thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Repaid a thousand fold shall be;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Then gladly will we give to Thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Who givest all.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> +The first duty of every man under the competitive system is to secure +the survival of his own business; So on the Sabbath, when he comes to +deal with eternity, he is practical and explicit:</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Nothing is worth a thought beneath<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But how I may escape the death<br /></span> +<span class="i4">That never, never dies;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">How make mine own election sure,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And when I fail on earth secure<br /></span> +<span class="i4">A mansion in the skies.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> + +<p> +Just as the priest of the aristocratic caste figures God as a mighty +Conqueror—</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i4">Marching as to war<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With the cross of Jesus<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Going on before—<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> +so the preacher to the trader figures the divinity as a glorified +Merchant keeping books. This Head Merchant has a monopoly in His line; +He knows all His rivals' secrets, so there is no getting ahead of Him, +and nothing to do but obey His Word, as revealed through His clerical +staff. The system is oily with protestations of divine love; but when +you read the comments of Luther upon Calvin and of Calvin upon Luther, +you understand that this love is confined to the inside of each +denomination. And even so restricted, there is not always enough to go +around. Recently I met a Presbyterian clergyman, to whom I remarked, +"I see by the papers that you have just finished a church building." +"Yes," he answered; "and I have had three offers of a new church." I +did not see the connection, and asked, "Because you were so successful +with this one?" The reply was, "They always take it for granted that +you want to change when you've finished a new building, because you +make so many enemies!"</p> +<p> +The business man puts up the money to build the church, he puts up the +money to keep it going; and the first rule of a business man is that +when he puts up the money for a thing he "runs" that thing. Of course +he sees that it spreads his own views of life, it helps to maintain +his tradition. In the days of Anu and Baal we heard the proclamation +of the divine right of Kings; in these days of Mammon we hear the +proclamation of +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> + the divine right of Merchants. Some fifteen years +ago the head of our Coal Trust announced during a great strike that +the question would be settled "by the Christian men to whom God in His +Infinite Wisdom has given control of the property interests of this +country". And on that declaration all pious merchants stand; whatever +their denominations, Catholic, Episcopalian, Baptist, Methodist, +Presbyterian or Hebrew, their Sabbath doctrines are alike, as their +week-day practices are alike; whether it is Rockefeller shooting his +Bayonne oil-workers and burning alive the little children of his +miners; or smooth John Wanamaker, paying starvation wages to +department-store girls and driving them to the streets; or that +clergyman who, at a gathering of society ladies, members of the "Law +and Order League" of Denver, declared in my hearing that if he could +have his way he would blow up the home of every coal-striker with +dynamite; or the Rev. R.A. Torrey, Dean of the Bible institute of Los +Angeles, who refused to employ union labor on the million dollar +building of the Institute, declaring that "the Church cannot afford to +have any dealings with a band of fire-bugs and murderers!"</p> +<br /><p><b>"Herr Beeble"</b></p> +<p> +The business of the Clerical Department of the Merchants' and +Manufacturers' Association is to justify the processes of trade, and +to preach to clerks and employees the slave-virtues of frugality, +humility, and loyalty to the profit system. The depths of sociological +depravity to which some of the agents of this Association have sunk is +difficult of belief. Twelve years ago I was invited to address the +book-sellers of New York, +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> + in company with a well-known clergyman +of the city, the Reverend Madison C. Peters. This gentleman's address +made such an impression upon me that I recall it even at this +distance: a string of jokes spoken with an effect of rapid-fire +smartness, and simply reeking with commercialism. I could not describe +it better than to say that it was on the ethical level of the "Letters +of a Self-Made Merchant to His Son". Again, I attended a debate on +Socialism, in which the capitalist end was taken by another famous +clergyman, pastor of the Metropolitan Temple, the Rev. J. Wesley Hill. +He was so ignorant that when he wished to prove that Socialism means +free love, he quoted a writer by the name of "Herr Beeble"; he was so +dishonest that he garbled the writings of this "Herr Beeble", making +him say something quite different from what he had meant to say. I +could name several clergymen of various denominations who have stooped +to that device against the Socialists; including the Catholic Father +Belford, who says that we are mad dogs and should be stopped with +bullets.</p> +<p> +Or consider the Reverend Thomas Dixon. This gentleman's pulpit-slang +used to be the talk of New York when I was a boy; and when I grew up, +and came into the Socialist movement—behold, here he was, chief +inquisitor of the capitalist Holy Office. I had a friend, a man who +saved my life at a time when I was practically starving, and to whom +therefore I owe my survival as a writer; this friend had been a +clergyman in a Middle Western state, and had preached Jesus as he +really was, and so was hated and feared like Jesus. It happened that +he was unhappily married, and permitted his wife to divorce him so +that he might marry the +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> + woman he loved; for which unheard of crime +the organized hypocrisy of America fell upon him like a thousand +devils with poisoned whips. The Reverend Dixon's holy rage was fired; +he applied his imagination to my friend's story, producing a novel +under the title of "The One Woman"; and it is as if you were reading +the story of Jesus and the Magdalen transmitted through the +personality of a he-goat. Of late years this clerical author has +turned his energies to negrophobia and militarism, making millions out +of motion-picture incitements to hatred and terror. The pictures were +made here in Southern California, and friends in the business have +described to me the pious propagandist in the position of St. Anthony +surrounded by swarms of cute and playful little movie-girls.</p> +<p> +Or take the Rev. James Roscoe Day, D.D., S.T.D., LL.D., D.C.L., +L.H.D., a leading light of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who offers +himself as comic relief in our Clerical Vaudeville. Dr. Day is +Chancellor of Syracuse University, a branch of the Mental Munitions +Department of the Standard Oil Company; his function being to +manufacture intellectual weapons and explosives to be used in defense +of the Rockefeller fortune. It is generally not expected that the +makers of ruling-class munitions should face the dirty and perilous +work of the trenches; but ten years ago, during a raid by an active +squad of muckrake-men, Chancellor Day astonished the world by rushing +to the front with both arms full of star-shells and bombs. He +afterwards put the history of this gallant action into a volume, "The +Raid on Prosperity"; and if you want the real thrill of the class-war, +here is where to get it! +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +</p> +<p> +The Chancellor is a quaint and touching figure; an enthusiast and +dreamer, idealist and martyr, in whom the ordinary human virtues have +been fused, absorbed, transformed and sublimated into a new supreme +virtue of loyalty to Exploitation, patriotism for Profiteering. He +began life as a working-man, he tells us, in the good old American +fashion of hustle for yourself; but he differed from other Americans +in that he had an instant, intuitive recognition of the intellectual +and moral excellence of Plutocracy. The first time he met a rich man, +he quivered with rapture, he burst into a hymn of appreciation. So +very quickly he was recognized as a proper person to have charge of a +Mental Munition Works; and the ruling classes proceeded to pin medals +upon the bosom of his academic robes—D.D., S.T.D., L.L.D., D.C.L., +L.H.D.</p> +<p> +The Chancellor knows the masters of our Profit System, those +"consummate geniuses of manufacture and trade by which the earth has +yielded up her infinite treasures." And having been at the same time +in intimate daily communion with the Almighty, he can tell us the +Almighty's attitude towards these prodigies. "God has made the rich of +this world to serve Him.... He has shown them a way to have this +world's goods and to be rich towards God....God wants the rich men.... +Christ's doctrines have made the world rich, and provide adequate uses +for its riches." Also the Chancellor knows our great corporations, and +gives us the Almighty's views about them; they mean that "the forces +with which God built the universe have been put into the hands of +man." Likewise by divine authority we learn that "the sympathy given +to Socialism is appalling. +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> + It is insanity." We learn that the +income tax is "a doctrine suited to the dark ages, only no age ever +has been dark enough." Somebody raises the issue of "tainted money", +and the Chancellor disposes of this matter also. As a Deputy of +Divinity, he settles it by Holy Writ: "Paul permitted meat offered to +idols to be eaten in the fear of God." And then, to make assurance +doubly sure, he settles it with plain human logic; and you are +astonished to see how simple, under his handling, the complex problem +becomes—how clear and clean-cut is the distinction he draws for you:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Every boy knows that one cannot take stolen goods without + being a partaker with the thief. But the proceeds of + recognized business are quite a different thing. +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Holy Oil</b></p> +<p> +And here is Billy Sunday, most conspicuous phenomenon of Protestant +Christianity at the beginning of the twentieth century. For the +benefit of posterity I explain that "Billy" is a baseball player +turned Evangelist, who has brought to the cause of God the crowds and +uproar of the diamond; also the commercial spirit of America's most +popular institution. He travels like a circus, with all the +press-agent work and newspaper hurrah; he conducts what are called +"revivals", in an enormous "tabernacle" built especially for him in +each city. I cannot better describe the Billy Sunday circus than in +the words of a certain Sidney C. Tapp, who brought suit against the +evangelist for $100,000 damages for the theft of the ideas of a book. +Says Mr. Tapp in his complaint:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The so-called religious awakening or "trail-hitting" is + produced by an appeal to the emotions and in stirring up the + senses +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> + by a combination of carrying the United States flag in one + hand and the Bible in the other, singing, trumpeting, organ + playing, garrulous and acrobatic feats of defendant, by + defendant in his talk leaping from the rostrum to the top of + the pulpit, lying prone on the floor of the rostrum on his + stomach in the presence of the vast audience and from thence + into a pit to shake hands with the so-called "trail-hitters" + and the vulgar use of plaintiff's thoughts contained in said + books. Said harangues and vulgarisms of said defendant and + horns, drums, organs and singing by said choir and vast + audience which are assembled by means of said newspaper + advertisements for the purpose of inducing a habit of free + and copious flow of money through religious and patriotic + excitement produced by and through the vulgarisms, + scurrility, buffoonery, obscenity and profanity of defendant + pretending to be in the interest of the cause of religion + through what he denominates "hitting the trail", the real + object being to induce a religious frenzy and enthusiasm + which he announces in advance is to result in large + audiences composed of thousands of people generously + contributing vast sums of money on the last day and night of + the so-called revival which is invariably appropriated by + the defendant and through which scheme and device defendant + has become enormously wealthy. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +As I write, the evangelist is in Los Angeles, and twice each day he +holds forth to a crowd of ten or fifteen thousand; in addition the +newspapers print literally pages of his utterances. The entire +Protestant clergy for a score of miles around has been hitched to his +triumphal chariot, and driven captive through the streets. Here in +this dignified city of Pasadena, home of millionaire brewers and +chewing-gum kings, all the churches have been plastered for weeks with +cloth signs: "This Church is Cooperating in the Sunday Campaign." To +give a sample of the intellectual level of the performance, here is +what Billy has to say about modern thought:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + All this blasphemy against God and Jesus Christ, all this +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> + + sneering, highbrow, rotten, loathesome, higher criticism, + wriggling its dirty, filthy, stinking carcass out of a + beer-mug in Leipzig or Heidelberg! +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Whether willingly or reluctantly, the preachers sit upon the platform +and smile while Billy thus slangs the devil; and being themselves, +poor fellows, at their wits end to draw the crowd, they watch and see +how he does it, and then return to their own churches and try the same +stunt; so the manners of the baseball diamond spread like a contagion. +I open my morning paper, and find a picture of an intense-looking +clerical gentleman, the Rev. J. Whitcomb Brougher, pastor of the +Baptist Temple. He is discussing certain slanderous rumors which he +has heard about Billy Sunday, and he offers ten thousand dollars +reward to anyone who can prove these things; though, as he says,</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The dirty, low-down, contemptible, weazen-brained, + impure-hearted, shrivelled-souled, gossipping devils do not + deserve to be noticed.... Scandal-mongers, gossip-lovers, + reputation-destroyers, hypocritical, black-hearted, + green-eyed slanderers.... Corrupt, devil-possessed, vile + debauches.... Immoral, sin-loving, vice-practicing, + underhanded sneaks.... Carrion-loving buzzards and + foul-smelling skunks. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +You will be prepared after this to hear that when the Socialists were +near to carrying Los Angeles, this clergyman preached a sermon in +support of the candidate of "Booze, Gas and Railroads".</p> +<p> +In so far as Billy Sunday is trying to keep the neglected youth of our +streets from drinking, gambling and whoring, no one could wish him +anything but success; but his besotted ignorance, his childish crudity +of mind, make it impossible that he could have any success except of a +delusive nature. He is utterly devoid of a +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> + social sense; utterly +unaware of the existence of the forces of capitalism which are causing +depravity ten times as fast as all the evangelists in creation can +remedy it. So he is precisely like the Catholics with their "charity", +cleaning up loathsome and unsightly messes for a thousand years, and +never stopping to ask why such messes continue to come into existence.</p> +<p> +More than that, I question whether the spirit of commercialism which +he fosters does not help the development of evil more than his +preaching hinders it. The newspapers always report the cost of the +tabernacle, and of the "free-will offering", which amounts to hundreds +of thousands of dollars in each "campaign". In each city the expenses +are guaranteed by men who are generally the most sinister exploiting +forces of the community; they welcome and fete him, and he visits +their homes, and is in every way one of the crowd. After the big silk +strike in Paterson, N.J., the employers, Jews and Catholics included, +all subscribed a fund to bring Billy Sunday to that city; and it was +freely proclaimed that the purpose was to undermine the radical union +movement. This was never denied by Sunday himself, and his whole +campaign was conducted on that basis.</p> +<p> +Later Billy came to New York, where he met a certain rich young man, +perhaps a thousand times as rich as any that lived in Palestine. This +young man came to Billy and said: "What shall I do to inherit eternal +life?" And Billy told him to keep the commandments—"Do not commit +adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor +thy father and thy mother." The young man answered; "All these have I +kept +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> + from my youth up." And Billy said: "Yet lackest thou one +thing; sell all that thou hast and distribute unto the poor, and thou +shalt have treasure in heaven; and come follow me." And when he heard +this he was very sorrowful, for he was very rich.</p> +<p> +—No, I have got the story mixed up. That is what happened in +Palestine. What happened in New York is that Billy said, "I am +delighted to meet you, Mr. Rockefeller." And Mr. Rockefeller said, +"Come be my guest at my palace in the Pocantico Hills; and then we +will go together and you may preach submission to my wage-slaves in +the oil-factories at Bayonne and elsewhere." And Billy went to the +palace, and went and preached to the wage-slaves, telling them to +beware the "stinking Socialists", and to concentrate their attention +on the saving of their souls; so the rich young man was delighted, and +he sent for all the newspaper reporters to come to his office at 26 +Broadway, and told them what a great and useful man Billy Sunday is. +As the New York "Times" tells about it:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Mr. Rockefeller seldom gives interviews and certainly he has + never been charged with having an excess of verbally + expressed enthusiasm on any subject. But he talked for an + hour and a half about the evangelist. He was full of the + subject of Billy Sunday. "Billy did New York a lot of good," + he said. He went on to tell of 187 meetings held in 100 + different factories, attended by 50,000 men. "That's good + work." And he expressed his satisfaction with Sunday's + theology: "He believes the Bible from cover to cover and + that is good enough for me." The Sunday campaign had cost + $200,000, and "If it had stopped here, if it was not kept + up, it would be poor business; a poor dividend on the + $200,000 and the work invested. But we expect to get + dividends in the next year." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Again you note the symbolism of the counting-house! +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Rhetorical Black-hanging</b></p> +<p> +It is the duty of the clergy, not merely to defend large-scale +merchants while they live, but to bury them when they die, and to +place the seal of sanctity upon their careers. Concerning this aspect +of Bootstrap-lifting I quote the opinion of an earnest hater of shams, +William Makepeace Thackeray:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + I think the part which pulpits play in the death of kings is + the most ghastly of all the ceremonial: the lying eulogies, + the blinking of disagreeable truths, the sickening + flatteries, the simulated grief, the falsehood and + sycophancies—all uttered in the name of Heaven in our State + churches: these monstrous Threnodies which have been sung + from time immemorial over kings and queens, good, bad, + wicked, licentious. The State parson must bring out his + commonplaces; his apparatus of rhetorical black-hanging.... +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And this, of course, applies not merely to kings of England, but to +kings of Steel, kings of Coal, kings of Oil, kings of Wall Street. +Leland Stanford, son of a great king of Western railroads, died; and +standing over his coffin, a Methodist clergyman, afterwards Bishop, +preached a sermon of fulsome flattery, wherein he likened young Leland +to the boy Christ. In the year 1904 there passed from his earthly +reward in Pennsylvania a United States senator who had been throughout +his lifetime a notorious and unblushing corruptionist. Matthew Stanley +Quay was his name, and the New York "Nation", having no clerical +connections, was free to state the facts about him:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + He bought the organization, bribed or intimidated the press, + got his grip on the public service, including even the + courts; imposed his will on Congress and Cabinet, and upon + the last three Presidents—making the latter provide for the + offal of his political machine, which even Pennsylvania + could no longer stomach—and +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> + all without identifying his + name with a single measure of public good, without making a + speech or uttering a party watchword, without even + pretending to be honest, but solely because, like Judas, he + carried the bag and could buy whom he would. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Such was the lay opinion; and now for the clerical. It was expressed +by a Presbyterian divine, the Reverend Dr. J.S. Ramsey, who stood over +the coffin of "Matt", and without cracking a smile declared that he +had been "a statesman who was always on the right side of every moral +question!"</p> +<p> +In that same year of 1904 died the high priest of our political +corruption, Mark Hanna. He had belonged to no church, but had backed +them all, understanding the main thesis of this book as clearly as the +writer of it. In his home city of Cleveland the eulogy upon him was +pronounced by Bishop Leonard, in St. Paul's Episcopal Church; while in +the United States Senate the service was performed by the Chaplain, +the Rev. Edward Everett Hale. This is a name well-known in American +letters, as in American religious life; it was borne by a benevolent +old gentleman, a Unitarian and a liberal, who organized "Lend-a-Hand +Clubs" and such like amiabilities. "Do You Love This Old Man?" the +signs in the street-cars used to ask when I was a boy; and I promptly +answered "Yes"—for my mother took the "Ladies' Home Journal", and I +swallowed the sentimental dish-water set out for me. But when I read +the Rev. Edward's funeral oration over the Irrev. Mark, I loved +neither of them any longer. "This whole-souled child of God," cried +the Rev. Edward, "who believed in success, and knew how to succeed by +using the infinite powers!" You perceive that the Chaplain of the +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> + +Millionaires' Club agrees with this book, that the "infinite powers" +in America are the powers that prey!</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Great American Fraud</b></p> +<p> +Among the most loathesome products of our native commercial greed is +the patent medicine industry, "The Great American Fraud," as its +historian has called it. In 1907 this historian wrote:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Gullible America will spend this year some seventy-five + millions of dollars in the purchase of patent medicines. In + consideration of this sum it will swallow huge quantities of + alcohol, an appalling amount of opiates and narcotics, a + wide assortment of varied drugs ranging from powerful and + dangerous heart depressants to insidious liver stimulants; + and, far in excess of all other ingredients, undiluted + fraud. For fraud, exploited by the skillfullest of + advertising bunco men, is the basis of the trade. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +One by one Mr. Adams tells about these medical fakes: habit-forming +laxatives, head-ache powders full of acetanilid, soothing-syrups and +catarrh-cures full of opium and cocaine, cock-tails subtly disguised +as "bitters", "sarsaparillas", and "tonics". He shows how the fake +testimonials are made up and exploited; how the confidential letters, +telling the secret troubles of men and women, are collected by tens +and hundreds of thousands and advertised and sold—so that the victim, +as he begins to lose faith in one fake, finds another at hand, fully +informed as to his weakness. He quotes the amazing "Red Clause" in the +contracts which the patent-medicine makers have with thousands of +daily and weekly papers, whereby the makers are able to control the +press of the country and prevent legislation against the "Great +American Fraud."</p> +<p> +There are a thousand religious papers in America, +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> + weekly and +monthly; and what is their attitude on this question? Mr. Adams tells +us:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Whether because church-going people are more trusting, and + therefore more easily befooled than others, or from some + more obscure reason, many of the religious papers fairly + reek with patent medicine fakes. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +He gives us many pages of specific instances:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Dr. Smith belongs to the brood of cancer vampires. He is a + patron and prop of religious journalism. It is his theory + that the easiest prey is to be found among readers of church + papers. Moreover he has learned from his father-in-law (who + built a small church out of blood-money) to capitalize his + own sectarian associations, and when confronted recently + with a formal accusation he replied, with an air of injured + innocence, that he was a regular attendant at church, and + could produce an endorsement from his minister. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And here is the "Church Advocate", of Harrisburg, Pa., which publishes +quack advertisements disguised as editorials. One of them Mr. Adams +paraphrases:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + As Dr. Smith is, on the face of his own statements, a + self-branded swindler and rascal, you run no risk in + assuming that the Rev. C.H. Forney, D.D., L.L.D., in acting + as his journalistic supporter for pay, is just such another + as himself! +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And again:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Will the editor of the "Baptist Watchman" of Boston explain + by what phenomenon of logic or elasticity of ethics he + accepts the lucubrations of Dr. Bye, of Oren Oneal, of + Liquozone, of Actina, that marvelous two-ended mechanical + appliance which "cures" deafness at one terminus and + blindness at the other, and all with a little oil of + mustard? +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And again:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The "Christian Observer" of Louisville replied to a + protesting subscriber, suggesting that the "Collier" + articles were written in a spirit of revenge, because + "Collier's" could not get patent +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> + medicine advertising. + When I asked the Rev. F. Bartlett Converse for his + foundation for the charge, he said that one of the + typewriters must have written the letter! Doubtless also the + same highly responsible typewriter imitated the signature + with startling fidelity to Dr. Converse's handwriting! +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And here is—would you think it possible?—our "Church of Good +Society"! It has an organ in Chicago called the "Living Church", most +dignified and decorous. You have to study quite a while to ascertain +what denomination it belongs to; it will not tell you directly, for +the Anglician pose is that it is <b>the</b> church</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Elect from every nation,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Yet one o'er all the earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Her charter of salvation,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">One Lord, one Faith, one Birth;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">One holy name she blesses,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Partakes one holy food,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And toward one Hope she presses,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">With every grace endued.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> +And this one holy institution was found setting at its peak the black +flag of the trader, the "Jolly Roger" of the modern commercial +pirate—"Caveat emptor!" To quote the precise words:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The editors and publishers of the "Living Church" assume no + responsibility for the assertions of advertisers. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And so it threw open its columns to the claims of America's champion +labor-baiter, the late C.W. Post, that his "Grapenuts" would prevent +appendicitis, and obviate the need of operations in such cases!</p> +<p> +And here is the "Christian Endeavor World", organ of one of the most +powerful non-sectarian religious bodies in the country. Some one wrote +complaining of its medical advertising, and the answer was:</p> + + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + To the best of our knowledge and belief, we are not publishing + any fraudulent or unworthy medical advertising.... Trusting that + you will be able to understand that we are acting according to + our best and sincerest judgment, I remain, yours very truly, The + Golden Rule Company, George W. Coleman, Business Manager. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Whereupon the historian of "The Great American Fraud" remarks:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Assuming that the business management of the "Christian + Endeavor World" represents normal intelligence, I would like + to ask whether it accepts the statement that a pair of + "magic foot drafts" applied to the soles of the feet will + cure any and every kind of rheumatism in any part of the + body? Further, if the advertising department is genuinely + interested in declining "fraudulent and unworthy" copy, I + would call their attention to the ridiculous claims of Dr. + Shoop's medicines, which "cure" almost every disease; to two + hair removers, one an "Indian Secret", the other an + "accidental discovery", both either fakes or dangerous; to + the lying claims of Hall's Catarrh Cure, that it is "a + positive cure for catarrh", in all its stages; to "Syrup of + Figs", which is not a fig syrup, but a preparation of senna; + to Dr. Kilmer's Swamp Root, of which the principal medical + constituent is alcohol; and, finally, to Dr. Bye's Oil Cure + for cancer, a particularly cruel swindle on unfortunates + suffering from an incurable malady. All of these, with other + matter, which for the sake of decency I do not care to + detail in these columns, appear in recent issues of the + "Christian Endeavor World". +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Riches in Glory</b></p> +<p> +There came recently to Los Angeles a "world-famous evangelist", known +as "Gipsy" Smith. There was a shirt-waist strike at the time, and the +girls were starving, and they sent a delegation to this evangelist to +ask for help. They told him how they were mistreated, exposed to +insults, driven to sell their virtue because their wage would not +support life; and to their +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> + plea he made answer: "Get Jesus in your +hearts, and these questions will take care of themselves!"</p> +<p> +So we see the most important of the many services which the churches +perform for the merchants—taking the revolutionary hope of Jesus, for +a kingdom of heaven upon earth, and perverting it into a dream of a +golden harp in an uncertain future. To appreciate the fullness of this +betrayal, take the prayer which Jesus dictated—so simple, direct and +practical: "Give us this day our daily bread", and put it beside the +hymns which the slave-congregations are trained to sing. In my +neighborhood is a one-roomed building with a plate glass front, upon +which I observe a painter inscribing in red, white and blue letters +the sign <b>"Glory Mission".</b> I approach him, and he drops his work and +welcomes me with eager cordiality. Am I "living in grace"? I answer +that I am. I have to shout the good tidings into his ear, as he is +very deaf. He presents me with his card, which shows that he bears the +title of "Keverend", also the sobriquet of "Mountain Missionary". I +ask him to permit me to examine the hymn-book which he uses in his +work, and with touching eagerness he presses upon me a well-worn +volume bearing the title "Waves of Glory". I seat myself and note down +a few of the baits it sets out for hungry wage-slaves:</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">O, there's a plenty, O, there's a plenty,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">There's a plenty in my Father's bank above!<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Riches in glory, riches in glory,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Royal supply our wants exceed!<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Feasting, I'm feasting,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I'm feasting with my Lord!<br /></span> + + +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +<blockquote class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Beautiful robes, beautiful robes,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Beautiful robes we then shall wear!<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Jerusalem the golden,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With milk and honey blest!<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Yes, I'll meet you in the city of the New Jerusalem,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I'll be there, I'll be there!<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Blest Canaan land, bright Canaan land,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I love to be in Canaan land!<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Oh, Beulah land, sweet Beulah land,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As on the highest mount I stand,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I look away across the sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where mansions are prepared for me!<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">In the sweet bye and bye<br /></span> +<span class="i2">We shall meet on that beautiful shore—<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> +I stopped there, being reminded of Joe Hill, poet of the I.W.W. who +was executed a few years ago in Utah, and who used this tune in his +little red book of revolutionary chants:</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">You will eat, bye and bye,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In the glorious land above the sky;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Work and pray, live on hay,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">You'll get pie in the sky when you die!<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Captivating Ideals</b></p> +<p> +In one of the writer's earlier novels, "Prince Hagen", the hero is a +Nibelung out of Wagner's "Rheingold", who leaves his diggings in the +bowels of the earth, and comes up to look into our superior +civilization. The thing that impresses him most is what he calls "the +immortality idea". The person who got that up was a world-genius, he +exclaims. "If you can once get a man to believing in immortality, +there is no more +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> + left for you to desire; you can take everything he +owns—you can skin him alive if it pleases you—and he will bear it +all with perfect good humor."</p> +<p> +And is that merely the spiritual deficiency of a Nibelung—or the +effort of a young author to be smart? Would you like to hear that view +of the most vital of Christian doctrines set forth in the language of +scholarship and culture? Would you like to know how an ecclesiastical +authority, equipped with every tool of modern learning, would set +about voicing the idea that the function of the teaching of Heaven is +to chloroform the poor, so that the rich may continue to rob them in +security?</p> +<p> +Here under my hand is a volume in the newest dress of scholarship, +dated 1912, and written by Professor Georges Chatterton-Hill, of the +University of Geneva. Its title is "The Sociological Value of +Christianity", and from cover to cover it is a warning to the rich of +the danger they run in giving up their religion and ceasing to support +its priests. It explains how "the genius of Christianity has succeeded +in making the individual suffering, the individual sacrifices, which +are indispensible for the welfare of the collectivity, appear as +indispensible for the individual welfare." The learned professor makes +plain just what he means by "individual suffering, individual +sacrifices"; he means all the horrors of capitalism; and the advantage +of Christianity is that it makes you think that by submitting to these +horrors, you are profiting your own soul. "By making individual +salvation depend on the acceptance of suffering, on the voluntary +sacrifice of egotistical interests, Christianity adapts the individual +to society".</p> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> + And this, as the professor explains, is not an easy thing to do, +in a world in which so many people are thinking for themselves. "The +only means of causing the rationalized individual to consent to the +sacrifice ... is to captivate him with a sufficiently powerful ideal" +And the professor shows how beautifully Jesus can be used for this +purpose. "Jesus, the so-called humanitarian, never ceased to insist on +the necessity of suffering, the desirableness of suffering—of that +suffering which a weak and sickly humanitarianism would fain suppress +if it could."</p> +<p> +You get this, you "blanket-stiff", you "husky", or "wop", or whatever +you are—you disinherited of the earth, you proletarians who have only +your labor-power to sell, you weak and sickly ones who are condemned +to elimination? There has come, let us say, a period of +"overproduction"; you have raised too much food, and therefore you are +starving, you have woven too much cloth, and therefore you are naked, +you have finished the world for your masters, and it is time for you +to move out of the way. As the sociologist from Geneva phrases it, +"Your suppression imposes itself as an imperious necessity." And the +function of the Christian religion is to make you enjoy the process, +by "captivating you with a sufficiently powerful ideal"! The priest +will fill your nostrils with incense, your eyes with candle-lights and +images, your ears with sweet music and soothing words; and so you will +perish without raising a finger! "Here," reflects the professor, "we +see how magnificently the teaching of Jesus applies to all classes of +society!"</p> +<p> +Somebody has evidently put up to our Christian +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> + sociologist the +embarrassing fact that so many of those who survive under the +capitalist system are godless scoundrels. But do you think that +troubles him? Not for long. Like all religious thinkers, he carries +with his scholar's equipment a pair of metaphysical wings, wherewith +at any moment he may soar into the empyrean, out of reach of vulgar +materialists, like you and me. "Inequality signifies inequality of +capacity," he explains; but the standard whereby we judge this +capacity "cannot be the standard of the moral law."</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The laws which govern the biological evolution of man are + known, but those which govern his moral nature cannot be + known; the moral nature appertains to the Absolute, and + hence is not subject to the law of inequality! +</p> +</div> + +<p> +As an exhibition of metaphysical wing-power, that is almost as +wonderful as the flight of Cardinal Newman when confronted with the +fact that his divinely guided church had burned men for teaching the +Copernican view of the universe; that infallible popes had again and +again condemned this heresy <b>ex cathedra</b>. Said the eloquent cardinal:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Scripture says that the sun moves and the earth is + stationary, and science that the earth moves and the sun is + comparatively at rest. How can we determine which of these + opposite statements is the very truth <b>till we know what + motion is?</b> +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Spook Hunting</b></p> +<p> +Do not imagine that it is only in Geneva that Christian professors +realize this peril from the loss of faith. It is never far from the +thoughts of any of them—for, of course, no man can look at the +present system and not wonder how the poor stand it, and more +especially <b>why</b> they stand it. There have been many +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> + thinking men +who have given up the miracle-business quite cheerfully, but have +stood appalled at the idea of letting the lower classes find out the +truth. You note that idea continually in the writings of Professor +Goldwin Smith, who was a free-thinker, but also a <b>bourgeois</b> +publicist, with a deep sense of responsibility to the money-masters of +the world. He was about as honest a man as the capitalist system can +produce; he was the <b>beau ideal</b> of the New York "Evening Post", which +indicates his point of view. He wrote:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + It can hardly be doubted that hope of compensation in a + future state, for a short measure of happiness here, has + materially helped to reconcile the less favored members of + the community to the inequalities of the existing order of + things. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +When I was a student in Columbia University, I took a course called +"Practical Ethics", under a professor by the name of Hyslop. The +course differed from most of the forty that I tried, in that it gave +evidence that the professor was accustomed to read the morning paper. +He had learned that American politics were rotten; his idea of +"Practical Ethics" was to outline in elaborate detail a complete +scheme of constitutional changes which would make it impossible for +the "boss" to control the government. I think I must have been born +with a charm against <b>bourgeois</b> thought, for the good professor never +fooled me an instant; I remember I used to smile at the idea of how +quickly the "boss" would brush through his constitutional cobwebs. The +reforms required an elaborate campaign of publicity—and of course +long before they could be put into practice, the politicians would be +ready with devices to make them of no effect.</p> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +</p> +<p> +Soon after this, my ethical professor resigned and went to hunting +spooks. I don't want to be unfair to him; I know that he is a +determined and courageous man, and it seems possible that he may +really have bagged some spooks. All I wish to point out here is the +method he uses in seeking to persuade the heedless rich to support the +spook-hunting industry. The very same argument as we got from the +University of Geneva and the University of Toronto! Says our head +spook-hunter:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + There has been no belief that exercised so much power upon + the poor as that in a future life. The politicians, men of + the world, have known this so well as to postpone the day of + political judgment by it for many years. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And again:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The Church, having lost all its battles with science, and + having abandoned a strenuous intellectual defense of its + fundamental beliefs, has lost its power over the poor and + the laboring classes.... The spiritual ideal of life has + gone out of the masses as well as the classes, and nothing + is left but a venture on a struggle with wealth. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And again, more menacingly yet:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The rich will learn in the dangers of a social revolution + that the poor will not sacrifice both wealth and + immortality. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +What is to be done about this? The question answers itself: Step up, +ladies and gentlemen, and empty your purses into the Psychical +Research hat! So that we may accumulate statistics as to the cost of +milk and honey in Jerusalem the Golden!</p> +<p> +You read what I had to say about Bootstrap-lifters, and the Wholesale +Pickpockets' Association making use of their incantations. You admired +my ability to sling language, but not my taste; and you certainly did +not +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> + think that I would back my rhetoric with facts. But what do +these quotations mean, unless they mean what I have said? Are not +these three professors men of culture? Are they not as "spiritual" as +any men of learning you can find in our present-day society?</p> +<p> +And now stop for a moment and put yourself in the position of the +young student of the working-class, who goes to these books and +discovers that truth is not truth, but only a bait for a snare. Who +discovers that professors of ethics, practical or impractical, are not +interested in justice among men, but only in collecting funds for +their specialty; that in order to get funds, they are willing to teach +the rich how to paralyze the minds of the poor! Do you wonder that +such young students conclude that <b>bourgeois</b> thinkers do not know +what honesty is, but are prostitutes, retainers and lackeys, to be +kicked out of the temple of truth?</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Running the Rapids</b></p> +<p> +And now, can you form to yourselves a clear concept of what it means +to society that practically all its moral teaching should be in the +hands of men who are incapable of clean, straight thinking? That all +the intellectual prestige of the Church should be lent to the support +of vagueness, futility, and deliberate evasion? Here we are, all of +us, caught in the most terrific social crisis of history; I search for +a metaphor to picture our position, and I recall a canoe-trip in the +wilds of Ontario, hundreds of miles down a long swift river. You sit +in the bow of the canoe, your partner in the stern, watching ahead; +and there comes a slide of smooth green water, and you go over it, and +into a torrent of foaming white, which seizes you and rushes you along +with the speed of a race-horse.</p> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> + With every sense alert, you watch for the rocks, and when you see +one, you dip your paddle on one side or the other and with a quick +motion draw the canoe clear of the danger. If by any chance you fail +to do it, over you go, and your partner with you, and all your +belongings go down-stream, and maybe you are sucked into a whirlpool, +and not seen for several hours afterwards. Precisely like this is the +voyage of life, for the whole of society and for every individual. The +paddle which would save us from the rocks is experimental science; but +in most of our canoes we put a man who has no paddle, but a Holy Book; +and he casts up his eyes and murmurs words in ancient Greek and +Hebrew, and now and then, when he sees an especially formidable +obstruction—a war, or the gonococcus, or the I.W.W.—he casts a holy +wafer upon the foaming torrent.</p> + + +<p> +And mind you, it isn't as if I could save myself and you could save +yourself; we are all in the same canoe, and we all go overboard +together. You, perhaps, have a son who is drafted into the trenches in +winter-time, and drowned in blood and mud, because in Europe the +Catholic party supported militarism, and kept aristocratic criminals +in control of states. Or you find yourself involved in a marital +tragedy, and in order to free yourself from unendurable misery, you +are obliged to go to law-courts dominated by the tradition of Paul, +the Roman bureaucrat, who despised women, and regarded marriage as a +means of gratifying an unclean animal desire. "It is better to marry +than to burn," he said, with unmatchable brutality; and so of course +those who think him a voice of God can form no conception of the +dignity and grace of love, and if you want sound and wholesome +sex-conventions, +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> + you will be as apt to find them among the +Ashantees or the Kamchadals as among the followers of the Apostle to +the Gentiles.</p> +<p> +You go to a so-called "divorce-court," which is dominated by this +Christian taboo, and exists for the purpose of barring you from a +second chance at the gratification of your unclean animal desire. You +are not permitted to tell your own story, for that would be +"collusion;" you listen while your intimate friends recite the pitiful +and shameful details of your domestic misfortune, under the +cross-questioning of lawyers who have suppressed for the time whatever +decent instincts they may possess, and follow blindly the details of a +prescribed procedure, at the cost of all sincerity, humanity and +truth. The next morning you find that the privacy guaranteed you by +law has been taken from you by corrupt court officials, who have sold +copies of the testimony to the newspapers, so that all the intimate +details of where you slept and where your wife slept and what you saw +your wife doing have been thrown out to journalistic jackals, who +scream with glee as they rend the carcass of your dead love. And in +the end, perhaps, you find that you have gone through this horror for +nothing—the august court with its Roman Catholic judge throws out +your petition, its suspicions having been excited by the fact that +when you discovered your domestic tragedy, you sought to behave like a +civilized person, with pity and self-restraint, instead of like a +sultan in Turkey, or a basso in an Italian grand opera.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Birth Control</b></p> +<p> +I assert that the control of our thinking on ethical questions by +minds enslaved to tradition and priestcraft +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +is an unmitigated curse +to the race. The armory of science is full of weapons which might be +used to slay the monsters of disease and vice—but these weapons are +not allowed to be employed, sometimes not even to be mentioned. +Consider the misery which is piling itself up in the slums of our +great cities—the degenerate, the defective, the insane, who are +multiplying as never before in history. There exists a perfectly +harmless and painless method of sterilizing the hopelessly unfit, so +that they can not reproduce their hopeless unfitness; but religion +objects to this operation, and so the law does not make use of this +knowledge. There exists a simple, entirely harmless, and practically +costless method of preventing conception, which would enable us to +check the blind and futile fecundity of Nature, and to multiply as +gods instead of as animals. Consider the festering mass of misery in +the slums of our great cities; consider the millions of terrified, +poverty-hounded women, bearing one half-nurtured infant after another, +struggling desperately to feed and care for them, and seeing them drop +into the grave as fast as they are born—until finally the mother, +worn out with the Sisyphean labor, gives up and follows her +misbegotten offspring. Consider how many women, in their agony and +despair, make use of the methods of the primitive savage, to escape +from Nature's curse of fecundity. Dr. Wm. J. Robinson has estimated +that in the United States alone there are a million abortions every +year; and consider that all this hideous mass of suffering—a bloody +European war going on continually, unheeded by any newspaper +correspondent—might be avoided by the use of a simple sterilizing +formula, which we are not permitted to give! The Federation of +Catholic +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +Societies have placed a law upon the statute-books of the +nation, and of all the states as well; the whole power of police and +courts and jails is at the service of religious bigots, and a young +girl is sent to prison and forcibly fed with a tube through the nose +for telling poverty-ridden slum-women how to keep from becoming +pregnant!</p> +<p> +And go among the sleek, cynical men of the world, the judges and +district attorneys, the commissioners of correction and doctors who +perpetrated this infamy under, a so-called "reform" administration in +New York City—and what do you find? The first thing you find is that +they themselves, one and all, practice birth-control with their wives +or their mistresses. The second thing you find is that the +statute-books are crowded with other laws which they make no pretense +of enforcing; for example, the law which forbids the saloons to be +open on Sunday—which law they take the liberty of understanding to +mean that the saloons shall not have their front doors open on Sunday. +You will find that they are not at all afraid of the religious taboos; +they are afraid of the religious vote—and even more they are afraid +of the campaign contributions of sweat-shop manufacturers and +landlords, who cannot see what would become of prosperity if the women +of the slums were to cease to breed. So once more we discover the wolf +in sheep's clothing, the trader, making use of Tradition-worship; +hiding behind the skirts of devout old maiden aunts and grandmothers, +who repeat the instructions which God gave to Adam and Eve, "Be +fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth." As if God were as +blind as a Fifth Avenue preacher, and could see no difference between +the Garden of Eden, full of all fruits that grow and all creatures +that +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +run and fly and swim, and a modern East Side tenement-room, +with an oil stove and no windows and no water-closet, and the price of +cabbage seven cents a pound!</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Sheep</b></p> +<p>There are more than a hundred thousand Protestant churches in America. +They own more than a billion dollars' worth of property, and in the +West and South they dominate the intellectual life of the country. I +do not wish to be unfair in what I say of them. They are far more +democratic than the Catholic Church; they fight valiantly against the +liquor traffic and those forms of graft which are obvious, or directly +derived from vice. There are among their clergy many men who are +honestly seeking light, and trying to make their institutions a factor +for progress. But they are caught in the spirit of Lutheran +scholasticism, narrow and ignorant, dogmatic and jealous; and they +cannot help it, because they are pledged by their creeds and +foundations to Tradition-worship; they have to believe certain things +because their ancestors believed them, they have to act in certain +ways, because of certain facts which existed in the world three +thousand years ago, but which now are known only to historians.</p> +<p> +You are familiar with the habit of a herd of sheep to follow the +example of their leader; if this leader leaps over a stick, all the +rest will leap when they come to that spot, even though the stick may +have been taken away in the meantime. The scientist explains this +seeming-foolishness by the fact that sheep once lived in high +mountains, and fled from their enemies in swiftly rushing herds; when +the leader leaped across an abyss, the others had to leap, without +waiting to see in the dust and confusion. +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> + Now there are no +mountains and no enemies, but the sheep still jump. And in exactly the +same way the tailor still sews buttons at the back of your dress-coat, +because a couple of hundred years age all gentlemen wore swords; in +the same way our railroad builders make cars narrow and uncomfortable +and liable to overturn, because a hundred years ago all cars were +hauled by mules. In the same way the Orthodox Hebrew will eat no pork, +in spite of the fact that the microscope affords him complete +protection against disease; the orthodox Catholic will not eat meat on +Friday, because he thinks Jesus was crucified on that day; the +orthodox Anglican will not marry his deceased wife's sister, because +of something he reads in Leviticus; the orthodox Baptist requires +total immersion in a climate quite different from that of Palestine; +the orthodox Methodist refuses to enjoy fresh air and exercise on the +Sabbath.</p> +<p> +In ancient Judea, you see, the people lived an open-air life, tending +sheep and working the fields; so it was an excellent thing for them to +rest from labor one day of the week, and to gather in temples to hear +the reading of the best literature of their time. But nowadays the +city slave spends his week-days shut up in an office, poring over a +ledger, or in a sweat-shop, chained to a sewing-machine. Obviously, +therefore, the thing to do on the seventh day is to lure him into the +open air, and persuade him to run and play. But do we do that, we +human sheep? We write ancient Hebrew laws upon our modern +statute-books, and if the city slave goes into a vacant lot and tries +to play base-ball, we send a policeman and take him to jail, and next +morning he is fined five dollars, and probably loses his job.</p> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +</p> +<p> + +In the city where I live, a city supposed to be free and enlightened, +but in reality heavily burdened with churches, there are tennis courts +built and paid for out of public funds, my own included; yet I cannot +use these tennis courts on Sunday, because of the ancient Hebrew +taboo. My mail is not delivered to me, the swimming pool in the park +is closed to me, the library is closed nearly all day. If I enquire +about it, I am told that it is desirable that city employees should +have one day's rest a week; but when I ask why it might not be +possible to relay the employees, so that they might all have one, or +even two days' rest a week, and still give the public their rights on +Sunday, there is no answer. But I know the answer, having probed our +politics of hypocrisy. There is a "church vote" at which all +politicians tremble; there are clergymen, humanly jealous when their +peculiar graft is threatened, and hoping that if the law enforces a +general boredom, the public may be more disposed to endure the boredom +of sermons.</p> +<p> +In New York City the theaters are closed on Sunday; but moving +pictures having come into being since the days of Puritan rule, the +picture-shows are free to keep open. The law permits "sacred +concerts"—which, under the benevolent sway of Tammany, has come to +mean any sort of vaudeville; so what we have is a free rein to the +imbecilities of "Mutt & Jeff" and the obscenities of Anna Held and +Gaby Deslys—while we bar the greatest moralists of our times, such as +Ibsen and Brieux.</p> +<p> +I speak with some crossness of this Sabbath taboo, because of an +experience which once befell me. In the second decade of this century +of enlightenment and progress, in our free American democracy, whose +constitution +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> + proclaims religious toleration, and forbids the +establishment by the state of any form of worship, I was made to serve +a sentence of eighteen hours in the state prison of Delaware for +playing a game of tennis on the Sabbath. I was duly arrested upon a +warrant, duly sentenced by a magistrate, duly clad in a prison +costume, duly set to work upon a stone-pile, duly locked up over night +in a steel-barred cell full of vermin—in a building housing some five +hundred wretches, black and white, thirty of them serving life-terms +under circumstances which never permitted them a breath of fresh air +nor a glimpse of the sunshine or the sky. They had no exercise court +to their prison, and the inmates were not permitted to speak to one +another, but ate their meals in dead silence, and walked back to their +cells with folded arms, and had their only occupation working for a +sweat-shop contractor; this on the outskirts of the pious city of +Wilmington, with no less than ninety-one churches! The writer was +informed that he would return to this institution regularly every week +unless he abandoned his godless habit of playing tennis on a private +club court on Sunday; he only escaped the painful punishment by making +the discovery that at the Wilmington Country Club it was the custom of +the leading officials of the city and state to play golf every Sunday, +and by threatening to employ detectives and have these mighty ones +arrested and sent to their own prison. Which shows again the +importance of understanding this relationship of Superstition and Big +Business!</p> +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> + +<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +<a href="#CONTENTS"><b>CONTENTS</b></a> +<hr /> +<h3>BOOK SIX</h3> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Church of the Quacks</b></p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">They may talk as they please about what they call pelf,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And how one ought never to think of one's self,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And how pleasures of thought surpass eating and drinking—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My pleasure of thought is the pleasure of thinking<br /></span> +<span class="i4">How pleasant it is to have money, heigh ho!<br /></span> +<span class="i4">How pleasant it is to have money.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +<p class="quotsig">Clough.</p> +</blockquote> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Tabula Rasa</b></p> +<p> +Nature has given us a virgin continent, a clean slate upon which to +write what we will. And what are we writing? What is our intellectual +life? I came to the far West, which I had been taught by novelists and +poets to think of as a place of freedom. I came, because I like +freedom; I am staying because I like the climate. I find that what +freedom means in the West is the ability of ignorant and fanatical +persons to start some new, fantastical quirk of scriptural +interpretation, to build a new cult around it, and earn a living out +of it.</p> +<p> +My first contact with that sort of thing was when I went to the Battle +Creek Sanitarium to investigate hydrotherapy, and found myself in a +nest of Seventh-day Adventists. Three generations or so ago some odd +character hit upon the discovery that the Christian churches had let +the devil snare them into resting on the first day of the week, +whereas the Bible states distinctly that the Lord "rested on the +seventh day". So here is a million dollar establishment, with a +thousand or two patients and employees, and on Friday at sundown the +silence of death settles upon the place, and stays settled until +sundown of Saturday, when everything comes suddenly to life again, and +there is a little celebration, like Easter or New Year's, with what I +used to call "sterilized dancing"—the men pairing with men and the +women with women.</p> +<p> +They are decent and kindly people, and you learn to put up with their +eccentricities; it is really convenient in some ways, because, as not +all the city shares their delusions, there are some stores open every +day of the +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> + week. But then you discover that the Sanitarium is +training "medical missionaries" to send to Africa, and is teaching +these supposed-to-be-scientists that evolution is a doctrine of the +devil, and not proven anyhow!</p> +<p> +You get the shrewd little doctor who is running this establishment +alone in his office, and he will smile and admit that of course it is +not necessary to take all Bible phrases literally; but you know how it +is—there are different levels of intelligence, and so on. Yes, I know +how it is. You have an institution founded upon a certain dogma, and +run by means of that dogma, and it is hard to change without smashing +things. It is especially convenient when servants and nurses have a +religious upbringing, and do not steal the pocket-books of the +patients. People will come from all over the country, and pay high +prices to stay in such a sanitarium; you can make vegetarians of them, +which you think more important than teaching abstract notions about +their being descended from monkeys. Also you can manufacture +vegetarian foods for them, and build up an enormous business—so +obtaining that Power which is the thing desired of men.</p> +<p> +This is but one illustration of a sort of thing of which I could cite +a hundred. The city in which I live is headquarters of another sect, +the "Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene"; primitive Methodists, +Bible-worshippers not content with the King James version, but going +back to the Sinaitic MS. They have a "University", located in one of +the most beautiful spots that Nature ever made; an institution with +seventy-five students. A couple of years ago I happened to meet the +"president," who was a preacher with grease on the +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> + ample expanse of +his black broadcloth waistcoat, and a speech full of the commonest +grammatical errors, such as "you was" and "I seen". The past year +witnessed a split, and the founding of a brand new church and +"University"—because one of the preachers insisted upon preaching so +much that the students got no chance to study; also because he sent +home a rich man's daughter whose shirt-waists revealed too much of her +fleshly nature.</p> +<p> +And there is an even stranger phenomenon in the locality, taking you +back to the Libyan desert and the time of Thais. A lady friend of +mine, generously blessed with this world's goods, asks me have I seen +the hermit. "Hermit?" I say, and she replies, "Didn't you know there +was a hermit? He lives on a mountain, in a cave, and never has +anything to do with the world. He has no books; he contemplates +spiritually." I picture my friend with her large limousine, a rolling +palace full of ladies, drawing up at the door of this hermit's cave. +"He received you?" I ask. "Yes, he was quite polite." "And what was +your impression of him?" "Oh, how he stank!" I answer that this is the +odor of sanctity, and my friend thinks that I am enormously witty; I +have to explain to her that I am not jesting, but that there are +definite physiological phenomena incidental to the ecstatic life.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Book of Mormon</b></p> +<p> +Or let us take a trip to Salt Lake City, the headquarters of a still +stranger cult.</p> +<p> +On the morning of the 22nd of September, 1827, the Angel of the Lord +delivered unto Joseph Smith, Jr., +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> + an ignorant farmer-youth in a +"backwoods" part of New York State, some plates which had "the +appearance of gold". As we know from the scriptures, it is the habit +of the Angel of the Lord to appear in unexpected places and to make +miraculous revelations to men in humble walks of life; so, as devout +believers, we hold ourselves in readiness. In this case the plates +were written in "reformed Egyptian"; but the Angel thoughtfully +provided Joseph Smith, Jr., with Urim and Thummim, two magic stones +with which to read the records. They proved to deal with a mystery +which has haunted the minds of Bible students for centuries—the fate +of the "lost ten tribes of Israel", who were now revealed to have been +the ancestors of the American Indians. The Angel told Smith to found a +new religion, and gave him prophecies concerning things in general; +so, on the 6th of April, 1830, in the town of Manchester, N.Y., there +was formally launched the "Church of the Latter Day Saints." Smith +turned over to his followers his translation of the miraculous plates, +called "The Book of Mormon"; obviously genuine, for it read precisely +like the books which we already know are the revealed word of God. +But, on chance that this might not be sufficient, we were offered in +the preface two documents, the "Testimony of Three Witnesses", and the +"Further Testimony of Eight Witnesses". The latter being the shorter, +may be quoted:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, + unto whom this work shall come: That Joseph Smith Jr., the + translator of this work, has shewn unto us the plates of + which hath been spoken, which have the appearance of gold; + and as many of the leaves as the said Smith hath translated, + we did handle with our hands; and we also saw the engravings + there-on, +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> + all of which has the appearance of ancient work + and of curious workmanship. And this we bear record with + words of soberness, that the said Smith has shewn unto us, + for we have seen and hefted, and know of a surety that the + said Smith hath got the plates of which we have spoken. And + we give our names unto the world, to witness that which we + have seen, and we lie not, God bearing witness of it.</p> +</div> +<p class="ctr"> + +Christian Whitmer<br /> +Jacob Whitmer<br /> +Peter Whitmer, Jr.<br /> +John Whitmer<br /> +Hiram Page<br /> +Joseph Smith, Sr.<br /> +Hyrum Smith <br /> +Saml. H. Smith<br /> +</p> + + +<p> +The subsequent career of the Church of the Latter Day Saints bore out +the Angel's prophesies and proved conclusively its divine origin; it +was persecuted as the saints of old were persecuted, and its followers +proceeded to massacre the nearby unbelieving populations, just as the +divinely guided Hebrews had done. Driven from place to place, they +built at Nauvoo, Ill., a beautiful temple, according to plans revealed +in a vision, exactly like Solomon. Finally they settled in Utah, where +they have a magnificent marble tabernacle, and some 300,000 followers. +The United States government, not being entirely Biblical, objected to +their practice of allowing the patriarchs of the tribe to have as many +wives as they could support; the government confiscated the church's +property, and forced it to conceal the practice of polygamy, as is +done by elderly church members in other parts of the country. Recently +the head of the church, who bears the title of "Prophet, Seer and +Revelator", was persuaded to permit an +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> + examination of one of its +secret plates, the "Book of Abraham", by egyptologists, who found that +it was ordinary Egyptian hieroglyphics, not "reformed", but containing +prayers to the sun-god. But this will of course make no difference to +the devout followers of Joseph—any more than it has made to devout +Catholics and Episcopalians that German scholars have proven that the +Bible legends and ritual have come from the Babylonians, and that the +four gospels date from the second and third centuries after Christ.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Holy Rolling</b></p> +<p> +All over America you will find these weird Bible-cults, some of them +pathetic, some of them dangerous, some of them merely grotesque. Thus, +for example, there was John Alexander Dowie, who founded the +"Christian Catholic Church in Zion" and dressed himself up in scarlet +and purple robes with stars on. Through his Zion City Bank and Zion +City Realty Company he became enormously wealthy; he finally announced +himself as "Elijah the Restorer." I remember as a boy how he brought +his gospel to New York, and P.T. Barnum with Tom Thumb and the white +elephant never made such a sensation. The ridicule of the metropolis +overwhelmed the old prophet, and he died and passed on his robes and +his tabernacle and his bank to his son; straightway, according to the +rule of all religions, the followers fell to quarrelling and splitting +up, and suing one another in the law-courts.</p> +<p> +Also there are the "Holy Rollers" and "Holy Jumpers", ghastly sects +which cultivate the religious hysterias, and have spread like a plague +among the women +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> + of our lonely prairie farms and desert ranches. The +"Holy Rollers", who call themselves the "Apostolic Church", have a +meeting place here in Pasadena, and any Sunday evening at nine o'clock +you may see the Spirit of the Lord taking possession of the +worshippers, causing moans and shrieks and convulsions; you may see a +woman holding her hands aloft for seventeen minutes by the watch, +making chattering sounds like an ape. This is called "talking in +tongues" and is a sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit. If you come +back at eleven in the evening, you will find the entire congregation, +men and women, prostrate on the floor, or hanging over the benches; +and maybe a child moaning in terror, having a devil cast out.</p> +<p> +You may be interested, perhaps, to know how to throw yourself into +these convulsions. Here is a paper called "Trust", which is "published +Monthly (D.V.) in the interests of Elim Faith Work and Bible Training +School." Elizabeth Sisson writes on "The Pentecostal Baptism", and +tells the story of her experiences. She "camped on the Word of God," +she declares.</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + I went up to Calgary in Canada, and the leader of the + mission told me, "You can go down to the mission and stay + there all day. There is plenty of wood, and you can stay + there all night." I went down, and there was plenty of "let + go" in me. I cried, and prayed all I knew, and got + wonderfully loosed....</p> +<p> + Then the Lord said to me, "Now, no more praying!" God told + me it was mine. What was there left for me to pray about. He + spoiled my praying and I took up praising. I praised God + that He who worked in the Upper Room was working the same in + me. I praised, and I praised, and I praised. The devil said + to me, "That's mechanical." I said, "I'll praise You Lord, + and if You want real praise, You'll have to put the wind in + the sails."</p> +<p> + That's the way I came through. One morning I was just +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> + + getting out of bed, "this gibberish, this jargon" as the + enemy likes to call it, began to come. The Lord said, "Let + it babble!" I let. The babble increased, and by night I was + up to my neck. I let. I still let. That's all. Someone else + does the work, and it does not tire you. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And here is another paper. "Meat in Due Season: published monthly, or +as often as the Lord leads." The editor quotes the Bible, "Call upon +the name of the Lord," and explains that "Call means <b>call</b>." The word +appears to have a special meaning to these pentecostal persons—it +means working yourself into a frenzy of agitation; as the editor puts +it, "you must <b>lay</b> hold of the <b>horns</b> of the <b>altar."</b> He goes on to +exhort—the bold face being his:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Pray as if your very life depended upon it! The first few + minutes seemingly all the powers of hell will contend every + word, the next few, relief in a measure will come, more + liberty in calling. In a very little while you will be <b>dead + to the room, dead to the chair</b>, dead to everyone around + you, dead to all and tremendously alive to your desperate + need and emptyness; this conviction will grow as you + increase calling upon Him. It maybe you'll weep, it maybe + you'll perspire, it maybe your clothing will be deranged, it + maybe your throat will get sore. Never for a moment let your + mind rest on the condition of your person. Open your mouth + and God has promised to fill it. Ask persistently until the + very floor seems to sink beneath you and the fountains of + the deep, of your heart let loose. Like David, "pour out + your soul" like one would pour water out of a bucket. I have + seen hundreds get through right at this point. When + <b>self-thought, reticence, decorum, reserve, propriety and + dignity</b> had all been thrown to the four winds of heaven. + Self was then obliterated and consciousness of person gone. + Draw near to God and He will draw near to you saith the + scripture, but you must draw near to Him first. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +These enthusiasts derive their practices from the Shakers, a sect +which originated in England, but was +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> + driven by persecution to the +New World. The Shakers call themselves the "United Society of True +Believers in Christ's Second Coming," and were founded by Ann Lee, who +variously termed herself the "Female Christ", the "Holy Comforter", +and the "God-anointed Woman". They might be termed the suffragettes of +religion, for they pray always to "Our Father and Mother, which are in +heaven." They were taught the convenient doctrine that their Founder +had "spiritual illumination", so that any evidence of the senses used +against her might deceive. She governed through terror, holding that +by her mental powers she could inflict torment upon any of her +followers. Fortunately she taught absolute celibacy, and so there are +now only about a thousand of her disciples.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Bible Prophecy</b></p> +<p>This far western country swarms with those fanatics who await the +return of Christ, and find in Bible chronology positive evidence that +he is coming on a specified day. Seldom do I give a lecture on +Socialism that some eager old lady does not come up to me and point +out how futile are my hopes, because the Millenium will come before +the Revolution. Several times I have come on an item in the +newspapers, telling of a group of people, sometimes whole villages, +selling their goods and going out into the fields to shout and sing +and pray, expecting the vision of the Lord and His Angels in the +skies. I have in my hand a pamphlet entitled "Shekineh: The Glory of +God in Israel, Facts Mathematically Foretold, of the Soon Coming of +Our Blessed Lord." It is earnestly, yearningly written, in +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> + that +spirit of feeble-minded affectionateness which the Bible-sects seem to +encourage:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Now dear reader you see that these problems tell a wonderful + story which I know are the Eternal Truths of God. Jesus is + soon coming. I believe that from now on we can say, next; + week perhaps our blessed Lord will return. Yet the time may + not end till the close of the A.M. year, which will be March + 20th, 1897. But let us take up the sickle of God, etc. Oh, + my Christian friends, live near the Blessed Christ, and gain + eternal life through Jesus Our Lord! +</p> +</div> + +<p> +In the public library I find another pamphlet, entitled "The Our +Race," which proves that the "lost ten tribes of Israel" are not the +American Indians, but the Irish! And here is a publication of the +"Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society," declaring:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The great pyramid in Egypt is a witness to all the events of + the ages and of our day. The pyramid's downward passage + under "a Draconis" symbolizes the course of Sin. Its first + ascending passage symbolizes the Jewish Age. Its Grand + Gallery symbolizes the Gospel Age. Its upper step symbolizes + the approaching period of tribulation and anarchy, + "Judgment" upon Christendom. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +It is a Sunday morning, and I sit in the California sunshine revising +this manuscript, when a decorous-looking young man approaches, having +a sack over his shoulder. "From the Bible-students," he says politely, +and hands me a little paper, "The Bible Students' Monthly: an +Independent, Unsectarian Religious Newspaper, Specially devoted to the +Forwarding of the Lay-men's Home Missionary Movement for the Glory of +God and Good of Humanity." The leading article is headed "The Fall of +Babylon: Ancient Babylon a Type—Mystic Babylon the Antitype: Why +Christendom must Suffer—the Final Outcome." A note explains:</p> + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The following article is extracted from Pastor Russell's + posthumous volume entitled "The Finished Mystery," the 7th in the + series of his Studies in the Scriptures and published subsequent + to his death. Pastor Russell held the distinction of being the + most fearless and powerful writer of modern times on + ecclesiastical subjects. In this posthumous volume, which is + called "his last legacy to the Christians on earth," is found a + thorough exposition of every verse in the entire book of + Revelation and also an elucidation of the obscure prophecy of + Ezekiel. The book contains 608 pages, handsomely bound in + embossed cloth. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Pastor Russell used to publish a two-column sermon in some hundreds of +Sunday newspapers, together with a presentment of his features—solemn, +stiff, white-whiskered, set off with a "choker" and a black broadcloth +coat. There are five million such faces in America, but if you have an +impulse to despair for your country, remember that it produced Mark +Twain and Artemus Ward, as well as Pastor Russell and the Moody and +Sankey hymn-book. I quote one passage from "The Finished Mystery", in +order that the reader may know what it means to "hold the distinction +of being the most fearless and powerful writer of modern times on +ecclesiastical subjects." Pastor Russell does not approve of the +Methodists, and he quotes twelve verses of Revelation, line by line +and phrase by phrase, showing how the evil course and downfall of the +Wesleyan system were divinely foretold. Thus:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + "But that they should be tormented five months."—In + symbolic time, 150 years—5x30=150. (Ezek. 4:6.) Wesley + became the first Methodist in 1728. (Rev. 9:1.) When the + Methodist denomination, with all the others, was cast off + from favor in 1878 (Rev. 3:14) its powers to torment men by + preaching what Presbyterians describe as "Conscious misery, + eternal in duration" came to an end legally, and to a large + extent actually.—Rev. 9:10. +</p> +</div> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> + +<p>P.S. A few months pass, and while this book is going to +press, "The Finished Mystery" is suppressed by the government and +several score "Bible Students" are landed in jail for sedition.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Koreshanity</b></p> +<p> +Such are the beliefs built on the Bible. But there are other ancient +writings with strange nomenclature and ritual and symbolism, +calculated to impress the unlettered; also our prophets have +imaginations of their own, and can invent nomenclature and ritual and +symbolism never seen in heaven nor on earth before. Thus there is Dr. +Newo Newi New, who called himself "Archbishop of the Newthot Church," +and gathered about him a harem of devoted females in San Francisco, +and was landed in jail for using the mails to defraud. Or there is +"Oahspe, the Cosmic Bible," a work of brand-new revelation with a +brand-new view of the universe and all things therein:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The reader soon discovers that he must radically revise not + only his ideas of celestial Cosmogony, but the order and + significance of names and titles commonly applied to the + Transcendental Brethren. The great provinces of Etheria are + presided over by chiefs, chosen for their superior + development in wisdom and love. For our solar system to + cross one of these provinces requires about 3,000 years, and + between them are belts of high Etherian light which take + several years to pass over. The passage of each province is + a cycle of earthly history, and the crossings are called + Dawns of Dan. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And here is Koreshanity, a revelation vouchsafed by the Lord to Dr. +C.R. Teed of Chicago in the year 1889. This new seer took the name of +Koresh, which is Hebrew for Cyrus, "the Shepherd from Joseph, the +Stone of Israel, the Sun-Man; the illuminating center of the +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> + Son of +man", and went out on the streets of the city to preach that the earth +is a hollow sphere with the stars inside. The street urchins of the +pork-packing metropolis threw stones at him, and the irreverent +newspapers took up his adventures, with the result that followers +gathered, and now there is a flourishing colony in Florida, with a +dignified magazine called "The Flaming Sword", and a collection of +propaganda volumes: "The Cellular Cosmogony, an Exposition of Koreshan +Universology and the New Geodesy"; "The Immortal Manhood, the Laws and +Processes of its Attainment in the Flesh"; "The Great Red Dragon, by +Lord Chester"; "The Coming of the Shepherd from Joseph, The Standing +of the Great Ensign, by Koresh." The "Religio-science" of this Chicago +revelator is based, first upon some precise measurements of the earth +which prove that its surface is concave; and second upon some +philological discoveries very much resembling puns. Thus the "cross of +Christ" is explained in a sense of the word more common among +horse-breeders than among theologians:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The highest characteristic of the alchemical law is the + cross of Christ with sensual man. The cross means that the + Lord God, in order to perpetuate his own being, descends + into the race of sensuality. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And again, when someone asks about meteors:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The word Heaven means things heaved up, that is, heaved up + from their material basis, the earth; thus, the meteors + which fall to the earth are composed of metallic, mineral, + and geological substances, being materialized or actually + created in the atmosphere by an alchemico-organic process + from zones or belts periodically open, which precipitate + their contents in the form or shape of meteors." +</p> +</div> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +<p> And perhaps I ought also to quote the "Indicia of Human +Progress", by "Berthaldine, Matrona". I don't know what a +"Matrona" is—unless it is a female matron. This female matron +tells me that now is the "Time of Restitution", and explains +that "the prolification of the human race has reached a fruition +of the adultery of the truth and good of the Lord with the +fallacies and evils of the mortal hells" ...We have come, it +seems, to the "age of Pisces", which is "one of the greatest +radical prolification"; and what we now need is the "power of +polarization", so that we may join the "White Horse Army of the +Most High", which is the organization of the "Aquarian age", +proclaimed by Koresh on January 15th, 1891.</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Mazdaznan</b></p> +<p> +And here is another and even more startling revelation from Chicago, +given to a seer by the name of Dr. Otoman Prince of Adusht Ha'nish, +prophet of the Sun God, Prince of Peace, Manthra Magi of Temple El +Katman, Kalantar of Zoroastrian Breathing and Envoy of Mazdaznan +living, Viceroy-Elect and International Head of Master-Thot. If you +had happened to live near the town of Mendota, Illinois, and had known +the German grocer-boy named Otto Hanisch, you might at first have +trouble in recognizing him through this transmogrification. I have +traced his career in the files of the Chicago newspapers, and find him +herding sheep, setting type, preaching prestidigitation, mesmerism, +and fake spiritualism, joining the Mormon Church, then the "Christian +Catholic Church in Zion", and then the cult of Brighouse, who claimed +to be Christ returned.</p> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> + Finally he sets himself up in Chicago as a Persian Magus, teaching +Yogi breathing exercises and occult sex-lore to the elegant society +ladies of the pork-packing metropolis. The Sun God, worshipped for two +score centuries in India, Egypt, Greece and Rome, has a new shrine on +Lake Park Avenue, and the prophet gives tea-parties at which his +disciples are fed on lilac-blossoms—"the white and pinkish for males, +the blue-tinted for females". He wears a long flowing robe of pale +grey cashmere, faced with white, and flexible white kid shoes, and he +sells his lady adorers a book called "Inner Studies", price five +dollars per volume, with information on such subjects as:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The Immaculate Conception and its Repetition; The Secrets of + Lovers Unveiled; Our Ideals and Soul Mates; Magnetic + Attraction and Electric Mating. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +A Grand Jury intervenes, and the Prophet goes to jail for six months; +but that does not harm his cult, which now has a temple in Chicago, +presided over by a lady called Kalantress and Evangelist; also a +"Northern Stronghold" in Montreal, an "Embassy" in London, an +"International Aryana" in Switzerland, and "Centers" all over America. +At the moment of going to press, the prophet himself is in flight, +pursued by a warrant charging him with improper conduct with a number +of young boys in a Los Angeles hotel.</p> +<p> +I have dipped into Ha'nish's revelations, which are a farrago of every +kind of ancient mysticism—paper and binding from the Bible, +illustrations from the Egyptian, names from the Zoroastrian, health +rules from the Hindoos, laws from the Confucians—price ten dollars +per volume. Would you like to discover your +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> + seventeen senses, to +develop them according to the Ga-Llama principle, and to share the +"expansion of the magnetic circles"? Here is the way to do it:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Inhale through nostrils for four seconds, and upon one + exhalation, speak slowly:</p> +<p> + Open, O thou world-sustaining Sun, the entrance unto Truth + hidden by the vase of dazzling light.</p> +<p> + Again inhale for four seconds, and breathe out the following + sentence upon one exhalation as before:</p> +<p> + Soften the radiation of Thy Illuminating Splendor, that I + may behold Thy True Being. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +I have a clipping from a Los Angeles newspaper telling of the +prophet's arriving there. He takes the front page with the captivating +headline: "Women Didn't Think Till They Put On Corsets". The interview +tells about his mysteriousness, his aloofness, his bird-like-diet, and +his personal beauty. "Despite his seventy-three years, Ha'nish +evidences no sign of age. His keen blue eyes showed no sign of +wavering. There were no wrinkles on his face, and his walk was that of +a man of forty." The humor of this becomes apparent when we mention +that at Ha'nish's trial, three or four years ago, he was proven to be +thirty-five years old!</p> +<p> +Being thus warned as to the accuracy of American journalism, we shall +not be taken in by the repeated statements that the Mazdaznan prophet +is a millionaire. But there is no doubt that he is wealthy; and as all +Americans wish to be wealthy, I will quote his formula of prosperity, +his method of accomplishing what might be called the Individual +Revolution:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + When hungry and you do not know where to get your next piece + of bread, do not despair. Thy Father, all-loving, has + provided, you with everything that will meet all cases of + emergency. +</p> +</div> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + Place your teeth tightly together, with tongue pressing + against the lower teeth and lips parted. Breathe in, close + lips immediately, exhaling through the nostrils. Breathe + again; if saliva forms in your mouth, hold your breath so + you can swallow it first before you exhale. You thus take + out of the air the metal-substance contained therein; you + can even taste the iron which you convert into substance + required for making the blood. Should you feel that, + although you have sufficient iron in the blood, there is a + lack of copper and zinc and silver, place upper teeth over + lower, keep lower lip tightly to lower teeth, now breathe + and you can even taste the metals named. Then should you + feel you need more gold element for your brain functions, + place your back teeth together just as if you were to grind + the back teeth, taking short breaths only. You will then + learn to know that there is gold and silver all around us. + That our bodies are filled with quite a quantity of gold. +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Black Magic</b></p> +<p> +What all this means is that we have a continent, with a hundred +million half-educated people, materially prosperous, but spiritually +starving; so any man who possesses personality, who looks in any way +strange and impressive, or has hunted up old books in a library, and +can pronounce mysterious words in a thrilling voice—such a man can +find followers. Anybody can do it with any doctrine, from anywhere, +Persia or Patagonia, Pekin or Pompei. I would be willing to wager that +if I cared to come out and announce that I had had a visit from <i>God</i> +last night, and to devote such literary and emotional power as I +possess to communicating a new revelation, I could have a temple, a +university, and a million dollars within five years at the outside. +And if at the end of five years I were to announce that I had played a +joke on the world, some one of my followers would convince the +faithful that I had been an +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> + agent of God without knowing it, and +that the leadership had now been turned over to him.</p> +<p> +I would not be understood as believing that all our cults are +undiluted fakery, for that would be doing injustice to some earnest +people. There are, in this country, many followers of the Persian +reformer, Abbas Effendi, who call themselves Babists, and who have +what I am inclined to think is the purest and most dignified religion +in existence. There was a man named Jacob Beilhardt, who founded a +cult in Illinois with the painful name of "Spirit Fruit Colony", who +nevertheless was a man of spiritual insight, a true mystic; he was +honest, and so he failed, and died of a broken heart. Also there are +the Christian Scientists and the Theosophists, so exasperating that +one would like to throw them onto the rubbish-heap, who yet compel us +to sift over their mountains of chaff for the grains of truth which +will bear fruit in future.</p> +<p> +While we western races have been exploring the natural world and +perfecting the mechanical arts, the Hindoo students have been +exploring the subconscious and its strange powers. What Myers and +Lodge and Janet and Charcot and Freud and Jung are telling us today +they had hints of a long time ago; and doubtless they have hints of +other things, upon which our scientists have not yet come. I have +friends, perfectly sane and competent people, who tell me that they +can see auras, and use this ability as a means of judging character. +Shall I say that there are no auras, simply because I do not happen to +have this gift of seeing them? In the same way, having read Gurney's +"Phantasms of the Living," I am not ready to ridicule the claim of +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +the Yogi adepts, that they are able to project some kind of astral +body, and to communicate with one another from distant places. But +granting such occult powers in a world of economic strife, what +follows? Simply new floods of charlatanism, elaborate and complicated +systems of ritual and metaphysic for the deluding and plundering of +the credulous.</p> +<p> +I have seen the thing working itself out in one case known to me. A +young man had a gift of mental healing; I know, because I saw it work; +but it did not always work, and that was annoying. He was penniless +and had a taste for power, and to eke out his erratic endowment he got +himself books of Eastern lore, and day by day as I watched him I could +see him becoming more and more impressive, mysterious and forbidding. +Today he is a full-fledged wonder-worker, with the language of a dozen +mystic cults at his tongue's end, and the reverent regard of many +wealthy ladies. I have never tried to break through his guard, but I +feel certain that he is a deliberate charlatan.</p> +<p> +This is an economic process, automatic and irresistible. Just as the +manufacturer of honest foods is driven out by the adulterator, so the +worker of miracles drives out the sincere investigator. As a result we +have here in America a plague of Eastern cults, with "swamis" using +soft yellow robes and soft brown eyes to win the souls of idle society +ladies. These teachers of ancient Hindoo lore despise us as a race of +barbarians; but they stay—whether because of love of man or woman, I +do not pretend to say.</p> +<p> +There are the Theosophists of many brands, with schools and institutes +and temples and colonies, and a +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +doctrine as complex and detailed +and fantastic as that of the Roman Catholics. I have already referred +to the writings of Madame Blavatsky, a runaway Russian army officer's +daughter, whose career reads like a tale out of the Arabian Nights. +And there is Annie Besant, who was once an ardent worker in the +Social-democratic Federation; H.M. Hyndman tells of his dismay when +she went to India and walked in a procession between two white bulls! +Here in California is Madame Tingley, with a colony and a host of +followers in a minature paradise. Men work at money-lending or +manufacturing sporting-goods, and when they get old and tired they +make the thrilling discovery that they have souls; the theosophists +cultivate these souls and they leave their money to the soul-cause, +and there are lawsuits and exposés in the newspapers. For, you see, +there is ferocious rivalry in the game of cultivating millionaire +souls; there are slanders and feuds, just as in soulless affairs. +"Don't have anything to do with Madame Tingley," whispers a +Theosophist lady to my Wife; and when my wife in all innocence +inquires, "Why not?" the awe-stricken answer comes, "She practices +black magic!"</p> +<p> +Let me add that I do not say that she practices black magic. I do not +believe that she <b>could</b> practice it, even if she wanted to—I do not +believe in black magic. My purpose is merely to show how theosophists +quarrel: going back to the days of Anu and Baal and the bronze Image +of the Babylonian fire-god:</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Let them die, but let me live!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Let them be put under a ban, but let me prosper!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Let them perish, but let me increase!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Let them become weak, but let me wax strong!<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Mental Malpractice</b></p> +<p> +This is the other side of the fair shield of religious faith. Why, if +there be a power which loves and can be persuaded to aid us, may there +not also be a power which hates, and can be persuaded to destroy? No +religion has ever been able to answer this, and therefore none has +ever been able to escape from devil-terrors. Even Jesus was pursued by +Satan, and the Holy Catholic Church has its ceremonies for the +exorcising of demons, and a most frightful formula for cursing. And +here are our friends the Christian Scientists, proclaiming the +unreality of all evil, their ability to banish disease by convincing +themselves that they are perfect in God—yet tormented by a squalid +phobia called "Mental Malpractice", or "Malicious Animal Magnetism".</p> +<p> +Christian Science is the most characteristic of American religious +contributions. Just as Billy Sunday is the price we pay for failing to +educate our base-ball players, so Mary Baker Glover Patterson Eddy is +the price we pay for failing to educate our farmer's daughters.</p> +<p> +That she had a power to cure disease I do not doubt, because I have a +little of it myself. At first my opinion was that her "Science" made +its way by curing the imaginary ailments of the idle rich. If a person +has nothing to do but think that he is sick, you can work easy +miracles by persuading him to think that he is well; and if he has +nothing to do but think that he is well, he will help you to build +marble churches and maintain propaganda societies. But recently I have +experimented with mental healing—enough to satisfy myself that the +subconscious mind which controls our +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> + physical functions can be +powerfully influenced by the will.</p> +<p> +I told the story of some of these experiments in Hearst's Magazine for +April, 1914. Suffice it here to say that if you will lay your hands +upon a sick person, forming a vivid mental picture of the bodily +changes you desire, and concentrating the power of your will upon +them, you may be surprised by the results, especially if you possess +anything in the way of psychic gifts. You do not have to adopt any +theories, you do not have to do it in the name of any divinity, +ancient or modern; the only bearing of such ideas is that they serve +to persuade people to make the experiment, and to make it with +persistence and intensity. So it has come about that "miracles" of +healing are associated with "faith"; and so it comes about that +scientists are apt to flout the subject. But read of the work of Janet +and Charcot and their followers at the Salpetriere; they have proven +that all kinds of seeming-organic ailments may be entirely hysterical +in nature, and may be cured by the simplest form of suggestion. +Understanding this, you may find it more easy to credit the fact that +cripples do sometimes throw away their crutches in the grotto of +Lourdes. For my part, I can believe that Jesus performed all the +miracles of healing attributed to him—including the raising up of +people pronounced to be dead by the ignorance of that time. I am +convinced that in the new science of psycho-analysis we have a +universe as vast as the universe of the atom or of the stars.</p> +<p> +The Christian Scientists have got hold of this power; they have mixed +it up with metaphysic and divinity, +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> + and built some four or five +hundred churches, and printed the Mother Church alone knows how many +million pamphlets and books. I once invested three of my hard-earned +dollars for a copy of the Eddy Bible, and let myself be stunned and +blinded by the flapping of metaphysical wings. It is unadulterated +moonshine—as the Platonist and Berkeleyan and Hegelian and other +orthodox collegiate metaphysical magi can prove to you in one minute. +What interests me about the phenomenon is not the slinging of +tremendous words, but the strictly Yankee use which is made of them. +There is no nonsense about saving your soul in Christian Science; what +it is for is to remove your wen, to nail down your floating kidney, +and to enable you to hustle and make money. We saw in our politics the +growth of a Party of the Full Dinner-Pail; contemporaneous therewith, +and corresponding thereto, we see in our religious life the +development of a Church of the Full Pocket-Book.</p> +<p> +It is a strict religion—strictly cash. The heads of the cult do not +issue cheap editions of "Science and Health, With Key to the +Scriptures", to relieve the suffering of the proletariat; no—the work +is copyrighted, in all its varying and contradictory editions, and the +price is from three to seven-fifty, according to binding. Treatments +cost from three dollars to ten, whether you come and get them or take +them over the telephone. And we have no nonsense about charity, we +don't worry about the poor who fester in our city slums; because +poverty is a product of Mortal Mind, and we offer to all men a way to +get rich right off the bat. You may; come to our marble churches and +hear people testify +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> + how through the power of Divine Mind they were +enabled to anticipate a rise in the stock-market. If you don't avail +yourself of the opportunity, the fault is yours, and yours also the +punishment.</p> +<p> +As to the management of the Church, the Roman Catholic hierarchy is a +Bolshevik democracy in comparison. The Church is controlled by an +absolutely irresponsible self-perpetuating body of five men, who alone +dictate its policy. I have in my hand a letter from a Christian +Science healer who was listed as an "authorized practitioner", and who +withdrew from the Church because of its attitude on public questions. +He sends me a copy of his correspondence with the editors of the +"Christian Science Monitor", containing a detailed analysis of the +position of that paper on such issues as the Ballinger land-frauds. He +writes:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + I am thoroughly convinced now that the policy of the Church + is consciously plutocratic. The only recommendation I have + heard of the latest appointee to the Board of Directors is + that he is one of the richest men in the movement. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +After the Titanic disaster, Senator La Follette brought in a carefully +drawn bill to compel steamship companies to provide life-boats and +trained crews. The "Christian Science Monitor" opposed this bill; and +when my correspondent cited the fact, he brought out a quaint bit of +metaphysical logic, as follows:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + One would prefer to travel on a vessel without a single + boat, rather than on some other vessels which were loaded + down with life-boats, where the government of Mind was not + understood! +</p> +</div> + +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Science and Wealth</b></p> +<p> +The truth is that the brand of Mammon was on our Yankee religion from +the day of its birth. In the first edition of her new Bible "Mother" +Eddy dropped the hint to her readers: "Men of business have said this +science was of great advantage from a secular point of view." And in +her advertisements she threw aside all pretense, declaring that her +work "Affords an opportunity to acquire a profession by which one can +accumulate a fortune." When her pupils did accumulate, she boasted of +their success; nor did she neglect her own accumulating.</p> +<p> +It has been a dozen years since I looked into this cult; in order to +be sure that it has not been purified in the interim, I proceed to a +street corner in my home city, where is a stand with a sign: +"Christian Science Literature." I take four sample copies of a +magazine, the "Christian Science Sentinel", published by the Mother +Church in Boston, and turn to the "Testimonials of Healing". In the +issue of August 11, 1917, Mary C. Richards of St. Margarets-on-Thames, +England, testifies: "Through a number of circumstances unnecessary to +relate, but proving conclusively that the result came not from man but +from God, employment was found." In the issue of December 2, 1916, +Frances Tuttle of Jersey City, N.J., testifies how her sister was +successfully treated for unemployment by a scientist practitioner. +"Every condition was beautifully met." In the same issue Fred D. +Miller of Los Angeles, Cal., testifies: "Soon after this wonderful +truth came to me, Divine Love led me to a new position with a +responsible firm. The work was new to me, but I have given entire +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> + +satisfaction, and my salary has been advanced twice in less than a +year." In the issue of January 27, 1917, Eliza Fryant of Agricola, +Miss., testifies how she cured her little dog of snake-bite and +removed two painful corns from her own foot. In the issue of August 4, +1917, Marcia E. Gaier, of Everett, Wash., testifies how it suddenly +occurred to her that because God is All, she would drop her planning +and outlining in regard to real estate properties, "upon which for +nine months all available material methods were tried to no effect." +The result was a triumph of "Principle".</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + While working in the yard one morning and gratefully + communing with God, the only power, I suddenly felt that I + should stop working and prepare for visitors on their way to + look at the property. I obeyed this very distinct command, + and in about an hour I greeted two people who had searched + almost the entire city for just what we had to offer. They + had been directed to our place by what to material sense + would seem an accident, but we know it was the divine law of + harmony in its universal operation. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +After this no one will wonder that John M. Tutt, in a Christian +Science lecture at Kansas City, Mo., should proclaim:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + My friends, do you know that since the world began Christian + Science is the only system which has intelligently related + religion to business? Christian Science shows that since all + ideas belong to Mind, God, therefore all real business + belongs to Him. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +As I said, these people have the new-old power of mental healing. They +blunder along with it blindly, absurdly, sometimes with tragic +consequences; but meantime the rank and file of the pill-doctors know +nothing about this power, and regard it with contempt +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> + mingled with +fear; so of course the hosts of sufferers whom the pill-doctors cannot +help flock to the healers of the "Church of Christ, Scientist". +According to the custom of those who are healed by "faith", they +swallow line, hook, and sinker, creed, ritual, metaphysic and +divinity. So we see in twentieth-century America precisely what we saw +in B.C. twentieth-century Assyria—a host of worshippers; giving their +worldly goods without stint, and a priesthood, made partly of fanatics +and partly of charlatans, conducting a vast enterprise of graft, and +harvesting that thing desired of all men, power over the lives and +destinies of others.</p> +<p> +And of course among themselves they quarrel; they murder one another's +Mortal Minds, they drive one another out, they snarl over the spoils +like a pack of hungry animals. Listen to the Mother, denouncing one of +her students—a perfectly amiable and harmless youth whose only +offense was that he had gone his own way and was healing the sick for +the benefit of his own pocket-book:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Behold! thou criminal mental marauder, that would blot out + the sunshine of earth, that would sever friends, destroy + virtue, put out Truth, and murder in secret the innocent, + befouling thy track with the trophies of thy guilt—I say, + Behold the "cloud" no bigger than a man's hand already + rising on the horizon of Truth, to pour down upon thy guilty + head the hailstones of doom. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And again:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The Nero of today, regaling himself through a mental method + with the torture of individuals, is repeating history, and + will fall upon his own sword, and it shall pierce him + through. Let him remember this when, in the dark recesses of + thought, he is robbing, committing adultery and killing. + When he is attempting +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> + to turn friend away from friend, + ruthlessly stabbing the quivering heart; when he is clipping + the thread of life and giving to the grave youth and its + rainbow hues; when he is turning back the reviving sufferer + to his bed of pain, clouding his first morning after years + of night; and the Nemesis of that hour shall point to the + tyrant's fate, who falls at length upon the sword of + justice. +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>New Nonsense</b></p> +<p> +In a certain city of America is a large building given up entirely to +the whims of pretty ladies. Its floors are not floors but +"Promenades", and have walls of glass, behind which, as you stroll, +you see bonnets from Paris and opera cloaks from London, furs from +Alaska and blankets from Arizona, diamonds from South Africa and beads +from the Philippines, grapes from Spain and cherries from Japan, +fortune-tellers from Arabia and dancing-masters from Petrograd and +"naturopaths" from Vienna. There are seventy-three shops, by actual +count, containing everything that could be imagined or desired by a +pretty lady, whether for her body, or for that vague stream of emotion +she calls her "soul". One of the seventy-three shops is a +"Metaphysical Library", having broad windows, and walls in pastel +tints, and pretty vases with pink flowers, and pretty gray wicker +chairs in which the reader will please to be seated, while we probe +the mysteries of an activity widely spread throughout America, called +"New Thought."</p> +<p> +We begin with a shelf of magazines having mystical titles: Azoth; +Master Mind; Aletheian; Words of Power; Qabalah; Comforter; Adept; +Nautilus; True Word; Astrological Bulletin; Unity; Uplift; Now. And +then come shelves of pretty pamphlets, alluring to the +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> + eye and the +purse; also shelves of imposing-looking volumes containing the lore +and magic of a score of races and two score of centuries—together +with the very newest manifestations of Yankee hustle and graft.</p> +<p> +As in the case of Christian Science, these New Thoughters have a +fundamental truth, which I would by no means wish to depreciate. It is +a fact that the mysterious Source of our being is infinite, and that +we are only at the beginning of our thinking about it. It is a fact +that by appeal to it we can perform seeming miracles of mental and +moral regeneration; we can stimulate the flow of nervous energy and of +the blood, thus furthering the processes of bodily healing. But the +fact that God is Infinite and Omnipotent does not bar the fact that He +has certain ways of working, which He does not vary; and that it is +our business to explore and understand these ways, instead of setting +our fancies to work imagining other ways more agreeable to our +sentimentality.</p> +<p> +Thus, for example, if we want bread, it is God's decree that we shall +plant wheat and harvest it, and grind and bake and distribute it. +Under conditions prevailing at the moment, it appears to be His decree +that we shall store the wheat in elevators, and ship it in freight +cars, and buy it through a grain exchange, with capital borrowed from +a national bank; in other words, that our daily bread shall be the +plaything of exploiters and speculators, until such a time as we have +the intelligence to form an effective political party and establish +Industrial Democracy. But when you come to study the ways of God in +the literature of the New Thought, do you find anything about the +Millers' Trust and the +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> + Bakers' Trust and how to expropriate these +agencies of starvation? You do not!</p> +<p> +What you find is Bootstrap-lifting; you find gentlemen and lady +practitioners shutting their eyes and lifting their hands and +pronouncing Incantations in awe-inspiring voices—or in Capital +Letters and LARGE TYPE: "God is infinite, God is All-Loving, <b>GOD +WILL PROVIDE.</b> Bread is coming to you! <b>Bread is coming to you!! +BREAD IS COMING TO YOU!!!"</b></p> +<p> +You think this is exaggeration? If so, it is because you have never +entered the building of the pretty ladies, and sat in the gray +wicker chairs of the metaphysical library. One of the highest +high-priestesses of the cults of New Nonsense is a lady named +Elizabeth Towne, editor of "The Nautilus"; and Priestess Elizabeth +tells you:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + I believe the idea that money wants you will help you to the + right mental condition. Be a pot of honey and let it come. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +I look over this Priestess' magazine, and find it full of testimonials +and advertisements for the conjuring of prosperity. "Are you in the +success sphere?" asks one exhorter; the next tells you "How to enter +the silence. How to manifest what you desire. The secret of +advancement." Another tells: "How a Failure at Sixty Won Sudden +Success; From Poverty to $40,000 a year—a Lesson for Old and Young +Alike." The lesson, it appears, is to pay $3.00 for a book called +"Power of Will." And here is another book:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Master Key: Which can unlock the Secret Chamber of Success, + can throw wide the doors which seem to bar men from the + Treasure House of Nature, and bids those enter and partake + who are Wise enough to Understand and broad enough to Weigh +the Evidence, firm enough to Follow their Own Judgment and Strong +enough to Make the Sacrifice Exacted.</p> +</div> +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> + +<br /><p><b>"Dollars Want Me"</b></p> +<p> + +I turn to the shelves of pamphlets. Here is a pretty one called "All +Sufficiency in All Things," published by the "Unity School of +Christianity", in Kansas City; it explains that God is God, not merely +of the Soul, but also of the Kansas City stockyards.</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + This divine Substance is ever abiding within us, and stands + ready to manifest itself in whatever form you and I need or + wish, just as it did in Elisha's time. It is the same + yesterday, today and forever. Abundant Supply by the + manifestation of the Father within us, from within outward, + is as much a legitimate outcome of the Christ life or + spiritual understanding as is bodily healing.... "Know that + I am God—all of God, Good, all of Good. I am Life. I am + Health. I am Supply. I am the Substance." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And here is W.W. Atkinson of Chicago, author of a work called "Mind +Power". Would you like to be an Impressive Personality? Mr. Atkinson +will tell you exactly how to do it; he will give you the secret of the +Magnetic Handclasp, of the Intense, Straight-in-the-eye Look; he will +tell you what to say, he will write out for you Incantations which you +may pronounce to yourself, to convince yourself that you have <b>Power</b>, +that the INDWELLING PRESENCE with all its <b>MIGHT</b> is yours. Mr. +Atkinson rebukes mildly the tendency of some of his fellow +Bootstrap-lifters to employ these arts for money-making; but you +notice that his magazine, "Advanced Thought", does not decline the +advertisements of such too-practical practitioners.</p> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> + Next comes a gentleman with the musical name of Wallace Wattles, +who tells in one pamphlet "How to Be a Genius", and in another +pamphlet "How to Get What you Want". The thing for you to do is—</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Saturate your mentality through and through with the + knowledge that YOU CAN DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.... Look upon + the peanut-stand merely as the beginning of the department + store, and make it grow; you can. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And Mr. Wattles wattles on, in an ecstasy of acquisitiveness:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Hold this consciousness and say with deep, earnest feeling: + I CAN succeed! All that is possible to any one is possible + to me. I AM success. I do succeed, for I am full of the + Power of Success. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Imagine, if you please, a poor devil chained in the treadmill of the +capitalist system—a "soda-jerker", a "counter-jumper", a book-keeper +for the Steel Trust. His chances of rising in life are one in ten +thousand; but he comes to the Metaphysical Library, and pays the price +of his dinner for a pamphlet by Henry Harrison Brown, who was first a +Unitarian clergyman, and then an extra-high Bootstrap-lifter in San +Francisco, an Honorary Vice-President of the International New +Nonsense Alliance. Mr. Brown will tell our soda-jerker or +counter-jumper exactly how to elevate himself by mental machinery. All +calculations of probabilities are delusions of the senses; if you have +faith, you can move, not merely mountains, but Riker-Hegeman's, +Macy's, or the Steel Trust. "How to Promote Yourself" is the title of +one of Mr. Brown's pamphlets, in which he explains that—</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> + + + Your wants are impressed on the Divine Mind only by your faith. A + doubt cuts the connection. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +A second pamphlet, which we are told is now in its thirtieth edition, +bears the thrilling title of "<b>Dollars Want Me</b>!" In it Mr. Brown lays +claim to being a pioneer:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + I believe that this little monograph is the first utterance + of the thought that each individual has the ability so to + radiate his mental forces that he can cause the Dollars to + feel him, love him, seek him, and thus draw at will all + things needed for his unfoldment from the universal supply. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +"What are Dollars?" asks our author; and answers:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Dollars are manifestations of the One Infinite Substance as + you are, but, unlike you, they are not Self-Conscious. They + have no power till you give them power. Make them feel this + through your thought-vibrations as you feel the importance + of your work. They will then come to you to be used. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +"What is Poverty?" Mr. Brown asks, and answers himself:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Poverty is a mental condition. It can be cured only by the + Affirmation of Power to cure: I am a part of the One, and, + in the One, I possess all! Affirm this and patiently wait + for the manifestation. You have sown the thought seed. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And our author goes on to hand out packages of these +thought-seeds—"Affirmations" as they are called, in the jargon of the +New Conjuring:</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">I desire a deep consciousness of financial freedom.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I desire that the flow of prosperity become equalized.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I desire a greater consciousness of my power to attract the dollar.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The Indwelling Power cares for my purse.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I own whatever I desire.<br /></span> +</p> + +<p> +<span class="i2">I can afford to use dollars for my happiness.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I always have a good bank account. I actually see it.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My one idea of the law isto use, use, USE.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Spiritual Financiering</b></p> +<p> + +If the symbolism of the Episcopal Church is of the palace, and that of +the non-conformist sects of the counting-house, that of the +International New Nonsense Alliance is of Wall Street and the +"ticker". "What is your rating in the Spiritual Bradstreet?" asks +William Morris Nichols in the publication of the "'Now' Folk", San +Francisco:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Is it low or high? Is your credit with the Bank of the + Universe good or poor? If you draw a spiritual draft are you + sure of its being honored?</p> +<p> + If you can answer that last question affirmatively, you are + on the road to become a Master in Spiritual Financiering.</p> +<p> + Have you an account with the First (and only) Bank of + Spirit? If not, then you should at once open one therewith. + For no one can afford to keep less than a large deposit of + spiritual funds with that Bank. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And how do you proceed to open your account? It is very simple:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Intend the mind in the direction indicated by your desire. + Seek for the Light and Guidance by which you may open up the + way for your Spiritual Substance, which governs material + supply, to reach you and make you as rich as you ought to + be, in freedom and happiness. All this you can, and when in + earnest, will do. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +I turn over the advertisements of this publication of the "'Now' +Folk". One offers "The Business Side of New Thought." Another offers +"The Books Without an If", with your money back IF you are not +satisfied!</p> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> + Another offers land in Bolivia for two dollars an acre. Another +quotes Shakespeare: "Tis the mind that makes the body rich." Another +offers two copies of the "Phrenological Era" for ten cents.</p> +<p> +There is apparently no delusion of any age or clime which cannot find +dupes among the readers of this New Nonsense. One notice commands:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Stop! A Revelation! A Book has been written entitled + "Strands of Gold" or "from Darkness into Light!" +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Another announces:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The Most Wonderful Book of the Ages: The Acquarian Gospel of + Jesus the Christ, Transcribed from the Book of God's + Remembrance, the Akashic Records. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And here is an advertisement published in Mr. Atkinson's paper:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Numerology: the Universal Adjuster! Do you know: What you + appear to be to others? What you really are? What you want + to be? What would overcome your present and future + difficulties? Write to x, Philosopher. You will receive full + particulars of his personal work which is dedicated to your + service. No problem is too big or too small for Numerology. + Understanding awaits you. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And looking in the body of the magazine, you find this Philosopher +imparting some of this Understanding. Would you like, for example, to +understand why America entered the War? Nothing easier. The vowels of +the Words United States of America are uieaeoaeia, which are numbered +2951561591, which added make 45, or 4 plus 5 equals 9. You might not +at first see what that has to do with the War—until the Philosopher +points out that "9 is the number of completion, indicating +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> + the end +of a cosmic cycle." That, of course, explains everything.</p> +<p> +And here is a work on what you perhaps thought to be a dead science, +Astrology. It is called "Lucky Hours for Everybody: A True System of +Planetary Hours—by Prof. John B. Early. Price One Dollar." It teaches +you things like this:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Saturn's negative hours are especially good for all matters + relating to gold-mining.... The Sun negative rules the + emerald, the musical note D sharp, and the number four. The + lunar hours are a good time to deal in public commodities, + and to hire servants of both sexes....</p> +<p> + A recent lady visitor informed me that she had made several + vain attempts to transact important business in the hours + ruled by Jupiter, usually held to be fortunate, while she + was nearly always fortunate in what she began in the hours + ruled by Saturn. Upon investigation I found her name was + ruled by the Sun negative, and that she had Capricorn with + Saturn therein as her ascendant at birth, which explains. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And finally, here is a London "scientist", reported in the "Weekly +Unity" of Kansas City, who proves his mental power over two-horse +power oil engines which fail to act. "Going a little apart, he came +back in a few minutes and said: 'The engine is all right now and will +work satisfactorily.' and without any further difficulty it did." We +are told how Dr. Rawson gave a demonstration of his method to a +newspaper reporter the other day. Fixing his gaze as though looking +into space, he apparently became absorbed in deep contemplation and +said aloud: "There is no danger; man is surrounded by divine love; +there is no matter; all is spirit and manifestation of spirit."</p> +<p> +You might at first find difficulty in believing what +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> + can be +accomplished by "demonstrations" such as this; not merely are +two-horse power oil engines made to work, but the whole gigantic +machine of Prussian militarism is prevented from working. You may +recall how Arthur Machen's magazine story of the Angels of Mons was +taken up and made into a Catholic legend over-night; now here is a +New-Nonsense legend, complete and perfect, going the rounds of our +Nonsense magazines:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + London, Dec. 14.—Shell-proof and bullet-proof soldiers have + been discovered on the European battle-fronts. Heroes with + "charmed lives" are being made every day, according to + Frederick L. Rawson, a London scientist, who insists he has + found the miraculous way by which they are developed. He + calls it "audible treatment". "Practical utilization of the + powers of God by right thinking," is the agency through + which Dr. Rawson declares he can so treat a man that he will + not be harmed when hundreds of men are being shot dead + beside him. This amazing treatment includes a new type of + prayer. It is being administered to hundreds of men audibly, + and to hundreds more by letter. Nothing since the war began + has aroused so much talk of modern miracles as have many of + the statements of Dr. Rawson....</p> +<p> + At the taking of a wood there were five hundred yards of "No + Man's Land" to be crossed. Our troops could not get across. + Then Capt.——, who practices this method of prayer, treated + them for an hour before they started, and not a man was + knocked out. He was the only officer left out of eighty in + his brigade. He simply held onto the fact that man is + spiritual and perfect and could not be touched. A bullet + fired from a revolver only five yards away hit him over the + chest, tore his shirt and went out at the shoulder. But it + never penetrated his chest. He was frequently in a hail of + shells and bullets which did not touch him. +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Graft of Grace</b></p> +<p>All this is grotesque; but it is what happens to religions +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> + in a +world of commercial competition. It happens not merely to Christian +Science and New Thought religions, Mazdaznan and Zionist, Holy Roller +and Mormon religions, but to Catholic and Episcopalian, Presbyterian +and Methodist and Baptist religions. For you see, when you are with +the wolves you must howl with them; when you are competing with fakirs +you must fake. The ordinary Christian will read the claims of the New +Thought fakers with contempt; but have I not shown the Catholic Church +publishing long lists of money-miracles? Have I not shown the Church +of Good Society, our exclusive and aristocratic Protestant Episcopal +communion, pretending to call rain and to banish pestilence, to +protect crops and win wars and heal those who are "sick in +estate"—that is, who are in business trouble?</p> +<p> +The reader will say that I am a cynic, despising my fellows; but that +is not so. I am an economic scientist, analyzing the forces which +operate in human societies. I blame the prophets and priests and +healers for their fall from idealism; but I blame still more the +competitive wage-system, which presents them with the alternative to +swindle or to starve.</p> +<p> +For, you see, the prophet has to have food. He has frequently got +along with almost none, and with only a rag for clothing; in Palestine +and India, where the climate is warm, a sincere faith has been +possible for short periods. But the modern prophet who expects to +influence the minds of men has to have books and newspapers; he will +find a telephone and a typewriter and postage-stamps hardly to be +dispensed with, also in Europe and America some sort of a roof over +his meeting +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> + place. So the prophet is caught, like all the rest of +us, in the net of the speculator and the landlord. He has to get +money, and in order to get it he has to impress those who already have +it—people whose minds and souls have been deformed by the system of +parasitism and exploitation.</p> +<p> +So the prophet becomes a charlatan; or, if he refuses, he becomes a +martyr, and founds a church which becomes a church of charlatans. I +care not how sincere, how passionately proletarian a religious prophet +may be, that is the fate which sooner or later befalls him in a +competitive society—to be the founder of an organization of fools, +conducted by knaves, for the benefit of wolves. That fate befell +Buddha and Jesus, it befell Ignatius Loyola and Francis of Assisi, +John Fox and John Calvin and John Wesley.</p> +<p> +A friend of mine who has made a study of "Spiritualism" describes to +me the conditions in that field. The mediums are people, mostly women, +with a peculiar gift; whether we believe in the survival of +personality, or whether we call it telepathy, does not alter the fact +that they have a rare and special sensitiveness, a new faculty which +science must investigate. They come, poor people mostly—for the +well-to-do will seldom give their time to exacting and wearisome +experiments. They come, wearing frayed and thin clothing, shivering +with cold, obviously undernourished; and their survival depends upon +their producing "phenomena"—which phenomena are capricious, and will +not come at call. So, what more natural than that mediums should +resort to faking? That the whole field should be reeking with fraud, +and science should be held back from +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> + understanding an extraordinary +power of the subconscious mind?</p> +<p> +Ever since we came to Pasadena, various ladies have been telling us +about the wondrous powers of a mulatto-woman, a manicurist at the +city's most fashionable hotel. The other day, out of curiosity, my +wife and I went; the moment the "medium" opened her mouth my wife +recognized her as the person who has been trying for several months to +get me on the telephone to tell me how the spirit of Jack London is +seeking to communicate with me! The <b>séance</b> was a public one, a +gathering composed, half of wealthy and cultured society-women, and +half of confederates, people with the dialect and manners of a +vaudeville troupe. A megaphone was set in the middle of the floor, the +room was made dark, a couple of hymns were sung, and then the spirit +of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes spoke through the megaphone with a Bowery +accent, and gave communications from relatives and friends of the +various confederates. "Jesus is with us", said Dr. Holmes. "The spirit +of Jesus bids you to study spiritualism." And then came the voice of a +child: "Mamma! Mamma!" "It is little Georgie!" cried Dr. Holmes; and +one of the society ladies started, and answered, and presently burst +into tears. A marvelous piece of evidence—especially when you recall +that the story of this mother's bereavement had been published in all +the papers a couple of months before!</p> +<p> +And this kind of swindling is going on every night in every city of +America. It goes on wholesale for months every summer at Lily Dale, in +New York State, where the spiritualists hold their combination of +Chautauqua +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> + and Coney Island. And the same thing is going on in the +field of mental healing, and of all other "occult" forces and powers, +whether real or imaginary. It is going on with new spiritual fervors, +new moral idealisms, new poetry, new music, new painting, new +sculpture. The faker, the charlatan is everywhere—using the mental +and moral and artistic forces of life as a means of delivering himself +from economic servitude. Everywhere I turn I see it—credulity being +exploited, and men of practical judgment, watching the game and seeing +through it, made hard in their attitude of materialism. How many men I +know who sit by in sullen protest while their wives drift from one new +quackery to another, wasting their income seeking health and happiness +in futile emotionalism! How many kind and sensitive spirits I +know—both men and women—who pour their treasures of faith and +admiration into the laps of hierophants who began by fooling all +mankind and ended by fooling themselves!</p> +<p> +In each one of the cults of what I have called the "Church of the +Quacks", there are thousands, perhaps millions of entirely sincere, +self-sacrificing people. They will read this book—if anyone can +persuade them to read it—with pain and anger; thinking that I am +mocking at their faith, and have no appreciation of their devotion. +All that I can say is that I am trying to show them how they are being +trapped, how their fine and generous qualities are being used by +exploiters of one sort or another; and how this must continue, world +without end, until there is order in the material affairs of the race, +until justice has been established as the law of man's dealing with +his fellows.</p> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +</p> +<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +<a href="#CONTENTS"><b>CONTENTS</b></a> +<hr /> +<h3>BOOK SEVEN</h3> +<hr /> +<br /> +<p> +The Church of the Social Revolution</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">They have taken the tomb of our Comrade Christ—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Infidel hordes that believe not in man;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Stable and stall for his birth sufficed,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">But his tomb is built on a kingly plan.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">They have hedged him round with pomp and parade,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">They have buried him deep under steel and stone—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But we come leading the great Crusade<br /></span> +<span class="i4">To give our Comrade back to his own.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="quotsig">Waddell.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Christ and Caesar</b></p> +<p> +In the most deeply significant of the legends concerning Jesus, we are +told how the devil took him up into a high mountain and showed him all +the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time; and the devil said unto +him: "All this power will I give unto thee, and the glory of them, for +that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it. If +thou, therefore, wilt worship me, all shall be thine." Jesus, as we +know, answered and said "Get thee behind me, Satan!" And he really +meant it; he would have nothing to do with worldly glory, with +"temporal power;" he chose the career of a revolutionary agitator, and +died the death of a disturber of the peace. And for two or three +centuries his church followed in his footsteps, cherishing his +proletarian gospel. The early Christians had "all things in common, +except women;" they lived as social outcasts, hiding in deserted +catacombs, and being thrown to lions and boiled in oil.</p> +<p> +But the devil is a subtle worm; he does not give up at one defeat, for +he knows human nature, and the strength of the forces which battle for +him. He failed to get Jesus, but he came again, to get Jesus' church. +He came when, through the power of the new revolutionary idea, the +Church had won a position of tremendous power in the decaying Roman +Empire; and the subtle worm assumed the guise or no less a person than +the Emperor himself, suggesting that he should become a convert to the +new faith, so that the Church and he might work together for the +greater glory of God. The bishops and fathers of the Church, ambitious +for their organization, fell for this scheme, and Satan went off +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> + +laughing to himself. He had got everything he had asked from Jesus +three hundred years before; he had got the world's greatest religion. +How complete and swift was his success you may judge from the fact +that fifty years later we find the Emperor Valentinian compelled to +pass an edict limiting the donations of emotional females to the +church in Rome!</p> +<p> +From that time on Christianity has been what I have shown in this +book, the chief of the enemies of social progress. From the days of +Constantine to the days of Bismarck and Mark Hanna, Christ and Caesar +have been one, and the Church has been the shield and armor of +predatory economic might. With only one qualification to be noted: +that the Church has never been able to suppress entirely the memory of +her proletarian Founder. She has done her best, of course; we have +seen how her scholars twist his words out of their sense, and the +Catholic Church even goes so far as to keep to the use of a dead +language, so that her victims may not hear the words of Jesus in a +form they can understand.</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + <span class="i2">'Tis well that such seditious songs are sung<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Only by priests, and in the Latin tongue!<br /></span> +</p> +</div> + +<p> +But in spite of this, the history of the Church has been one incessant +struggle with upstarts and rebels who have filled themselves with the +spirit of the Magnificat and the Sermon on the Mount, and of that +bitterly class-conscious proletarian, James, the brother of Jesus.</p> +<p> +And here is the thing to be noted, that the factor which has given +life to Christianity, which enables it to keep its hold on the hearts +of men today, is precisely +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> + this new wine of faith and fervor which +has been poured into it by generation after generation of poor men who +live like Jesus as outcasts, and die like Jesus as criminals, and are +revered like Jesus as founders and saints. The greatest of the early +Church fathers were bitterly fought by the Church authorities of their +own time. St. Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, was turned out of +office, exiled and practically martyred; St. Basil was persecuted by +the Emperor Valens; St. Ambrose excommunicated the tyrannical Emperor +Theodosius; St. Cyprian gave all his wealth to the poor, and was +exiled and finally martyred. In the same way, most of the heretics +whom the Holy Inquisition tortured and burned were proletarian rebels; +the saints whom the Church reveres, the founders of the orders which +gave it life for century after century, were men who sought to return +to the example of the carpenter's son. Let us hear a Christian scholar +on this point, Prof. Rauschenbusch:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +The movement of Francis of Assisi, of the Waldenses, of the Humiliati +and Bons Hommes, were all inspired by democratic and communistic +ideals. Wiclif was by far the greatest doctrinal reformer before the +reformation; but his eyes, too, were first opened to the doctrinal +errors of the Roman Church by joining in a great national and +patriotic movement against the alien domination and extortion of the +Church. The Bohemian revolt, made famous by the name of John Huss, was +quite as much political and social as religious. Savonarola was a +great democrat as well as a religious prophet. In his famous interview +with the dying Lorenzo de Medici he made three demands as a condition +for granting absolution. Of the man he demanded a living faith in +God's mercy. Of the millionaire he demanded restitution of his +ill-gotten wealth. Of the political usurper he demanded the +restoration of the liberties of the people of Florence. It is +significant that the dying sinner found it easy to assent to +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> + the +first, hard to assent to the second, and impossible to concede the +last.</p> +</div> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Locusts and Wild Honey</b></p> +<p> +This proletarian strain in Christianity goes back to a time long +before Jesus; it seems to have been inherent in the religious +character of the Jews—that stubborn independence, that stiff-necked +insistence on the right of a man to interview God for himself and to +find out what God wants him to do; also the inclination to find that +God wants him to oppose earthly rulers and their plundering of the +poor. What is it that gives to the Bible the vitality it has today? +Its literary style? To say that is to display the ignorance of the +cultured; for elevation of style is a by-product of passionate +conviction; it is what the Jewish writers had to say, and not the way +they said it, that has given them their hold upon mankind. Was it +their insistence upon conscience, their fear of God as the beginning +of wisdom? But that same element appears in the Babylonian psalms, +which are as eloquent and as sincere as those of the Hebrews, yet are +read only by scholars. Was it their sense of the awful presence of +divinity, of the soul immortal in its keeping? The Egyptians had that +far more than the Hebrews, and yet we do not cherish their religious +books. Or was it the love of man for all things living, the lesson of +charity upon which the Catholics lay such stress? The gentle Buddha +had that, and had it long before Christ; also his priests had +metaphysical subtlety, greater than that of John the Apostle or Thomas +Aquinas.</p> +<p> +No, there is one thing and one only which distinguishes the Hebrew +sacred writings from all others, +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> + and that is their insistent note +of proletarian revolt, their furious denunciations of exploiters, and +of luxury and wantonness, the vices of the rich. Of that note the +Assyrian and Chaldean and Babylonian writing contain not a trace, and +the Egyptian hardly enough to mention. The Hindoos had a trace of it; +but the true, natural-born rebels of all time were the Hebrews. They +were rebels against oppression in ancient Judea, as they are today in +Petrograd and New York; the spirit of equality and brotherhood which +spoke through Ezekiel and Amos and Isaiah, through John the Baptist +and Jesus and James, spoke in the last century through Marx and +Lassalle and Jaures, and speaks today through Liebknecht and Rosa +Luxemburg and Karl Kautsky and Israel Zangwill and Morris Hillquit and +Abraham Cahan and Emma Goldman and the Joseph Fels endowment.</p> +<p> +The legal rate of interest throughout the Babylonian Empire was 20%; +the laws of Manu permitted 24%, while the laws of the Egyptians only +stepped in to prevent more than 100%. But listen to this Hebrew law:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + If thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, + then thou shalt relieve him, yea, though he be a stranger or + a sojourner, that he may live with thee: Take thou no + interest of him, or increase; but fear thy God that thy + brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him any + money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase. +</p> +</div> + +<p> + +And so on, forbidding that Hebrews be sold as bond servants, and +commanding that at the end of fifty years all debtors shall have their +debts forgiven and their lands returned to them. And note that this is +not the raving of agitators, the demand of a minority party; it is the +law of the Hebrew land.</p> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> + There has been of late a great deal of new discovery concerning +the early Jews. Conrad Noel summarizes the results as follows:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The land-mark law, which sternly forbids encroachment upon + peasant rights; consideration for the foreigner; additional + sanitary and food laws; tithe regulations on behalf of + widows, orphans, foreigners, etc.; that those who have no + economic independence should eat and be satisfied; that + loans should be given cheerfully, not only without any + interest, but even at the risk of losing the principal. To + withhold a loan because the year of release is at hand in + which the principal is no longer recoverable, is described + as a grave sin. When you are compelled to free your slaves, + you must give them sufficient capital to embark upon some + industry which shall prevent their falling back into + slavery. A number of holidays are insisted upon. There must + be no more crushing of the poor out of existence, for God + cares for these people who have been driven to poverty, and + they shall never cease out of the land. Howbeit there shall + be no poor with you, for the Lord will bless you, if you + will obey these laws. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +But then prosperity came, and culture, which meant contact with the +capitalist ideas of the heathen empires. The Jews fell from the stern +justice of their fathers; and so came the prophets, wild-eyed men of +the people, clad in camel's hair and living upon locusts and wild +honey, breaking in upon priests and kings and capitalists with their +furious denunciations. And always they incited to class war and social +disturbance. I quote Conrad Noel again:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Nathan and Gad had been David's political advisers, Abijah + had stirred Jeroboam to revolt, Elijah had resisted Ahab, + Elisha had fanned the rebellion of Jehu, Amos thunders + against the misrule of the king of Israel, Isaiah denounces + the landlords and the usurers, Micah charges them with + blood-guiltiness; Jeremiah and the latter prophets, though + they strike a more intimate note of personal repentance, + strike it as the prelude to that national restoration for + which they hunger as exiles. +</p> +</div> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The first chapters of Isaiah are typical of the Old + Testament point of view. Just as the prophets of the + nineteenth century thundered against the "Christian" + employers of Lancashire, and told them their houses were + cemented with the blood of little children, so Isaiah cries + against his generation: "Your governing classes companion + with thieves; behold you build up Sion with blood." Their + ceremonial and their Sabbath keeping are an abomination to + God. "When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes + from you. Your hands are full of blood." The poor man is + robbed. The rich exact usury. "Woe unto you that lay house + to house and field to field, that ye may dwell alone in the + midst of the land." "Wash you, make you clean, put away the + evil of your doing from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; + learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, + judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, let us + reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be + blood-colored, they shall be as white as snow; though they + be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing + and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. But if ye + refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured by the sword. +</p> +</div> + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Mother Earth</b></p> +<p> +And nowadays we have the Socialist and Anarchist agitators, following +the same tradition, possessed by the same dream as the ancient Hebrew +prophets. I have mentioned Emma Goldman; it may be that the reader is +not familiar with her writings, and does not realize how very Biblical +she is, both in point of view and style. Let me quote a few sentences +from a recent issue of her paper, "Mother Earth", on the subject of +our ruling classes and their social responsibility:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Yes, you idle rich, you may howl about what we mean to do to + you! Your riches are rotten and your fine clothes are + falling from your backs. Your stocks and bonds are so + tainted that the ink on them should turn to acid and eat + holes in your pockets and your skins. You have piled up your + dirty millions, +</p> +</div> + + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + but what wages have you paid to the poor devils of farm hands you + have robbed? And do you imagine they won't remember it when the + revolution comes? You loll on soft couches and amuse yourselves + with your mistresses; you think you are "it" and the world is + yours. You send militiamen and shoot down our organizers, and we + are helpless. But wait, comrades, our time is coming. +</p> +</div> + +<p> + +Doubtless the reader is well satisfied that the author of this tirade +is now in jail, where she can no longer defy the laws of good taste. +They always put the ancient prophets in jail; that is the way to know +a prophet when you meet him. Let me quote another prophet who is now +behind bars—Alexander Berkman, in his "Prison Memoirs of an +Anarchist", discussing the same subject of plutocratic pretension:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Tell me, you four hundred, where did you get it? Who gave it + to you? Your grandfather, you say? Your father? Can you go + all the way back and show there is no flaw anywhere in your + title? I tell you that the beginning and the root of your + wealth is necessarily in injustice. And why? Because Nature + did not make this man rich and that man poor from the start. + Nature does not intend for one man to have capital and + another to be a wage-slave. Nature made the earth to be + cultivated by all. The idea we Anarchists have of the rich + is of highwaymen, standing in the street and robbing every + one that passes. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Or take "Big Bill" Haywood, chief of the I.W.W. Hear what he has to +say in a pamphlet addressed to the harvest-hands he is seeking to +organize:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + How much farther do you plutes expect to go with your + grabbing? Do you want to be the only people left on earth? + Why else do you drive out the workers from all share in + Nature, and claim everything for yourselves? The earth was + made for all, rich and poor alike; where do you get your + title deeds to it? Nature gave everything for all men to use + alike; it is only your robbery which makes your so-called + "ownership". Capital has no rights. The land belongs to + Nature, and we are all Nature's sons. +</p> +</div> + +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> + Or take Eugene V. Debs, three times candidate of the Socialist +Party for President. I quote from one of his pamphlets:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + The propertied classes are like people who go into a public + theatre and refuse to let anyone else come in, treating as + private property what is meant for social use. If each man + would take only what he needs, and leave the balance to + those who have nothing, there would be no rich and no poor. + The rich man is a thief. +</p> +</div> + +<p> + +I might go on citing such quotations for many pages; but I know that +Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman and Bill Haywood and Gene Debs may +read this book, and I don't want them to close it in the middle and +throw it at me. Therefore let me hasten to explain my poor joke; the +sentiments I have been quoting are not those of our modern agitators, +but of another group of ancient ones. The first is not from Emma +Goldman, nor did I find it in "Mother Earth". I found it in the +Epistle of James, believed by orthodox authorities to have been James, +the brother of Jesus. It is exactly what he wrote—save that I have +put it into modern phrases, and changed the swing of the sentences, in +order that those familiar with the Bible might read it without +suspicion. The second passage is not in the writings of Alexander +Berkman, but in those of St. John Chrysostom, most famous of the early +fathers, who lived 374-407. The third is not from the pen of "Big +Bill" but from that of St. Ambrose, a father of the Latin Church, +340-397, and the fourth is not by Comrade Debs, but by St. Basil of +the Greek Church, 329-379. And if the reader objects to my having +fooled him for a minute or two, what will he say to the Christian +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> + +Church, which has been fooling him for sixteen hundred years?</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Soap Box</b></p> +<p> +This book will be denounced from one end of Christendom to the other +as the work of a blasphemous infidel. Yet it stands in the direct line +of the Christian tradition: written by a man who was brought up in the +Church, and loved it with all his heart and soul, and was driven out +by the formalists and hypocrites in high places; a man who thinks of +Jesus more frequently and with more devotion than he thinks of any +other man that lives or has ever lived on earth; and who has but one +purpose in all that he says and does, to bring into reality the dream +that Jesus dreamed of peace on earth and good will toward men.</p> +<p> +I will go farther yet and say that not merely is this book written for +the cause of Jesus, but it is written in the manner of Jesus. We read +his bitter railings at the Pharisees, and miss the point entirely, +because the word Pharisee has become to us a word of reproach. But +this is due solely to Jesus; in his time the word was a holy word, it +meant the most orthodox and respectable, the ultra high-church +devotees of Jerusalem. The way to get the spirit of the tirades of +Jesus is to do with him what we did with the early church +fathers—translate him into American. This time, since the reader +shares the secret, it will not be necessary to disguise the Bible +style, and we may follow the text exactly. Let me try the twenty-third +chapter of Matthew, omitting seven verses which refer to subtleties of +Hebrew casuistry, for which we should have to go to Lyman Abbott or +St. Alphonsus to find a parallel:</p> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> +</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Then Jesus mounted upon a soap-box, and began a speech, + saying, The doctors of divinity and Episcopalians fill the + Fifth Avenue churches; and it would be all right if you were + to listen to what they preach, and do that; but don't follow + their actions, for they never practice what they preach. + They load the backs of the working-classes with crushing + burdens, but they themselves never move a finger to carry a + burden, and everything they do is for show. They wear + frock-coats and silk hats on Sundays, and they sit at the + speakers' table at the banquets of the Civic Federation, and + they occupy the best pews in the churches, and their doings + are reported in all the papers; they are called leading + citizens and pillars of the church. But don't you be called + leading citizens, for the only useful man is the man who + produces. (Applause). And whoever exalts himself shall be + abased, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.</p> +<p> + Woe unto you, doctors of divinity and Catholics, hypocrites! + for you shut up the kingdom of Heaven against men; you don't + go in yourself and you don't let others go in. Woe unto you, + doctors of divinity and Presbyterians, hypocrites! for you + foreclose mortgages on widows' houses, and for a pretense + you make long prayers. For this you will receive the greater + damnation! Woe unto you, doctors of divinity and Methodists, + hypocrites! for you send missionaries to Africa to make one + convert, and when you have made him, he is twice as much a + child of hell as yourselves. (Applause). Woe unto you, blind + guides, with your subtleties of doctrine, your + transubstantiation and consubstantiation and all the rest of + it; you fools and blind! Woe unto you, doctors of divinity + and Episcopalians, hypocrites! for you drop your checks into + the collection-plate and you pay no heed to the really + important things in the Bible, which are justice and mercy + and faith in goodness. You blind guides, who strain at a + gnat and swallow a camel! (Laughter). Woe unto you, doctors + of divinity and Anglicans, hypocrites! for you bathe + yourselves and dress in immaculate clothing but within you + are full of extortion and excess. You blind high churchmen, + clean first your hearts, so that the clothes you wear may + represent you. Woe unto you, doctors of divinity and + Baptists, hypocrites! for you are like marble tombs which + appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead + men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> + you appear + righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and + iniquity. (Applause). Woe unto you, doctors of divinity and + Unitarians, hypocrites! because you erect statues to dead + reformers, and put wreathes upon the tombs of old-time + martyrs. You say, if we had been alive in those days, we + would not have helped to kill those good men. That ought to + show you how to treat us at present. (Laughter). But you are + the children of those who killed the good men; so go ahead + and kill us too! You serpents, you generation of vipers, how + can you escape the damnation of hell? +</p> +</div> + +<p> +At this point, according to the report published in the Jerusalem +"Times", a police sergeant stepped up to the orator and notified him +that he was under arrest; he submitted quietly, but one of his +followers attempted to use a knife, and was severely clubbed. Jesus +was taken to the station-house followed by a riotous throng, and held +upon a charge of disorderly conduct. Next morning the Rev. Dr. +Caiaphas of Old Trinity appeared against him, and Magistrate Pilate +sentenced him to six months on Blackwell's Island, remarking that from +this time on he proposed to make an example of those soap-box orators +who persist in using threatening and abusive language. Just as the +prisoner was being led away, a detective appeared with a requisition +from the Governor, ordering that Jesus be taken to San Francisco, +where he is under indictment for murder in the first degree, it being +charged that his teachings helped to incite the Preparedness Day +explosion.</p> + + + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Church Machine</b></p> +<p> + +The Catholics of His time came to Jesus and said, "Master, we would +have a sign of Thee"—meaning that they wanted him to do some magic, +to prove to their vulgar minds that his power came from God. He +answered +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> + by calling them an evil and adulterous generation—which +is exactly what I have said about the Papal machine. The Baptists and +Methodists and Presbyterians and other book-worshippers of his time +accused him of violating the sacred commands so definitely set down in +their ancient texts, and to them he answered that the Sabbath was made +for man and not man for the Sabbath; he called them hypocrites, and +quoted Karl Marx at them—"This people honoreth me with their lips, +but their heart is far from me." Because he despised the company of +the respectables, and went among the humble and human folk of his own +class in the places where they gathered—the public houses—the +churchly scandal-mongers called him "a man gluttonous and a +wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners"—precisely as in the +old days they used to sneer at the Socialists for having their +meetings in the backrooms of saloons, and precisely as they still +denounce us as free-lovers and atheists.</p> +<p> +But the longing for justice between man and man, which is the Kingdom +of Heaven on earth, is the deepest instinct of the human heart, and +the voice of the carpenter cannot be confined within the thickest +church-walls, nor drowned by all the pealing organs in Christendom. +Even in these days, when the power of Mammon is more widespread, more +concentrated and more systematized than ever before in history—even +in these days of Morgan and Rockefeller, there are Christian clergymen +who dare to preach as Jesus preached. One by one they are cast out of +the Church—Father McGlynn, George D. Herron, Alexander Irvine, J. +Stitt Wilson, Austin Adams, Algernon Crapsey,</p> +<p> + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> + Bouck White; but their voices are not silenced, they are like the +leaven, to which Jesus compared the kingdom of God—a woman took it +and hid it in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. The +young theological students read, and some of them understand; I know +three brothers in one family who have just gone into the Church, and +are preaching straight social revolution—and the scribes and the +pharisees have not yet dared to cast them out.</p> +<p> +In this book I have portrayed the Christian Church as the servant and +henchman of Big Business, a part of the system of Mammon. Every church +is necessarily a money machine, holding and administering property. +And it is not alone the Catholic Church which is in politics, seeking +favors from the state—the exemption of church property from taxation, +exemption of ministers from military service, free transportation for +them and their families on the railroads, the control of charity and +education, laws to deprive people of amusements on Sunday—so on +through a long list. As the churches have to be built with money, you +find that in them the rich possess the control and demand the +deference, while the poor are humble, and in their secret hearts +jealous and bitter; in other words, the class struggle is in the +churches, as everywhere else in the world, and the social revolution +is coming in the churches, just as it is coming in industry.</p> +<p> +It is a fact of deep significance that the majority of ministers are +proletarians, eking out their existence upon a miserable salary, and +beholden in all their comings and goings to the wealthy holders of +privilege. Even in the Roman Catholic Church that is true. The +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> + +ordinary priest is a man of the working class, and knows what working +people suffer and feel. So in the Catholic Church there are +proletarian rebellions; there is many a priest who does not carry out +the political orders of his superiors, but goes to the polls and votes +for his class instead of for his pope. In Ireland, as I write, the +young priests are defying their bishops and joining the Sinn Fein, a +non-religious movement for an Irish Republic.</p> +<p> +What is it that keeps the average workingman in subjection to the +exploiter? Simply terror, the terror of losing his job. And if you +could get into the inmost soul of Christian ministers, you would find +that precisely the same force is keeping many of them slaves to +Tradition. They are educated men, and thousands of them must resent +the dilemma which compels them to be either fools or hypocrites. They +have caught enough of the spirit of their time not to enjoy having to +pose as miracle-mongers, rain-makers and witch-doctors; they would +like to say frankly that they do not believe that Jonah ever swallowed +the whale, and even that they are dubious about Hercules and Achilles +and other demigods. But they are part of a machine, and the old men +and the rich men who run the machine have laid down the law. Those who +find themselves tempted to think, remember suddenly that they have +wives and children; they have only one profession, they have been +unfitted for any other by a life-time of study of dead things, as well +as by the practice of altruism.</p> +<p> +But now the Social Revolution is coming; coming upon swift wings—it +may be here before this book sees the light. And who knows but then we +may see in +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> + America that wonderful sight which we saw in Russia, +when Christian monks assembled and burned their holy books, and +petitioned the state to take them in as citizens and human beings? It +is my belief that when the power of exploitation is broken, we shall +see the Dead Hand crumble into dust, as a mummy crumbles when it is +exposed to the air. All those men who stay in the Church and pretend +to believe nonsense, because it affords an easy way to earn a living, +will suddenly realize that it is possible to earn a living outside; +that any man can go into a factory, clean and well-ventilated and +humanly run, and by four hours work can earn the purchasing power of +ten or fifteen dollars. Do you not think that there may be some who +will choose freedom and self-respect on those terms?</p> +<p> +And what of those thousands and tens of thousands who join the church +because it is a part of the regime of respectability, a way to make +the acquaintance of the rich, to curry favor and obtain promotion, to +get customers if you are a tradesman, to extend your practice if you +are a professional man? And what about the millions who go to church +because they are poor, and because life is a desperate struggle, and +this is one way to keep the favor of the boss, to get a little better +chance for the children, to get charity if you fall into need; in +short, to acquire influence with the well-to-do and powerful, who +stand together, and like to see the poor humble and reverent, +contented in that state of life to which it has pleased God to call +them?</p> + + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Church Redeemed</b></p> +<p>Do I mean that I expect to see the Church—all +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> + churches—perish and pass away? I do not, for I believe that the +Church answers one of the fundamental needs of man. The Social +Revolution will abolish poverty and parasitism, it will make +temptations fewer, and the soul's path through life much easier; but +it will not remove the necessity of struggle for individual virtue, it +will only clear the way for the discovery of newer and higher types of +virtue. Men will gather more than ever in beautiful places to voice +their love of life and of one another; but the places in which they +gather will be places swept clean of superstition and tyranny. As the +Reformation compelled the Catholic Church to cleanse itself and +abolish the grossest of its abuses, so the Social Revolution will +compel it to repudiate its defense of parasitism and exploitation. I +will record the prophecy that by the year 1950 all Catholic +authorities will be denying that the Church ever opposed +Socialism—true Socialism; just as today they deny that the Church +ever tortured Galileo, ever burned men for teaching that the earth +moves around the sun, ever sold the right to commit crime, ever gave +away the New World to Spain and Portugal, ever buried newly-born +infants in the cellars of nunneries.</p> +<p> +The Social Revolution will compel all churches, Christian, Hebrew, +Buddhist, Confucian, or what you will, to drive out their formalists +and traditionalists. If there is any church that refuses so to adapt +itself, the swift progress of enlightenment and freedom will leave it +without followers. But in the great religions, which have a soul of +goodness and sincerity, we may be sure that reformers will arise, +prophets and saints who, as of old, will preach the living word of +God. In many +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> + churches today we can see the beginning of that new +Counter-Reformation. Even in the Catholic Church there is a +"modernist" rebellion; read the books of the "Sillon", and Fogazzaro's +trilogy of novels, "The Saint", and you will see a genuine and vital +protest against the economic corruption of the Church. In America, the +"Knights of Slavery" have been forced by public pressure to support a +"War for Democracy", and even to compete with the Y.M.C.A. in the +training camps. They are doing good work, I am told.</p> +<p> +This gradual conquest of the old religiosity by the spirit of modern +common sense is shown most interestingly in the Salvation Army. +William Booth was a man with a great heart, who took his life into his +hands and went out with a bass-drum to save the lost souls of the +slums. He was stoned and jailed, but he persisted, and brought his +captives to Jesus—</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">Vermin-eaten saints with mouldy breath,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Unwashed legions with the ways of death.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> +Incidentally the "General" learned to know his slum population. He had +not wanted to engage in charity and material activities; he feared +hypocrisy and corruption. But in his writings he lets us see how +utterly impossible it is for a man of real heart to do anything for +the souls of the slum-dwellers without at the same time helping their +diseased and hunger-racked bodies. So the Salvation army was forced +into useful work—old clothes depots, nights lodgings, Christmas +dinners, farm colonies—until today the bare list of the various kinds +of enterprises it carries on fills three printed pages. It is all done +with the money of the rich, and is tainted by subservience to +authority, but no one can +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> + deny that it is better than "Gibson's +Preservative", and the fox-hunting parsons filling themselves with +port.</p> +<p> +And in Protestant Churches the advance has been even greater. Here and +there you will find a real rebel, hanging onto his job and preaching +the proletarian Jesus; while even the great Fifth Avenue churches are +making attempts at "missions" and "settlements" in the slums. The more +vital churches are gradually turning themselves into societies for the +practical betterment of their members. Their clergy are running boys +clubs and sewing-schools for girls, food conservation lectures for +mothers, social study clubs for men. You get prayer-meetings and +psalm-singing along with this; but here is the fact that hangs always +before the clergyman's face—that with prayer-meetings and +psalm-singing alone he has a hard time, while with clubs and +educational societies and social reforms he thrives.</p> +<p> +And now the War has broken upon the world, and caught the churches, +like everything else, in its mighty current; the clergy and the +congregations are confronted by pressing national needs, they are +forced to take notice of a thousand new problems, to engage in a +thousand practical activities. No one can see the end of this—any +more than he can see the end of the vast upheaval in politics and +industry. But we who are trained in revolutionary thought can see the +main outlines of the future. We see that in these new church +activities the clergy are inspired by things read, not in ancient +Hebrew texts, but in the daily newspapers. They are responding to the +actual, instant needs of their boys in +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> + the trenches and the camps; +and this is bound to have an effect upon their psychology. Just as we +can say that an English girl who leaves the narrow circle of her old +life, and goes into a munition factory and joins a union and takes +part in its debates, will never after be a docile home-slave; so we +can say that the clergyman who helps in Y.M.C.A. work in France, or in +Red Cross organization in America, will be less the bigot and +formalist forever after. He will have learned, in spite of himself, to +adjust means to ends; he will have learned co-operation and social +solidarity by the method which modern educators most favor—by doing. +Also he will have absorbed a mass of ideas in news despatches from +over the world. He is forced to read these despatches carefully, +because the fate of his own boys is involved; and we Socialists will +see to it that the despatches are well filled with propaganda!</p> +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Desire of Nations</b></p> +<p> + +So the churches, like all the rest of the world, are caught in the +great revolutionary current, and swept on towards a goal which they do +not forsee, and from which they would shrink in dismay: the Church of +the future, the Church redeemed by the spirit of Brotherhood, the +Church which we Socialists will join. They call us materialists, and +say that we think about nothing but the belly—and that is true, in a +way; because we are the representatives of a starving class, which +thinks about its belly precisely as does any individual who is +ravening with hunger. But give us what that arrant materialist, James, +the brother of Jesus, calls "those things which are needful to the +body," and then +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> + we will use our minds, and even discover that we +have souls; whereas at present we are led to despise the very word +"spiritual", which has become the stock-in-trade of parasites and +poseurs.</p> +<p> +We have children, whom we love, and whose future is precious to us. We +would be glad to have them trained in ways of decency and +self-control, of dignity and grace. It would make us happy if there +were in the world institutions conducted by men and women of +consecrated life who would specialize in teaching a true morality to +the young. But it must be a morality of freedom, not of slavery; a +morality founded upon reason, not upon superstition. The men who teach +it must be men who know what truth is, and the passionate loyalty +which the search for truth inspires. They cannot be the pitiful +shufflers and compromisers we see in the churches today, the Jowetts +who say they used to believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy +Ghost. Rather than trust our children to such shameless cynics, we +will make shift to train them ourselves—we amateurs, not knowing much +about children, and absorbed in the desperate struggle against +organized wrong.</p> +<p> +It is a statement which many revolutionists would resent, yet it is a +fact nevertheless, that we need a new religion, need it just as badly +as any of the rest of our pitifully groping race. That we need it is +proven by the rivalries and quarrels in our midst—the schisms which +waste the greater part of our activities, and which are often the +result of personal jealousies and petty vanities. To lift men above +such weakness, to make them really brothers in a great cause—that is +the +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> + work of "personal religion" in the true and vital sense of the +words.</p> +<p> +We pioneers and propagandists may not live to see the birth of the new +Church of Humanity; but our children will see it, and the dream of it +is in our hearts; our poets have sung of it with fervor and +conviction. Read these lines from "The Desire of Nations," by Edwin +Markham, in which he tells of the new Redeemer who is at hand:</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">And when he comes into the world gone wrong,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He will rebuild her beauty with a song.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To every heart he will its own dream be:<br /></span> +<span class="i2">One moon has many phantoms in the sea.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Out of the North the norns will cry to men:<br /></span> + <span class="i2">"Baldur the Beautiful has come again!"<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The flutes of Greece will whisper from the dead:<br /></span> + <span class="i2">"Apollo has unveiled his sunbright head!"<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The stones of Thebes and Memphis will find voice:<br /></span> + <span class="i2">"Osiris comes: Oh tribes of Time, rejoice!"<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And social architects who build the State,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Serving the Dream at citadel and gate,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Will hail Him coming through the labor-hum.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And glad quick cries will go from man to man:<br /></span> + <span class="i2">"Lo, He has come, our Christ the artisan,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The King who loved the lilies, He has come!"<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> + + + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The Knowable</b></p> +<p> + +The new religion will base itself upon the facts of life, as +demonstrated by experience and reason; for to the modern thinker the +basis of all interest is truth, and the wonders of the microscope and +the telescope, of the new psychology and the new sociology are more +wonderful than all the magic recorded in ancient Mythologies. And even +if this were not so, the business of the thinker is to follow the +facts. The history of all philosophy +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> + might be summed up in this +simile: The infant opens his eyes and sees the moon, and stretches out +his hands and cries for it; but those in charge do not give it to him, +and so after a while the infant tires of crying, and turns to his +mother's breast and takes a drink of milk.</p> +<p> +Man demands to know the origin of life; it is intolerable for him to +be here, and not know how, or whence, or why. He demands the knowledge +immediately and finally, and invents innumerable systems and creeds. +He makes himself believe them, with fire and torture makes other men +believe them; until finally, in the confusion of a million theories, +it occurs to him to investigate his instruments, and he makes the +discovery that his tools are inadequate, and all their products +worthless. His mind is finite, while the thing he seeks is infinite; +his knowledge is relative, while the First Cause is absolute.</p> +<p> +This realization we owe to Immanuel Kant, the father of modern +philosophy. In his famous "antinomies", he proved four propositions: +first, that the universe is limitless in time and space; second, that +matter is composed of simple, indivisible elements; third, that free +will is impossible; and fourth, that there must be an absolute or +first cause. And having proven these things, he turned round and +proved their opposites, with arguments exactly as unanswerable. Any +one who follows these demonstrations and understands them, takes all +his metaphysical learning and lays it on the shelf with his astrology +and magic.</p> +<p> +It is a fact, which every one who wishes to think must get clear, that +when you are dealing with absolutes +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> + and ultimates, you can prove +whatever you want to prove. Metaphysics is like the fourth dimension; +you fly into it and come back upside down, hindside foremost, inside +out; and when you get tired of this condition, you take another +flight, and come back the way you were before. So metaphysical +thinking serves the purpose of Catholic cheats like Cardinal Newman +and Professor Chatterton-Hill; it serves hysterical women like +"Mother" Eddy; it serves the New-thoughters, who wish to fill their +bellies with wind; it serves the charlatans and mystagogs who wish to +befuddle the wits of the populace. Real thinkers avoid it as they +would a bottomless swamp; they avoid, not merely the idealism of +Platonists and Hegelians, but the monism of Haeckel, and the +materialism of Buechner and Jacques Loeb. The simple fact is that it +is as impossible to prove the priority of origin and the ultimate +nature of matter as it is of mind; so that the scientist who lays down +a materialist dogma is exactly as credulous as a Christian.</p> +<p> +How then are we to proceed? Shall we erect the mystery into an +Unknowable, like Spencer, and call ourselves Agnostics with a capital +letter, like Huxley? Shall we follow Frederic Harrison, making an +inadequate divinity out of our impotence? I have read the books of the +"Positivists", and attended their imitation church in London, but I +did not get any satisfaction from them. In the midst of their dogmatic +pronouncements I found myself remembering how the egg falls apart and +reveals a chicken, how the worm suddenly discovers itself a butterfly. +The spirit of man is a breaker of barriers, and it seems a futile +occupation to +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> + set limits upon the future. Our business is not to +say what men will know ten thousand years from now, but to content +ourselves with the simple statement of what men know <b>now</b>. What we +know is a procession of phenomena called an environment; our life +being an act of adjustment to its changes, and our faith being the +conviction that this adjustment is possible and worth while.</p> +<p> +In the beginning the guide is instinct, and the act of trust is +automatic. But with the dawn of reason the thinker has to justify his +faith; to convince himself that life is sincere, that there is +worth-whileness in being, or in seeking to be; that there is order in +creation, laws which can be discovered, processes which can be +applied. Just as the babe trusts life when it gropes for its mother's +breast, so the most skeptical of scientists trusts it when he declares +that water is made of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, and sets +it down for a certainty that this will always be so—that he is not +being played with by some sportive demon, who will today cause H20 to +behave like water, and tomorrow like benzine.</p> + + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Nature's Insurgent Son</b></p> +<p> + +Life has laws, which it is possible to ascertain; and with each bit of +knowledge acquired, the environment is changed, the life becomes a new +thing. Consider, for example, what a different place the world became +to the man who discovered that the force which laid the forest in +ashes could be tamed and made to warm a cave and make wild grains +nutritious! In other words, man can create life, he can make the world +and himself +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> + into that which his reason decides it ought to be, The +means by which he does this is the most magical of all the tools he +has invented since his arboreal ancestor made the first club; the tool +of experimental science—and when one considers that this weapon has +been understood and deliberately employed for but two or three +centuries, he realizes that we are indeed only at the beginning of +human evolution.</p> +<p> +To take command of life, to replace instincts by reasoned and +deliberate acts, to make the world a conscious and ordered +product—that is the task of man. Sir Ray Lankester has set this forth +with beautiful precision in his book, "The Kingdom of Man". We are, at +this time, in an uncomfortable and dangerous transition stage, as a +child playing with explosives. This child has found out how to alter +his environment in many startling ways, but he does not yet know why +he wishes to alter it, nor to what purpose. He finds that certain +things are uncomfortable, and these he proceeds immediately to change. +Discovering that grain fermented dispels boredom, he creates a race of +drunkards; discovering that foods can be produced in profusion, and +prepared in alluring combinations, he makes himself so many diseases +that it takes an encyclopedia to tell about them. Discovering that +captives taken in war can be made to work, he makes a procession of +empires, which are eaten through with luxury and corruption, and fall +into ruins again.</p> +<p> +This is Nature's way; she produces without limit, groping blindly, +experimenting ceaselessly, eliminating ruthlessly. It takes a million +eggs to produce one salmon; it has taken a million million men to +produce +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> + one idea—algebra, or the bow and arrow, or democracy. +Nature's present impulse appears as a rebellion against her own +methods; man, her creature, will emancipate himself from her law, will +save himself from her blindness and her ruthlessness. He is "Nature's +insurgent son"; but, being the child of his mother, goes at the task +in her old blundering way. Some men are scheduled to elimination +because of defective eyesight; they are furnished with glasses, and +the breeding of defective eyes begins. The sickly or imbecile child +would perish at once in the course of Nature; it is saved in the name +of charity, and a new line of degenerates is started.</p> +<p> +What shall we do? Return to the method of the Spartans, exposing our +sickly infants? We do not have to do anything so wasteful, because we +can replace the killing of the unfit by a scientific breeding which +will prevent the unfit from getting a chance at life. We can replace +instinct by self-discipline. We can substitute for the regime of +"Nature red in tooth and claw with ravin" the regime of man the +creator, knowing what he wishes to be and how to set about to be it. +Whether this can happen, whether the thing which we call civilization +is to be the great triumph of the ages, or whether the human race is +to go back into the melting pot, is a question being determined by an +infinitude of contests between enlightenment and ignorance: precisely +such a contest as occurs now, when you, the reader, encounter a man +who has thought his way out to the light, and comes to urge you to +perform the act of self-emancipation, to take up the marvellous new +tools of science, and to make yourself, by means of +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> + exact +knowledge, the creator of your own life and in part of the life of the +race.</p> + + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>The New Morality</b></p> +<p> + +Life is a process of expansion, of the unfoldment of new powers; +driven by that inner impulse which the philosophers of Pragmatism call +the <b>élan vital</b>. Whenever this impulse has its way, there is an +emotion of joy; whenever it is balked, there is one of distress. So +pleasure and pain are the guides of life, and the final goal is a +condition of free and constantly accelerating growth, in which joy is +enduring.</p> +<p> +That man will ever reach such a state is more than we can say. It is a +perfectly conceivable thing that tomorrow a comet may fall upon the +earth and wipe out all man's labor's. But on the other hand, it is a +conceivable thing that man may some day learn to control the movements +of comets, and even of starry systems. It seems certain that if he is +given time, he will make himself master of the forces of his immediate +environment—-</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i2">The untamed giants of nature shall bow down—-<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The tides, the tempest and the lightning cease<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From mockery and destruction, and be turned<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Unto the making of the soul of man.<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p> +It is a conceivable thing that man may learn to create his food from +the elements without the slow processes of agriculture; it is +conceivable that he may master the bacteria which at present prey upon +his body, and so put an end to death. It is certain that he will +ascertain the laws of heredity, and create human qualities as he has +created the spurs of the fighting-cock and the legs of the greyhound. +He will find out +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> + what genius is, and the laws of its being, and the +tests whereby it may be recognized. In the new science of +psycho-analysis he has already begun the work of bringing an infinity +of subconsciousness into the light of day; it may be that in the +evidence of telepathy which the psychic researchers are accumulating, +he is beginning to grope his way into a universal consciousness, which +may come to include the joys and griefs of the inhabitants of Mars, +and of the dark stars which the spectroscope and the telescope are +disclosing.</p> +<p> +All these are fascinating possibilities. What stands in the way of +their realization? Ignorance and superstition, fear and submission, +the old habits of rapine and hatred which man has brought with him +from his animal past. These make him a slave, a victim of himself and +of others; to root them out of the garden of the soul is the task of +the modern thinker.</p> +<p> +The new morality is thus a morality of freedom. It teaches that man is +the master, or shall become so; that there is no law, save the law of +his own being, no check upon his will save that which he himself +imposes.</p> +<p> +The new morality is a morality of joy. It teaches that true pleasure +is the end of being, and the test of all righteousness.</p> +<p> +The new morality is a morality of reason. It teaches that there is no +authority above reason; no possibility of such authority, because if +such were to appear, reason would have to judge it, and accept or +reject it.</p> +<p> +The new morality is a morality of development. It teaches that there +can no more be an immutable law of conduct, than there can be an +immutable position for +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> + the steering-wheel of an aeroplane. The +business of the pilot of an aeroplane is to keep his machine aloft +amid shifting currents of wind. The business of a moralist is to +adjust life to a constantly changing environment. An action which was +suicide yesterday becomes heroism today, and futility or hypocrisy +tomorrow.</p> +<p> +This new morality, like all things in a world of strife, is fighting +for existence, using its own weapons, which are reason and love. +Obviously it can use no others, without self-destruction; yet it has +to meet enemies who fight with the old weapons of force and fraud. +Whether it will prevail is more than any prophet can say. Perhaps it +is too much to ask that it should succeed—this insolent effort of the +pigmy man to leap upon the back of his master and fit a bridle into +his mouth. Perhaps it is nothing but a dream in the minds of a few, +the scientists and poets and inventors, the dreamers of the race. +Perhaps the nerve of the pigmy will fail him at the critical moment, +and he will fall from the back of his master, and under his master's +hoofs.</p> +<p> +The hour of the decision is now; for this we can see plainly, and as +scientists we can proclaim it—the human race is in a swift current of +degeneration, which a new morality alone can check. The struggle is at +its height in our time; if it fails, if the fibre of the race +continues to deteriorate, the soul of the race to be eaten out by +poverty and luxury, by insanity and disease, by prostitution, crime +and war—then mankind will slip back into the abyss, the untamed +giants of Nature will resume their ancient sway, and the tides, the +tempest and the lightning will sweep the earth +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> + clean again. I do +not believe that this calamity will befall us. I know that in the +diseased social body the forces of resistance are gathering—the +Socialist movement, in the broad sense—the activities of all who +believe in the possibility of reconstructing society upon a basis of +reason, justice and love. To such people this book goes out: to the +truly religious people, those who hunger and thirst after +righteousness here and now, who believe in brotherhood as a reality, +and are willing to bear pain and ridicule and privation for the sake +of its ultimate achievement.</p> +<blockquote class="poem"> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p> +<span class="i6">From the edge of harsh derision,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">From discord and defeat,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">From doubt and lame division,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">We pluck the fruit and eat;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the mouth finds it bitter, and the spirit sweet....<br /></span> +<span class="i8">O sorrowing hearts of slaves,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">We heard you beat from far!<br /></span> +<span class="i6">We bring the light that saves,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">We bring the morning star;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Freedom's good things we bring you, whence all good things are....<br /></span> +</p> +</div> +</blockquote> + + +<br /><p class="strong"><b>Envoi</b></p> +<p> + +I have come to the end of my task; but one question troubles me. I +think of the "young men and maidens meek" who will read this book, and +I wonder what they will make of it. We have had a lark together; we +have gone romping down the vista of the ages, swatting every venerable +head that showed itself, beating the dust out of ancient delusions. +You would like all your life to be that kind of lark; but you may not +find it so, and perhaps you will suffer disillusionment and vexation.</p> +<p> + + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> +</p> +<p> +I have known hundreds of young radicals in my life; they have nearly +all been gallant and honest, but they have not all been wise, and +therefore not so happy as they might have been. In the course of time +I have formulated to myself the peril to which young radicals are +exposed. We see so much that is wrong in ancient things, it gets to be +a habit with us to reject them. We have only to know that a thing is +old to feel an impulse of impatient scorn; on the other hand, we are +tempted to welcome anything which can prove itself to be +unprecedented. There is a common type of radical whose aim in life is +to be several jumps ahead of mankind; whose criterion of conduct is +that it shocks the bourgeois. If you do not know that type, you may +find him—and her—in the newest of the Bohemian cafes, drinking the +newest red chemicals, smoking the newest brand of cigarettes, and +discussing the newest form of <b>psycopathia sexualis</b>. After you have +watched them a while, you realize that these ultra-new people have +fallen victim to the oldest form of logical fallacy, the non sequitur, +and likewise to the oldest form of slavery, which is self-indulgence.</p> +<p> +If it is true that much in the old moral codes is based upon +ignorance, and cultivated by greed, it is also true that much in the +old moral codes is based upon facts which will not change so long as +man is what he is—a creature of impulses, good and bad, wise and +foolish, selfish and generous, and compelled to make choice between +these impulses; so long as he is a material body and a personal +consciousness, obliged to live in society and adjust himself to the +rights of others. What I would like to say to young radicals—if there +is any +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> + way to say it without seeming a prig—is that in choosing +their own path through life, they will need not merely enthusiasm and +radical fervor, but wisdom and judgment and hard study.</p> +<p> +It is our fundamental demand that society shall cease to repeat over +and over the blunders of the past, the blunders of tyranny and +slavery, of luxury and poverty, which wrecked the ancient societies; +and surely it is a poor way to begin by repeating in our own persons +the most ancient blunders of the moral life. To light the fires of +lust in our hearts, and let them smoulder there, and imagine we are +trying new experiments in psychology! Who does not know the radical +woman who demonstrates her emancipation from convention by destroying +her nerves with nicotine? Who does not know the genius of revolt who +demonstrates his repudiation of private property by permitting his +lady loves to support him? Who does not know the man who finds in the +phrases of revolution the most effective devices for the seducing of +young girls?</p> +<p> +You will have read this book to ill purpose if you draw the conclusion +that there is anything in it to spare you the duty of getting yourself +moral standards and holding yourself to them. On the contrary, because +your task is the highest and hardest that man has yet undertaken—for +this reason you will need standards the most exacting ever formulated. +Let me quote some words from a teacher you will not accuse of holding +to the slave-moralities:</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + + Free dost thou call thyself? Thy ruling thoughts will I + hear, and not that thou hast escaped a yoke.</p> +<p> + Art thou such a one that can escape a yoke? +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span> + Free from + what? What is that to Zarathustra! Clear shall your eye tell + me: free to what?</p> +<p> + Canst thou give to thyself thy good and thine evil, and hang + thy will above thee as thy law? Canst thou be thine own + judge, and avenger of thy law?</p> +<p> + Fearful it is to be alone with the judge and the avenger of + thy law. So is a stone flung out into empty space and into + the icy breath of isolation. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Out of the pit of ignorance and despair we emerge into the sunlight of +knowledge, to take control of a world, and to make it over, not +according to the will of any gods, but according to the law in our own +hearts. For that task we have need of all the resources of our being; +of courage and high devotion, of faith in ourselves and our comrades, +of clean, straight thinking, of discipline both of body and mind. We +go to this task with a knowledge as old as the first moral impulse of +mankind—the knowledge that our actions determine the future of life, +not merely for ourselves but for all the race. For this is one of the +laws of the ancient Hebrews which modern science has not repealed, but +on the contrary has reinforced with a thousand confirmations—that the +sins of the fathers are visited upon the children unto the third and +fourth generations.</p> +<p> +I get letters from the readers of my books; nearly always they are +young people, so I feel like the father of a large family. I gather +them now about my knee, and pronounce upon them a benediction in the +ancient patriarchal style. Children and grandchildren of my hopes, for +ages men suffered and fought, so that the world might be turned over +to you. Now the day is coming, the glad, new day which blinds us with +the shining of its wings; it is coming so swiftly that I am +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span> + afraid +of it. I thought we should have more time to get ready for the taking +over of the world! But the old managers of it went insane, they took +to tearing each other's eyes out, and now they lie dead about us. So, +whether we will or not, we have to take charge of the world; we have +to decide what to do with it, even while we are doing it. Let us not +fail, young comrades; let us not write on the scroll of history that +mankind had to go through yet new generations of wars and tumults and +enslavements, because the youth of the international revolution could +not lift themselves above those ancient personal vices which wrecked +the fair hopes of their fathers—bigotry and intolerance, +vindictiveness and vanity, envy, hatred and malice and all +uncharitableness! + +<span class="newpage"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span> +</p> + + + +<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> +<hr /> +<h3>INDEX</h3> +<hr /> +<br /><br /> +<ul> +<li>Abbott, Lyman +<a href="#Page_175">175-191</a></li> +<li>Abbott, L.F. +<a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> +<li>Adams +<a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> +<li>Adventists +<a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> +<li>Amberley +<a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> +<li>Anglican Church +<a href="#Page_47">47-88</a></li> +<li>Appeal to Reason +<a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> +<li>Archer +<a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> +<li>Assyria +<a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> +<li>Atkinson +<a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> +<li>Austria +<a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> +<li>Aztecs +<a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Babists +<a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> +<li>Babylonia +<a href="#Page_26">26</a>, +<a href="#Page_32">32</a>, +<a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> +<li>Baxter +<a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> +<li>Beilhardt +<a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> +<li>Berkman +<a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> +<li>Besant +<a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> +<li>Bible-students +<a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> +<li>Bismarck +<a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> +<li>Black Magic +<a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> +<li>Blavatsky +<a href="#Page_23">23</a>, +<a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> +<li>Blougram +<a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> +<li>Bonzano +<a href="#Page_121">121</a>, +<a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> +<li>Booth +<a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> +<li>Bootstrap-lifting +<a href="#Page_11">11</a>, +<a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> +<li>Brougher +<a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> +<li>Brown +<a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> +<li>Buchanan +<a href="#Page_68">68</a>, +<a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> +<li>Buckle +<a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> +<li>Burns +<a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Cæsar +<a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> +<li>Cannon +<a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> +<li>Carlyle +<a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> +<li>Carnegie +<a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> +<li>Catholic Church +<a href="#Page_27">27</a>, +<a href="#Page_105">105-157</a>, +<a href="#Page_295">295</a></li> +<li>Catholic Encyclopedia +<a href="#Page_67">67</a>Centrum +<a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> +<li>Charcot +<a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> +<li>Chatterton-Hill +<a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> +<li>Chinese +<a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> +<li>Christian Endeavor World +<a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> +<li>Christian Science +<a href="#Page_254">254-264</a></li> +<li>Churchman +<a href="#Page_101">101</a>, +<a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> +<li>Clark +<a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> +<li>Clough +<a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> +<li>Columbus +<a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> +<li>Conway +<a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> +<li>Curates +<a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Darwin +<a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> +<li>Day +<a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> +<li>Debs +<a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> +<li>Dixon +<a href="#Page_204">204</a>, +<a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> +<li>Dowie +<a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> +<li>Durham +<a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Eastman +<a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> +<li>Eddy +<a href="#Page_257">257</a>, +<a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> +<li>Education +<a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> +<li>England +<a href="#Page_49">49</a>, +<a href="#Page_73">73</a>, +<a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> +<li>England, Church of +<a href="#Page_47">47-88</a></li> +<li>Episcopal Church +<a href="#Page_89">89-102</a></li> +<li>Eucharist +<a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Ferrer +<a href="#Page_51">51</a>, +<a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> +<li>Fish +<a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> +<li>Flint +<a href="#Page_78">78</a>, +<a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> +<li>Fogazzaro +<a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> +<li>Foraker +<a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> +<li>Frederick +<a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Galileo +<a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> +<li>Gallipoli +<a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> +<li>Garrison +<a href="#Page_167">167</a>Gladstone +<a href="#Page_57">57</a>, +<a href="#Page_58">58</a>, +<a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> +<li>Goldman +<a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> +<li>Goode +<a href="#Page_59">59</a>, +<a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> +<li>Green +<a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> +<li>Gurney +<a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Hagen +<a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> +<li>Hale +<a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> +<li>Hammurabi +<a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> +<li>Hampton +<a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> +<li>Ha'nish +<a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> +<li>Hanna +<a href="#Page_122">122</a>, +<a href="#Page_142">142</a>, +<a href="#Page_153">153</a>, +<a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> +<li>Harris +<a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> +<li>Harrison +<a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> +<li>Haywood +<a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> +<li>Hebrew +<a href="#Page_36">36</a>, +<a href="#Page_173">173</a>, +<a href="#Page_284">284</a>, +<a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> +<li>Henry the Eighth +<a href="#Page_66">66</a>, +<a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> +<li>Hill, Joe +<a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> +<li>Hill, Rev. J.W. +<a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> +<li>Holmes +<a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> +<li>Holy Rollers +<a href="#Page_242">242</a>, +<a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> +<li>Hubbard +<a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> +<li>Huss +<a href="#Page_38">38</a>, +<a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> +<li>Huxley +<a href="#Page_56">56</a>, +<a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> +<li>Hyndman +<a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> +<li>Hyslop +<a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Inquisition +<a href="#Page_39">39</a>, +<a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> +<li>Ireland +<a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> +<li>Isaiah +<a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Janet +<a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> +<li>Jastrow +<a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> +<li>Jehovah +<a href="#Page_35">35</a>, +<a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> +<li>Jesuits +<a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> +<li>Jesus +<a href="#Page_74">74</a>, +<a href="#Page_100">100</a>, +<a href="#Page_101">101</a>, +<a href="#Page_161">161</a>,<br /> + +<a href="#Page_172">172</a>, +<a href="#Page_174">174</a>, +<a href="#Page_175">175</a>, +<a href="#Page_176">176</a>, +<a href="#Page_197">197</a>, +<a href="#Page_221">221</a>,<br /> + +<a href="#Page_258">258</a>, +<a href="#Page_281">281</a>, +<a href="#Page_282">282</a>, +<a href="#Page_290">290</a>, +<a href="#Page_291">291</a>, +<a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> +<li>Jews +<a href="#Page_284">284</a>, +<a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> +<li>Job +<a href="#Page_25">25</a>, +<a href="#Page_26">26</a>, +<a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> +<li>Joshua +<a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> +<li>Jowett +<a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> +<li>Jungle +<a href="#Page_190">190</a>, +<a href="#Page_194">194</a>, +<a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> +<li>Junker +<a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Kaiser +<a href="#Page_164">164-166</a></li> +<li>Kant +<a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> +<li>Kemp +<a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> +<li>King Coal +<a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> +<li>Kingsley +<a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> +<li>Knights of Columbus +<a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> +<li>Koreshanity +<a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>La Follette +<a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> +<li>Landor +<a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> +<li>Lankester +<a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> +<li>Lea +<a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> +<li>Leeky +<a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> +<li>Leo XIII +<a href="#Page_119">119</a>, +<a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> +<li>Ligouri +<a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> +<li>Li Hung Chang +<a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> +<li>London +<a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> +<li>Los Angeles +<a href="#Page_149">149</a>, +<a href="#Page_150">150</a>, +<a href="#Page_208">208</a>, +<a href="#Page_209">209</a>, +<a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> +<li>L.A. Examiner +<a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> +<li>L.A. Times +<a href="#Page_44">44</a>, +<a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> +<li>Lourdes +<a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> +<li>Luther +<a href="#Page_161">161</a>, +<a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>MacGill +<a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> +<li>Machen +<a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> +<li>Mallock +<a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> +<li>Malthus +<a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> +<li>Manning +<a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> +<li>Manu +<a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> +<li>Markham +<a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> +<li>Marx +<a href="#Page_71">71</a>, +<a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> +<li>Massey +<a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> +<li>Mazdaznan +<a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> +<li>McCabe +<a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> +<li>McDonald +<a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> +<li>Mellen +<a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> +<li>Menace +<a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> +<li>Milton +<a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> +<li>Morality +<a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> +<li>More +<a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> +<li>Morgan +<a href="#Page_99">99</a>, +<a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> +<li>Mormon +<a href="#Page_239">239</a>, +<a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> +<li>Moses +<a href="#Page_36">36</a>, +<a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Nazarite +<a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> +<li>New Haven +<a href="#Page_180">180</a>, +<a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> +<li>New Thought +<a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> +<li>N.Y. Evening Post +<a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> +<li>N.Y. Sun +<a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> +<li>N.Y. Times +<a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> +<li>Nichols +<a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> +<li>Noel +<a href="#Page_83">83</a>, +<a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> +<li>Northcliffe +<a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> +<li>Numerology +<a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Oahspe +<a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> +<li>O'Connell +<a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> +<li>Opium +<a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> +<li>Outlook +<a href="#Page_175">175-198</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Paine +<a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> +<li>Paley +<a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> +<li>Pasadena +<a href="#Page_150">150</a>, +<a href="#Page_208">208</a>, +<a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> +<li>Patent Medicine +<a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> +<li>Patterson +<a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> +<li>Paul +<a href="#Page_56">56</a>, +<a href="#Page_161">161</a>, +<a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> +<li>Peabody +<a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> +<li>Peters +<a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> +<li>Phelan +<a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> +<li>Pillsbury +<a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> +<li>Pius IX +<a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> +<li>Plowman +<a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> +<li>Pope +<a href="#Page_67">67</a>, +<a href="#Page_121">121</a>, +<a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> +<li>Positivists +<a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> +<li>Post +<a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> +<li>Potter +<a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> +<li>Prescott +<a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> +<li>Preston +<a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> +<li>Protestant +<a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> +<li>Prussia +<a href="#Page_153">153</a>, +<a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Quakers +<a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> +<li>Quay +<a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> +<li>Quigley +<a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Rauschenbusch +<a href="#Page_163">163</a>, +<a href="#Page_283">283</a></li> +<li>Rawson +<a href="#Page_272">272</a>Reformation +<a href="#Page_163">163</a>, +<a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> +<li>Religion +<a href="#Page_16">16</a>, +<a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> +<li>Rig-Veda +<a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> +<li>Robinson +<a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> +<li>Rockefeller +<a href="#Page_138">138</a>, +<a href="#Page_177">177</a>, +<a href="#Page_190">190</a>, +<a href="#Page_192">192</a>, +<a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> +<li>Roosevelt +<a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> +<li>Russell, C.E. +<a href="#Page_95">95</a>, +<a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> +<li>Russell, G. +<a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> +<li>Russell, Pastor +<a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> +<li>Ryan +<a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Sacred Heart +<a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> +<li>Salpetriere +<a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> +<li>Salvation Army +<a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> +<li>Sanday +<a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> +<li>Segur +<a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> +<li>Shaftesbury +<a href="#Page_74">74</a>, +<a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> +<li>Shakers +<a href="#Page_244">244</a>, +<a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> +<li>Shelley +<a href="#Page_87">87</a>, +<a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> +<li>Siam +<a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> +<li>Sinn Fein +<a href="#Page_295">295</a></li> +<li>Smith, Gipsy +<a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> +<li>Smith, Goldwin +<a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> +<li>Soap Box +<a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> +<li>Socialist Movement +<a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> +<li>Spain +<a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> +<li>Spiritualism +<a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> +<li>Stalker +<a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> +<li>Sterling +<a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> +<li>Sunday +<a href="#Page_207">207</a>, +<a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> +<li>Swinburne +<a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> +<li>Syracuse +<a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Tablet +<a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> +<li>Tacitus +<a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> +<li>Taft +<a href="#Page_142">142-144</a></li> +<li>Tammany +<a href="#Page_93">93</a>, +<a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> +<li>Thackery +<a href="#Page_68">68</a>, +<a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> +<li>Theosophists +<a href="#Page_254">254</a>, + +<a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> +<li>Thirty-nine Articles +<a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> +<li>Tingley +<a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> +<li>Torrey +<a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> +<li>Tractarian +<a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> +<li>Trinity +<a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> +<li>Trinity Corporation +<a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> +<li>Trowbridge +<a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Vedder +<a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> +<li>Voltaire +<a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Waddell + +<a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> +<li>Wagner +<a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> +<li>Wall Street +<a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> +<li>Wanamaker +<a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> +<li>Ward +<a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> +<li>Wattles +<a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> +<li>Wesley +<a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> +<li>Westcott +<a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> +<li>White, A.D. +<a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> +<li>White, Bouck +<a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> +<li>Wilberforce +<a href="#Page_56">56</a>, +<a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> +<li>William +<a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> +<li>Wilson +<a href="#Page_169">169</a>, +<a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> +</ul> +<ul> +<li>Yogi +<a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> +<li>York +<a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +</ul> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Profits of Religion, Fifth Edition +by Upton Sinclair + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROFITS OF RELIGION *** + +***** This file should be named 16470-h.htm or 16470-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/4/7/16470/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jayam Subramanian and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Profits of Religion, Fifth Edition + +Author: Upton Sinclair + +Release Date: August 7, 2005 [EBook #16470] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROFITS OF RELIGION *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jayam Subramanian and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Transcriber's note: The spelling inconsistencies of the original +are retained in this etext.] + + + + The Profits of Religion + + + + + + An Essay in Economic Interpretation + + + + + + By + UPTON SINCLAIR + + + + + + + +CONTENTS +NEW YORK +VANGUARD PRESS + + + + + + +VANGUARD PRINTINGS +First-January, 1927 +Second-April, 1927 +Third-June, 1928 + + + + + +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + + + + +OFFERTORY + + +This book is a study of Supernaturalism from a new point of view--as a +Source of Income and a Shield to Privilege. I have searched the +libraries through, and no one has done it before. If you read it, you +will see that it needed to be done. It has meant twenty-five years of +thought and a year of investigation. It contains the facts. + +I publish the book myself, so that it may be available at the lowest +possible price. I am giving my time and energy, in return for one +thing which you may give me--the joy of speaking a true word and +getting it heard. + +Note to fifth edition, 1926: "The Profits of Religion" was first +published early in 1917. The present edition represents a sale of over +60,000 copies, without counting a dozen translations. In this edition +a few errors have been corrected, but otherwise the book has not been +changed. The reader will understand that references to the World War +are of the date 1917, prior to America's entrance. + +This book is the first of a series of volumes, an economic +interpretation of culture, which now includes "The Brass Check," "The +Goose-step," "The Goslings," and "Mammonart." + + * * * * * + + + + +#CONTENTS# + +#Introductory# + +Bootstrap-lifting + +Religion + +#Book One: The Church of the Conquerors# + +The Priestly Lie + +The Great Fear + +Salve Regina! + +Fresh Meat + +Priestly Empires + +Prayer-wheels + +The Butcher-Gods + +The Holy Inquisition + +Hell-fire + +#Book Two: The Church of Good Society# + +The Rain Makers + +The Babylonian Fire-God + +The Medicine-men + +The Canonization of Incompetence + +Gibson's Preservative + +The Elders + +Church History + +Land and Livings + +Graft in Tail + +Bishops and Beer + +Anglicanism and Alcohol + +Dead Cats + +"Suffer Little Children" The Court-circular + +Horn-blowing + +Trinity Corporation + +Spiritual Interpretation + +#Book Three: The Church of the Servant Girls# + +Charity + +God's Armor + +Thanksgivings + +The Holy Roman Empire + +Temporal Power + +Knights of Slavery + +Priests and Police + +The Church Militant + +The Church Triumphant + +God in the Schools + +The Menace + +King Coal + +The Unholy Alliance + +Secret Service + +Tax Exemption + +Holy History + +Das Centrum + +#Book Four: The Church of the Slavers# + +The Face of Caesar + +Deutschland ueber Alles + +Der Tag + +King Cotton + +Witches and Women + +Moth and Rust + +To Lyman Abbott + +The Octopus + +The Industrial Shelley + +The Outlook for Graft + +Clerical Camouflage + +The Jungle + +#Book Five: The Church of the Merchants# + +The Head Merchant + +"Herr Beeble" Holy Oil + +Rhetorical Black-hanging + +The Great American Fraud + +Riches in Glory + +Captivating Ideals + +Spook Hunting + +Running the Rapids + +Birth Control + +Sheep + +#Book Six: The Church of the Quacks# + +Tabula Rasa + +The Book of Mormon + +Holy Rolling + +Bible Prophecy + +Koreshanity + +Mazdaznan + +Black Magic + +Mental Malpractice + +Science and Wealth + +New Nonsense + +"Dollars Want Me!" Spiritual Financiering + +The Graft of Grace + +#Book Seven: The Church of the Social Revolution# + +Christ and Caesar + +Locusts and Wild Honey + +Mother Earth + +The Soap Box + +The Church Machine + +The Church Redeemed + +The Desire of Nations + +The Knowable + +"Nature's Insurgent Son" The New Morality + +Envoi + +* * * * * + + + + +#INTRODUCTORY# + +#Bootstrap-lifting# + +Bootstrap-lifting? says the reader. + +It is a vision I have seen: upon a vast plain, men and women are +gathered in dense throngs, crouched in uncomfortable and distressing +positions, their fingers hooked in the straps of their boots. They are +engaged in lifting themselves; tugging and straining until they grow +red in the face, exhausted. The perspiration streams from their +foreheads, they show every symptom of distress; the eyes of all are +fixed, not upon each other, nor upon their boot-straps, but upon the +sky above. There is a look of rapture upon their faces, and now and +then, amid grunts and groans, they cry out with excitement and +triumph. + +I approach one and say to him, "Friend, what is this you are doing?" + +He answers, without pausing to glance at me, "I am performing +spiritual exercises. See how I rise?" + +"But," I say, "you are not rising at all!" + +Whereat he becomes instantly angry. "You are one of the scoffers!" + +"But, friend," I protest, "don't you feel the earth under your feet?" + +"You are a materialist!" + +"But, friend, I can see--" + +"You are without spiritual vision!" + +And so I move on among the sweating and groaning hordes. Being of a +sympathetic turn of mind, I cannot help being distressed by the +prevalence of this singular practice among so large a portion of the +human race. How is it possible that none of them should suspect the +futility of their procedure? Or can it really be that I am +uncomprehending? That in some way they are actually getting off the +ground, or about to get off the ground? + +Then I observe a new phenomenon: a man gliding here and there among +the bootstrap-lifters, approaching from the rear and slipping his +hands into their pockets. The position of the spiritual exercisers +greatly facilitates his work; their eyes being cast up to heaven, they +do not see him, their thoughts being occupied, they do not heed him; +he goes through their pockets at leisure, and transfers the contents +to a bag he carries, and then moves on to the next victim. I watch him +for a while, and finally approach and ask, "What are you doing, sir?" + +He answers, "I am picking pockets." + +"Oh," I say, puzzled by his matter-of-course tone. "But--I beg +pardon--are you a thief?" + +"Oh, no," he answers, smilingly, "I am the agent of the Wholesale +Pickpockets' Association. This is Prosperity." + +"I see," I reply. "And these people let you--" + +"It is the law," he says. "It is also the gospel." + +I turn, following his glance, and observe another person +approaching--a stately figure, clad in scarlet and purple robes, +moving with slow dignity. Ha gazes about at the sweating and grunting +hordes; now and then he stops and lifts his hands in a gesture of +benediction, and proclaims in rolling tones, "Blessed are the +Bootstrap-lifters, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." He moves on, +and after a bit stops and announces again, "Man doth not live by bread +alone, but by every word that cometh out of the mouth of the prophets +and priests of Bootstrap-lifting." + +Watching a while longer, I see this majestic one approach the agent of +the Wholesale Pickpockets' Association. The agent greets him as a +friend, and proceeds to transfer to the pockets of his capacious robes +a generous share of the loot which he has collected. The majestic one +does not cringe, nor does he make any effort to hide what is going on. +On the contrary he cries aloud, "It is more blessed to give than to +receive!" And again he cries, "The laborer is worthy of his hire!" And +a third time he cries, yet more sternly, "Render unto Caesar the +things which are Caesar's!" And the Bootstrap-lifters pause long +enough to answer: "Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to +keep this law!" Then they renew their straining and tugging. + +I step up, and in timid tones begin, "Reverend sir, will you tell me +by what right you take this wealth?" + +Instantly a frown comes upon his face, and he cries in a voice of +thunder, "Blasphemer!" And all the Bootstrap-lifters desist from their +lifting, and menace me with furious looks. There is a general call for +a policeman of the Wholesale Pickpockets' Association; and so I fall +silent, and slink away in the throng, and thereafter keep my thoughts +to myself. + +Over the vast plain I wander, observing a thousand strange and +incredible and terrifying manifestations of the Bootstrap-lifting +impulse. There is, I discover, a regular propaganda on foot; a long +time ago--no man can recall how far back--the Wholesale Pickpockets +made the discovery of the ease with which a man's pockets could be +rifled while he was preoccupied with spiritual exercises, and they +began offering prizes for the best essays in support of the practice. +Now their propaganda is everywhere triumphant, and year by year we see +an increase in the rewards and emoluments of the prophets and priests +of the cult. The ground is covered with stately temples of various +designs, all of which I am told are consecrated to Bootstrap-lifting. +I come to where a group of people are occupied in laying the +corner-stone of a new white marble structure; I inquire and am +informed it is the First Church of Bootstrap-lifters, Scientist. As I +stand watching, a card is handed to me, informing me that a lady will +do my Bootstrap-lifting at five dollars per lift. + +I go on to another building, which I am told is a library containing +volumes in defense of the Bootstrap-lifters, published under the +auspices of the Wholesale Pickpockets. I enter, and find endless +vistas of shelves, also several thousand current magazines and papers. +I consult these--for my legs have given out in the effort to visit and +inspect all phases of the Bootstrap-lifting practice. I discover that +hardly a week passes that some one does not start a new cult, or +revive an old one; if I had a hundred life-times I could not know all +the creeds and ceremonies, the services and rituals, the litanies and +liturgies, the hymns, anthems and offertories of Bootstrap-lifting. +There are the Holy Roman Bootstrap-lifters, whose priests are fed +by Transubstantiation; the established Anglican Bootstrap-lifters, +whose priests live by "livings"; the Baptist Bootstrap-lifters, +whose preachers practice total immersion in Standard Oil. There +are Yogi Bootstrap-lifters with flowing robes of yellow silk; +Theosophist Bootstrap-lifters with green and purple auras; Mormon +Bootstrap-lifters, Mazdaznan Bootstrap-lifters, Spiritualist and +Spirit-Fruit, Millerite and Dowieite, Holy Roller and Holy Jumper, +Come-to-glory negro, Billy Sunday base-ball and Salvation Army +bass-drum Bootstrap-lifters. There are the thousand varieties of "New +Thought" Bootstrap-lifters; the mystic and transcendentalist, +Swedenborgian and Jacob Boehme Bootstrap-lifters; the Elbert Hubbard +high-art Bootstrap-lifters with half a million magazinelets at two +bits apiece; the "uplift" and "optimist," the Ralph Waldo Trine and +Orison Swett Marden Bootstrap-lifters with a hundred thousand volumes +at one dollar per volume. There are the Platonist and Hegelian and +Kantian professors of collegiate metaphysical Bootstrap-lifting at +several thousand dollars per year each. There are the Nietzschean +Bootstrap-lifters, who lift themselves to the Superman, and the +art-for-art's-sake, neo-Pagan Bootstrap-lifters, who lift themselves +down to the Ape. + +Excepting possibly the last-mentioned group, the priests of all +these cults, the singers, shouters, prayers and exhorters of +Bootstrap-lifting have as their distinguishing characteristic that +they do very little lifting at their own bootstraps, and less at any +other man's. Now and then you may see one bend and give a delicate +tug, of a purely symbolical character: as when the Supreme Pontiff of +the Roman Bootstrap-lifters comes once a year to wash the feet of the +poor; or when the Sunday-school Superintendent of the Baptist +Bootstrap-lifters shakes the hand of one of his Colorado mine-slaves. +But for the most part the priests and preachers of Bootstrap-lifting +walk haughtily erect, many of them being so swollen with prosperity +that they could not reach their bootstraps if they wanted to. Their +role in life is to exhort other men to more vigorous efforts at +self-elevation, that the agents of the Wholesale Pickpockets' +Association may ply their immemorial role with less chance of +interference. + +#Religion# + +The reader, offended by this raillery, asks if I mean to impugn the +sincerity of all who preach the supremacy of the soul. No; I admit the +honesty of the heroes and madmen of history. All I ask of the preacher +is that he shall make an effort to practice his doctrine. Let him be +tormented like Don Quixote; let him go mad like Nietzsche; let him +stand upon a pillar and be devoured by worms like Simeon Stylites--on +these terms I grant to any dreamer the right to hold himself above +economic science. + +Man is an evasive beast, given to cultivating strange notions about +himself. He is humiliated by his simian ancestry, and tries to deny +his animal nature, to persuade himself that he is not limited by its +weaknesses nor concerned in its fate. And this impulse may be +harmless, when it is genuine. But what are we to say when we see the +formulas of heroic self-deception made use of by unheroic +self-indulgence? What are we to say when we see asceticism preached to +the poor by fat and comfortable retainers of the rich? What are we to +say when we see idealism become hypocrisy, and the moral and spiritual +heritage of mankind twisted to the knavish purposes of class-cruelty +and greed? What I say is--Bootstrap-lifting! + +It is the fate of many abstract words to be used in two senses, one +good and the other bad. Morality means the will to righteousness, or +it means Anthony Comstock; democracy means the rule of the people, or +it means Tammany Hall. And so it is with the word "Religion". In its +true sense Religion is the most fundamental of the soul's impulses, +the impassioned love of life, the feeling of its preciousness, the +desire to foster and further it. In that sense every thinking man must +be religious; in that sense Religion is a perpetually self-renewing +force, the very nature of our being. In that sense I have no thought +of assailing it, I would make clear that I hold it beyond assailment. + +But we are denied the pleasure of using the word in that honest sense, +because of another which has been given to it. To the ordinary man +"Religion" means, not the soul's longing for growth, the "hunger and +thirst after righteousness", but certain forms in which this hunger +has manifested itself in history, and prevails today throughout the +world; that is to say, institutions having fixed dogmas and +"revelations", creeds and rituals, with an administering caste +claiming supernatural sanction. By such institutions the moral +strivings of the race, the affections of childhood and the aspirations +of youth are made the prerogatives and stock in trade of +ecclesiastical hierarchies. It is the thesis of this book that +"Religion" in this sense is a source of income to parasites, and the +natural ally of every form of oppression and exploitation. + +If by my jesting at "Bootstrap-lifting" I have wounded some dear +prejudice of the reader, let me endeavor to speak in a more persuasive +voice. I am a man who has suffered, and has seen the suffering of +others; I have devoted my life to analyzing the causes of the +suffering, to find out if it be necessary and fore-ordained, or if by +any chance there be a way of escape for future generations. I have +found that the latter is the case; the suffering is needless, it can +with ease and certainty be banished from the earth. I know this with +the knowledge of science--in the same way that the navigator of a ship +knows his latitude and longitude, and the point of the compass to +which he must steer in order to reach the port. + +Come, reader, let us put aside prejudice, and the terrors of the cults +of the unknown. The power which made us has given us a mind, and the +impulse to its use; let us see what can be done with it to rid the +earth of its ancient evils. And do not be troubled if at the outset +this book seems to be entirely "destructive". I assure you that I am +no crude materialist, I am not so shallow as to imagine that our race +will be satisfied with a barren rationalism. I know that the old +symbols came out of the heart of man because they corresponded to +certain needs of the heart of man. I know that new symbols will be +found, corresponding more exactly to the needs of our time. If here I +set to work to tear down an old and ramshackle building, it is not +from blind destructfulness, but as an architect who means to put a new +and sounder structure in its place. Before we part company I shall +submit the blue print of that new home of the spirit. + + * * * * * + + + + +#BOOK ONE# + +#The Church of the Conquerors# + + I saw the Conquerors riding by + With trampling feet of horse and men: + Empire on empire like the tide + Flooded the world and ebbed again; + + A thousand banners caught the sun, + And cities smoked along the plain, + And laden down with silk and gold + And heaped up pillage groaned the wain. + + Kemp. + + * * * * * + + + + +#The Priestly Lie# + +When the first savage saw his hut destroyed by a bolt of lightning, he +fell down upon his face in terror. He had no conception of natural +forces, of laws of electricity; he saw this event as the act of an +individual intelligence. To-day we read about fairies and demons, +dryads and fauns and satyrs, Wotan and Thor and Vulcan, Freie and +Flora and Ceres, and we think of all these as pretty fancies, +play-products of the mind; losing sight of the fact that they were +originally meant with entire seriousness--that not merely did ancient +man believe in them, but was forced to believe in them, because the +mind must have an explanation of things that happen, and an individual +intelligence was the only explanation available. The story of the hero +who slays the devouring dragon was not merely a symbol of day and +night, of summer and winter; it was a literal explanation of the +phenomena, it was the science of early times. + +Men imagined supernatural powers such as they could comprehend. If the +lightning god destroyed a hut, obviously it must be because the owner +of the hut had given offense; so the owner must placate the god, using +those means which would be effective in the quarrels of men--presents +of roast meats and honey and fresh fruits, of wine and gold and jewels +and women, accompanied by friendly words and gestures of submission. +And when in spite of all things the natural evil did not cease, when +the people continued to die of pestilence, then came the opportunity +for hysterical or ambitious persons to discover new ways of +penetrating the mind of the god. There would be dreamers of dreams and +seers of visions and hearers of voices; readers of the entrails of +beasts and interpreters of the flight of birds; there would be burning +bushes and stone tablets on mountain-tops, and inspired words dictated +to aged disciples on lonely islands. There would arise special castes +of men and women, learned in these sacred matters; and these priestly +castes would naturally emphasize the importance of their calling, +would hold themselves aloof from the common herd, endowed with special +powers and entitled to special privileges. They would interpret the +oracles in ways favorable to themselves and their order; they would +proclaim themselves friends and confidants of the god, walking with +him in the night-time, receiving his messengers and angels, acting as +his deputies in forgiving offenses, in dealing punishments and in +receiving gifts. They would become makers of laws and moral codes. +They would wear special costumes to distinguish them, they would go +through elaborate ceremonies to impress their followers, employing all +sensuous effects, architecture and sculpture and painting, music and +poetry and dancing, candles and incense and bells and gongs + + And storied windows richly dight, + Casting a dim religious light. + There let the pealing organ blow, + To the full-voiced choir below, + In service high and anthem clear, + As may with sweetness through mine ear + Dissolve me into ecstacies, + And bring all heaven before mine eyes. + +So builds itself up, in a thousand complex and complicated forms, the +Priestly Lie. There are a score of great religions in the world, each +with scores or hundreds of sects, each with its priestly orders, its +complicated creed and ritual, its heavens and hells. Each has its +thousands or millions or hundreds of millions of "true believers"; +each damns all the others, with more or less heartiness--and each is a +mighty fortress of Graft. + +There will be few readers of this book who have not been brought up +under the spell of some one of these systems of Supernaturalism; who +have not been taught to speak with respect of some particular priestly +order, to thrill with awe at some particular sacred rite, to seek +respite from earthly woes in some particular ceremonial spell. These +things are woven into our very fibre in childhood; they are sanctified +by memories of joys and griefs, they are confused with spiritual +struggles, they become part of all that is most vital in our lives. +The reader who wishes to emancipate himself from their thrall will do +well to begin with a study of the beliefs and practices of other sects +than his own--a field where he is free to observe and examine without +fear of sacrilege. Let him look into Madame Blavatsky's "Secret +Doctrine", or her "Isis Unveiled"--encyclopedias of the fantastic +inventions which terror and longing have wrung out of the tortured +soul of man. Here are mysteries and solemnities, charms and spells, +illuminations and transmigrations, angels and demons, guides, controls +and masters--all of which it is permissible to refuse to support with +gifts. Let the reader then go to James Freeman Clarke's "Ten Great +Religions", and realize how many billions of humans have lived and +died in the solemn certainty that their welfare on earth and in heaven +depended upon their accepting certain ideas and practicing certain +rites, all mutually exclusive and incompatible, each damning the +others and the followers of the others. So gradually the realization +will come to him that the test of a doctrine about life and its +welfare must be something else than the fact that one was born to it. + +#The Great Fear# + +It was not the fault of primitive man that he was ignorant, nor that +his ignorance made him a prey to dread. The traces of his mental +suffering will inspire in us only pity and sympathy; for Nature is a +grim school-mistress, and not all her lessons have yet been learned. +We have a right to scorn and anger only when we see this dread being +diverted from its true function, a stimulus to a search for knowledge, +and made into a means of clamping down ignorance upon the mind of the +race. That this has been the deliberate policy of institutionalized +Religion no candid student can deny. + +The first thing brought forth by the study of any religion, ancient or +modern, is that it is based upon Fear, born of it, fed by it--and that +it cultivates the source from which its nourishment is derived. "The +fear of divine anger", says Prof. Jastrow, "runs as an undercurrent +through the entire religious literature of Babylonia and Assyria." In +the words of Tabi-utul-Enlil, King of ancient Nippur: + + Who is there that can grasp the will of the gods in heaven? + The plan of a god is full of mystery--who can understand it? + He who is still alive at evening is dead the next morning. + In an instant he is cast into grief, in a moment he is crushed. + +And that cry might be duplicated from almost any page of the Hebrew +scriptures: the only difference being that the Hebrews combined all +their fears into one Great Fear. "The fear of the Lord is the +beginning of wisdom," we are told by Solomon of the thousand wives; +and the Psalmist repeats it. "Dominion and fear are with Him," cries +Job. "How then can any man be just before God? Or how can he be clean +that is born of a woman? Behold, even the moon hath no brightness, and +the stars are not pure in His sight: How much less man, that is a +worm? And the son of man, which is a worm?" He goes on, in his lyrical +rapture, "Sheol is naked before Him, and Destruction hath no +covering.... The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at His +rebuke. ... The thunder of His power who can understand?" That all +this is some of the world's great poetry does not in the least alter +the fact that it is an abasement of the soul, an hysterical perversion +of the facts of life, and a preparation of the mind for the seeds of +Priestcraft. + +The Book of Job has been called a "Wisdom-drama": and what is the +denouement of this drama, what is ancient Hebrew wisdom's last word +about life? "Wherefore I abhor myself," says Job, "and repent in dust +and ashes." The poor fellow has done nothing; we have been told at the +beginning that he "was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, +and eschewed evil." But the Sabeans and the Chaldeans rob him, and +"the fire of God" falls from heaven and burns up his sheep and his +servants, and "a great wind from the wilderness" kills his sons and +daughters; and then his body becomes covered with boils--a phenomenon +caused in part by worry, and the consequent nervous indigestion, but +mainly by excess of starch and deficiency of mineral salts in the +diet. Job, however, has never heard of the fasting cure for disease, +and so he takes him a potsherd to scrape himself withal, and he sits +among the ashes--a highly unsanitary procedure enforced by his +religious ritual. So naturally he feels like a worm, and abhors +himself, and cries out: "I know that Thou canst do all things, and +that no purpose of Thine can be restrained." By which utter, +unreasoning humility he succeeds in appeasing the Great Fear, and his +friends make a sacrifice of seven bullocks and seven rams--a feast for +a whole templeful of priests--and then "the Lord gave Job twice as +much as he had before.... And after this Job lived an hundred and +forty years, and saw his sons and his sons' sons, even four +generations." + +You do not have to look very deeply into this "Wisdom-drama" to find +out whose wisdom it is. Confess your own ignorance and your own +impotence, abandon yourself utterly, and then we, the sacred Caste, +the Keepers of the Holy Secrets, will secure you pardon and +respite--in exchange for fresh meat. Here are verses from a psalm of +the ancient Babylonians, which "heathen" chant is identical in spirit +and purpose with the utterances of Job: + + The Sin that I have wrought, I know not; + The unclean that I have eaten, I know not; + The offense into which I have walked, I know not.... + The lord, in the wrath of his heart, hath regarded me; + The god, in the anger of his heart, hath surrounded me; + A goddess, known or unknown, hath wrought me sorrow.... + I sought for help, but no one took my hand; + I wept, but no one harkened to me.... + The feet of my goddess I kiss, I touch them; + To the god, known or unknown, I utter my prayer; + O god, known or unknown, turn thy countenance, accept my sacrifice; + O goddess, known or unknown, look mercifully on me, accept my sacrifice! + +#Salve Regina!# + +And now let the reader leap three thousand years of human history, of +toil and triumph of the intellect of man; and instead of a Hebrew +manuscript or a Babylonian brick there confronts him a little +publication, printed on a modern rotary press in the capital of the +United States of America, bearing the date of October, 1914, and the +title "Salve Regina". In it we find "a beautiful prayer", composed by +the late cardinal Rampolla; we are told that "Pius X attached to it an +indulgence of 100 days, each time it is piously recited, applicable to +the souls in purgatory." + + O Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, cast a glance from Heaven, + where thou sittest as Queen, upon this poor sinner, your + servant. Though conscious of his unworthiness.... he blesses + and exalts thee from his whole heart as the purest, the most + beautiful and the most holy of creatures. He blesses thy + holy name. He blesses thy sublime prerogatives as real + Mother of God, ever Virgin, conceived without stain of sin, + as co-Redemptress of the human race. He blesses the Eternal + Father who chose you, etc. He blesses the Incarnate Word, + etc. He blesses the Divine Spirit, etc. He blesses, exalts + and thanks the most august Trinity, etc. O Virgin, holy and + merciful.... be pleased to accept this little homage of your + servant, and obtain for him also from your divine Son pardon + for his sins, Amen. + +And then, looking more closely, we discover the purpose of this +"beautiful prayer", and of the neat little paper which prints it. +"Salve Regina" is raising funds for the "National Shrine of the +Immaculate Conception", a home for more priests, and Catholic ladies +who desire to collect for it may receive little books which they are +requested to return within three months. Pius X writes a letter of +warm endorsement, and sets an example by giving four hundred dollars +"out of his poverty"--or, to be more precise, out of the poverty of +the pitiful peasantry of Italy. There is included in the paper a form +of bequest for "devoted clients of Our Blessed Mother", and at the top +of the editorial page the most alluring of all baits for the loving +hearts of the flock--that the names of deceased relatives and friends +may be written in the collection books, and will be transferred to the +records of the Shrine, and these persons "will share in all its +spiritual benefits". In the days of Job it was with threats of boils +and poverty that the Priestly Lie maintained itself; but in the case +of this blackest of all Terrors, transplanted to our free Republic +from the heart of the Dark Ages, the wretched victims see before their +eyes the glare of flames, and hear the shrieks of their loved ones +writhing in torment through uncounted ages and eternities. + +#Fresh Meat# + +In the days when I was experimenting with vegetarianism, I sought +earnestly for evidence of a non-meat-eating race; but candor compelled +me to admit that man was like the monkey and the pig and the bear--he +was vegetarian when he could not help it. The advocates of the reform +insist that meat as a diet causes muddy brains and dulled nerves; but +you would certainly never suspect this from a study of history. What +you find in history is that all men crave meat, all struggle for it, +and the strongest and cleverest get it. Everywhere you find the +subject classes living in the midst of animals which they tend, but +whose flesh they rarely taste. Even in modern America, sweet land of +liberty, our millions of tenant farmers raise chickens and geese and +turkeys, and hardly venture to consume as much as an egg, but save +everything for the summer-boarder or the buyer from the city. It would +not be too much to say of the cultural records of early man that they +all have to do, directly or indirectly, with the reserving of fresh +meat to the masters. In J.T. Trowbridge's cheerful tale of the +adventures of Captain Seaborn, we are told by the cannibal priest how +idol-worship has ameliorated the morals of the tribe-- + + For though some warriors of renown + Continue anthropophagous, + 'Tis rare that human flesh goes down + The low-caste man's aesophagus! + +I suspect that we should have to go back to the days of the cave-man +to find the first lover of the flesh-pots who put a taboo upon meat, +and promised supernatural favors to all who would exercise +self-control, and instead of consuming their meat themselves, would +bring it and lay it upon the sacred griddle, or altar, where the god +might come in the night-time and partake of it. Certainly, at any +rate, there are few religions of record in which such devices do not +appear. The early laws of the Hebrews are more concerned with +delicatessen for the priests than with any other subject whatever. +Here, for example, is the way to make a Nazarite: + + He shall offer his offering up to the Lord, one he lamb of + the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one + ewe lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin + offering, and one ram without blemish for peace offerings, + and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour + mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed + with oil, and their meat offerings. + +And the law goes on to instruct the priests to take certain choice +parts and "wave them for a wave offering before the Lord: this is holy +for the priest." What was done with the other portions we are not +told; but earlier in this same "Book of Numbers" we find the general +law that + + Every offering of all the holy things of the children of + Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his. And + every man's hallowed things shall be his: whatsoever any man + giveth to the priest, it shall be his. + +In the same way we are told by Viscount Amberley that the priests of +Ceylon first present the gifts to the god, and then eat them. Among +the Parsees, when a man dies, the relatives must bring four new robes +to the priests; if they do this, the priests wear the robes; if they +fail to do it, the dead man appears naked before the judgment-throne. +The devotees are instructed that "he who performs this rite succeeds +in both worlds, and obtains a firm footing in both worlds." Among the +Buddhists, the followers give alms to the monks, and are told +specifically what advantages will thereby accrue to them. In the +Aitareyo Brahmanam of the Rig-Veda we read + + He who, knowing this, sacrifices according to this rite, is + born from the womb of Agni and the offerings, participates + in the nature of the Rik, Yajus, and Saman, the Veda (sacred + knowledge), the Brahma (sacred element) and immortality, and + is absorbed into the deity. + +Among the Parsees the priest eats the bread and drinks the haoma, or +juice of a plant, considered to be both a plant and a god. Among the +Episcopalians, a contemporary Christian sect, the sacred juice is that +of the grape, and the priest is not allowed to throw away what is left +of it, but is ordered "reverently to consume it." In as much as the +priest is the sole judge of how much good sherry wine he shall +consecrate previous to the ceremony, it is to be expected that the +priests of this cult should be lukewarm towards the prohibition +movement, and should piously refuse to administer their sacrament with +unfermented and uninteresting grape-juice. + +#Priestly Empires# + +In every human society of which we have record there has been one +class which has done the hard and exhausting work, the "hewers of wood +and drawers of water"; and there has been another, much smaller class +which has done the directing. To belong to this latter class is to +work also, but with the head instead of the hands; it is also to enjoy +the good things of life, to live in the best houses, to eat the best +food, to have choice of the most desirable women; it is to have +leisure to cultivate the mind and appreciate the arts, to acquire +graces and distinctions, to give laws and moral codes, to shape +fashions and tastes, to be revered and regarded--in short, to have +Power. How to get this Power and to hold it has been the first object +of the thoughts of men from the beginning of time. + +The most obvious method is by the sword; but this method is uncertain, +for any man may take up a sword, and some may succeed with it. It will +be found that empires based upon military force alone, however cruel +they may be, are not permanent, and therefore not so dangerous to +progress; it is only when resistance is paralyzed by the agency of +Superstition, that the race can be subjected to systems of +exploitation for hundreds and even thousands of years. The ancient +empires were all priestly empires; the kings ruled because they obeyed +the will of the priests, taught to them from childhood as the word of +the gods. + +Thus, for instance, Prescott tells us: + + Terror, not love, was the spring of education with the + Aztecs....Such was the crafty policy of the priests, who, by + reserving to themselves the business of instruction, were + enabled to mould the young and plastic mind according to + their own wills, and to train it early to implicit reverence + for religion and its ministers. + +The historian goes on to indicate the economic harvest of this +teaching: + + To each of the principal temples, lands were annexed for the + maintenance of the priests. The estates were augmented by + the policy or devotion of successive princes, until, under + the last Montezuma, they had swollen to an enormous extent, + and covered every district of the empire. + +And this concerning the frightful system of human sacrifices, whereby +the priestly caste maintained the prestige of its divinities: + + At the dedication of the temple of Huitzilopochtli, in 1486, + the prisoners, who for some years had been reserved for the + purpose, were ranged in files, forming a procession nearly + two miles long. The ceremony consumed several days, and + seventy thousand captives are said to have perished at the + shrine of this terrible deity. + +The same system appears in Professor Jastrow's account of the +priesthood of Babylonia and Assyria: + + The ultimate source of all law being the deity himself, the + original legal tribunal was the place where the image or + symbol of the god stood. A legal decision was an oracle or + omen, indicative of the will of the god. The power thus + lodged in the priests of Babylonia and Assyria was enormous. + They virtually held in their hands the life and death of the + people. + +And of the business side of this vast religious system: + + The temples were the natural depositories of the legal + archives, which in the course of centuries grew to veritably + enormous proportions. Records were made of all decisions; + the facts were set forth, and duly attested by witnesses. + Business and marriage contracts, loans and deeds of sale + were in like manner drawn up in the presence of official + scribes, who were also priests. In this way all commercial + transactions received the written sanction of the religious + organization. The temples themselves--at least in the large + centres--entered into business relations with the populace. + In order to maintain the large household represented by such + an organization as that of the temple of Enlil of Nippur, + that of Ningirsu at Lagash, that of Marduk at Babylon, or + that of Shamash at Sippar, large holdings of land were + required which, cultivated by agents for the priests, or + farmed out with stipulations for a goodly share of the + produce, secured an income for the maintenance of the temple + officials. The enterprise of the temples was expanded to the + furnishing of loans at interest--in later periods, at + 20%--to barter in slaves, to dealings in lands, besides + engaging labor for work of all kinds directly needed for the + temples. A large quantity of the business documents found in + the temple archives are concerned with the business affairs + of the temple, and we are justified in including the temples + in the large centres as among the most important business + institutions of the country. In financial or monetary + transactions the position of the temples was not unlike that + of national banks.... + +And so on. We may venture the guess that the learned professor said +more in that last sentence than he himself intended, for his lectures +were delivered in that temple of plutocracy, the University of +Pennsylvania, and paid out of an endowment which specifies that "all +polemical subjects shall be positively excluded!" + +#Prayer-wheels# + +These priestly empires exist in the world today. If we wish to find +them we have only to ask ourselves: + +What countries are making no contribution to the progress of the race? +What countries have nothing to give us, whether in art, science, or +industry? + +For example, Gervaise tells us of the Talapoins, or priests of Siam, +that "they are exempted from all public charges, they salute nobody, +while everybody prostrates himself before them. They are maintained at +the public expense." In the same way we read of the negroes of the +Caribbean islands that "their priests and priestesses exercise an +almost unlimited power." Miss Kingsley, in her "West African Studies", +tells us that if we desire to understand the institutions of this +district, we must study the native's religion. + + For his religion has so firm a grasp upon his mind that it + influences everything he does. It is not a thing apart, as + the religion of the Europeans is at times. The African + cannot say, "Oh, that is all right from a religious point of + view, but one must be practical." To be practical, to get on + in the world, to live the day and night through, he must be + right in the religious point of view, namely, must be on + working terms with the great world of spirits around him. + The knowledge of this spirit world constitutes the religion + of the African, and his customs and ceremonies arise from + his idea of the best way to influence it. + +Or consider Henry Savage Lander's account of Thibet: + + In Lhassa and many other sacred places fanatical pilgrims + make circumambulations, sometimes for miles and miles, and + for days together, covering the entire distance lying flat + upon their bodies.... From the ceiling of the temple hang + hundreds of long strips, katas, offered by pilgrims to the + temple, and becoming so many flying prayers when hung + up--for mechanical praying in every way is prominent in + Thibet.... Thus instead of having to learn by heart long and + varied prayers, all you have to do is to stuff the entire + prayer-book into a prayer-wheel, + +and revolve it while repeating as fast as you can four words meaning, +"O God, the gem emerging from the lotus-flower." ... The attention of +the pilgrims is directed to a large box, or often a big bowl, where +they may deposit whatever offerings they can spare, and it must be +said that their religious ideas are so strongly developed that they +will dispose of a considerable portion of their money in this +fashion.... The Lamas are very clever in many ways, and have a great +hold over the entire country. They are ninety per cent of them +unscrupulous scamps, depraved in every way and given to every sort of +vice. So are the women Lamas. They live and sponge on the credulity +and ignorance of the crowds; it is to maintain this ignorance, upon +which their luxurious life depends, that foreign influence of every +kind is strictly kept out of the country. + +#The Butcher-Gods# + +In this last sentence we have summed up the fundamental fact about +institutionalized religion. Wherever belief and ritual have become the +means of livelihood of a class, all innovation will of necessity be +taken as an attack upon that class; it will be literally a +crime-robbing the priests of their age-long privileges. And of course +they will oppose the robber--using every weapon of terrorism, both of +this world and the next. They will require the submission, not merely +of their own people, but of their neighbors, and their jealousy of +rival priestly castes will be a cause of wars. The story of the early +days of mankind is a sickening record of torture and slaughter in the +name of ten thousand butcher-gods. + +Thus, for example, we read in the Hebrew religious records how the +priests were engaged in establishing the prestige of a fetish called +"the ark"; and how the people of one tribe violated this fetish and +wakened the wrath of Jehovah, the god. And he smote the men of +Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even +he smote of the people fifty thousand and three score and ten men; and +the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people +with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able +to stand before this holy Lord God? + +This terrible old Hebrew divinity said of himself that he was "a +jealous god". Throughout the time of his sway he issued through his +ministers precise instructions for the most revolting cruelties, the +extermination of whole nations of men, women and children, whose sole +offense was that they did not pay tribute to Jehovah's priests. Thus, +for example, the chief of his prophets, Moses, called the people +together, and with all solemnity, and with many warnings, handed down +ten commandments graven upon stone tablets; he went on to set forth +how the people were to set upon and rob their neighbors, and gave them +these blood-thirsty instructions: + + When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither + thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations + before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the + Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the + Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and + mightier than thou; And when the Lord thy God shall deliver + them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy + them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy + unto them: ... But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall + destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut + down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. + For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord + thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto + himself, above all people that are upon the face of the + earth. + +The records of this Jehovah are full of similar horrors. He sent his +chosen people out to destroy the Midianites, and they slew all the +males, but this was not sufficient, and Moses was wroth, and commanded +them to kill all the married women, and to take the single women "for +themselves". We are told that sixteen thousand single women were +spared, of whom "the Lord's tribute was thirty and two!" In the Book +of Joshua we read that he had an interview with a supernatural +personage called "the captain of the Lord's host", and how this +captain had given to him a magic spell which would destroy the city of +Jericho. The city should be accursed, "even it and all that are +therein, to the Lord"; every living thing except one traitor-harlot +was to be slaughtered, and all the wealth of the city reserved to the +priestly caste. This was carried out to the letter, except that +"Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the +tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing"--that is, he hid some gold +and silver in his tent; whereupon the army met with a defeat, and +everybody knew that something was wrong, and Joshua rent his clothes +and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord, and +got another message from Jehovah, to the effect that the guilty man +should be burned with fire, "he and all that he hath." + + And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of + Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of + gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his + asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and + they brought them unto the Valley of Achor. And Joshua said, + Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this + day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them + with fire, after they had stoned him with stones. + +We have no means of knowing what was the character of the unfortunate +inhabitants of the city of Jericho, nor of the Hittites and the +Girgashites and the Amorites and all the rest of the victims of +Jehovah. To be sure, we are told by the Hebrew priests that they +sacrificed their children to their gods; but then, consider what we +should believe about the Hebrew religion, if we took the word of rival +priestly castes! Consider, for example, that in this twentieth century +we saw an orthodox Jew tried in a Russian court of law for having made +a sacrifice of Christian babies; nevertheless we know that the Jews +represent a considerable part of the intelligence and idealism of +Russia. We know in the same way that the Moors had most of the culture +and all of the scientific knowledge of Spain, that the Huguenots had +most of the conscience and industry of France; and we know that they +were massacred or driven out to death by the priestly castes of the +Middle Ages. + +#The Holy Inquisition# + +Let us have one glimpse of the conditions in those mediaeval times, so +that we may know what we ourselves have escaped. In the fifteenth +century there was established in Europe the cult of a three-headed +god, whose priests had won lordship over a continent. They were +enormously wealthy, and unthinkably corrupt; they sold to the +rich the license to commit every possible crime, and they held +the poor in ignorance and degradation. Among the comparatively +intelligent and freedom-loving people of Bohemia there arose a +great reformer, John Huss, himself a priest, protesting against +the corruptions of his order. They trapped him into their power +by means of a "safe-conduct"--which they repudiated because no +promise to a heretic could have validity. They found him guilty +of having taught the hateful doctrine that a priest who committed +crimes could not give absolution for the crimes of others; and they +held an auto de fe--which means a "sentence of faith." As we read +in Lea's "History of the Inquisition": + + The cathedral of Constance was crowded with Sigismund (the + Emperor) and his nobles, the great officers of the empire + with their insignia, the prelates in their splendid robes. + While mass was sung, Huss, as an excommunicate, was kept + waiting at the door; when brought in he was placed on an + elevated bench by a table on which stood a coffer containing + priestly vestments. After some preliminaries, including a + sermon by the Bishop of Lodi, in which he assured Sigismund + that the events of that day would confer on him immortal + glory, the articles of which Huss was convicted were + recited. In vain he protested that he believed in + transubstantiation and in the validity of the sacrament in + polluted hands. He was ordered to hold his tongue, and on + his persisting the beadles were told to silence him, but in + spite of this he continued to utter protests. The sentence + was then read in the name of the council, condemning him + both for his written errors and those which had been proven + by witnesses. He was declared a pertinacious and + incorrigible heretic who did not desire to return to the + Church; his books were ordered to be burned, and himself to + be degraded from the priesthood and abandoned to the secular + court. Seven bishops arrayed him in priestly garb and warned + him to recant while yet there was time. He turned to the + crowd, and with broken voice declared that he could not + confess the errors which he never entertained, lest he + should lie to God, when the bishops interrupted him, crying + that they had waited long enough, for he was obstinate in + his heresy. He was degraded in the usual manner, stripped of + his sacerdotal vestments, his fingers scraped; but when the + tonsure was to be disposed of, an absurd quarrel arose among + the bishops as to whether the head should be shaved with a + razor or the tonsure be destroyed with scissors. Scissors + won the day, and a cross was cut in his hair. Then on his + head was placed a conical paper cap, a cubit in height, + adorned with painted devils and the inscription, "This is + the heresiarch." + + The place of execution was a meadow near the river, to which + he was conducted by two thousand armed men, with Palsgrave + Louis at their head, and a vast crowd, including many + nobles, prelates, and cardinals. The route followed was + circuitous, in order that he might be carried past the + episcopal palace, in front of which his books were burning, + whereat he smiled. Pity from man there was none to look for, + but he sought comfort on high, repeating to himself, "Christ + Jesus, Son of the living God, have mercy upon us!" and when + he came in sight of the stake he fell on his knees and + prayed. He was asked if he wished to confess, and said that + he would gladly do so if there were space. A wide circle was + formed, and Ulrich Schorand, who, according to custom, had + been providently empowered to take advantage of final + weakening, came forward, saying, "Dear sir and master, if + you will recant your unbelief and heresy, for which you must + suffer, I will willingly hear your confession; but if you + will not, you know right well that, according to canon law, + no one can administer the sacrament to a heretic." To this + Huss answered, "It is not necessary: I am not a mortal + sinner." His paper crown fell off and he smiled as his + guards replaced it. He desired to take leave of his keepers, + and when they were brought to him he thanked them for their + kindness, saying that they had been to him rather brothers + than jailers. Then he commenced to address the crowd in + German, telling them that he suffered for errors which he + did not hold, and he was cut short. When bound to the stake, + two cartloads of fagots and straw were piled up around him, + and the palsgrave and vogt for the last time adjured him to + abjure. Even yet he could save himself, but only repeated + that he had been convicted by false witnesses on errors + never entertained by him. They clapped their hands and then + withdrew, and the executioners applied the fire. Twice Huss + was heard to exclaim, "Christ Jesus, Son of the living God, + have mercy upon me!" then a wind springing up and blowing + the flames and smoke into his face checked further + utterances, but his head was seen to shake and his lips to + move while one might twice or thrice recite a paternoster. + The tragedy was over; the sorely-tried soul had escaped from + its tormentors, and the bitterest enemies of the reformer + could not refuse to him the praise that no philosopher of + old had faced death with more composure than he had shown in + his dreadful extremity. No faltering of the voice had + betrayed an internal struggle. Palsgrave Louis, seeing + Huss's mantle on the arm of one of the executioners, ordered + it thrown into the flames lest it should be reverenced as a + relic, and promised the man to compensate him. With the same + view the body was carefully reduced to ashes and thrown into + the Rhine, and even the earth around the stake was dug up + and carted off; yet the Bohemians long hovered around the + spot and carried home fragments of the neighboring clay, + which they reverenced as relics of their martyr. The next + day thanks were returned to God in a solemn procession in + which figured Sigismund and his queen, the princes and + nobles, nineteen cardinals, two patriarchs, seventy-seven + bishops, and all the clergy of the council. A few days later + Sigismund, who had delayed his departure for Spain to see + the matter concluded, left Constance, feeling that his work + was done. + +#Hell-Fire# + +If such a scene could be witnessed in the world today, it would only +be in some remote and wholly savage place, such as the mountains of +Hayti, or the Solomon Islands. It could no longer happen in any +civilized country; the reason being, not any abatement of the +pretensions of the priesthood, but solely the power of science, +embodied in the physical arm of a secular State. The advance of that +arm the church has fought systematically, in every country, and at +every point. To quote Buckle: "A careful study of the history of +religious toleration will prove that in every Christian country where +it has been adopted, it has been forced upon the clergy by the +authority of the secular classes." The wolf of superstition has been +driven into its lair, but it has backed away snarling, and it still +crouches, watching for a chance to spring. The Church which burned +John Huss, which burned Giordano Bruno for teaching that the earth +moves round the sun--that same church, in the name of the same +three-headed god, sent out Francesco Ferrer to the firing-squad; if it +does not do the same thing to the author of this book, it will be +solely because of the police. Not being allowed to burn me here, the +clergy will vent their holy indignation by sentencing me to eternal +burning in a future world which they have created, and which they run +to suit themselves. + +It is a fact, the significance of which cannot be exaggerated, that +the measure of the civilization which any nation has attained is the +extent to which it has curtailed the power of institutionalized +religion. Those peoples which are wholly under the sway of the +priesthood, such as Thibetans and Koreans, Siamese and Caribbeans, are +peoples among whom the intellectual life does not exist. Farther in +advance are Hindoos and Turks, who are religious, but not exclusively. +Still farther on the way are Spaniards and Irish; here, for example, +is a flashlight of the Irish peasantry, given by one of their number, +Patrick MacGill: + + The merchant was a great friend of the parish priest, who + always told the people if they did not pay their debts they + would burn for ever and ever in hell. "The fires of eternity + will make you sorry for the debts that you did not pay," + said the priest. "What is eternity?" he would ask in a + solemn voice from the altar steps. "If a man tried to count + the sands on the sea-shore and took a million years to count + every single grain, how long would it take him to count them + all? A long time, you'll say. But that time is nothing to + eternity. Just think of it! Burning in hell while a man, + taking a million years to count a grain of sand, counts all + the sand on the sea-shore. And this because you did not pay + Farley McKeown his lawful debts, his lawful debts within the + letter of the law." That concluding phrase, "within the + letter of the law," struck terror into all who listened, and + no one, maybe not even the priest himself, knew what it + meant. + +There is light in Ireland to-day, and hope for an Irish culture; +the thing to be noted is that it comes from two movements, one +for agricultural co-operation and the other for political +independence--both of them definitely and specifically non-religious. +This same thing has been true of the movements which have helped on +happier nations, such as the republics of France and America, which +have put an end to the power of the priestly caste to take property by +force, and to dominate the mind of the child without its parents' +consent. + +This is as far as any nation has so far gone; it has apparently not +yet occurred to any legislature that the State may owe a duty to the +child to protect its mind from being poisoned, even though it has the +misfortune to be born of poisoned parents. It is still permitted that +parents should terrify their little ones with images of a personal +devil and a hell of eternal brimstone and sulphur; it is permitted to +found schools for the teaching of devil-doctrines; it is permitted to +organize gigantic campaigns and systematically to infect whole cities +full of men, women and children with hell-fire phobias. In the +American city where I write one may see gatherings of people sunk upon +their knees, even rolling on the ground in convulsions, moaning, +sobbing, screaming to be delivered from such torments. I open my +morning paper and read of the arrest of five men and seven women in +Los Angeles, members of a sect known as the "Church of the Living +God", upon a charge of having disturbed the peace of their neighbors. +The police officers testified that the accused claimed to be possessed +of the divine spirit, and that as signs of this possession they +"crawled on the floor, grunted like pigs and barked like dogs." There +were "other acts, even more startling", about which the newspapers did +not go into details. And again, a week or two later, I read how a +woman has been heard screaming, and found tied to a bed-post, being +whipped by a man. She belonged to a religious sect which had found her +guilty of witchcraft. Another woman was about to shoot her, but this +woman's nerve failed, and the "high priest" was called in, who decreed +a whipping. The victim explained to the police that she would have +deserved to be whipped had she really been a witch, but a mistake had +been made--it was another woman who was the witch. And again in the +Los Angeles "Times" I read a perfectly serious news item, telling how +a certain man awakened one morning, and found on his pillow where his +head had lain a perfect reproduction of the head of Christ with its +crown of thorns. He called in his neighbors to witness the miracle, +and declared that while he was not superstitious, he knew that such a +thing could not have happened by chance, and he knew what it was +intended to signify--he would buy more Liberty Bonds and be more +ardent in his support of the war! + +And this is the world in which our scientists and men of culture think +that the battle of the intellect is won, and that it is no longer +necessary to spend our energies in fighting "Religion!" + + * * * * * + + + + +#BOOK TWO# + +#The Church of Good Society# + + Within the House of Mammon his priesthood stands alert + By mysteries attended, by dusk and splendors girt, + Knowing, for faiths departed, his own shall still endure, + And they be found his chosen, untroubled, solemn, sure. + + Within the House of Mammon the golden altar lifts + Where dragon-lamps are shrouded as costly incense drifts-- + A dust of old ideals, now fragrant from the coals, + To tell of hopes long-ended, to tell the death of souls. + + Sterling. + + * * * * * + + + + +#The Rain Makers# + +I begin with the Church of Good Society, because it happens to be the +Church in which I was brought up. Heading this statement, some of my +readers suspected me of snobbish pride. I search my heart; yes, it +brings a hidden thrill that as far back as I can remember I knew this +atmosphere of urbanity, that twice every Sunday those melodious and +hypnotizing incantations were chanted in my childish ears! I take up +the book of ritual, done in aristocratic black leather with gold +lettering, and the old worn volume brings me strange stirrings of +recollected awe. But I endeavor to repress these vestigial emotions +and to see the volume--not as a message from God to Good Society, but +as a landmark of man's age-long struggle against myth and dogma used +as a source of income and a shield to privilege. + +In the beginning, of course, the priest and the magician ruled the +field. But today, as I examine this "Book of Common Prayer", I +discover that there is at least one spot out of which he has been +cleared entirely; there appears no prayer to planets to stand still, +or to comets to go away. The "Church of Good Society" has discovered +astronomy! But if any astronomer attributes this to his instruments +with their marvelous accuracy, let him at least stop to consider my +"economic interpretation" of the phenomenon--the fact that the +heavenly bodies affect the destinies of mankind so little that there +has not been sufficient emolument to justify the priest in holding on +to his job as astrologer. + +But when you come to the field of meteorology, what a difference! Has +any utmost precision of barometer been able to drive the priest out of +his prerogatives as rainmaker? Not even in the most civilized of +countries; not in that most decorous and dignified of institutions, +the Protestant Episcopal Church of America! I study with care the +passage wherein the clergyman appears as controller of the fate of +crops. I note a chastened caution of phraseology; the church will not +repeat the experience of the sorcerer's apprentice, who set the demons +to bringing water, and then could not make them stop! The spell +invokes "moderate rain and showers"; and as an additional precaution +there is a counter-spell against "excessive rains and floods": the +weather-faucet being thus under exact control. + +I turn the pages of this "Book of Common Prayer", and note the +remnants of magic which it contains. There are not many of the +emergencies of life with which the priest is not authorized to deal; +not many natural phenomena for which he may not claim the credit. And +in case anything should have been overlooked, there is a blanket order +upon Providence: "Graciously hear us, that those evils which the craft +or subtilty of the devil or man worketh against us, be brought to +nought!" I am reminded of the idea which haunted my childhood, reading +fairy-stories about the hero who was allowed three wishes that would +come true. I could never understand why the hero did not settle the +matter once for all--by wishing that everything he wished might come +true! + +Most of these incantations are harmless, and some are amiable; but now +and then you come upon one which is sinister in its implications. The +volume before me happens to be of the Church of England, which is even +more forthright in its confronting of the Great Magic. Many years ago +I remember talking with an English army officer, asking how he could +feel sure of his soldiers in case of labor strikes; did it never occur +to him that the men had relatives among the workers, and might some +time refuse to shoot them? His answer was that he was aware of it, the +military had worked out its technique with care. He would never think +of ordering his men to fire upon a mob in cold blood; he would first +start the spell of discipline to work, he would march them round the +block, and get them in the swing, get their blood moving to military +music; then, when he gave the order, in they would go. I have never +forgotten the gesture, the animation with which he illustrated their +going--I could hear the grunting of bayonets in the flesh of men. The +social system prevailing in England has made necessary the perfecting +of such military technique; also, you discover, English piety has made +necessary the providing of a religious sanction for it. After the job +has been done and the bayonets have been wiped clean, the company is +marched to church, and the officer kneels in his family pew, and the +privates kneel with the parlor-maids, and the clergyman raises his +hands to heaven and intones: "We bless thy Holy Name, that it hath +pleased Thee to appease the seditious tumults which have been lately +raised up among us!" + +And sometimes the clergyman does more than bless the killers--he even +takes part in their bloody work. In the Home Office Records of the +British Government I read (vol. 40, page 17) how certain miners were on +strike against low wages and the "truck" system, and the Vicar of +Abergavenny put himself at the head of the yeomanry and the Greys. He +wrote the Home Office a lively account of his military operations. All +that remained was to apprehend certain of the strikers, "and then I +shall be able to return to my Clerical duties." Later he wrote of the +"sinister influences" which kept the miners from returning to their +work, and how he had put half a dozen of the most obstinate in prison. + +#The Babylonian Fire-god# + +So we come to the most important of the functions of the tribal god, +as an ally in war, an inspirer to martial valour. When in ancient +Babylonia you wished to overcome your enemies, you went to the shrine +of the Fire-god, and with awful rites the priest pronounced +incantations, which have been preserved on bricks and handed down for +the use of modern churches. "Pronounce in a whisper, and have a bronze +image therewith," commands the ancient text, and runs on for many +strophes in this fashion: + + Let them die, but let me live! + Let them be put under a ban, but let me prosper! + Let them perish, but let me increase! + Let them become weak, but let me wax strong! + O, fire-god, mighty, exalted among the gods, + Thou art the god, thou art my lord, etc. + +This was in heathen Babylon, some three thousand years ago. Since +then, the world has moved on-- + + Three thousand years of war and peace and glory, + Of hope and work and deeds and golden schemes, + Of mighty voices raised in song and story, + Of huge inventions and of splendid dreams-- + +And in one of the world's leading nations the people stand up and bare +their heads, and sing to their god to save their king and punish those +who oppose him-- + + O Lord our God, arise, Scatter his enemies, + And make them fall; Confound their politics, + Frustrate their knavish tricks, + On him our hopes we fix, God save us all. + +Recently, I understand, it has become the custom to omit this stanza +from the English national anthem; but it is clear that this is because +of its crudity of expression, not because of objection to the idea of +praying to a god to assist one nation and injure others; for the same +sentiment is expressed again and again in the most carefully edited of +prayer-books: + + Abate their pride, assuage their malice, and confound their devices. + Defend us, Thy humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies. + Strengthen him (the King) that he may vanquish and overcome all + his enemies. + There is none other that fighteth for us, but only Thou, O God. + +Prayers such as these are pronounced in every so-called civilized +nation today. Behind every battle-line in Europe you may see the +priests of the Babylonian Fire-god with their bronze images and their +ancient incantations; you may see magic spells being wrought, magic +standards sanctified, magic bread eaten and magic wine drunk, fetishes +blessed and hoodoos lifted, eternity ransacked to find means of +inciting soldiers to the mood where they will "go in". Throughout all +civilization, the phobias and manias of war have thrown the people +back into the toils of the priest, and that church which forced +Galileo to recant under threat of torture, and had Ferrer shot beneath +the walls of the fortress of Montjuich, is rejoicing in a "rebirth of +religion". + +#The Medicine-men# + +Andrew D. White tells us that + + It was noted that in the 14th century, after the great + plague, the Black Death, had passed, an immensely increased + proportion of the landed and personal property of every + European country was in the hands of the Church. Well did a + great ecclesiastic remark that "pestilences are the harvests + of the ministers of God." + +And so naturally the clergy hold on to their prerogative as banishers +of epidemics. Who knows what day the Lord may see fit to rebuke the +upstart teachers of impious and atheistical inoculation, and scourge +the people back into His fold as in the good old days of Moses and +Aaron? Viscount Amberley, in his immensely learned and half-suppressed +work, "The Analysis of Religious Belief", quotes some missionaries to +the Fiji islanders, concerning the ideas of these benighted heathen on +the subject of a pestilence. It was the work of a "disease-maker", who +was burning images of the people with incantations; so they blew horns +to frighten this disease-maker from his spells. The missionaries +undertook to explain the true cause of the affliction--and thereby +revealed that they stood upon the same intellectual level as the +heathen they were supposed to instruct! It appeared that the natives +had been at war with their neighbors, and the missionaries had +commanded them to desist; they had refused to obey, and God had sent +the epidemic as punishment for savage presumption! + +And on precisely this same Fijian level stands the "Book of Common +Prayer" of our most decorous and cultured of churches. I remember as a +little child lying on a bed of sickness, occasioned by the prevalence +in our home of the Southern custom of hot bread three times a day; and +there came an amiable clerical gentleman and recited the service +proper to such pastoral calls: "Take therefore in good part the +visitation of the Lord!" And again, when my mother was ill, I remember +how the clergyman read out in church a prayer for her, specifying all +sickness, "in mind, body or estate". I was thinking only of my mother, +and the meaning of these words passed over my childish head; I did not +realize that the elderly plutocrat in black broadcloth who knelt in +the pew in front of me was invoking the aid of the Almighty so that +his tenements might bring in their rentals promptly; so that his +little "flyer" in cotton might prove successful; so that the children +in his mills might work with greater speed. + +Somebody asked Voltaire if you could kill a cow by incantations, and +he answered, "Yes, if you use a little strychnine with it." And that +would seem to be the attitude of the present-day Anglican +church-member; he calls in the best physician he knows, he makes sure +that his plumbing is sound, and after that he thinks it can do no harm +to let the Lord have a chance. It makes the women happy, and after +all, there are a lot of things we don't yet know about the world. So +he repairs to the family pew, and recites over the venerable prayers, +and contributes his mite to the maintenance of an institution which, +fourteen Sundays every year, proclaims the terrifying menaces of the +Athanasian Creed: + + Whoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary + that he hold the Catholick faith. Which faith, except one do + keep whole and undefiled; without doubt he shall perish + everlastingly. + +For the benefit of the uninitiated reader, it may be explained that +the "Catholick faith" here referred to is not the Roman Catholic, but +that of the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church of +America. This creed of the ancient Alexandrian lays down the truth +with grim and menacing precision--forty-four paragraphs of +metaphysical minutiae, closing with the final doom: "This is the +Catholick faith: which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be +saved." + +You see, the founders of this august institution were not content with +cultured complacency; what they believed they believed really, with +their whole hearts, and they were ready to act upon it, even if it +meant burning their own at the stake. Also, they knew the ceaseless +impulse of the mind to grow; the terrible temptation which confronts +each new generation to believe that which is reasonable. They met the +situation by setting out the true faith in words which no one could +mistake. They have provided, not merely the Creed of Athanasius, but +also the "Thirty-nine Articles"--which are thirty-nine separate and +binding guarantees that one who holds orders in the Episcopal Church +shall be either a man of inferior mentality, or else a sophist and +hypocrite. How desperate some of them have become in the face of this +cruel dilemma is illustrated by the tale which is told of Dr. Jowett, +of Balliol College, Oxford: that when he was required to recite the +"Apostle's Creed" in public, he would save himself by inserting the +words "used to" between the words "I believe", saying the inserted +words under his breath, thus, "I used to believe in the Father, the +Son, and the Holy Ghost." Perhaps the eminent divine never did this; +but the fact that his students told it, and thought it funny, is +sufficient indication of their attitude toward their "Religion." The +son of William George Ward tells in his biography how this leader of +the "Tractarian Movement" met the problem with cynicism which seems +almost sublime: "Make yourself clear that you are justified in +deception; and then lie like a trooper!" + +#The Canonization of Incompetence# + +The supreme crime of the church to-day is that everywhere and in all +its operations and influences it is on the side of sloth of mind; that +it banishes brains, it sanctifies stupidity, it canonizes +incompetence. Consider the power of the Church of England and its +favorite daughter here in America; consider their prestige with the +press and in politics, their hold upon literature and the arts, their +control of education and the minds of children, of charity and the +lives of the poor: consider all this, and then say what it means to +society that such a power must be, in every new issue that arises, on +the side of reaction and falsehood. "So it was in the beginning, is +now, and ever shall be," runs the church's formula; and this per se +and a priori, of necessity and in the nature of the case. + +Turn over the pages of history and read the damning record of the +church's opposition to every advance in every field of science, even +the most remote from theological concern. Here is the Reverend Edward +Massey, preaching in 1772 on "The Dangerous and Sinful Practice of +Inoculation"; declaring that Job's distemper was probably confluent +small-pox; that he had been inoculated doubtless by the devil; that +diseases are sent by Providence for the punishment of sin; and that +the proposed attempt to prevent them is "a diabolical operation". Here +are the Scotch clergy of the middle of the nineteenth century +denouncing the use of chloroform in obstetrics, because it is seeking +"to avoid one part of the primeval curse on woman". Here is Bishop +Wilberforce of Oxford anathematizing Darwin: "The principle of natural +selection is absolutely incompatible with the word of God"; it +"contradicts the revealed relation of creation to its creator"; it "is +inconsistent with the fulness of His glory"; it is "a dishonoring view +of nature". And the Bishop settled the matter by asking Huxley whether +he was descended from an ape through his grandmother or grandfather. + +Think what it means, friends of progress, that these ecclesiastical +figures should be set up for the reverence of the populace, and that +every time mankind is to make an advance in power over Nature, the +pioneers of thought have to come with crow-bars and derricks and heave +these figures out of the way! And you think that conditions are +changed to-day? But consider syphilis and gonorrhea, about which we +know so much, and can do almost nothing; consider birth-control, which +we are sent to jail for so much as mentioning! Consider the divorce +reforms for which the world is crying--and for which it must wait, +because of St. Paul! Realize that up to date it has proven impossible +to persuade the English Church to permit a man to marry his deceased +wife's sister! That when the war broke upon England the whole nation +was occupied with a squabble over the disestablishment of the church +of Wales! Only since 1888 has it been legally possible for an +unbeliever to hold a seat in Parliament; while up to the present day +men are tried for blasphemy and convicted under the decisions of Lord +Hale, to the effect that "it is a crime either to deny the truth of +the fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion or to hold them up +to contempt or ridicule." Said Mr. Justice Horridge, at the West +Riding Assizes, 1911: "A man is not free in any public place to use +common ridicule on subjects which are sacred." + +The purpose, as outlined by the public prosecutor in London, is "to +preserve the standard of outward decency." And you will find that the +one essential to prosecution is always that the victim shall be +obscure and helpless; never by any chance is he a duke in a +drawing-room. I will record an utterance of one of the obscure victims +of the British "standard of outward decency", a teacher of mathematics +named Holyoake, who presumed to discuss in a public hall the +starvation of the working classes of the country. A preacher objected +that he had discussed "our duty to our neighbor" and neglected "our +duty to God"; whereupon the lecturer replied: "Our national Church and +general religious institutions cost us, upon accredited computation, +about twenty million pounds annually. Worship being thus expensive, I +appeal to your heads and your pockets whether we are not too poor to +have a God. While our distress lasts, I think it would be wise to put +deity upon half pay." And for that utterance the unfortunate teacher +of mathematics served six months in the common Gaol at Gloucester! + +While men were being tried for publishing the "Free-thinker", the +Premier of England was William Ewart Gladstone. And if you wish to +know what an established church can do by way of setting up dullness +in high places, get a volume of this "Grand Old Man's" writings on +theological and religious questions. Read his "Juventus Mundi", in the +course of which he establishes a mystic connection between the trident +of Neptune and the Christian Trinity! Read his efforts to prove that +the writer of Genesis was an inspired geologist! This writer of +Genesis points out in Nature "a grand, fourfold division, set forth in +an orderly succession of times: First, the water population; secondly, +the air population; thirdly, the land population of animals; fourthly, +the land population consummated in man." And it seems that this +division and sequence "is understood to have been so affirmed in our +time by natural science that it may be taken as a demonstrated +conclusion and established fact." Hence we must conclude of the writer +of Genesis that "his knowledge was divine"! Consider that this was +actually published in one of the leading British monthlies, and that +it was necessary for Professor Huxley to answer it, pointing out that +so far is it from being true that "a fourfold division and orderly +sequence" of water, air and land animals "has been affirmed in our +time by natural science", that on the contrary, the assertion is +"directly contradictory to facts known to everyone who is acquainted +with the elements of natural science". The distribution of fossils +proves that land animals originated before sea-animals, and there has +been such a mixing of land, sea and air animals as utterly to destroy +the reputation of both Genesis and Gladstone as possessing a divine +knowledge of Geology. + +#Gibson's Preservative# + +I have a friend, a well-known "scholar", who permits me the use of his +extensive library. I stand in the middle and look about me, and see in +the dim shadows walls lined from floor to ceiling with decorous and +grave-looking books, bound for the most part in black, many of them +fading to green with age. There are literally thousands of such, and +their theme is the pseudo-science of "divinity". I close my, eyes, to +make the test fair, and walk to the shelves and put out my hand and +take a book. It proves to be a modern work, "A History of the English +Prayer-book in Relation to the Doctrine of the Eucharist". I turn the +pages and discover that it is a study of the variations of one minute +detail of church doctrine. This learned divine--he has written many +such works, as the advertisements inform us--fills up the greater part +of his pages with foot-notes from hundreds of authorities, arguments +and counter-arguments over supernatural subtleties. I will give one +sample of these footnotes--asking the reader to be patient: + + I add the following valuable observation, of Dean Goode: + ("On Eucharist", II p 757. See also Archbishop Ware in + Gibson's "Preservative", vol. N, Chap II) "One great point + for which our divines have contended, in opposition to + Romish errors, has been the reality of that presence of + Christ's Body and Blood to the soul of the believer which is + affected through the operation of the Holy Spirit + notwithstanding the absence of that Body and Blood in + Heaven. Like the Sun, the Body of Christ is both present and + absent; present, really and truly present, in one + sense--that is, by the soul being brought into immediate + communion with--but absent in another sense--that is, as + regards the contiguity of its substance to our bodies. The + authors under review, like the Romanists, maintain that this + is not a Real Presence, and assuming their own + interpretation of the phrase to be the only true one, press + into their service the testimony of divines who, though + using the phrase, apply it in a sense the reverse of theirs. + The ambiguity of the phrase, and its misapplication by the + Church of Rome, have induced many of our divines to + repudiate it, etc." + +Realize that of the work from which this "valuable observation" is +quoted, there are at least two volumes, the second volume containing +not less than 757 pages I Realize that in Gibson's "Preservative" +there are not less than ten volumes of such writing! Realize that in +this twentieth century a considerable portion of the mental energies +of the world's greatest empire is devoted to that kind of learning! + +I turn to the date upon the volume, and find that it is 1910. I was in +England within a year of that time, and so I can tell what was the +condition of the English people while printers were making and papers +were reviewing and book-stores were distributing this work of +ecclesiastical research. I walked along the Embankment and saw the +pitiful wretches, men, women and sometimes children, clad in filthy +rags, starved white and frozen blue, soaked in winter rains and +shivering in winter winds, homeless, hopeless, unheeded by the doctors +of divinity, unpreserved by Gibson's "Preservative". I walked on +Hampstead Heath on Easter day, when the population of the slums turns +out for its one holiday; I walked, literally trembling with horror, +for I had never seen such sights nor dreamed of them. These creatures +were hardly to be recognized as human beings; they were some new +grotesque race of apes. They could not walk, they could only shamble; +they could not laugh, they could only leer. I saw a hand-organ +playing, and turned away--the things they did in their efforts to +dance were not to be watched. And then I went out into the beautiful +English country; cultured and charming ladies took me in swift, smooth +motor-cars, and I saw the pitiful hovels and the drink-sodden, +starch-poisoned inhabitants--slum-populations everywhere, even on the +land! When the newspaper reporters came to me, I said that I had just +come from Germany, and that if ever England found herself at war with +that country, she would regret that she had let the bodies and the +minds of her people rot; for which expression I was severely taken to +task by more than one British divine. + +The bodies--and the minds; the rot of the latter being the cause of +the former. All over England in that year of 1910, in thousands of +schools, rich and poor, and in the greatest centres of learning, men +like Dean Goode were teaching boys dead languages and dead sciences +and dead arts; sending them out to life with no more conception of the +modern world than a monk of the Middle Ages; sending them out with +minds made hard and inflexible, ignorant of science, indifferent to +progress, contemptuous of ideas. And then suddenly, almost overnight, +this terrified people finds itself at war with a nation ruled and +disciplined' by modern experts, scientists and technicians. The awful +muddle that was in England during the first two years of the war has +not yet been told in print; but thousands know it, and some day it +will be written, and it will finish forever the prestige of the +British ruling caste. They rushed off an expedition to Gallipoli, and +somebody forgot the water-supply, and at one time they had ninety-five +thousand cases of dysentery! + +They always "muddle through", they tell you; that is the motto of +their ruling caste. But this time they did not "muddle through"--they +had to come to America for help. As I write, our Congress is voting +billions and tens of billions of dollars, and a million of the best of +our young manhood are being taken from their homes--because in 1910 +the mind of England was occupied with Dean Goode "On Eucharist", and +the ten volumes of Gibson's "Preservative". + +#The Elders# + +What the Church means in human affairs is the rule of the aged. It +means old men in the seats of authority, not merely in the church, but +in the law-courts and in Parliament, even in the army and navy. For a +test I look up the list of bishops of the Church of England in +Whitaker's Almanac; it appears that there are 40 of these +functionaries, including the archbishops, but not the suffragans; and +that the total salary paid to them amounts to more than nine hundred +thousand dollars a year. This, it should be understood, does not +include the pay of their assistants, nor the cost of maintaining their +religious establishments; it does not include any private incomes +which they or their wives may possess, as members of the privileged +classes of the Empire. I look up their ages in Who's Who, and I find +that there is only one below fifty-three; the oldest of them is +ninety-one, while the average age of the goodly company is seventy. +There have been men in history who have retained their flexibility of +mind, their ability to adjust themselves to new circumstances at the +age of seventy, but it will always be found that these men were +trained in science and practical affairs, never in dead languages and +theology. One of the oldest of the English prelates, the Archbishop of +Canterbury, recently stated to a newspaper reporter that he worked +seventeen hours a day, and had no time to form an opinion on the labor +question. + +And now--here is the crux of the argument--do these aged gentlemen +rule of their own power? They do not! They do literally nothing of +their own power; they could not make their own episcopal robes, they +could net even cook their own episcopal dinners. They have to be +maintained in all their comings and goings. Who supports them, and to +what end? + +The roots of the English Church are in the English land system, which +is one of the infamies of the modern world. It dates from the days of +William the Norman, who took possession of Britain with his sword, and +in order to keep possession for himself and his heirs, distributed the +land among his nobles and prelates. In those days, you understand, a +high ecclesiastic was a man of war, who did not stoop to veil his +predatory nature under pretense of philanthropy; the abbots and +archbishops of William wore armor and had their troops of knights like +the barons and the dukes. William gave them vast tracts, and at the +same time he gave them orders which they obeyed. Says the English +chronicler, "Stark he was. Bishops he stripped of their bishopricks, +abbots of their abbacies". Green tells us that "the dependence of the +church on the royal power was strictly enforced. Homage was exacted +from bishop as from baron." And what was this homage? The bishop knelt +before William, bareheaded and without arms, and swore: "Hear my lord, +I become liege man of yours for life and limb and earthly regard, and +I will keep faith and loyalty to you for life and death, God help me." + +The lands which the church got from William the Norman, she has held, +and always on the same condition--that she shall be "liege man for +life and limb and earthly regard". In this you have the whole story of +the church of England, in the twentieth century as in the eleventh. +The balance of power has shifted from time to time; old families have +lost the land and new families have gotten it; but the loyalty and +homage of the church have been held by the land, as the needle of the +compass is held by a mass of metal. Some two hundred and fifty years +ago a popular song gave the general impression-- + + For this is law that I'll maintain + Until my dying day, sir: + That whatsoever king shall reign + I'll still be vicar of Bray, sir! + +So, wherever you take the Anglican clergy, they are Tories and +Royalists, conservatives and reactionaries, friends of every injustice +that profits the owning class. And always among themselves you find +them intriguing and squabbling over the dividing of the spoils; always +you find them enjoying leisure and ease, while the people suffer and +the rebels complain. One can pass down the corridor of English history +and prove this statement by the words of Englishmen from every single +generation. Take the fourteenth century; the "Good Parliament" +declares that + + Unworthy and unlearned caitiffs are appointed to benefices + of a thousand marks, while the poor and learned hardly + obtain one of twenty. God gave the sheep to be pastured, not + to be shaven and shorn. + +And a little later comes the poet of the people, Piers Plowman-- + + But now is Religion a rider, a roamer through the streets, + A leader at the love-day, a buyer of the land, + Pricking on a palfrey from manor to manor, + A heap of hounds at his back, as tho he were a lord; + And if his servant kneel not when he brings his cup, + He loureth on him asking who taught him courtesy. + Badly have lords done to give their heirs' lands + + Away to the Orders that have no pity; + Money rains upon their altars. + There where such parsons be living at ease + They have no pity on the poor; that is their "charity". + Ye hold you as lords; your lands are too broad, + But there shall come a king and he shall shrive you all + And beat you as the bible saith for breaking of your Rule. + +Another step through history, and in the early part of the sixteenth +century here is Simon Fish, addressing King Henry the Eighth, in the +"Supplicacyon for the Beggars", complaining of the "strong, puissant +and counterfeit holy and ydell" which "are now increased under your +sight, not only into a great nombre, but ynto a kingdome." + + They have begged so importunatly that they have gotten ynto + their hondes more than a therd part of all youre Realme. The + goodliest lordshippes, maners, londes, and territories, are + theyres. Besides this, they have the tenth part of all the + corne, medowe, pasture, grasse, wolle, coltes, calves, + lambes, pigges, gese and chikens. Ye, and they looke so + narowly uppon theyre proufittes, that the poore wyves must + be countable to thym of every tenth eg, or elles she gettith + not her rytes at ester, shal be taken as an heretike.... Is + it any merveille that youre people so compleine of povertie? + The Turke nowe, in your tyme, shulde never be abill to get + so moche grounde of christendome.... And whate do al these + gredy sort of sturdy, idell, holy theves? These be they that + have made an hundredth thousand idell hores in your realme. + These be they that catche the pokkes of one woman, and here + them to an other. + +The petitioner goes on to tell how they steal wives and all their +goods with them, and if any man protest they make him a heretic, "so +that it maketh him wisshe that he had not done it". Also they take +fortunes for masses and then don't say them. "If the Abbot of +west-minster shulde sing every day as many masses for his founders as +he is bounde to do by his foundacion, 1000 monkes were too few." The +petitioner suggests that the king shall "tie these holy idell theves +to the cartes, to be whipped naked about every market towne till they +will fall to laboure!" + +#Church History# + +King Henry did not follow this suggestion precisely, but he took away +the property of the religious orders for the expenses of his many +wives and mistresses, and forced the clergy in England to forswear +obedience to the Pope and make his royal self their spiritual head. +This was the beginning of the Anglican Church, as distinguished from +the Catholic; a beginning of which the Anglican clergy are not so +proud as they would like to be. When I was a boy, they taught me what +they called "church history", and when they came to Henry the Eighth +they used him as an illustration of the fact that the Lord is +sometimes wont to choose evil men to carry out His righteous purposes. +They did not explain why the Lord should do this confusing thing, nor +just how you were to know, when you saw something being done by a +murderous adulterer, whether it was the will of the Lord or of Satan; +nor did they go into details as to the motives which the Lord had been +at pains to provide, so as to induce his royal agent to found the +Anglican Church. For such details you have to consult another set of +authorities--the victims of the plundering. + +When I was in college my professor of Latin was a gentleman with bushy +brown whiskers and a thundering voice of which I was often the +object--for even in those early days I had the habit of persisting in +embarrassing questions. This professor was a devout Catholic, and not +even in dealing with ancient Romans could he restrain his propaganda +impulses. Later on in life he became editor of the "Catholic +Encyclopedia", and now when I turn its pages, I imagine that I see the +bushy brown whiskers, and hear the thundering voice: "Mr. Sinclair, it +is so because I tell you it is so!" + +I investigate, and find that my ex-professor knows all about King +Henry the Eighth, and his motives in founding the Church of England; +he is ready with an "economic interpretation", as complete as the most +rabid muckraker could desire! It appears that the king wanted a new +wife, and demanded that the Pope should grant the necessary +permission; in his efforts to browbeat the Pope into such betrayal of +duty, King Henry threatened the withdrawal of the "annates" and the +"Peter's pence". Later on he forced the clergy to declare that the +Pope was "only a foreign bishop", and in order to "stamp out overt +expression of disaffection, he embarked upon a veritable reign of +terror". + +In Anglican histories, you are assured that all this was a work of +religious reform, and that after it the Church was the pure vehicle of +God's grace. There were no more "holy idell theves", holding the land +of England and plundering the poor. But get to know the clergy, and +see things from the inside, and you will meet some one like the +Archbishop of Cashell, who wrote to one of his intimates: + + I conclude that a good bishop has nothing more to do than to + eat, drink and grow fat, rich and die; which laudable + example _I_ propose for the remainder of my days to follow. + +If you say that might be a casual jest, hear what Thackeray reports of +that period, the eighteenth century, which he knew with peculiar +intimacy: + + I read that Lady Yarmouth (my most religious and gracious + King's favorite) sold a bishopric to a clergyman for 5600 + pounds. (She betted him the 5000 pounds that he would not be + made a bishop, and he lost, and paid her.) Was he the only + prelate of his time led up by such hands for consecration? + As I peep into George II's St. James, I see crowds of + cassocks pushing up the back-stairs of the ladies of the + court; stealthy clergy slipping purses into their laps; that + godless old king yawning under his canopy in his Chapel + Royal, as the chaplain before him is discoursing. + Discoursing about what?--About righteousness and judgment? + Whilst the chaplain is preaching, the king is chattering in + German and almost as loud as the preacher; so loud that the + clergyman actually burst out crying in his pulpit, because + the defender of the faith and the dispenser of bishoprics + would not listen to him! + +#Land and Livings# + +And how is it in the twentieth century? Have conditions been much +improved? There are great Englishmen who do not think so. I quote +Robert Buchanan, a poet who spoke for the people, and who therefore +has still to be recognized by English critics. He writes of the "New +Rome", by which he means present-day England: + + The gods are dead, but in their name + Humanity is sold to shame, + While (then as now!) the tinsel'd priest + Sitteth with robbers at the feast, + Blesses the laden, blood-stained board, + Weaves garlands round the butcher's sword, + And poureth freely (now as then) + The sacramental blood of Men! + +You see, the land system of England remains--the changes having been +for the worse. William the Conqueror wanted to keep the Saxon +peasantry contented, so he left them their "commons"; but in the +eighteenth century these were nearly all filched away. We saw the same +thing done within the last generation in Mexico, and from the same +motive--because developing capitalism needs cheap labor, whereas +people who have access to the land will not slave in mills and mines. +In England, from the time of Queen Anne to that of William and Mary, +the parliaments of the landlords passed some four thousand separate +acts, whereby more than seven million acres of the common land were +stolen from the people. It has been calculated that these acres might +have supported a million families; and ever since then England has had +to feed a million paupers all the time. + +As an old song puts the matter: + + Why prosecute the man or woman + Who steals a goose from off the common, + And let the greater felon loose + Who steals the common from the goose? + +In our day the land aristocracy is rooted like the native oak in +British soil: some of them direct descendants of the Normans, others +children of the court favorites and panders who grew rich in the days +of the Tudors and the unspeakable Stuarts. Seven men own practically +all the land of the city and county of London, and collect tribute +from seven millions of people. The estates are entailed--that is, +handed down from father to oldest son automatically; you cannot buy +any land, but if you want to build, the landlord gives you a lease, +and when the lease is up, he takes possession of your buildings. The +tribute which London pays is more than a hundred million dollars a +year. So absolute is the right of the land-owner that he can sue for +trespass the driver on an aeroplane which flies over him; he imposes +on fishermen a tax upon catches made many hundred of yards from the +shore. + +And in this graft, of course, the church has its share. Each church +owns land--not merely that upon which it stands, but farms and city +lots from which it derives income. Each cathedral owns large tracts; +so do the schools and universities in which the clergy are educated. +The income from the holdings of a church constitutes what is called a +"living"; these livings, which vary in size, are the prerogatives of +the younger sons of the ruling families, and are intrigued and +scrambled for in exactly the fashion which Thackeray describes in the +eighteenth century. + +About six thousand of these "livings" are in the gift of great land +owners; one noble lord alone disposes of fifty-six such plums; and +needless to say, he does not present them to clergymen who favor +radical land-taxes. He gives them to men like himself--autocratic to +the poor, easy-going to members of his own class, and cynical +concerning the grafts of grace. + +In one English village which I visited the living was worth seven +hundred pounds, with the use of a fine mansion; as the incumbent had a +large family, he lived there. In another place the living was worth a +thousand pounds, and the incumbent hired a curate, himself appearing +twice a year, on Christmas day and on the King's birth-day, to preach +a sermon; the rest of the time he spent in Paris. It is worth noting +that in 1808 a law was proposed compelling absentee pluralists--that +is, clergymen holding more than one "living"--to furnish curates to do +their work; it might be interesting to note that this law met with +strenuous clerical opposition, the house of Bishops voting against it +without a division. Thus we may understand the sharp saying of Karl +Marx, that the English clergy would rather part with thirty-eight of +their thirty-nine articles than with one thirty-ninth of their income. + +There is always a plentiful supply of curates in England. They are the +sons of the less influential ruling families, and of the clergy; they +have been trained at Oxford or Cambridge, and possess the one +essential qualification, that they are gentlemen. Their average price +is two hundred and fifty pounds a year; their function was made clear +to me when I attended my first English tea-party. There was a wicker +table, perhaps a foot and a half square, having three shelves, one +below the other--on the top layer the plates and napkins, on the next +the muffins, and on the lowest the cake. Said the hostess, "Will you +pass the curate, please?" I looked puzzled, and she pointed. "We call +that the curate, because it does the work of a curate." + +#Graft in Tail# + +As one of America's head muck-rakers, I found that I was popular with +the British ruling classes; they found my books useful in their +campaigns against democracy, and they were surprised and disconcerted +when they found I did not agree with their interpretation of my +writings. I had told of corruption in American politics; surely I must +know that in England they had no such evils! I explained that they did +not have to; their graft, to use their own legal phrase, was "in +tail"; the grafters had, as a matter of divine right, the things which +in America they had to buy. In America, for instance, we had a Senate, +a "Millionaire's Club", for admission to which the members paid in +cash; but in England the same men came to the same position as their +birth-right. Political corruption is not an end in itself, it is +merely a means to exploitation; and of exploitation England has even +more than America. When I explained this, my popularity with the +British ruling classes vanished quickly. + +As a matter of fact, England is more like America than she realizes; +her British reticence has kept her ignorant about herself. I could not +carry on my business in England, because of the libel laws, which have +as their first principle "the greater the truth, the greater the +libel". Englishmen read with satisfaction what I write about America; +but if I should turn my attention to their own country, they would +send me to jail as they sent Frank Harris. The fact is that the new +men in England, the lords of coal and iron and shipping and beer, have +bought their way into the landed aristocracy for cash, just as our +American senators have done; they have bought the political parties +with campaign gifts, precisely as in America; they have taken over the +press, whether by outright purchase like Northcliffe, or by +advertising subsidy--both of which methods we Americans know. Within +the last decade or two another group has been coming into control; and +not merely is this the same class of men as in America, it frequently +consists of the same individuals. These are the big money-lenders, the +international financiers who are the fine and final flower of the +capitalist system. These gentlemen make the world their home--or, as +Shakespeare puts it, their oyster. They know how to fit themselves to +all environments; they are Catholics in Rome and Vienna, country +gentlemen in London, bons vivants in Paris, democrats in Chicago, +Socialists in Petrograd, and Hebrews wherever they are. + +And of course, in buying the English government, these new classes +have bought the English Church. Skeptics and men of the world as they +are, they know that they must have a Religion. They have read the +story of the French revolution, and the shadow of the guillotine is +always over their thoughts; they see the giant of labor, restless in +his torment, groping as in a nightmare for the throat of his enemy. +Who can blind the eyes of this giant, who can chain him to his couch +of slumber? There is but one agent, without rival--the Keeper of the +Holy Secrets, the Deputy of the Almighty Awfulness, the Giver and +Withholder of Eternal Life. Tremble, slave! Fall down and bow your +forehead in the dust! I can see in my memory the sight that thrilled +my childhood--my grim old Bishop, clad in his gorgeous ceremonial +robes, stretching out his hands over the head of the new priest, and +pronouncing that most deadly of all the Christian curses: + +"Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou +dost retain, they are retained!" + +#Bishops and Beer# + +For example, the International Shylocks wanted the diamond mines of +South Africa--wanted them more firmly governed and less firmly taxed +than could be arranged with the Old Man of the Boers. So the armies of +England were sent to subjugate the country. You might think they would +have had the good taste to leave the lowly Jesus out of this +affair--but if so, you have missed the essential point about +established religion. The bishops, priests, and deacons are set up for +the populace to revere, and when the robber-classes need a blessing +upon some enterprise, then is the opportunity for the bishops, priests +and deacons to earn their "living." During the Boer war the blood-lust +of the English clergy was so extreme that writers in the dignified +monthly reviews felt moved to protest against it. When the pastors of +Switzerland issued a collective protest against cruelties to women and +children in the South African concentration-camps, it was the Right +Reverend Bishop of Winchester who was brought forward to make reply. +Nowadays all England is reading Bernhardi, and shuddering at Prussian +glorification of war; but no one mentions Bishop Welldon of Calcutta, +who advocated the Boer war as a means of keeping the nation "virile"; +nor Archbishop Alexander, who said that it was God's way of making +"noble natures". + +The British God had other ways of improving nations--for example, the +opium traffic. The British traders had been raising the poppy in India +and selling its juice to the Chinese. They had made perhaps a hundred +million "noble natures" by this method; and also they were making a +hundred million dollars a year. The Chinese, moved by their new +"virility," undertook to destroy some opium, and to stop the traffic; +whereupon it was necessary to use British battle-ships to punish and +subdue them. Was there any difficulty in persuading the established +church of Jesus to bless this holy war? There was not! Lord +Shaftesbury, himself the most devout of Anglicans, commented with +horror upon the attitude of the clergy, and wrote in his diary: + + I rejoice that this cruel and debasing opium war is + terminated. We have triumphed in one of the most lawless, + unnecessary, and unfair struggles in the records of history; + and Christians have shed more heathen blood in two years, + than the heathens have shed of Christian blood in two + centuries. + +That was in 1843; for seventy years thereafter pious England continued +to force the opium traffic upon protesting China, and only in the last +two or three years has the infamy been brought to an end. Throughout +the long controversy the attitude of the church was such that Li Hung +Chang was moved to assert in a letter to the Anti-Opium Society: + + Opium is a subject in the discussion of which England and + China can never meet on a common ground. China views the + whole question from a moral standpoint, England from a + fiscal. + +And just as the Chinese people were poisoned with opium, so the +English people are being poisoned with alcohol. Both in town and +country, labor is sodden with it. Scientists and reformers are +clamoring for restriction;--and what prevents? Head and front of the +opposition for a century, standing like a rock, has been the +Established Church. The Rev. Dawson Burns, historian of the early +temperance movement, declares that "among its supporters I cannot +recall one Church of England minister of influence." When Asquith +brought in his bill for the restriction of the traffic in beer, he was +confronted with petitions signed by members of the clergy, protesting +against the act. And what was the basis of their protest? That beer is +a food and not a poison? Yes, of course; but also that there was +property invested in brewing it. Three hundred and thirty-two clergy +of the diocese of Peterborough declared: + + We do strongly protest against the main provisions of the + present bill as creating amongst our people a sense of grave + injustice as amounting to a confiscation of private + property, spelling ruin for thousands of quite innocent + people, and provoking deep and widespread resentment, which + must do harm to our cause and hinder our aims. + +I have come upon references to another and even more plainspoken +petition, signed by 1,280 clergymen; but war-time facilities for +research have not enabled me to find the text. In Prof. Henry C. +Vedder's "Jesus Christ and the Social Question," we read: + + It was authoritatively stated a short time ago that Mr. + Asquith's temperance bill was defeated in Parliament through + the opposition of clergymen who had invested their savings + in brewery stock, the profits of which might have been + lessened by the bill. + +Also the power of the clergy, combined with the brewer, was sufficient +to put through Parliament a provision that no prohibition legislation +should ever be passed without providing for compensation to the owners +of the industry. Today, all over America, appeals are being made to +the people to eat less grain; the grain is being shipped to England, +some of it to be made into beer; and a high Anglican prelate, his +Grace the Archbishop of York, comes to America to urge us to increased +sacrifices, and in his first newspaper interview takes occasion to +declare that his church is not in favor of prohibition as a measure of +war-time economy! + +#Anglicanism and Alcohol# + +This partnership of Bishops and Beer is painfully familiar to British +radicals; they see it at work in every election--the publican +confusing the voters with spirits, while the parson confuses them with +spirituality. There are two powerful societies in England employing +this deadly combination--the "Anti-Socialist Union" and the "Liberty +and Property Defense League." If you scan the lists of the organizers, +directors and subsidizers of these satanic institutions, you find Tory +politicians and landlords, prominent members of the higher clergy, and +large-scale dealers in drunkenness. I attended in London a meeting +called by the "Liberty and Property Defense League," to listen to a +denunciation of Socialism by W.H. Mallock, a master sophist of Roman +Catholicism; upon the platform were a bishop and half a dozen members +of the Anglican clergy, together with the secretary of the Federated +Brewers' Association, the Secretary of the Wine, Spirit, and Beer +Trade Association, and three or four other alcoholic magnates. + +In every public library in England and many in America you will +find an assortment of pamphlets published by these organizations, +and scholarly volumes endorsed by them, in which the stock +misrepresentations of Socialism are perpetuated. Some of these +writings are brutal--setting forth the ethics of exploitation in the +manner of the Rev. Thomas Malthus, the English clergyman who supplied +for capitalist depredation a basis in pretended natural science. Said +this shepherd of Jesus: + + A man who is born into a world already possessed, if he + cannot get subsistence from his parents, and if society does + not Want his labor, has no claim of right to the smallest + portion of food, and in fact has no business to be where he + is. At Nature's mighty feast there is no cover for him. She + tells him to be gone, and will quickly execute her own + orders. + +Such was the tone of the ruling classes in the nineteenth century; but +it was found that for some reason this failed to stop the growth of +Socialism, and so in our time the clerical defenders of Privilege have +grown subtle and insinuating. They inform us now that they have a deep +sympathy with our fundamental purposes; they burn with pity for the +poor, and they would really and truly wish happiness to everyone, not +merely in Heaven, but right here and now. However, there are so many +complications--and so they proceed to set out all the anti-Socialist +bug-a-boos. Here for example, is the Rev. James Stalker, D.D., +expounding "The Ethics of Jesus," and admonishing us extremists: + + Efforts to transfer money and property from one set of hands + to another may be inspired by the same passions as have + blinded the present holders to their own highest good, and + may be accompanied with injustice as extreme as has ever + been manifested by the rich and powerful. + +And again, the Rev. W. Sanday, D.D., an especially popular clerical +author, gives us this sublime utterance of religion on wage-slavery: + + The world is full of mysteries, but some clear lines run + through them, of which this is one. Where God has been so + patient, it is not for us to be impatient. + +And again, Professor Robert Flint, of Edinburgh University, a +clergyman, author of a big book attacking Socialism, and bringing us +back to the faith of our fathers: + + The great bulk of human misery is due, not to social + arrangements, but to personal vices. + +I study Professor Flint's volume in the effort to find just what, if +anything, he would have the church do about the evils of our time. I +find him praising the sermons of Dr. Westcott, Bishop of Durham, as +being the proper sort for clergymen to preach. Bishop Westcott, +whether he is talking to a high society congregation, or to one of +workingmen, shows "an exquisite sense of knowing always where to +stop." So I consulted the Bishop's volume, "The Social Aspects of +Christianity" and I see at once why he is popular with the +anti-Socialist propagandists--neither I or any other man can possibly +discover what he really means, or what he really wants done. + +I was fascinated by this Westcott problem; I thought maybe if I kept +on the good Bishop's trail, I might in the end find something a plain +man could understand; so I got the beautiful two-volume "Life of +Brooke Westcott, by his Son"--and there I found an exposition of the +social purposes of bishops! In the year 1892 there was a strike in +Durham, which is in the coal country; the employers tried to make a +cut in wages, and some ten thousand men walked out, and there was a +long and bitter struggle, which wrung the episcopal heart. There was +much consultation and correspondence on episcopal stationery, and at +last the masters and men were got together, with the Bishop as +arbitrator, and the dispute was triumphantly settled--how do you +suppose? On the basis of a ten per cent reduction in wages! + +I know nothing quainter in the history of English graft than the +NAIVETE with which the Bishop's biographer and son tells the story of +this episcopal venture into reality. The prelate came out from the +conference "all smiles, and well satisfied with the result of his +day's work." As for his followers, they were in ecstacies; they +"seized and waltzed one another around on the carriage drive as madly +as ever we danced at a flower show ball. Hats and caps are thrown into +the air, and we cheer ourselves hoarse." The Bishop proceeds to his +palace, and sends one more communication on episcopal stationery--an +order to all his clergy to "offer their humble and hearty thanks to +God for our happy deliverance from the strife by which the diocese has +been long afflicted." Strange to say, there were a few varlets in +Durham who did not appreciate the services of the bold Bishop, and one +of them wrote and circulated some abusive verses, in which he made +reference to the Bishop's comfortable way of life. The biographer then +explains that the Bishop was so tender-hearted that he suffered for +the horses who drew his episcopal coach, and so ascetic that he would +have lived on tea and toast if he had been permitted to. A curious +condition in English society, where the Bishop would have lived on tea +and toast, but was not permitted to; while the working people, who +didn't want to live on tea and toast, were compelled to! + +#Dead Cats# + +For more than a hundred years the Anglican clergy have been fighting +with every resource at their command the liberal and enlightened men +of England who wished to educate the masses of the people. In 1807 the +first measure for a national school-system was denounced by the +Archbishop of Canterbury as "derogatory to the authority of the +Church." As a counter-measure, his supporters established the +"National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the +Doctrines of the Established Church"; and the founder of the +organization, a clergyman, advocated a barn as a good structure for a +school, and insisted that the children of the workers "should not be +taught beyond their station." In 1840 a Committee of the Privy Council +on Education was appointed, but bowed to the will of the Archbishops, +setting forth the decree of "their lord-ships" that "the first purpose +of all instruction must be the regulation of the thoughts and habits +of the children by the doctrine and precepts of revealed religion." In +1850 a bill for secular education was denounced as presenting to the +country "a choice between Heaven or Hell, God or the Devil." In 1870, +Forster, author of the still unpassed bill, wrote that while the +parsons were disputing, the children of the poor were "growing into +savages." + +As with Education, so with Social Reform. During the struggle to +abolish slavery in the British colonies, some enthusiasts endeavored +to establish the doctrine that Christian baptism conferred +emancipation upon negroes who accepted it; whereupon the Bishop of +London laid down the formula of exploitation: "Christianity and the +embracing of the gospel do not make the least alteration of civil +property." + +Gladstone, who was a democrat when he was not religious, spoke of the +cultured classes of England: + + In almost every one, if not every one, of the greatest + political controversies of the last fifty years, whether + they affected the franchise, whether they affected commerce, + whether they affected religion, whether they affected the + bad and abominable institution of slavery, or what subject + they touched, these leisured classes, these educated + classes, these titled classes have been in the wrong. + +The "Great Commoner" did not add "these religious classes ", for he +belonged to the religious classes himself; but a study of the record +will supply the gap. The Church opposed all the reform measures which +Gladstone himself put through. It opposed the Reform Bill of 1832. It +opposed all the social reforms of Lord Salisbury. This noble-hearted +Englishman complained that at first only a single minister of religion +supported him, and to the end only a few. He expressed himself as +distressed and puzzled "to find support from infidels and +non-professors; opposition or coldness from religionists or +declaimers." + +And to our own day it has been the same. In 1894 the House of Bishops +voted solidly against the Employers' Liability Law. The House of +Bishops opposed Home Rule, and beat it; The House of Bishops opposed +Womans' Suffrage, and voted against it to the end. Concerning this +establishment Lord Salisbury, himself the most devout of Englishmen, +used the vivid phrase: "This vast aquarium full of cold-blooded life." +He told the Bishops that he would give up preaching to them about +ecclesiastical reform, because he knew that they would never begin. +Another member of the British aristocracy, the Hon. Geo. Russel, has +written of their record and adventures: + + They were defenders of absolutism, slavery, and the bloody + penal code; they were the resolute opponents of every + political or social reform; and they had their reward from + the nation outside parliament. The Bishop of Bristol had his + palace sacked and burnt; the Bishop of London could not keep + an engagement to preach lest the congregation should stone + him. The Bishop of Litchfield barely escaped with his life + after preaching at St. Bride's, Fleet Street. Archbishop + Howley, entering Canterbury for his primary visitation, was + insulted, spat upon, and only brought by a circuitous route + to the Deanery, amid the execrations of the mob. On the 5th + of November the Bishops of Exeter and Winchester were burnt + in effigy close to their own palace gates. Archbishop + Howley's chaplain complained that a dead cat had been thrown + at him, when the Archbishop--a man of apostolic + meekness--replied: "You should be thankful that it was not a + live one." + +The people had reason for this conduct--as you will always find they +have, if you take the trouble to inquire. Let me quote another member +of the English ruling classes, Mr. Conrad Noel, who gives "an +instance, of the procedure of Church and State about this period": + + In 1832 six agricultural labourers in South Dorsetshire, led + by one of their class, George Loveless, in receipt of 9s. a + week each, demanded the 10s. rate of wages usual in the + neighbourhood. The result was a reduction to 8s. An appeal + was made to the chairman of the local bench, who decided + that they must work for whatever their masters chose to pay + them. The parson, who had at first promised his help, now + turned against them, and the masters promptly reduced the + wage to 7s., with a threat of further reduction. Loveless + then formed an agricultural union, for which all seven were + arrested, treated as convicts, and committed to the assizes. + The prison chaplain tried to bully them into submission. The + judge determined to convict them, and directed that they + should be tried for mutiny under an act of George III, + specially passed to deal with the naval mutiny at the Nore. + The grand jury were landowners, and the petty jury were + farmers; both judge and jury were churchmen of the + prevailing type. The judge summed up as follows: "Not for + anything that you have done, or that I can prove that you + intend to do, but for an example to others I consider it my + duty to pass the sentence of seven years' penal + transportation across His Majesty's high seas upon each and + every one of you." + +#Suffer Little Children# + +The founder of Christianity was a man who specialized in children. He +was not afraid of having His discourses disturbed by them, He did not +consider them superfluous. "Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven", He +said; and His Church is the inheritor of this tradition--"feed my +lambs". There were children in Great Britain in the early part of the +nineteenth century, and we may see what was done with them by turning +to Gibbin's "Industrial History of England": + + Sometimes regular traffickers would take the place of the + manufacturer, and transfer a number of children to a factory + district, and there keep them, generally in some dark + cellar, till they could hand them over to a mill owner in + want of hands, who would come and examine their height, + strength, and bodily capacities, exactly as did the slave + oweners in the American markets. After that the children + were simply at the mercy of their oweners, nominally as + apprentices, but in reality as mere slaves, who got no + wages, and whom it was not worth while even to feed and + clothe properly, because they were so cheap and their places + could be so easily supplied. It was often arranged by the + parish authorities, in order to get rid of imbeciles, that + one idiot should be taken by the mill owener with every + twenty sane children. The fate of these unhappy idiots was + even worse than that of the others. The secret of their + final end has never been disclosed, but we can form some + idea of their awful sufferings from the hardships of the + other victims to capitalist greed and cruelty. The hours of + their labor were only limited by exhaustion, after many + modes of torture had been unavailingly applied to force + continued work. Children were often worked sixteen hours a + day, by day and by night. + +In the year 1819 an act of Parliament was proposed limiting the labor +of children nine years of age to fourteen hours a day. This would seem +to have been a reasonable provision, likely to have won the approval +of Christ; yet the bill was violently opposed by Christian employers, +backed by Christian clergymen. It was interfering with freedom of +contract, and therefore with the will of Providence; it was anathema +to an established Church, whose function was in 1819, as it is in +1918, and was in 1918 B.C., to teach the divine origin and sanction of +the prevailing economic order. "Anu and Baal called me, Hammurabi, the +exalted prince, worshipper of the gods" ... so begins the oldest legal +code which has come down to us, from 2250 B.C.; and the coronation +service of the English church is made whole out of the same thesis. +The duty of submission, not merely to divinely chosen King, but to +divinely chosen Landlord and divinely chosen Manufacturer, is implicit +in the church's every ceremony, and explicit in many of its creeds. In +the Litany the people petition for "increase of grace to hear meekly +Thy Word"; and here is this "Word," as little children are made to +learn it by heart. If there exists in the world a more perfect summary +of slave ethics, I do not know where to find it. + + My duty towards my neighbour is ... To honour and obey the + King, and all that are put in authority under him; To submit + myself to all my governours, teachers, spiritual pastors, + and masters: To order myself lowly and reverently to all my + betters.... Not to covet nor desire other men's goods; But + to learn and labour truly to get mine own living, and to do + my duty in that state of life, unto which it shall please + God to call me. + +A hundred years ago one of the most popular of British writers was +Hannah More. She and her sister Martha went to live in the +coal-country, to teach this "catechism" to the children of the +starving miners. The "Mendip Annals" is the title of a book in which +they tell of their ten years' labors in a village popularly known as +"Little Hell." In this place two hundred people were crowded into +nineteen houses. "There is not one creature in it that can give a cup +of broth if it would save a life." In one winter eighteen perished of +"a putrid fever", and the clergyman "could not raise a six-pence to +save a life." + +And what did the pious sisters make of all this? From cover to cover +you find in the "Mendip Annals" no single word of social protest, not +even of social suspicion. That wages of a shilling a day might have +anything to do with moral degeneration was a proposition beyond the +mental powers of England's most popular woman writer. She was +perfectly content that a woman should be sentenced to death for +stealing butter from a dealer who had asked what the woman thought too +high a price. When there came a famine, and the children of these +mine-slaves were dying like flies, Hannah More bade them be happy +because God had sent them her pious self. "In suffering by the +scarcity, you have but shared in the common lot, with the pleasure of +knowing the advantage you have had over many villages in your having +suffered no scarcity of religious instruction." And in another place +she explained that the famine was caused by God to teach the poor to +be grateful to the rich! + + Let me remind you that probably that very scarcity has been + permitted by an all-wise and gracious Providence to unite + all ranks of people together, to show the poor how + immediately they are dependent upon the rich, and to show + both rich and poor that they are all dependent upon Himself. + It has also enabled you to see more clearly the advantages + you derive from the government and constitution of this + country--to observe the benefits flowing from the + distinction of rank and fortune, which has enabled the high + to so liberally assist the low. + + It appears that the villagers were entirely convinced by + this pious reasoning; for they assembled one Saturday night + and burned an effigy of Tom Paine! This proceeding led to a + tragic consequence, for one of the "common people," known as + Robert, "was overtaken by liquor," and was unable to appear + at Sunday School next day. This fall from grace occasioned + intense remorse in Robert. "It preyed dreadfully upon his + mind for many months," records Martha More, "and despair + seemed at length to take possession of him." Hannah had some + conversation with him, and read him some suitable passages + from "The Rise and Progress". "At length the Almighty was + pleased to shine into his heart and give him comfort." + + Nor should you imagine that this saintly stupidity was in + any way unique in the Anglican establishment. We read in the + letters of Shelley how his father tormented him with + Archdeacon Paley's "Evidences" as a cure for atheism. This + eminent churchman wrote a book, which he himself ranked + first among his writings, called "Reasons for Contentment, + addressed to the Labouring Classes of the British Public." + In this book he not merely proved that religion "smooths all + inequalities, because it unfolds a prospect which makes all + earthly distinctions nothing"; he went so far as to prove + that, quite apart from religion, the British exploiters were + less fortunate than those to whom they paid a shilling a + day. + + Some of the conditions which poverty (if the condition of + the labouring part of mankind must be so called) imposes, + are not hardships, but pleasures. Frugality itself is a + pleasure. It is an exercise of attention and contrivance, + which, whenever it is successful, produces satisfaction.... + This is lost among abundance. + +And there was William Wilberforce, as sincere a philanthropist as +Anglicanism ever produced, an ardent supporter of Bible societies and +foreign missions, a champion of the anti-slavery movement, and also of +the ruthless "Combination Laws," which denied to British wage-slaves +all chance of bettering their lot. Wilberforce published a "Practical +View of the System of Christianity", in which he told unblushingly +what the Anglican establishment is for. In a chapter which he +described as "the basis of all politics," he explained that the +purpose of religion is to remind the poor + + That their more lowly path has been allotted to them by the + hand of God; that it is their part faithfully to discharge + its duties, and contentedly to bear its inconveniences; that + the objects about which worldly men conflict so eagerly are + not worth the contest; that the peace of mind, which + Religion offers indiscriminately to all ranks, affords more + true satisfaction than all the expensive pleasures which are + beyond the poor man's reach; that in this view the poor have + the advantage; that if their superiors enjoy more abundant + comforts, they are also exposed to many temptations from + which the inferior classes are happily exempted; that, + "having food and raiment, they should be therewith content," + since their situation in life, with all its evils, is better + than they have deserved at the hand of God; and finally, + that all human distinctions will soon be done away, and the + true followers of Christ will all, as children of the same + Father, be alike admitted to the possession of the same + heavenly inheritance. Such are the blessed effects of + Christianity on the temporal well-being of political + communities. + +THE COURT CIRCULAR + +The Anglican system of submission has been transplanted intact to the +soil of America. When King George the Third lost the sovereignty of +the colonies, the bishops of his divinely inspired church lost the +control of the clergy across the seas; but this revolution was purely +one of Church politics--in doctrine and ritual the "Protestant +Episcopal Church of America" remained in every way Anglican. The +little children of our free republic are taught the same +slave-catechism, "to order myself lowly and reverently to all my +betters." The only difference is that instead of being told "to honour +and obey the King," they are told "to honour and obey the civil +authority." + +It is the Church of Good Society in England, and it is the same in +Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Charleston. +Just as our ruling classes have provided themselves with imitation +English schools and imitation English manners and imitation English +clothes--so in their Heaven they have provided an imitation English +monarch. I wonder how many Americans realize the treason to democracy +they are committing when they allow their children to be taught a +symbolism and liturgy based upon absolutist ideas. I take up the +hymn-book--not the English, but the sturdy, independent, democratic +American hymn-book. I have not opened it for twenty years, yet the +greater part of its contents is as familiar to me as the syllables of +my own name. I read: + + Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee, + Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea; + Cherubim and seraphim bowing down before Thee, + Which wert, and art, and ever more shall be! + +One might quote a hundred other hymns made thus out of royal imagery. +I turn at random to the part headed "General," and find that there is +hardly one hymn in which there is not "king," "throne," or some image +of homage and flattery. The first hymn begins-- + + Ancient of days, Who sittest, throned in glory; + To Thee all knees are bent, all voices pray. + +And the second-- + + Christ, whose glory fills the skies-- + +And the third-- + + Lord of all being, throned afar, + Thy glory flames from sun and star. + +There is a court in Heaven above, to which all good Britons look up, +and about which they read with exactly the same thrills as they read +the Court Circular. The two courts have the same ethical code and the +same manners; their Sovereigns are jealous, greedy of attention, +self-conscious and profoundly serious, punctilious and precise; their +existence consisting of an endless round of ceremonies, and they being +incapable of boredom. No member of the Royal Family can escape this +regime even if he wishes; and no more can any member of the Holy +Family--not even the meek and lowly Jesus, who chose a carpenter's +wife for his mother, and showed all his earthly days a preference for +low society. + +This unconventional Son lived obscurely; he never carried weapons, he +could not bear to have so much as a human ear cut off in his presence. +But see how he figures in the Court Circular: + + The Son of God goes forth to war, + A kingly crown to gain: + + His blood-red banner streams afar: + Who follows in His train? + +This carpenter's son was one of the most unpretentious men on earth; +utterly simple and honest--he would not even let anyone praise him. +When some one called him "good Master," he answered, quickly, "Why +callest thou me good? There is none good save one, that is, God." But +this simplicity has been taken with deprecation by his church, which +persists in heaping compliments upon him in conventional, courtly +style: + + The company of angels + Are praising Thee on high; + And mortal men, and all things + Created, make reply: + All Glory, laud and honour, + To Thee, Redeemer, King.... + +The impression a modern man gets from all this is the unutterable +boredom that Heaven must be. Can one imagine a more painful occupation +than that of the saints--casting down their golden crowns around the +glassy sea--unless it be that of the Triumvirate itself, compelled to +sit through eternity watching these saints, and listening to their +mawkish and superfluous compliments! + +But one can understand that such things are necessary in a monarchy; +they are necessary if you are going to have Good Society, and a Good +Society church. For Good Society is precisely the same thing as +Heaven; that is, a place to which only a few can get admission, and +those few are bored. They spend their time going through costly +formalities--not because they enjoy it, but because of its effect upon +the populace, which reads about them and sees their pictures in the +papers, and now and then is allowed to catch a glimpse of their +physical Presences, as at the horse-show, or the opera, or the +coaching-parade. + +#Horn-blowing# + +I know the Church of Good Society in America, having studied it from +the inside. I was an extraordinarily devout little boy; one of my +earliest recollections--I cannot have been more than four years of +age--is of carrying a dust-brush about the house as the choir-boy +carried the golden cross every Sunday morning. I remember asking if I +might say the "Lord's prayer" in this fascinating play; and my +mother's reply: "If you say it reverently." When I was thirteen, I +attended service, of my own volition and out of my own enthusiasm, +every single day during the forty days of Lent; at the age of fifteen +I was teaching Sunday-school. It was the Church of the Holy Communion, +at Sixth Avenue and Twentieth Street, New York; and those who know the +city will understand that this is a peculiar location--precisely half +way between the homes of some of the oldest and most august of the +city's aristocracy, and some of the vilest and most filthy of the +city's slums. The aristocracy were paying for the church, and occupied +the best pews; they came, perfectly clad, aus dem Ei gegossen, as the +Germans say, with the manner they so carefully cultivate, gracious, +yet infinitely aloof. The service was made for them--as all the rest +of the world is made for them; the populace was permitted to occupy a +fringe of vacant seats. + +The assistant clergyman was an Englishman, and a gentleman; orthodox, +yet the warmest man's heart I have ever known. He could not bear to +have the church remain entirely the church of the rich; he would go +persistently into the homes of the poor, visiting the old slum women +in their pitifully neat little kitchens, and luring their children +with entertainments and Christmas candy. They were corralled into the +Sunday-school, where it was my duty to give them what they needed for +the health of their souls. + +I taught them out of a book of lessons; and one Sunday it would be +Moses in the Bulrushes, and next Sunday it would be Jonah and the +Whale, and next Sunday it would be Joshua blowing down the walls of +Jericho. These stories were reasonably entertaining, but they seemed +to me futile, not to the point. There were little morals tagged to +them, but these lacked relationship to the lives of little slum-boys. +Be good and you will be happy, love the Lord and all will be well with +you; which was about as true and as practical as the procedure of the +Fijians, blowing horns to drive away a pestilence. + +I had a mind, you see, and I was using it. I was reading the papers, +and watching politics and business. I followed the fates of my little +slum-boys--and what I saw was that Tammany Hall was getting them. The +liquor-dealers and the brothel-keepers, the panders and the pimps, the +crap-shooters and the petty thieves--all these were paying the +policeman and the politician for a chance to prey upon my boys; and +when the boys got into trouble, as they were continually doing, it was +the clergyman who consoled them in prison--but it was the Tammany +leader who saw the judge and got them out. So these boys got their +lesson, even earlier in life than I got mine--that the church was a +kind of amiable fake, a pious horn-blowing; while the real thing was +Tammany. + +I talked about this with the vestrymen and the ladies of Good Society; +they were deeply pained, but I noticed that they did nothing practical +about it; and gradually, as I went on to investigate, I discovered the +reason--that their incomes came from real estate, traction, gas and +other interests, which were contributing the main part of the campaign +expenses of the corrupt Tammany machine, and of its equally corrupt +rival. So it appeared that these immaculate ladies and gentlemen, aus +dem Ei gegossen, were themselves engaged, unconsciously, perhaps, but +none the less effectively, in spreading the pestilence against which +they were blowing their religious horns! + +So little by little I saw my beautiful church for what it was and is: +a great capitalist interest, an integral and essential part of a +gigantic predatory system. I saw that its ethical and cultural and +artistic features, however sincerely they might be meant by individual +clergymen, were nothing but a bait, a device to lure the poor into +the trap of submission to their exploiters. And as I went on probing +into the secret life of the great Metropolis of Mammon, and laying +bare its infamies to the world, I saw the attitude of the church to +such work; I met, not sympathy and understanding, but sneers and +denunciation--until the venerable institution which had once seemed +dignified and noble became to me as a sepulchre of corruption. + +#Trinity Corporation# + +There stands on the corner of Broadway and Wall Street a towering +brown-stone edifice, one of the most beautiful and most famous +churches in America. As a child I have walked through its church yard +and read the quaint and touching inscriptions on its grave-stones; +when I was a little older, and knew Wall Street, it seemed to me a +sublime thing that here in the very heart of the world's infamy there +should be raised, like a finger of warning, this symbol of Eternity +and Judgment. Its great bell rang at noon-time, and all the traders +and their wage-slaves had to listen, whether they would or no! Such +was Old Trinity to my young soul; and what is it in reality? + +The story was told some ten years ago by Charles Edward Russell. +Trinity Corporation is the name of the concern, and it is one of the +great landlords of New York. In the early days it bought a number of +farms, and these it has held, as the city has grown up around them, +until in 1908 their value was estimated at anywhere from forty to a +hundred million dollars. The true amount has never been made public; +to quote Russell's words: + + The real owners of the property are the communicants of the + church. For 94 years none of the owners has known the extent + of the property, nor the amount of the revenue therefrom, + nor what is done with the money. Every attempt to learn even + the simplest fact about these matters has been baffled. The + management is a self perpetuating body, without + responsibility and without supervision. + +And the writer goes on to describe the business policy of this great +corporation, which is simply the English land system complete. It +refuses to sell the land, but rents it for long periods, and the +tenant builds the house, and then when the lease expires, the +Corporation takes over the house for a nominal sum. Thus it has +purchased houses for as low as $200, and made them into tenements, and +rented them to the swarming poor for a total of fifty dollars a month. +The houses were not built for tenements, they have no conveniences, +they are not fit for the habitation of animals. + +The article, in Everybody's Magazine for July, 1908, gives pictures of +them, which are horrible beyond belief. To quote the writer again: + + Decay, neglect and squalor seem to brood wherever Trinity is + an owner. Gladly would I give to such a charitable and + benevolent institution all possible credit for a spirit of + improvement manifested anywhere, but I can find no such + manifestation. I have tramped the Eighth Ward day after day + with a list of Trinity properties in my hand, and of all the + tenement houses that stand there on Trinity land, I have not + found one that is not a disgrace to civilization and to the + City of New York. + +It happens that I once knew the stately prelate who presided over this +Corporation of Corruption. I imagine how he would have shivered and +turned pale had some angel whispered to him what devilish utterances +were some day to proceed from the lips of the little cherub with +shining face and shining robes who acted as the bishop's attendant in +the stately ceremonials of the Church! Truly, even into the goodly +company of the elect, even to the most holy places of the temple, +Satan makes his treacherous way! Even under the consecrated hands of +the bishop! For while the bishop was blessing me and taking me into +the company of the sanctified, I was thinking about what the papers +had reported, that the bishop's wife had been robbed of fifty thousand +dollars worth of jewels! It did not seem quite in accordance with the +doctrine of Jesus that a bishop's wife should possess fifty thousand +dollars worth of jewels, or that she should be setting the bloodhounds +of the police on the train of a human being. I asked my clergyman +friend about it, and remember his patient explanation--that the bishop +had to know all classes and conditions of men: his wife had to go +among the rich as well as the poor, and must be able to dress so that +she would not be embarrassed. The Bishop at this time was making it +his life-work to raise a million dollars for the beginning of a great +Episcopal cathedral; and this of course compelled him to spend much +time among the rich! + +The explanation satisfied me; for of course I thought there had to be +cathedrals--despite the fact that both St. Stephen and St. Paul had +declared that "the Lord dwelleth not in temples made with hands." In +the twenty-five years which have passed since that time the good +Bishop has passed to his eternal reward, but the mighty structure +which is a monument to his visitations among the rich towers over the +city from its vantage-point on Morningside Heights. It is called the +Cathedral of St. John the Divine; and knowing what I know about the +men who contributed its funds, and about the general functions of the +churches of the Metropolis of Mammon, it would not seem to me less +holy if it were built, like the monuments of ancient ravagers, out of +the skulls of human beings. + +#Spiritual Interpretation# + +There remains to say a few words as to the intellectual functions of +the Fifth Avenue clergy. Let us realize at the outset that they do +their preaching in the name of a proletarian rebel, who was crucified +as a common criminal because, as they said, "He stirreth up the +people." An embarrassing "Savior" for the church of Good Society, you +might imagine; but they manage to fix him up and make him respectable. + +I remember something analogous in my own boyhood. All day Saturday I +ran about with the little street rowdies, I stole potatoes and roasted +them in vacant lots, I threw mud from the roofs of apartment-houses; +but on Saturday night I went into a tub and was lathered and scrubbed, +and on Sunday I came forth in a newly brushed suit, a clean white +collar and a shining tie and a slick derby hat and a pair of tight +gloves which made me impotent for mischief. Thus I was taken and +paraded up Fifth Avenue, doing my part of the duties of Good Society. +And all church-members go through this same performance; the oldest +and most venerable of them steal potatoes and throw mud all week--and +then take a hot bath of repentance and put on the clean clothing of +piety. In this same way their ministers of religion are occupied to +scrub and clean and dress up their disreputable Founder--to turn him +from a proletarian rebel into a stained-glass-window divinity. + +The man who really lived, the carpenter's son, they take out and +crucify all over again. As a young poet has phrased it, they nail him +to a jeweled cross with cruel nails of gold. Come with me to the New +Golgotha and witness this crucifixion; take the nails of gold in your +hands, try the weight of the jeweled sledges! Here is a sledge, in the +form of a dignified and scholarly volume, published by the exclusive +house of Scribner, and written by the Bishop of my boyhood, the Bishop +whose train I carried in the stately ceremonials: "The Citizen in His +Relation to the Industrial Situation," by the Right Reverend Henry +Codman Potter, D.D., L.L.D., D.C.L.--a course of lectures delivered +before the sons of our predatory classes at Yale University, under the +endowment of a millionaire mining king, founder of the Phelps-Dodge +corporation, which the other day carried out the deportation from +their homes of a thousand striking miners at Bisbee, Arizona. Says my +Bishop: + + Christ did not denounce wealth any more than he denounced + pauperism. He did not abhor money; he used it. He did not + abhor the company of rich men; he sought it. He did not + invariably scorn or even resent a certain profuseness of + expenditure. + +And do you think that the late Bishop of J.P. Morgan and Company +stands alone as an utterer of scholarly blasphemy, a driver of golden +nails? In the course of this book there will march before us a long +line of the clerical retainers of Privilege, on their way to the New +Golgotha to crucify the carpenter's son: the Rector of the Money +Trust, the Preacher of the Coal Trust, the Priest of the Traction +Trust, the Archbishop of Tammany, the Chaplain of the Millionaires' +Club, the Pastor of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Religious Editor of +the New Haven, the Sunday-school Superintendent of Standard Oil. We +shall try the weight of their jewelled sledges--books, sermons, +newspaper-interviews, after-dinner speeches--wherewith they pound +their golden nails of sophistry into the bleeding hands and feet of +the proletarian Christ. + +Here, for example, is Rev. F.G. Peabody, Professor of Christian Morals +at Harvard University. Prof. Peabody has written several books on the +social teachings of Jesus; he quotes the most rabid of the carpenter's +denunciations of the rich, and says: + + Is it possible that so obvious and so limited a message as + this, a teaching so slightly distinguished from the + curbstone rhetoric of a modern agitator, can be an adequate + reproduction of the scope and power of the teaching of + Jesus? + +The question answers itself: Of course not! For Jesus was a gentleman; +he is the head of a church attended by gentlemen, of universities +where gentlemen are educated. So the Professor of Christian Morals +proceeds to make a subtle analysis of Jesus' actions; demonstrating +therefrom that there are three proper uses to be made of great wealth: +first, for almsgiving--"The poor ye have always with you!"; second, +for beauty and culture--buying wine for wedding-feasts, and +ointment-boxes and other #objets de vertu#; and third, "stewardship," +"trusteeship"--which in plain English is "Big Business." + +I have used the illustration of soap and hot water; one can imagine he +is actually watching the scrubbing process, seeing the proletarian +Founder emerging all new and respectable under the brush of this +capitalist professor. The professor has a rule all his own for reading +the scriptures; he tells us that when there are two conflicting +sayings, the rule of interpretation is that "the more spiritual is to +be preferred." Thus, one gospel makes Jesus say: "Blessed are ye +poor." Another puts it: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." The first +one is crude and literal; obviously the second must be what Jesus +meant! In other words, the professor and his church have made for +their economic masters a treacherous imitation virtue to be taught to +wage-slaves, a quality of submissiveness, impotence and futility, +which they call by the name of "spirituality". This virtue they exalt +above all others, and in its name they cut from the record of Jesus +everything which has relation to the realities of life! + +So here is our Professor Peabody, sitting in the Plummer chair at +Harvard, writing on "Jesus Christ and the Social Question," and +explaining: + + The fallacy of the Socialist program is not in its + radicalism, but in its externalism. It proposes to + accomplish by economic change what can be attained by + nothing less than spiritual regeneration. + +And here is "The Churchman," organ of the Episcopalians of New York, +warning us: + + It is necessary to remember that something more than + material and temporal considerations are involved. There are + things of more importance to the purposes of God and to the + welfare of humanity than economic readjustments and social + amelioration. + +And again: + + Without doubt there is a strong temptation today, bearing + upon clergy and laity alike, to address their religious + energies too exclusively to those tasks whereby human life + may be made more abundant and wholesome materially.... We + need constantly to be reminded that spiritual things come + first. + +There come before my mental eye the elegant ladies and gentlemen for +whom these comfortable sayings are prepared: the vestrymen and pillars +of the Church, with black frock coats and black kid gloves and shiny +tophats; the ladies of Good Society with their Easter costumes in +pastel shades, their gracious smiles and their sweet intoxicating +odors. I picture them as I have seen them at St. George's, where that +aged wild boar, Pierpont Morgan, the elder, used to pass the +collection plate; at Holy Trinity, where they drove downtown in +old-fashioned carriages with grooms and footmen sitting like twin +statues of insolence; at St. Thomas', where you might see all the +"Four Hundred" on exhibition at once; at St. Mary the Virgin's, where +the choir paraded through the aisles, swinging costly incense into my +childish nostrils, the stout clergyman walking alone with nose +upturned, carrying on his back a jewelled robe for which some adoring +female had paid sixty thousand dollars. "Spiritual things come first?" +Ah, yes! "Seek first the kingdom of God, and the jewelled robes shall +be added unto you!" And it is so dreadful about the French and German +Socialists, who, as the "Churchman" reports, "make a creed out of +materialism." But then, what is this I find in one issue of the organ +of the "Church of Good Society"? + + Business men contribute to the Y.M.C.A. because they realize + that if their employes are well cared for and religiously + influenced, they can be of greater service in business! + +Who let that material cat out of the spiritual bag? + + * * * * * + + + +#BOOK THREE# + +#The Church of the Servant-girls# + + Was it for this--that prayers like these + Should spend themselves about thy feet, + And with hard, overlabored knees + Kneeling, these slaves of men should beat + Bosoms too lean to suckle sons + And fruitless as their orisons? + + Was it for this--that men should make + Thy name a fetter on men's necks, + Poor men made poorer for thy sake, + And women withered out of sex? + Was it for this--that slaves should be-- + Thy word was passed to set men free? + + Swinburne. + + * * * * * + + + + +#Charity# + +As everyone knows, the "society lady" is not an independent and +self-sustaining phenomenon. For every one of these exquisite, +sweet-smelling creatures that you meet on Fifth Avenue, there must be +at home a large number of other women who live sterile and empty +lives, and devote themselves to cleaning up after their luckier +sisters. But these "domestics" also are human beings; they have +emotions--or, in religious parlance, "souls;" it is necessary to +provide a discipline to keep them from appropriating the property of +their mistresses, also to keep them from becoming #enceinte.# So it +comes about that there are two cathedrals in New York: one, St. John +the Divine, for the society ladies, and the other, St. Patrick's, for +the servant-girls. The latter is located on Fifth Avenue, where its +towering white spires divide with the homes of the Vanderbilts the +interest of the crowds of sight-seers. Now, early every Sunday +morning, before "Good Society" has opened its eyes, you may see the +devotees of the Irish snake-charmer hurrying to their orisons, each +with a little black prayer-book in her hand. What is it they do +inside? What are they taught about life? This is the question to which +we have next to give attention. + +Some years ago Mr. Thomas F. Ryan, traction and insurance magnate of +New York, favored me with his justification of his own career and +activities. He mentioned his charities, and, speaking as one man of +the world to another, he said: "The reason I put them into the hands +of Catholics is not religious, but because I find they are efficient +in such matters. They don't ask questions, they do what you want them +to do, and do it economically." + +I made no comment; I was absorbed in the implications of the +remark--like Agassiz when some one gave him a fossil bone, and his +mind set to work to reconstruct the creature. + +When a man is drunk, the Catholics do not ask if it was long hours and +improper working-conditions which drove him to desperation; they do +not ask if police and politicians are getting a rake-off from the +saloon, or if traction magnates are using it as an agency for the +controlling of votes; they do not plunge into prohibition movements or +good government campaigns--they simply take the man in, at a standard +price, and the patient slave-sisters and attendants get him sober, and +then turn him out for society to make him drunk again. That is +"charity," and it is the special industry of Roman Catholicism. They +have been at it for a thousand years, cleaning up loathsome and +unsightly messes--"plague, pestilence and famine, battle and murder +and sudden death." Yet--puzzling as it would seem to anyone not +religious--there were never so many messes, never so many different +kinds of messes, as now at the end of the thousand years of charitable +activity! + +But the Catholics go on and on; like the patient spider, building and +rebuilding his web across a door-way; like soldiers under the command +of a ruling class with a "muddling through" tradition-- + + Theirs not to reason why, + Theirs but to do and die. + +And so of course all magnates and managers of industry who have messes +to be cleaned up, human garbage-heaps to be carted away quickly and +without fuss, turn to the Catholic Church for this service, no matter +what their personal religious beliefs or lack of beliefs may be. +Somewhere in the neighborhood of every steel-mill, every coal-mine or +other place of industrial danger, you will find a Catholic hospital, +with its slave-sisters and attendants. Once when I was "muck-raking" +near Pittsburgh, I went to one of these places to ask information as +to the frequency of industrial accidents and the fate of the victims. +The "Mother Superior" received me with a look of polite dismay. "These +concerns pay us!" she said. "You must see that as a matter of business +it would not do for us to talk about them." + +Obey and keep silence: that is the Catholic law. And precisely as it +is with the work of nursing and almsgiving, so it is with the work of +vote-getting, the elaborate system of policemen and saloon-keepers and +ward-heelers which the Catholic machine controls. This industry of +vote-getting is a comparatively new one; but the Church has been +handling the masses for so many centuries that she quickly learned +this new way of "democracy," and has established her supremacy over +all rivals. She has the schools for training the children, the +confessional for controlling the women; she has the intellectual +machinery, the purgatory and the code of slave-ethics. She has the +supreme advantage that the rank and file of her mighty host really +believe what she teaches; they do not have to listen to table-rappings +and flounder through swamps of automatic writings in order to bolster +their hope of the survival of personality after death! + +So it comes about that our captains of industry and finance have been +driven to a more or less reluctant alliance with the Papacy. The +Church is here, and her followers are here, before the war several +hundred thousand of them pouring into the country every year. It is no +longer possible to do without Catholics in America; not merely +do ditches have to be dug, roads graded, coal mined, and dishes +washed, but franchises have to be granted, tariff-schedules +adjusted, juries and courts manipulated, police trained and +strikes crushed. Under our native political system, for these +purposes millions of votes are needed; and these votes belong to +people of a score of nationalities--Irish and German and Italian +and French-Canadian and Bohemian and Mexican and Portuguese and +Polish and Hungarian. Who but the Catholic Church can handle +these polyglot hordes? Who can furnish teachers and editors and +politicians familiar with all these languages? + +Considering how complex is the service, the price is extremely +moderate--the mere actual expenses of the campaign, the cost of red +fire and torch-lights, of liquor and newspaper advertisements. The +rest may come out of the public till, in the form of exemption from +taxation of church buildings and lands, a share of the public funds +for charities and schools, the control of the police for +saloon-keepers and district leaders, the control of police-courts and +magistrates, of municipal administrations and boards of education, of +legislatures and governors; with a few higher offices now and then, to +flatter our sacred self-esteem, a senator or a justice on the Supreme +Court Bench; and on state occasions, to keep up our necessary +prestige, some cabinet-members and legislators and justices to attend +High Mass, and be blessed in public by Catholic prelates and +dignitaries. + +You think this is empty rhetoric--you comfortable, easy-going, +ultra-cultured Americans? You professors in your classic +shades, absorbed in "the passionless pursuit of passionless +intelligence"--while the world about you slides down into the pit! You +ladies of Good Society, practicing your "sweet little charities," +pursuing your "dear little ideals," raising your families of one or +two lovely children--while Irish and French-Canadians and Italians and +Portuguese and Hungarians are breeding their dozens and scores, and +preparing to turn you out of your country! + +#God's Armor# + +You remember "Bishop Blougram's Apology," Browning's study of the +psychology of a modern Catholic ecclesiastic. He is not unaware of +modern thought, this bishop; he is a man of culture, who wants to have +beauty about him, to be a "cabin passenger": + + There's power in me and will to dominate + Which I must exercise, they hurt me else; + In many ways I need mankind's respect, + Obedience, and the love that's born of fear. + +He wishes that he had faith--faith in anything; he understands that +faith is all-important-- + + Enthusiasm's the best thing, I repeat. + +But you cannot get faith just by wishing for it-- + + But paint a fire, it will not therefore burn! + +He tries to imagine himself going on a crusade for truth, but he asks +what there would be in it for him-- + + State the facts, + Read the text right, emancipate the world-- + The emancipated world enjoys itself + With scarce a thank-you. Blougram told it first + It could not owe a farthing,--not to him + More than St. Paul! + +So the bishop goes on with his role, but uneasily conscious of the +contempt of intellectual people. + + I pine among my million imbeciles + (You think) aware some dozen men of sense + Eye me and know me, whether I believe + In the last winking virgin as I vow, + And am a fool, or disbelieve in her, + And am a knave. + +But, as he says, you have to keep a tight hold upon the chain of +faith, that is what + + Gives all the advantage, makes the difference, + With the rough, purblind mass we seek to rule. + We are their lords, or they are free of us, + Just as we tighten or relax that hold. + +So he continues, but not with entire satisfaction, in his role of +shepherd to those whom he calls "King Bomba's lazzaroni," and +"ragamuffin saints." + +I wander into a Catholic bookstore and look to see what Bishop +Blougram is doing with his lazzaroni and his ragamuffin saints here in +this new country of the far West. It is easy to acquire the +information, for the saleswoman is polite and the prices fit my purse. +America is going to war, and Catholic boys are being drafted to be +trained for battle; so for ten cents I obtain a firmly bound little +pamphlet called "God's Armor, a Prayer Book for Soldiers." It is +marked "Copyright by the G.R.C. Central-Verein," and bears the "Nihil +Obstat" of the "Censor Theolog." and the "Imprimatur" of "Johannes +Josephus, Archiepiscopus Sti. Ludovici"--which last you may at first +fail to recognize as a well-known city on the Mississippi River. Do +you not feel the spell of ancient things, the magic of the past +creeping over you, as you read those Latin trade-marks? Such is the +Dead Hand, and its cunning, which can make even St. Louis sound +mysterious! + +In this booklet I get no information as to the commercial causes of +war, nor about the part which the clerical vote may have played +throughout Europe in supporting military systems. I do not even find +anything about the sacred cause of democracy, the resolve of a +self-governing people to put an end to feudal rule. Instead I discover +a soldier-boy who obeys and keeps silent, and who, in his inmost +heart, is in the grip of terrors both of body and soul. Poor, pitiful +soldier-boy, marking yourself with crosses, performing genuflexions, +mumbling magic formulas in the trenches--how many billions of you have +been led out to slaughter by the greeds and ambitions of your +religious masters, since first this accursed Antichrist got its grip +upon the hearts of men! + +I quote from this little book: + + Start this day well by lifting up your heart to God. Offer + yourself to Him, and beg grace to spend the day without sin. + Make the sign of the cross. Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, + and Holy Ghost, behold me in Thy Divine Presence. I adore + Thee and give Thee thanks. Grant that all I do this day be + for Thy Glory, and for the salvation of my immortal soul. + + During the day lift your heart frequently to God. Your + prayers need not be long nor read from a book. Learn a few + of these short ejaculations by heart and frequently repeat + them. They will serve to recall God to your heart and will + strengthen you and comfort you. + +You remember a while back about the prayer-wheels of the Thibetans. +The Catholic religion was founded before the Thibetan, and is less +progressive; it does not welcome mechanical devices for saving labor. +You have to use your own vocal apparatus to keep yourself from hell; +but the process has been made as economical as possible by kindly +dispensations of the Pope. Thus, each time that you say "My God and my +all," you get fifty days indulgence; the same for "My Jesus, mercy," +and the same for "Jesus, my God, I love Thee above all things." For +"Jesus, Mary, Joseph," you get three hundred days--which would seem by +all odds the best investment of your spare breath. + +And then come prayers for all occasions: "Prayer before Battle"; +"Prayer for a Happy Death"; "Prayer in Temptation"; "Prayer before and +after Meals"; "Prayer when on Guard"; "Prayer before a long March"; +"Prayer of Resignation to Death"; "Prayer for Those in their Agony"--I +cannot bear to read them, hardly to list them. I remember standing in +a cathedral "somewhere in France" during the celebration of some +special Big Magic. There was brilliant white light, and a suffocating +strange odor, and the thunder of a huge organ, and a clamor of voices, +high, clear voices of young boys mounting to heaven, like the hands of +men in a pit reaching up, trying to climb over the top of one another. +It sent a shudder into the depths of my soul. There is nothing left in +the modern world which can carry the mind so far back into the ancient +nightmare of anguish and terror which was once the mental life of +mankind, as these Roman Catholic incantations with their frantic and +ceaseless importunity. They have even brought in the sex-spell; and +the poor, frightened soldier-boy, who has perhaps spent the night with +a prostitute, now prostrates himself before a holy Woman-being who is +lifted high above the shames of the flesh, and who stirs the thrills +of awe and affection which his mother brought to him in early +childhood. Read over the phrases of this "Litany of the Blessed +Virgin": + + Holy Mary, Pray for us. Holy Mother of God. Holy Virgin of + Virgins. Mother of Christ. Mother of divine grace. Mother + most pure. Mother most chaste. Mother inviolate. Mother + undefiled. Mother most amiable. Mother most admirable. + Mother of good counsel. Mother of our Creator. Mother of our + Savior. Virgin most prudent. Virgin most venerable. Virgin + most renowned. Virgin most powerful. Virgin most merciful. + Virgin most faithful. Mirror of justice. Seat of wisdom. + Cause of our joy. Spiritual vessel. Vessel of honor. + Singular vessel of devotion. Mystical rose. Tower of David. + Tower of ivory. House of gold. Ark of the covenant. Gate of + heaven. Morning Star. Health of the sick. Refuge of sinners. + Comforter of the afflicted. Help of Christians. Queen of + Angels. Queen of Patriarchs. Queen of Prophets. Queen of + Apostles. Queen of Martyrs. Queen of Confessors. Queen of + Virgins. Queen of all Saints. Queen conceived without + original sin. Queen of the most holy Rosary. Queen of Peace, + Pray for us. + +#Thanksgivings# + +For another five cents--how cheaply a man of insight can obtain +thrills in this fantastic world!--I purchase a copy of the "Messenger +of the Sacred Heart", a magazine published in New York, the issue for +October, 1917. There are pages of advertisements of schools and +colleges with strange titles: "Immaculata Seminary", "Holy Cross +Academy", "Holy Ghost Institute", "Ladycliff", "Academy of Holy Child +Jesus". The leading article is by a Jesuit, on "The Spread of the +Apostleship of Prayer among the Young"; and then "Sister Clarissa" +writes a poem telling us "What are Sorrows"; and then we are given a +story called "Prayer for Daddy"; and then another Jesuit father tells +us about "The Hills that Jesus Loved". A third father tells us about +the "Eucharistic Propaganda"; and we learn that in July, 1917, it +distributed 11,699 beads, and caused the expenditure of 57,714 hours +of adoration; and then the faithful are given a form of letter which +they are to write to the Honorable Baker, Secretary of War, imploring +him to intimate to the French government that France should withdraw +from one of her advances in civilization, and join with mediaeval +America in exempting priests from being drafted to fight for their +country. And then there is a "Question Box"--just like the Hearst +newspapers, only instead of asking whether she should allow him to +kiss her before he has told her that he loves her, the reader asks +what is the Pauline Privilege, and what is the heroic Act, and is +Robert a saint's name, and if food remains in the teeth from the night +before, would it break the fast to swallow it before Holy Communion. +(No, I am not inventing this.) + +I quoted the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, and pointed out how +deftly the Church has managed to slip in a prayer for worldly +prosperity. But the Catholic Church does not show any squeamishness in +dealing with its "million imbeciles", its "rough, purblind mass". + +There is a department of the little magazine entitled "Thanksgiving", +and a statement at the top that "the total number of Thanksgivings for +the month is 2,143,911." I am suspicious of that, as of German reports +of prisoners taken; but I give the statement as it stands, not going +through the list and picking out the crudest, but taking them as they +come, classified by states: + + GENERAL FAVORS: For many of these favors Mass and + publication were promised, for others the Badge of + Promoter's Cross was used, for others the prayers of the + Associates had been asked. + + Alabama--Jewelry found, relief from pain, protection during + storm. + + Alaska--Safe return, goods found. + + Arizona--Two recoveries, suitable boarding place, illness + averted, safe delivery. + + British Honduras--Successful operation. + + California--Seventeen recoveries, six situations, two + successful examinations, house rented, stocks sold, raise in + salary, return to religious duties, sight regained, medal + won, Baptism, preservation from disease, contract obtained, + success in business, hearing restored, Easter duty made, + happy death, automobile sold, mind restored, house found, + house rented, successful journey, business sold, quarrel + averted, return of friends, two successful operations. + +And for all these miraculous performances the Catholic machine is +harvesting the price day by day--harvesting with that ancient fervor +which the Latin poet described as "auri sacra fames". As Christopher +Columbus wrote from Jamaica in 1503: "Gold is a wonderful thing. By +means of gold we can even get souls into Paradise." + +#The Holy Roman Empire# + +The system thus self-revealed you admit is appalling in its squalor; +but you say that at least it is milder and less perilous than the +Church which burned Giordano Bruno and John Huss. But the very essence +of the Catholic Church is that it does not change; #semper eadem# is +its motto: the same yesterday, today and forever--the same in +Washington as in Rome or Madrid--the same in a modern democracy as in +the Middle Ages. The Catholic Church is not primarily a religious +organization; it is a political organization, and proclaims the fact, +and defies those who would shut it up in the religious field. The Rev. +S.B. Smith, a Catholic doctor of divinity, explains in his "Elements +of Ecclesiastical Law": + + Protestants contend that the entire power of the Church + consists in the right to teach and exhort, but not in the + right to command, rule, or govern; whence they infer that + she is not a perfect society or sovereign state. This theory + is false; for the Church, as was seen, is vested #Jure + divino# with power, (1) to make laws; (2) to define and + apply them #(potestas judicialis)#; (3) to punish those who + violate her laws #(potestas coercitiva)#. + +And this is not one scholar's theory, but the formal and repeated +proclamation of infallible popes. Here is the "Syllabus of Errors", +issued by Pope Pius IX, Dec. 8th, 1864, declaring in substance that + + The state has not the right to leave every man free to + profess and embrace whatever religion he shall deem true. + + It has not the right to enact that the ecclesiastical power + shall require the permission of the civil power in order to + the exercise of its authority. + +Then in the same Syllabus the rights and powers of the Church are +affirmed in substance: + + She has the right to require the state not to leave every + man free to profess his own religion. + + She has the right to exercise her power without the + permission or consent of the state. + + She has the right of perpetuating the union of church and + state. + + She has the right to require that the Catholic religion + shall be the only religion of the state, to the exclusion of + all others. + + She has the right to prevent the state from granting the + public exercise of their own worship to persons immigrating + from it. + + She has the power of requiring the state not to permit free + expression of opinion. + +You see, the Holy Office is unrepentant and unchastened. You, who +think that liberty of conscience is the basis of civilization, ought +at least to know what the Catholic Church has to say about the matter. +Here is Mgr. Segur, in his "Plain Talk About Protestantism of Today", +a book published in Boston and extensively circulated by American +Catholics: + + Freedom of thought is the soul of Protestantism; it is + likewise the soul of modern rationalism and philosophy. It + is one of those impossibilities which only the levity of a + superficial reason can regard as admissable. But a sound + mind, that does not feed on empty words, looks upon this + freedom of thought only as simply absurd, and, what is more, + as sinful. + +You take the liberty of thinking, nevertheless; you feel safe because +the Law will protect you. But do you imagine that this "Law" applies +to your Catholic neighbors? Do you imagine that they are bound by the +restraints that bind #you#? Here is Pope Leo XIII, in his Encyclical +of 1890--and please remember that Leo XIII was the #beau ideal# of our +capitalist statesmen and editors, as wise and kind and gentle-souled a +pope as ever roasted a heretic. He says: + + If the laws of the state are openly at variance with the + laws of God--if they inflict injury upon the Church--or set + at naught the authority of Jesus Christ which is vested in + the Supreme Pontiff, then indeed it becomes a duty to resist + them, a sin to render obedience. + +And consider how many fields there are in which the laws of a +democratic state do and forever must contravene the "laws of God" as +interpreted by the Catholic Church. Consider for example, that the +Pope, in his decree #Ne Temere#, has declared that Catholics who are +married by civil authorities or by Protestant clergymen will be living +in "filthy concubinage"! Consider, in the same way, the problems of +education, burial, prison discipline, blasphemy, poor relief, +incorporation, mortmain, religious endowments, vows of celibacy. To +the above list, as given by Gladstone, one might add many issues, such +as birth control, which have arisen since his time. + +What the Church means is to rule. Her literature is full of +expressions of that intention, set forth in the boldest and haughtiest +and most uncompromising manner. For example, Cardinal Manning, in the +Pro-Cathedral at Kensington, speaking in the name of the Pope: + + I acknowledge no civil power; I am the subject of no prince; + I claim more than this--I claim to be the supreme judge and + director of the consciences of men--of the peasant that + tills the field, and of the prince that sits upon the + throne; of the household of privacy, and the legislator that + makes laws for kingdoms; I am the sole, last supreme judge + of what is right and wrong. + +#Temporal Power# + +What this means is, that here in our American democracy the Catholic +Church is a rebel; a prisoner of war who bides his time, watching for +the moment to rise in revolt, and meantime making no secret of his +intentions. The pious Leo XIII, addressing all true believers in +America, instructed them as to their attitude in captivity: + + The Church amongst you, unopposed by the Constitution and + government of your nation, fettered by no hostile + legislation, protected against violence by the common laws + and the impartiality of the tribunals, is free to live and + act without hindrance. Yet, though all this is true, it + would be very erroneous to draw the conclusion that in + America is to be sought the type of the most desirable + status of the church, or that it would be universally lawful + or expedient for state and church to be, as in America, + dissevered and divorced. The fact that Catholicity with you + is in good condition, nay, is even enjoying a prosperous + growth, is by all means to be attributed to the fecundity + with which God has endowed His Church--But she would bring + forth more abundant fruits if, in addition to liberty, she + enjoyed the favor of the laws and patronage of the public + authority. + +Accordingly, here is Father Phelan of St. Louis, addressing his flock +in the "Western Watchman", June 27,1913: + + Tell us we are Catholics first and Americans or Englishmen + afterwards; of course we are. Tell us, in the conflict + between the church and the civil government we take the side + of the church; of course we do. Why, if the government of + the United States were at war with the church, we would say + tomorrow, To hell with the government of the United States; + and if the church and all the governments of the world were + at war, we would say, To hell with all the governments of + the world....Why is it that in this country, where we have + only seven per cent of the population, the Catholic church + is so much feared? She is loved by all her children and + feared by everybody. Why is it that the Pope has such + tremendous power? Why, the Pope is the ruler of the world. + All the emperors, all the kings, all the princes, all the + presidents of the world, are as these altar boys of mine. + The Pope is the ruler of the world. + +You recall what I said at the outset about Power; the ability to +control the lives of other men, to give laws and moral codes, to shape +fashions and tastes, to be revered and regarded. Here is a man swollen +to bursting with this Power. Dressed in his holy robes, with his holy +incense in his nostrils, and the faces of the faithful gazing up at +him awe-stricken, hear him proclaim: + + The Church gives no bonds for her good behavior. She is the + judge of her own rights and duties, and of the rights and + duties of the state. + +And lest you think that an extreme example of ultramontanist +arrogance, listen to the Boston "Pilot", April 6, 1912, speaking for +Cardinal O'Connell, whose official organ it is: + + It must be borne in mind that even though Cardinals Farley, + O'Connell and Gibbons are at heart patriotic Americans and + members of an American hierarchy, yet they are as cardinals + foreign princes of the blood, to whom the United States, as + one of the great powers of the world, is under an obligation + to concede the same honors that they receive abroad. + + Thus, were Cardinal Farley to visit an American man-of-war, + he would be entitled to the salutes and to naval honors + reserved for a foreign royal personage, and at any official + entertainment at Washington the Cardinal will outrank not + merely every cabinet officer, the speaker of the house and + the vice-president, but also the foreign ambassadors, coming + immediately next to the chief magistrate himself. + + Incidentally, it may be mentioned that when a royal + personage not of sovereign rank visits New York it is his + duty to make the first call on Cardinal Farley. + +#Knights of Slavery# + +Such is the worldly station of these apostles of the lowly Jesus. And +what is their attitude towards their brothers in God, the rank and +file of the membership, whose pennies grease the wheels of the +ecclesiastical machine? His Holiness, the Pope, sent over a delegate +to represent him in America, and at a convention of the Federation of +Catholic Societies held in New Orleans in November, 1910, this +gentleman, Diomede Falconio, delivered himself on the subject of +Capital and Labor. We have heard the slave-code of the Anglican +disciples of Jesus, the revolutionary carpenter; now let us hear the +slave-code of his Roman disciples: + + Human society has its origin from God and is constituted of + two classes of people, the rich and the poor, which + respectively represent Capital and Labor. + + Hence it follows that according to the ordinance of God, + human society is composed of superiors and subjects, masters + and servants, learned and unlettered, rich and poor, nobles + and plebeians. + +And lest this should not be clear enough, the Pope sent a second +representative, Mgr. John Bonzano, who, speaking at a general meeting +of the German Catholic Central-Verein, St. Louis, 1917, declared: + + One of the worst evils that may grow out of the European war + is the spreading of the doctrine of Socialism, and the + Catholic Church must be ready to counteract such doctrines. + We must be ready to prevent the spread of Socialism and to + work against it. As I understand, you have a society of + wealthy people in St. Louis ready for such a campaign. You + have experienced leaders who are masters in their kind of + work. They are always insistent to show that this wealth was + and is in close touch with the Church, and therefore it will + not fail. + +This, you perceive, is the complete thesis of the present book, which +therefore no doubt will be entitled to the "Nihil Obstat" of the +"Censor Theolog.", and the "Imprimatur" of "Johannes Josephus, +Archiepiscopus Sti. Ludovici." No wonder that the "experienced +leaders" of America, our captains of industry and exploiters of labor, +are forced, whatever their own faith may be, to make use of this +system of subjection. A few years ago we read in our papers how a +Jewish millionaire of Baltimore was presenting a fortune to the +Catholic Church, to be used in its war upon Socialism. The late Mark +Hanna, the shrewdest and most far-seeing man that Big Business ever +brought into power, said that in twenty years there would be two +parties in America, a capitalist and a socialist; and that it would be +the Catholic church that would save the country from Socialism. That +prophecy was widely quoted, and sank into the souls of our steel and +railway and money magnates; from which time you might see, if you +watched political events, a new tone of deference to the Roman +Hierarchy on the part of our ruling classes. Today you cannot get an +expression of opinion hostile to Catholicism into any newspaper of +importance. The Associated Press does not handle news unfavorable to +the Church, and from top to bottom, the politician takes off his hat +when the Sacred Host goes by. Said Archbishop Quigley, speaking before +the children of the Mary Sodality: + + I'd like to see the politician who would try to rule against + the church in Chicago. His reign would be short indeed. + +#Priests and Police# + +And how is it in our national capital, the palladium of our liberties? +As a means of demonstrating the power of the church and the +subservience of our politicians, the Catholics have invented what they +call the "Cardinal's Day Mass": An elaborate procession of high +ecclesiastics, dressed in gorgeous robes and jewels, through the +streets of Washington, accompanied by a small army of policemen, paid +by non-Catholic taxpayers. The Cardinal seats himself upon a throne, +and our political rulers make obeisance before him. On Sunday, January +14, 1917, there were present at this political mass the following +personages: Four cabinet members and their wives; the speaker of the +House; a large group of senators and representatives; a general of the +army and his wife; an admiral of the navy and his wife; the Chief +Justice of the Supreme Court and his wife, and another Justice of the +Supreme Court and his wife. + +And understand that the church makes no secret of its purpose in +conducting such public exhibitions. Here is the pious Pope Leo XIII +again, in his Encyclical of Nov. 1, 1885: + + All Catholics must make themselves felt as active elements + in daily political life in the countries where they live. + They must penetrate, wherever possible, in the + administration of civil affairs; must constantly exert the + utmost vigilance and energy to prevent the usages of liberty + from going beyond the limits fixed by God's law. All + Catholics should do all in their power to cause the + constitutions of states and legislation to be modeled on the + principles of the true Church. + +And following these instructions, the Catholics are organized for +political work. There are the various Catholic Societies, such as the +Knights of Columbus, secret, oath-bound organizations, the military +arm of the Papal Power. These societies boast some three million +members, and control not less than that many votes. The one thing that +you can be certain about these votes is that on every public question, +of whatever nature, they will be cast on the side of ignorance and +reaction. Thus, it was the influence of the Catholic Societies which +put upon our national statute books the infamous law providing five +years imprisonment and five thousand dollars fine for the sending +through the mail of information about the prevention of conception. It +is their influence which keeps upon the statute-books of New York +state the infamous law which permits divorce only for infidelity, and +makes it "collusion" if both parties desire the divorce. It is these +societies which, in every city and town in America, are pushing and +plotting to get Catholics upon library boards, so that the public may +not have a chance to read scientific books; to get Catholics into the +public schools and on school-boards, so that children may not hear +about Galileo, Bruno, and Ferrer; to have Catholics in control of +police and on magistrates benches, so that priests who are caught in +brothels may not be exposed or punished. + +You are shocked at this, you think it a vulgar jest, perhaps; but +during a period of "vice raids" in New York I was told by a captain of +police, himself a Catholic, that it was a common thing for them to get +priests in their net. "Of course," the official added, good-naturedly, +"we let them slip out." I understood that he had to do that; for the +Pope, in his "Motu Proprio" decree, has forbidden Catholics to bring a +priest into court for any civil crime whatsoever; he has forbidden +Catholic policemen to arrest, Catholic judges to try, and Catholic +law-makers to make laws affecting any priest of the Church of Rome. +And of course we know, upon the authority of a cardinal, that the Pope +is "the sole, last, supreme judge of what is right and wrong." He has +held that position for a thousand years and more; and wherever you +consult the police records throughout the thousand years, you find the +same entries concerning Catholic ecclesiastics. I turn to Riley's +"Illustrations of London Life from Original Documents," and I find in +the year 1385 a certain chaplain, whose name is considerately +suppressed, had a breviary stolen from him by a loose woman, because +he has not given her any money, either on that night or the one +previous. In 1320 John de Sloghtre, a priest, is put in the tower "for +being found wandering about the city against the peace", and Richard +Heyring, a priest, is indicted in the ward of Farringdon and in the +ward of Crepelgate "as being a bruiser and nightwalker." That this has +been going on for six hundred years is due, not to any special +corruption of the Catholic heart, but to the practice of clerical +celibacy, which is contrary to nature, a transgression of fundamental +instinct. It should be noted that the purpose of this transgression, +which pretends to be spiritual, is really economic; it was the means +whereby the church machine built up its power through the Middle Ages. +The priests had children then, as they have them today; but these +children not being recognized, the church machine remained the sole +heir of the property of its clergy. + +#The Church Militant# + +Knowing what we know today, we marvel that it was possible for Germany +to prepare through so many years for her assault on civilization, and +for England to have slept through it all. In exactly the same way, the +historian of a generation from now will marvel that America should +have slept, while the New Inquisition was planning to strangle her. +For we are told with the utmost explicitness precisely what is to be +done. We are to see wiped out these gains of civilization for which +our race has bled and agonized for many centuries; the very gains are +to serve as the means of their own destruction! Have we not heard Pope +Leo tell his faithful how to take advantage of what they find in +America--our easy-going trust, our quiet certainty of liberty, our +open-handed and open-homed and hail-fellow-well-met democracy? + +We see the army being organized and drilled under our eyes; and we can +read upon its banners its purpose proclaimed. Just as the Prussian +military caste had its slogan "Deutschland ueber Alles!" so the +Knights of Slavery have their slogan: "Make America Catholic!" + +Their attitude to democratic institutions is attested by the fact that +none of their conventions ever fails in its resolutions to "deeply +deplore the loss of the temporal power of Our Father, the Pope." Their +subjection to priestly domination is indicated by such resolutions as +this, bearing date of May 13th, 1914: + + The Knights of Columbus of Texas in annual convention + assembled, prostrate at the feet of Your Holiness, present + filial regards with assurances of loyalty and obedience to + the Holy See and request the Papal blessing. + +On June 10th, 1912, one T.J. Carey of Palestine, Texas, wrote to +Archbishop Bonzano, the Apostolic Delegate: "Must I, as a Catholic, +surrender my political freedom to the Church? And by this I mean the +right to vote for the Democratic, Socialist, or Republican parties +when and where I please?" The answer was: "You should submit to the +decisions of the Church, even at the cost of sacrificing political +principles." And to the same effect Mgr. Preston, in New York City, +Jan, 1, 1888: "The man who says, 'I will take my faith from Peter, but +I will not take my politics from Peter,' is not a true Catholic." + +Such is the Papal machine; and not a day passes that it does not +discover some new scheme to advance the Papal glory; a "Catholic +battle-ship" in the United States navy; Catholic chaplains on all +ships of the navy; Catholic holidays--such as Columbus Day--to be +celebrated by all Protestants in America; thirty million dollars worth +of church property exempted from taxation in New York City; mission +bells to be set up at the expense of the state of California; state +support for parish schools--or, if this cannot be had, exemption of +Catholics from taxation for school purposes. So on through the list +which might continue for pages. + +More than anything else, of course, the Papal machine is concerned +with education, or rather, with the preventing of education. It was in +its childish days that the race fell under the spell of the Priestly +Lie; it is in his childish days that the individual can be most safely +snared. Suffer little children to come unto the Catholic priest, and +he will make upon their sensitive minds an impression which nothing in +after life can eradicate. So the mainstay of the New Inquisition is +the parish-school, and its deadliest enemy is the American school +system. Listen to the Rev. James Conway, of the Society of Jesus, in +his book, "The Rights of Our Little Ones": + + Catholic parents cannot, in conscience, send their children + to American public schools, except for very grave reasons + approved by the ecclesiastical authorities. + +While state education removes illiteracy and puts a limited amount of +knowledge within the reach of all, it cannot be said to have a +beneficial influence on civilization in general. + +The state cannot justly enforce compulsory education, even in case of +utter illiteracy, so long as the essential physical and moral +education are sufficiently provided for. + +And so, at all times and in all places, the Catholic Church is +fighting the public school. Eternal vigilance is necessary; as +"America", the organ of the Jesuits, explains: + + Sometimes it is a new building code, or an attempt at taxing + the school buildings, which creates hardships to the + parochial and other private schools. Now it is the free text + book law that puts a double burden on the Catholics. Then + again it is the unwise extension of the compulsory school + age that forces children to be in school until they are 16 + to 18 years old. + +And if you wish to know the purpose of the Catholic schools, hear +Archbishop Quigley of Chicago, speaking before the children of the +Mary Sodality in the Holy Name Parish-School: + + Within twenty years this country is going to rule the world. + Kings and emperors will pass away, and the democracy of the + United States will take their place. The West will dominate + the country, and what I have seen of the Western parochial + schools has proved that the generation which follows us will + be exclusively Catholic. When the United States rules the + world the Catholic Church will rule the world. + +#The Church Triumphant# + +The question may be asked, What of it? What if the Church were to +rule? There are not a few Americans who believe that there have to be +rich and poor, and that rule by Roman Catholics might be preferable to +rule by Socialists. Before you decide, at least do not fail to +consider what history has to tell about priestly government. We do not +have to use our imaginations in the matter, for there was once a +Golden Age such as Archbishop Quigley dreams of, when the power of the +church was complete, when emperors and princes paid homage to her, and +the civil authority made haste to carry out her commands. What was the +condition of the people in those times? We are told by Lea, in his +"History of the Inquisition" that: + + The moral condition of the laity was unutterably depraved. + Uniformity of faith had been enforced by the Inquisition and + its methods, and so long as faith was preserved, crime and + sin was comparatively unimportant except as a source of + revenue to those who sold absolution. As Theodoric Vrie + tersely puts it, hell and purgatory would be emptied if + enough money could be found. The artificial standard thus + created is seen in a revelation of the Virgin to St. + Birgitta, that a Pope who was free from heresy, no matter + how polluted by sin and vice, is not so wicked but that he + has the absolute power to bind and loose souls. There are + many wicked popes plunged in hell, but all their lawful acts + on earth are accepted and confirmed by God, and all priests + who are not heretics administer true sacraments, no matter + how depraved they may be. Correctness of belief was thus the + sole essential; virtue was a wholly subordinate + consideration. How completely under such a system religion + and morals came to be dissociated is seen in the remarks of + Pius II, that the Franciscans were excellent theologians, + but cared nothing about virtue. + + This, in fact, was the direct result of the system of + persecution embodied in the Inquisition. Heretics who were + admitted to be patterns of virtue were ruthlessly + exterminated in the name of Christ, while in the same holy + name the orthodox could purchase absolution for the vilest + of crimes for a few coins. When the only unpardonable + offence was persistence in some trifling error of belief, + such as the poverty of Christ; when men had before them the + example of their spiritual guides as leaders in vice and + debauchery and contempt of sacred things, all the sanctions + of morality were destroyed and the confusion between right + and wrong became hopeless. The world has probably never seen + a society more vile than that of Europe in the fourteenth + and fifteenth centuries. The brilliant pages of Froissart + fascinate us with their pictures of the artificial + courtesies of chivalry; the mystic reveries of Rysbroek and + of Tauler show us that spiritual life survived in some rare + souls, but the mass of the population was plunged into the + depths of sensuality and the most brutal oblivion of the + moral law. For this Alvaro Pelayo tells us that the + priesthood were accountable, and that, in comparison with + them, the laity were holy. What was that state of + comparative holiness he proceeds to describe, blushing as he + writes, for the benefit of confessors, giving a terrible + sketch of universal immorality which nothing could purify + but fire and brimstone from heaven. The chroniclers do not + often pause in their narrations to dwell on the moral + aspects of the times, but Meyer, in his annals of Flanders, + under date of 1379, tells us that it would be impossible to + describe the prevalence everywhere of perjuries, + blasphemies, adulteries, hatreds, quarrels, brawls, murder, + rapine, thievery, robbery, gambling, whoredom, debauchery, + avarice, oppression of the poor, rape, drunkenness, and + similar vices, and he illustrates his statement with the + fact that in the territory of Ghent, within the space of ten + months, there occurred no less than fourteen hundred murders + committed in the bagnios, brothels, gambling-houses, + taverns, and other similar places. When, in 1396, Jean sans + Peur led his Crusaders to destruction at Micopolis, their + crimes and cynical debauchery scandalized even the Turks, + and led to the stern rebuke of Bajazet himself, who as the + monk of St. Denis admits was much better than his Christian + foes. The same writer, moralizing over the disaster at + Agincourt, attributes it to the general corruption of the + nation. Sexual relations, he says, were an alternation of + disorderly lust and of incest; commerce was nought but fraud + and treachery; avarice withheld from the Church her tithes, + and ordinary conversation was a succession of blasphemies. + The Church, set up by God as a model and protector of the + people, was false to all its obligations. The bishops, + through the basest and most criminal of motives, were + habitual accepters of persons; they annointed themselves + with the last essence extracted from their flocks, and there + was in them nothing of holy, of pure, of wise, or even of + decent. + +#God in the Schools# + +But that, you may say, was a long time ago. If so, let us take a +modern country in which the Catholic Church has worked its will. Until +recently, Spain was such a country. Now the people are turning against +the clerical machine; and if you ask why, turn to Rafael Shaw's "Spain +From Within": + + On every side the people see the baleful hand of the Church, + interfering or trying to interfere in their domestic life, + ordering the conditions of employment, draining them of + their hard-won livelihood by trusts and monopolies + established and maintained in the interest of the Religious + Orders, placing obstacles in the way of their children's + education, hindering them in the exercise of their + constitutional rights, and deliberately ruining those of + them who are bold enough to run counter to priestly + dictation. Riots suddenly break out in Barcelona; they are + instigated by the Jesuits. The country goes to war in + Morocco; it is dragged into it solely in defense of the + mines owned, actually, if not ostensibly, by the Jesuits. + The consumes cannot be abolished because the Jesuits are + financially interested in their continuance. + + * * * * * + + + + +We have read the statement of a Jesuit father, that "the state cannot +justly enforce compulsory education, even in case of utter +illiteracy." How has that doctrine worked out in Spain? There was an +official investigation of school conditions, the report appearing in +the "Heraldo de Madrid" for November, 1909. In 1857 there had been +passed a law requiring a certain number of schools in each of the 79 +provinces: this requirement being below the very low standards +prevailing at that time in other European countries. Yet in 1909 it +was found that only four provinces had the required number of +elementary schools, and at the rate of increase then prevailing it +would have taken 150 years to catch up. Seventy-five per cent of the +population were wholly illiterate, and 30,000 towns and villages had +no government schools at all. The government owed nearly a million and +a half dollars in unpaid salaries to the teachers. The private schools +were nearly all "nuns' schools", which taught only needle-work and +catechism; the punishments prevailing in them were "cruel and +disgusting." + +As to the location of the schools, a report of the Minister of +Education to the Cortes, the Parliament of Spain, sets forth as +follows: + + More than 10,000 schools are on hired premises, and many of + these are absolutely destitute of hygienic conditions. There + are schools mixed up with hospitals, with cemeteries, with + slaughter houses, with stables. One school forms the + entrance to a cemetery, and the corpses are placed on the + master's table while the last responses are being said. + There is a school into which the children cannot enter until + the animals have been sent out to pasture. Some are so small + that as soon as the warm weather begins the boys faint for + want of air and ventilation. One school is a manure-heap in + process of fermentation, and one of the local authorities + has said that in this way the children are warmer in winter. + One school in Cataluna adjoins the prison. Another, in + Andalusia, is turned into an enclosure for the bulls when + there is a bull-fight in the town. + +These conditions excited the indignation of a Spanish educator by the +name of Francesco Ferrer. He founded what he called a "modern school", +in which the pupils should be taught science and common sense. He +drew, of course, the bitter hatred of the Catholic hierarchy, which +saw in the spread of his principles the end of their mastery of the +people. When the Barcelona insurrection took place, they had Ferrer +seized upon a charge of having been its instigator; they had him tried +in secret before a military tribunal, convicted upon forged documents, +and shot beneath the walls of the fortress of Montjuich. The case was +thoroughly investigated by William Archer, one of England's leading +critics, a man of scrupulous rectitude of mind. His conclusion is that +Ferrer was absolutely innocent of the charges against him, and that +his execution was the result of a clerical plot. Of Ferrer's character +Archer writes: + + Fragmentary though they be, the utterances which I have + quoted form a pretty complete revelation. From first to last + we see in him an ardent, uncompromising, incorruptible + idealist. His ideals are narrow, and his devotion to them + fanatical; but it is devoid, if not of egoism, at any rate + of self-interest and self-seeking. As he shrank from + applying the money entrusted him to ends of personal luxury, + so also he shrank from making his ideas and convictions + subserve any personal ambition or vanity. + +#The Menace# + +There are, of course, many people in America who will not rest idle +while their country falls into the condition of Spain. There are +anti-Catholic propaganda societies, which send out lecturers to +discuss the Church and its records; and this is exasperating to devout +believers, who regard the Church as holy, and any criticism of it as +blasphemy. So we have opportunity to observe the working out of the +doctrine that the Church is superior to the civil law. + +On June 12th, 1913, there came to the little town of Oelwein, Iowa, a +former priest of the Catholic Church, named Jeremiah J. Crowley, to +deliver a lecture exposing the Papal propaganda. The Catholics of the +town made efforts to intimidate the owner of the place in which the +lecture was to be given; the priest of the town, Father O'Connor, +preached a sermon furiously denouncing the lecturer; and after the +lecture the unfortunate Crowley was surrounded by a mob of men, women +and boys, and although he was six feet three in size, he was beaten +almost to death. At the trial which followed it developed that Father +O'Connor and also his brother, a judge on the Superior Bench, were +accessories before the fact. + +Nor is this a solitary instance. The Catholic military societies, with +their uniforms and their armories, are not maintained for nothing. As +Archbishop Quigley declared before the German Catholic Central Verein: + + We have well ordered and efficient organizations, all at the + beck and nod of the hierarchy and ready to do what the + church authorities tell them to do. With these bodies of + loyal Catholics ready to step into the breach at any time + and present an unbroken front to the enemy we may feel + secure. + +And so, on the evening of April 15th, 1914, a group of Catholics +entered the Pierce Hotel in Denver, Colorado, overpowered a police +guard and seized the Rev. Otis L. Spurgeon, an anti-Catholic lecturer. +They bound and gagged him, took him to a lonely woods, and beat him to +insensibility. The same thing happened to the Rev. Augustus Barnett, +at Buffalo; the Rev. William Black was killed at Marshall, Texas. In +each case the assailants avowed themselves Knights of Columbus, and +efforts to punish them failed, because no jury can be got to convict a +Catholic, fighting for his Pope against a godless state. The most +pious Leo XIII has laid down: + + It is an impious deed to break the laws of Jesus Christ for + the purpose of obeying the magistrates, or to transgress the + law of the Church under the pretext of observing the civil + law. + +There are papers published to warn Americans against the plotting of +this political Church. One of them, "The Menace," has a circulation of +more than a million; and naturally the Knights of Slavery do not enjoy +reading it. Year after year they have marshalled their power to have +this paper barred from the mails--so far, in vain. They caused an +obscenity prosecution, which failed; so finally the press rooms of the +paper were blown up with dynamite. At the present time there is a +"Catholic Truth Society" with a publication called "Truth", to oppose +the anti-Catholic campaign; and that is all right, of course--except +when the agents who collect the two-dollar subscriptions to this +publication make use of Untruth in their labors--promising absolution +and salvation to the families, dead and living, of those who "come +across" with subscriptions. In the "Bulletin of the American +Federation of Catholic Societies" for September, 1915, I find a record +of the ceaseless plotting to bar criticism of the Catholic Church from +the mails. Fitzgerald, a Tammany Catholic congressman, proposes a bill +in Washington; and Judge St. Paul, of New Orleans, a member of the +Federation's "law committee", points out the difficulties in the way +of such legislation. You cannot pass a law against ridiculing +religion, because the Catholics want to ridicule Christian Science, +Mormonism, and the "Holy Ghost and Us" Society! The Judge thinks the +purpose of the Papal plotters will be accomplished if they can slip +into the present law the words "scurrilous and slanderous"; he hopes +that this much can be done without the American people catching on! + +You read these things for the first time, perhaps, and you want to +start an American "Kultur-kampf." I make haste, therefore, to restate +the main thesis of this book. It is not the New Inquisition which is +our enemy today; it is hereditary Privilege. It is not Superstition, +but Big Business which makes use of Superstition as a wolf makes use +of sheep's clothing. + +You remember how, when Americans first awakened to the universal +corruption of our politics, we used to attribute it to the "ignorant +foreign vote." Turn to Lecky's "Democracy and Liberty" and you will +see how reformers twenty years ago explained our political depravity. +But we probed deeper, and discovered that the purely American +communities, such as Rhode Island, were the most corrupt of all. It +dawned upon us that wherever there was a political boss paying bribes +on election day, there was a captain of industry furnishing the money +for the bribes, and taking some public privilege in return. So we came +to realize that political corruption is merely a by-product of Big +Business. + +And when we come to probe this problem of the spread of Superstition in +America, this amazing renascence of Romanism in a democracy, we find +precisely the same phenomenon. It is not the poor foreigner who +troubles us. Our human magic would win him--our easy-going trust, our +quiet certainty of liberty, our open-handed and open-homed and +hail-fellow-well-met democracy. We should break down the Catholic +machine, and not all the priests in the hierarchy could stop us--were +it not for the Steel Trust and the Coal Trust and the Beef Trust, the +Liquor Trust and the Traction Trust and the Money Trust--those masters +of America who do not want citizens, free and intelligent and +self-governing, but who want the slave-hordes as they come, ignorant, +inert, physically, mentally and morally helpless! + +No, do not let yourself be lured into a Kultur-kampf. It is not the +pennies of the servant-girls which build the towering cathedrals; it +is not the two-dollar contributions for the salvation of souls which +support the Catholic Truth Society and the Knights of Columbus and the +Holy Name Society and the Mary Sodality and the National Shrine of the +Immaculate Conception and all the rest of the machinery of the Papal +propaganda. These help, of course; but the main sources of growth are, +first, the subsidies of industrial exploiters, the majority of whom +are non-Catholic, and second, the privilege of public plunder granted +as payment for votes by politicians who are creatures and puppets of +Big Business. + +#King Coal# + +The proof of these statements is written all over the industrial life +of America. I will stop long enough to present an account of one +industry, asking the reader to accept my statement that if space +permitted I could present the same sort of proof for a dozen other +industries which I have studied--the steel-mills of Western +Pennsylvania, the meat-factories of Chicago, the glass-works of +Southern Jersey, the silk-mills of Paterson, the cotton-mills of North +Carolina, the woolen-mills of Massachusetts, the lumber-camps of +Louisiana, the copper-mines of Michigan, the sweat-shops of New York. + +In a lonely part of the Rocky Mountains lies a group of enormously +valuable coal-mines owned by the Rockefellers and other Protestant +exploiters. The men who work these mines, some twelve or fifteen +thousand in number, come from all the nations of Europe and Asia, and +their fate is that of the average wage-slave. I do not ask anyone to +take my word, but present sworn testimony, taken by the United States +Commission on Industrial Relations in 1914. Here is the way the +Italian miners live, as described in a doctor's report: + + Houses up the canyon, so-called, of which eight are + habitable, and forty-six simply awful; they are disreputably + disgraceful. I have had to remove a mother in labor from one + part of the shack to another to keep dry. + +And here is the testimony of the Rev. Eugene S. Gaddis, former +superintendent of the Sociological Department of the Colorado Fuel and +Iron Company: + + The C.F. & I. Company now own and rent hovels, shacks and + dug-outs that are unfit for the habitation of human beings + and are little removed from the pig-sty make of dwellings. + And the people in them live on the very level of a pig-sty. + Frequently the population is so congested that whole + families are crowded into one room; eight persons in one + small room was reported during the year. + +And here is what this same clergyman has to say about the bosses whom +the Rockefellers employ: + + The camp superintendents as a whole impressed me as most + uncouth, ignorant, immoral, and in many instances, the most + brutal set of men that I have ever met. Blasphemous bullies. + +Sometimes the miner grows tired of being robbed of his weights, and +applies for the protection which the law of the state allows him. What +happens then? + + "When a man asked for a checkweighman, in the language of + the super he was getting too smart." "And he got what?" "He + got it in the neck, generally." + +And when these wage-slaves, goaded beyond endurance, went on strike, +in the words of the Commission's report: + + Five strikers, one boy, and thirteen women and children in + the strikers' tent colony were shot to death by militiamen + and guards employed by the coal companies, or suffocated and + burned to death when these militiamen and guards set fire to + the tents in which they made their homes. + +And now, what is the position of education in such camps? The Rev. +James McDonald, a Methodist preacher, testified that the school +building was dilapidated and unfit. One year there were four teachers, +the next three, and the next only two. The teacher of the primary +grade had a hundred and twenty children en-rolled, ninety per cent of +whom could not speak a word of English. + + Every little bench was seated with two or three. It was + over-crowded entirely, and she could hardly get walking room + around there. + +And as to the political use made of this deliberately cultivated +ignorance, former United States Senator Patterson testified that the +companies controlled all elections and all nominations: + + Election returns from the two or three counties in which the + large companies operate show that in the precincts in which + the mining camps are located the returns are nearly + unanimous in favor of the men or measures approved by the + companies, regardless of party. + +And now comes the all-important question. What of the Catholic Church +and these evils? The majority of these mine-slaves are Catholics, it +is this Church which is charged with their protection. There are +priests in every town, and in nearly every camp. And do we find them +lifting their voices in behalf of the miners, protesting against the +starving and torturing of thirty or forty thousand human beings? Do we +find Catholic papers printing accounts of the Ludlow massacre? Do we +find Catholic journalists on the scene reporting it, Catholic lawyers +defending the strikers, Catholic novelists writing books about their +troubles? We do not! + +Through the long agony of the fourteen months strike, I know of just +one Catholic priest, Father Le Fevre, who had a word to say for the +strikers. One of the first stories I heard when I reached the +strike-field was of a priest who had preached on the text that +"Idleness is the root of all evil," and had been reported as a "scab" +and made to shut up. "Who made him?" I asked, naively, thinking of +his, church superiors. My informant, a union miner, laughed. "#We# +made him!" he said. + +I talked with another priest who was prudently saving souls and could +not be interested in questions of worldly greed. Max Eastman, +reporting the strike in the "Masses", tells of an interview with a +Catholic sister. + + "Has the Church done anything to try to help these people, + or to bring about peace?" we asked. "I consider it the most + useless thing in the world to attempt it," she replied. + +The investigating committee of Congress came to the scene, and several +clergymen of the Protestant Church appeared and bore testimony to the +outrages which were being committed against the strikers; but of all +the Catholic priests in the district not one appeared--not one! +Several Protestant clergymen testified that they had been driven from +the coal-camps--not because they favored the unions, but because the +companies objected to having their workers educated at all; but no one +ever heard of the Catholic Church having trouble with the operators. +To make sure on this point I wrote to a former clergyman of Trinidad +who watched the whole strike, and is now a first lieutenant in the +First New Mexico Infantry. He answered: + + The Catholic Church seemed to get along with the companies + very cordially. The Church was permitted in all the camps. + The impression was abroad that this was due to favoritism. I + honor what good the Church does, but I know of no instance, + during the Colorado coal-strike or at any other time or + place, when the Catholic Church has taken any special + interest in the cause of the laboring men. Many Catholics, + especially the men, quit the church during the coal-strike. + +#The Unholy Alliance# + +Everywhere throughout America today the ultimate source of all power, +political, social, and religious, is economic exploitation. To all +other powers and all other organizations it speaks in these words: +"Help us, and you will thrive; oppose us, and you will be destroyed." +It has spoken to the Catholic Church, for sixteen hundred years the +friend and servant of every ruling class; and the Church has hastened +to fit itself into the situation, continuing its pastoral role as +shepherd to the wage-slave vote. + +In New York and Boston and Chicago the Church is "Democratic"; so in +the Elaine campaign it was possible for a Republican clergyman to +describe the issue as "Rum, Romanism and Rebellion." But the Holy +Office was shrewd and socially ambitious, and the Grand Old Party was +desperately in need of votes, so under the regime of Mark Hanna, the +President-Maker, there began a rapprochement between Big Business and +the New Inquisition. Under Hanna the Catholic Church got +representation in the Cabinet; under him the Cardinal's Mass became a +government institution, a Catholic College came to the fore in +Washington, and Catholic prelates were introduced in the role of +eminent publicists, their reactionary opinions on important questions +being quoted with grave solemnity by a prostitute press. It was Mark +Hanna himself who founded the National Civic Federation, upon whose +executive committee Catholic cardinals and archbishops might work hand +in glove with Catholic labor-leaders for the chloroforming of the +American working-class. Hanna's biographer naively calls attention to +the President-maker's popularity among Catholics, high and low, and +the support they gave him. "Archbishop Ireland was in frequent +correspondence with him, and used his influence in Mr. Hanna's +behalf." + +And this tradition, begun under Hanna, was continued under Roosevelt, +and reached its finest flower in the days of Taft, the most pliant +tool of the forces of evil who has occupied the White House since the +days of the Slave Power. President Taft was himself a Unitarian; yet +it was under his administration that the Catholic Church achieved one +of its dearest ambitions, and broke into the Supreme Court. Why not? +We can imagine the powers of the time in conference. It is desired to +pack the Court against the possibility of progress; it is desired to +find men who will stand like a rock against change--and who better +than those who have been trained from childhood in the idea of a +divine sanction for doctrine and morals? After all, what is it that +Hereditary Privilege wants in America? A Roman Catholic code of +property rights, with a supreme tribunal to play the part of an +infallible Pope! + +Under this Taft administration the country was governed by the +strangest legislative alliance our history ever saw; a combination of +the Old Guard of the Republican Party with the leaders of the Tammany +Democracy of New York. "Bloody shirt" Foraker, senator from Ohio, +voting with the sons of those Irish Catholic mob-leaders whom the +Federal troops shot down in the draft-riots! By this unholy +combination a pledge to reduce the tariff was carried out by a bill +which greatly increased its burdens; by this combination the public +lands and resources of the country were fed to a gang of vultures by a +thievish Secretary of the Interior. And of course under such an +administration the cause of "Religion" made tremendous strides. +Catholic officials were appointed to public office, Catholic +ecclesiastics were accorded public honors, and Catholic favor became a +means to political advancement. You might see a hard-swearing old +political pirate like "Uncle Joe" Cannon, taking his cigar out of the +corner of his blasphemous mouth and betaking himself to the +"Cardinal's Day Mass", to bend his stiff knees and bow his hoary +unrepentant head before a jeweled prelate on a throne. You might see +an emissary of the United States government proceeding to Rome, +prostrating himself before the Pope, and paying over seven million +dollars of our taxes for lands which the filthy and sensual friars of +the Philippine Islands had filched from the wretched serfs of that +country and which the wretched serfs had won back by their blood in a +revolution. + +#Secret Service# + +This Taft administration, urged on by the Catholic intrigue, made the +most determined efforts to prevent the spread of radical thought. +Because the popular magazines were opposing the plundering of the +country, a bill was introduced into Congress to put them out of +business by a prohibitive postal tax; the President himself devoted +all his power to forcing the passage of this bill. At the same time +the Socialist press was handicapped by every sort of persecution. I +was at that time in intimate touch with the "Appeal to Reason", and I +know that scarcely a month passed that the Post Office Department did +not invent some new "regulation" especially designed to limit its +circulation. I recall one occasion when I met the editor on his way to +Washington with a trunkful of letters from subscribers who complained +that their postmasters refused to deliver the paper to them; and later +on this same editor was prosecuted by a Catholic Attorney General and +sentenced to prison for seeking to awaken the people concerning the +Moyer-Haywood case. + +From my personal knowledge I can say that under the administration of +President Taft t the Roman Catholic Church and the Secret Service of +the Federal Government worked hand in hand for the undermining of the +radical movement in America. Catholic lecturers toured the country, +pouring into the ears of the public vile slanders about the private +morality of Socialists; while at the same time government detectives, +paid out of public funds, spent their time seeking evidence for these +Catholic lecturers to use. I know one man, a radical labor-leader, +whose morals happened to approach those of the average capitalist +politician, and who was prevented by threats of exposure and scandal +from accepting the Socialist nomination for President. I know a dozen +others who were shadowed and spied upon; I know one case--myself--a +man who was asking a divorce from his wife, and whose mail was opened +for months. + +This subject is one on which I naturally speak with extreme +reluctance. I will only say that my opponent in the suit made no +charge of misconduct against me; but those in control of our political +police evidently thought it likely that a man who was not living with +his wife might have something to hide; so for months my every move was +watched and all my mail intercepted. In such a case one might at first +suspect one's private opponent; but it soon became evident that this +net was cast too wide for any private agency. Not merely was my own +mail opened, but the mail of all my relatives and friends--people +residing in places as far apart as California and Florida. I recall +the bland smile of a government official to whom I complained about +this matter: "If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear." +My answer was that a study of many labor cases had taught me the +methods of the agent provocateur. He is quite willing to take real +evidence if he can find it; but if not, he has familiarized himself +with the affairs of his victim, and can make evidence which will be +convincing when exploited by the yellow press. In my own case, the +matter was not brought to a test, for I went abroad to live; when I +made my next attack on Big Business, the Taft administration had been +repudiated at the polls, and the Secret Service of the government was +no longer at the disposal of the Catholic machine. + +#Tax Exemption# + +Today the Catholic Church is firmly established and everywhere +recognized as one of the main pillars of American capitalism. It has +some fifteen thousand churches, fourteen million communicants, and +property valued at half a billion dollars. Upon this property it pays +no taxes, municipal, state or national; which means, quite obviously, +that you and I, who do not go to church, but who do pay taxes, furnish +the public costs of Catholicism. We pay to have streets paved and +lighted and cleaned in front of Catholic churches; we pay to have +thieves kept away from them, fires put out in them, records preserved +for them--all the services of civilization given to them gratis, and +this in a land whose constitution provides that Congress (which +includes all state and municipal legislative bodies) "shall make no +law respecting an establishment of religion." When war is declared, +and our sons are drafted to defend the country, all Catholic monks and +friars, priests and dignitaries are exempted. They are "ministers of +religion"; whereas we Socialists may not even have the status of +"conscientious objectors." We do not teach "religion"; we only teach +justice and humanity, decency and truth. + +In defense of this tax-exemption graft, the stock answer is that the +property is being used for purposes of "education" or "charity". It is +a school, in which children are being taught that "liberty of +conscience is a most pestiferous error, from which arises revolution, +corruption, contempt of sacred things, holy institutions, and laws." +(Pius IX). It is a "House of Refuge", to which wayward girls are +committed by Catholic magistrates, and in which they are worked twelve +hours a day in a laundry or a clothing sweat-shop. Or it is a +"parish-house", in which a celibate priest lives under the care of an +attractive young "house-keeper". Or it is a nunnery, in which young +girls are held against their will and fed upon the scraps from their +sisters' plates to teach them humility, and taught to lie before the +altar, prostrate in the form of a cross, while their "Superiors" walk +upon their bodies to impress the religious virtues. "I was a teacher +in the Catholic schools up to a very recent period," writes the woman +friend who tells me of these customs, "and I know about the whole +awful system which endeavors to throttle every genuine impulse of the +human will." + +Concerning a large part of this church property, the claim of +"religious" use has not even the shadow of justification. In every +large city of America you will find acres of land owned by the +Catholic machine, and supposed to be the future site of some +institution; but as time goes on and property values increase, the +church decides to build on a cheaper site, and proceeds to cash in the +profits of its investment, precisely as does any other real estate +speculator. Everywhere you turn in the history of Romanism you find it +at this same game, doing business under the cloak of philanthropy and +in the holy name of Christ. Read the letter which the Catholic Bishop +of Mexico sent to the Pope in 1647, complaining of the Jesuit fathers +and their boundless graft. In McCabe's "Candid History of the Jesuits" +appears a summary: + + A remarkable account is given of the worldly property of the + fathers. They hold, it seems, the greater part of the wealth + of Mexico. Two of their colleges own 300,000 sheep, besides + cattle and other property. They own six large sugar + refineries, worth from half a million to a million crowns + each, and making an annual profit of 100,000 crowns each, + while all the other monks and clergy of Mexico together own + only three small refineries. They have immense farms, rich + silver mines, large shops and butcheries, and do a vast + trade. Yet they continually intrigue for legacies--a woman + has recently left them 70,000 crowns--and they refuse to pay + the appointed tithe on them. It is piquant to add to this + authoritative description that the Jesuit congregation at + Rome were still periodically forbidding the fathers to + engage in commerce, and Jesuit writers still gravely + maintain that the society never engaged in commerce. It + should be added that the missionaries were still heavily + subsidized by the King of Spain, that there were (the Bishop + says) only five or six Jesuits to each of their + establishments, and that they conducted only ten colleges. + +#"Holy History"# + +And if you think this tax-exemption privilege should be taken away +from the church grafters, let me suggest a course of procedure. Write +a letter about it to your daily newspaper; and if the letter is not +published, go and see the editor and ask why; so you will learn +something about the partnership between Superstition and Big Business! + +It is not too much to say that today no daily newspaper in any large +American city dares to attack the emoluments of the Catholic Church, +or to advocate restrictions upon the ecclesiastical machine. As I +write, they are making a new Catholic bishop in Los Angeles, and all +the newspapers of that graft-ridden city herald it as an important +social event. Each paper has the picture of the new prelate, with his +shepherd's crook upraised, his empty face crowned with a rhomboidal +fool's cap, and enough upholstery on him to outfit a grand opera +company. The Los Angeles "Examiner", the only paper in the city with a +pretense to radicalism, turns loose its star-writer--one of those +journalist virtuosos who will describe you a Wild West "rodeo" one +day, and a society elopement the next, and a G.O.P. convention the +next; and always with his picture, one inch square, at the head of his +effusion. He takes in the Catholic festivity; and does it phaze him? +It does not! He is a newspaper man, and if his city editor sent him to +hell, he would take the assignment and write like the devil. To read +him now you might think he had been reared in a convent; his soul is +uplifted, and he bursts forth in pure spontaneous ecstacy: + + Solemnly magnificent, every brilliant detail symbolically + picturing the holy history of the Roman Catholic Church in + the inexorable progress of its immense structure, which + rises from the rock of Peter, with its beacons of faith and + devotion piercing the fog of doubt and fear which surround + the world and the worldly, was the ceremony yesterday at the + Cathedral of St. Vibiana, whereby Bishop John J. Cantwell + was installed in his diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles. + +And then, a month later, conies another occasion of state--the +twenty-third Annual Banquet. the Merchants' and Manufacturers' +Association of Los Angeles. I should have to write a little essay to +make clear the sociological significance of that function; explaining +first, a nation-wide organization which has been proven by +congressional investigation and by the publication of its secret +documents to be a machine for the corruption of our political life; +and then exhibiting our "City of the Angels", from which all Angels +have long since fled; a city in the first crude stage of land +speculation, without order, dignity or charm; a city of real estate +agents, who exist by selling climate to new arrivals from the East; a +city whose intellectual life is "boosting", whose standards of truth +are those of the horse-trade. Its newspapers publish a table of +temperatures, showing the daily contrast between Southern California +and the East. This device is effective in the winter-time; but last +June, when for five days the temperature went to over 110, and several +times 114--the Los Angeles space was left empty! + +In the same way, there is a rule that our earth-quake shocks are never +mentioned, unless they destroy whole towns. On the afternoon of Jan. +26th, 1918, a cyclone hit Pasadena, of violence sufficient to lift a +barn over a church-steeple and deposit it in the pastor's front yard. +That evening a friend of mine in Los Angeles called up the office of +the "Times" to make inquiry; and although they are only thirteen miles +away, and have a branch office and a special correspondent in +Pasadena, the answer was that they had heard nothing about the +cyclone! And next morning I made a careful, search of their columns. +On the front page I read: "Fourth Blizzard of Season Raging in East"; +also: "Another Earthquake in Guatemala". But not a line about the +Pasadena cyclone. That there was plenty of space in that issue, you +may judge from the fact that there were twenty headlines like the +following--many of them representing full page and half page +illustrated "write-ups": + + Where Spring is January; Wealth Waits in California; The + Bright Side of Sunshine Land; Come to California: + Southland's Arms Outstretched in Cordial Invitation to the + East; Flower Stands Make Gay City Streets; Southland Climate + Big Manufacturing Factor; Joy of Life Demonstrated in Los + Angeles' Beautiful Homes; Nymphs Knit and Bathe at Ocean's + Sunny Beach; etc. + +Now we are in the War and our business is booming, we are making money +hand over fist. It is all the more delightful, because we are putting +our souls into it, we are lending our money to the government and +saving the world for Democracy! Our labor unionists have been driven +to other cities, and our Mexican agitators and I.W.W.'s are in jail; +so, in the gilt ball-room of our palatial six-dollar-a-day hotel the +four hundred masters of our prosperity meet to pat themselves on the +back, and they invite the new Catholic bishop to come and confer the +grace of God upon their eating. + +The Bishop comes; and I take up the "Times"--the labor-hating, +labor-baiting, fire-and-slaughter-breathing "Times"--and here is the +episcopal picture on the front page, the arms stretched four columns +wide in oratorical beneficence. How the shepherd of Jesus does love +the Merchants and Manufacturers! How his eloquence is poured out upon +them! "You represent, gentlemen, the largest and the most civilizing +secular body in the country. You are the pioneers of American +civilization.... I am glad to be among you; glad that my lines have +fallen in this glorious land by the sunset sea, and honored to meet in +intimate acquaintance the big men who have raised here in a few years +a city of metropolitan proportions." + +And then, bearing in mind his responsibilities as guardian of +Exploitation, the Bishop goes on to tell them about the coming +class-war. "On the one side a statesman preaching patience and respect +for vested rights, strict observance of public faith; on the other a +demagog speaking about the tyranny of capitalists and usurers." And +then, of course, the inevitable religious tag: "How will men obey you, +if they believe not in God, who is the author of all authority?" At +which, according to the "Times", "prolonged applause and cheers" from +the Merchants and Manufacturers! The editor of the "Times" goes back +to his office, and inspired by this episcopal eloquence writes a +"leader" with the statement that: "#We have no proletariat in +America!#" + +#Das Centrum# + +In order to see clearly the ultimate purpose of this Unholy Alliance, +this union of Superstition and the Merchants' and Manufacturers' +Association, we have to go to Europe, where the arrangement has been +working for a thousand years. In Europe to-day we see the whole world +in conflict with a band of criminals who have been able to master the +minds and lives of a hundred million highly civilized people. As I +write, the Junker aristocracy is at bay, and soon to have its throat +cut; but there comes a Holy Father to its rescue, with the cross of +Jesus uplifted, and a series of pleas for mercy, written in Vienna, +edited in Berlin, and sent out from Rome. The Holy Father loves all +mankind with a tender and touching love; his heart bleeds at the sight +of bloodshed and suffering, and he pleads the sacred cause of peace on +earth and good-will toward men. + +But what was the Holy Father doing through the forty-three years that +the Potsdam gang were preparing for their assault on the world? How +was the Holy Father manifesting his love of peace and good will? He +is, you understand, the "sole, last, supreme judge of what is right +and wrong," and his followers obey him with the utmost promptness and +devotion--they express themselves as "prostrate at his feet." And when +the masters of Prussia came to him and said: "Give us the power to +turn this nation into the world's greatest military empire"--what did +the Roman Church answer? Did it speak boldly for the gentle Jesus, and +the cause of peace on earth and good-will towards men? No, it did not. +To Bismarck in Germany it said, precisely as it said to Mark Hanna in +America: "Give us honors and prestige; give us power over the minds of +the young, so that we may plunder the poor and build our cathedrals +and feed fat our greed; and in return we will furnish you with votes, +so that you may rule the state and do what you will." + +You think there is exaggeration in that statement? Why, we know the +very names of the prelates with whom the master-cynic of the +Junkerthum made his "deal." He had tried the method of the +Kultur-kampf, and had failed; but before he repealed the anti-Catholic +laws, he made sure that the Church had learned its lesson, and would +nevermore oppose the Prussian ruling caste. We know how this bargain +was carried out; we have the record of the Centrum, the Catholic party +of Germany, whose hundred deputies were the solid rock upon which the +military regime of Prussia was erected. Not a battle-ship nor a +Zeppelin was built for which the Black Terror did not vote the funds; +not a school-child was beaten in Posen or Alsace that the New +Inquisition did not shout its "Hoch!" The writer sat in the visitors' +gallery of the Reichstag when the Socialists were protesting against +the torturing of miserable Herreros in Africa, and he heard the +deputies of the Holy Father's political party screaming their rage +like jaguars in a jungle night. All over Europe the Catholic Church +organized fake labor unions, the "yellows," as they were called, to +scab upon the workers and undermine the revolutionary movement. The +Holy Father himself issued precise instructions for the management of +these agencies of betrayal. Hear the most pious and benevolent Leo +XIII: + + "They must pay special and principal attention to piety and + morality, and their internal discipline must be directed + precisely by these considerations; otherwise they entirely + lose their special character, and come to be very little + better than those societies which take no account of + Religion at all." + +It is so hard, you see, to keep a man thinking about piety and +morality while he is starving! I am quoting from the Encyclical Letter +on "The Condition of Labor," issued in 1891, and addressed "to our +Venerable Brethren, all Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops and Bishops +of the Catholic World in Grace and Communion with the Apostolic See." +The purpose of the letter is "to refute false teaching," and the +substance of its message is: + + This great labor question cannot be solved except by + assuming as a principle that private property must be held + sacred and inviolable. + +And again, the purpose of churches proclaimed in language as frank as +any used in the present book: + + The chief thing to be secured is the safe-guarding, by legal + enactment and policy, of private property. Most of all it is + essential in these times of covetous greed, to keep the + multitude within the line of duty; for if all may justly + strive to benefit their condition, yet neither justice nor + the common good allows any one to seize that which belongs + to another, or, under the pretext of futile and ridiculous + equality, to lay hands on other peoples' fortunes. + +And this, you understand, in lands where rapine and conquest, +class-tyranny and priestly domination have been the custom since the +dawn of history; in which no property-right can possibly trace back to +any other basis than force. In Austria, for example--Austria, the +leader and guardian of the Holy Alliance--Austria, which had no +Reformation, no Revolution, no Kultur-kampf--Austria, in which the +income of the Catholic Primate is $625,000 a year! In other words, +Austria is still to a large extent a "Priestly Empire;" and it was +Austria which began the war--began it in a religious quarrel, with a +Slav people which does not acknowledge the Holy Father as the ruler of +the world, but persists in adhering to the Eastern Church. So of +course to-day, when Austria is learning the bitter lesson that they +who draw the sword shall perish by the sword, the heart of the Holy +Father is wrung with grief, and he sends out these eloquent +peace-notes, written in Vienna and edited in Berlin. And at the same +time his private chaplain is convicted and sentenced to prison for +life as Austria's Master-Spy in Rome! + +It is a curious thing to observe--the natural instinct which, all over +the world, draws Superstition and Exploitation together. This war, +which is hailed as a war against autocracy, might almost as accurately +be described as a war against the clerical system. Wherever in the +world you find the Papal power strong, there you find sympathy with +the Prussian infamy and there you find German intrigue. In Spain, for +example; in Ireland and Quebec, and in the Argentine. The treatment of +Belgium was a little too raw--too many priests were shot at the +outset, and so Cardinal Mercier denounces the Germans; but you notice +that he pleads in vain with the Vatican, which stands firm by its +beloved Austria, and against the godless kingdom of Italy. The Kaiser +allows the hope of restoration of the temporal power at the peace +settlement; and meantime the law forbidding the presence of the +Jesuits in Germany has been repealed, and all over the world the +propagandists of this order are working for the Kaiser. Sir Roger +Casement was raised a Catholic, and so also "Jim" Larkin, the Irish +labor-leader who _is_ touring America denouncing the Allies. The +Catholic Bishop of Melbourne opposed and beat conscription in +Australia, and it was Catholic propaganda of treachery among the +ignorant peasant-soldiers from Sicily which caused the breaking of the +Italian line at Tolmino. So deeply has this instinct worked that, in +the fall of 1917 while the Socialist party in New York was campaigning +for immediate peace, the Catholic Irish suddenly forgot their ancient +horrors. The Catholic "Freeman's Journal" published nine articles +favoring Socialism in a single issue; while even "The Tablet," the +diocesan paper, began to discover that the Socialists were not such +bad fellows after all. The same "Tablet" which a few years ago allowed +Father Belford to declare that Socialists were mad dogs who should be +"stopped with a bullet"! + + P. S. The reader will be interested to know that for the + statements on page 155, Upton Sinclair was described as a + "scoundrel" by a former prime minister of the Austrian + Empire, and brought suit against the gentleman, and after a + court trial was awarded damages of 500,000 crowns--about $7 + in American money. + + * * * * * + + + + +#BOOK FOUR# + +#The Church of the Slavers# + + Bee, underneath the Crown of Thorn, + The eye-balls fierce, the features grim! + And merrily from night to morn + We chaunt his praise and worship him-- + Great Christus-Jingo, at whose feet + Christian and Jew and Atheist meet! + + A wondrous god! most fit for those + Who cheat on 'Change, then creep to prayer; + Blood on his heavenly altar flows, + Hell's burning incense fills the air, + And Death attests in street and lane + The hideous glory of his reign. + + --Buchanan + + * * * * * + + + + +#Face of Caesar# + +The thesis of this book is the effect of fixed dogma in producing +mental paralysis, and the use of this mental paralysis by Economic +Exploitation. From that standpoint the various Protestant sects are +better than the Catholic, but not much better. The Catholics stand +upon Tradition, the Protestants upon an Inspired Word; but since this +Word is the entire literary product, history and biography, science +and legislation, poetry, drama and fiction of a whole people for +something like a thousand years, it is possible by judicious selection +of texts to prove anything you wish to prove and to justify anything +you wish to do. The "Holy Book" being full of polygamy, slavery, rape +and wholesale murder, committed by priests and rulers under the direct +orders of God, it was a very simple matter for the Protestant Slavers +to construct a Bible defense of their system. + +They get poor Jesus because he was given to irony, that most dangerous +form of utterance. If he could come back to life, and see what men +have done with his little joke about the face of Caesar on the Roman +coin, I think he would drop dead. As for Paul, he was a Roman +bureaucrat, with no nonsense in his make-up; when he ordered, +"Servants obey your masters," he meant exactly what he said. The Roman +official stamp which he put upon the gospel of Jesus has been the +salvation of the Slavers from the Reformation on. + +In the time of Martin Luther, the peasants of Germany were suffering +the most atrocious and awful misery; Luther himself knew about it, he +had denounced the princely robbers and the priestly land-exploiters +with that picturesque violence of which he was a master. But nothing +had been done about it, nothing ever is done about it--until at last +the miserable peasants attempted to organize and win their own rights. +Their demands do not seem to us so very criminal as we read them +today; the privilege of electing their own pastors, the abolition of +villeinage, the right to hunt and fish and cut wood in the forest, the +reduction of exorbitant rents, extra payment for extra labor, +and--that universal cry of peasant communes whether in Russia, +England, Mexico or sixteenth century Germany--the restoration to the +village of lands taken by fraud. But Luther would hear nothing of +slaves asserting their own rights, and took refuge in the Pauline +sociology: If they really wished to follow Christ, they would drop the +sword and resort to prayer; the gospel has to do with spiritual, not +temporal, affairs; earthly society cannot exist without inequalities, +etc. + +And when the peasants went on in spite of this, he turned upon them +and denounced them to the princes; he issued proclamations which might +have been the instructions of Mr. John Wanamaker to the police-force +of his "City of Brotherly Love": "One cannot answer a rebel with +reason, but the best answer is to hit him with the fist until blood +flows from the nose." He issued a letter: "Against the Murderous and +Thieving Mob of Peasants," which might have come from the Reverend +Woelfkin, Fifth Avenue Pastor of Standard Oil: "The ass needs to be +beaten, and the populace needs to be controlled with a strong hand. +God knew this well, and therefore he gave the rulers, not a fox's +tail, but a sword." He implored these rulers, after the fashion of +Methodist Chancellor Day of the University of Syracuse: "Do not be +troubled about the severity of their repression, for it will save many +souls." With such pious exhortations in their ears the princes set to +work, and slaughtered a hundred thousand of the miserable wretches; +they completely aborted the social hopes of the Reformation, and cast +humanity into the pit of wage-slavery and militarism for four +centuries. As a church scholar, Prof. Rauschenbusch, puts it: + + The glorious years of the Lutheran Reformation were from + 1517 to 1525, when the whole nation was in commotion, and a + great revolutionary tidal wave seemed to be sweeping every + class and every higher interest one step nearer to its ideal + of life.... The Lutheran Reformation had been most truly + religious and creative when it embraced the whole of human + life and enlisted the enthusiasm of all ideal men and + movements. When it became "religious" in the narrow sense, + it grew scholastic and spiny, quarrelsome, and impotent to + awaken high enthusiasm and noble life. + +#Deutschland ueber Alles# + +As a result of Luther's treason to humanity, his church became the +state church of Prussia, and Bible-worship and Devil-terror played +their part, along with the Mass and the Confessional, in building up +the Junker dream. A court official--the Oberhofprediger--was set up, +and from that time on the Hohenzollerns were the most pious criminals +in Europe. Frederick the Great, the ancestral genius, was an atheist +and a scoffer, but he believed devoutly in religion for his subjects. +He said: "If my soldiers were to begin to think, not one would remain +in the ranks." And Carlyle, instinctive friend of autocrats, tells +with jocular approval how he kept them from thinking: + + He recognizes the uses of Religion; takes a good deal of + pains with his Preaching Clergy; will suggest texts to them; + and for the rest expects to be obeyed by them, as by his + Sergeants and Corporals. Indeed, the reverend men feel + themselves to be a body of Spiritual Sergeants, Corporals, + and Captains, to whom obedience is the rule, and discontent + a thing not to be indulged in by any means. + +So the soldiers stayed in the ranks, and Frederick raided Silesia and +Poland. His successors ordered all the Protestant sects into one, so +that they might be more easily controlled; from which time the +Lutheran Church has been a department of the Prussian state, in some +cases a branch of the municipal authority. + +In 1848, when the people of various German states demanded their +liberty, it was an ultra-pious king of Prussia who sent his troops and +shot them down--precisely as Luther had advised to shoot down the +peasants. At this time the future maker of the German Empire rose in +the Landtag and made his bow before the world; a young Prussian +land-magnate, Otto von Bismarck by name, he shook his fist in the face +of the new German liberalism, and incidentally of the new German +infidelity: + + Christianity is the solid basis of Prussia; and no state + erected upon any other foundation can permanently exist. + +The present Hohenzollern has diligently maintained this tradition of +his line. It was his custom to tour the Empire in a train of blue and +white cars, carrying as many costumes as any stage favorite, most of +them military; with him on the train went the Prussian god, and there +was scarcely a performance at which this god did not appear, also in +military costume. After the failure of the "Kultur-kampf," the +official Lutheran religion was ordered to make friends with its +ancient enemy, the Catholic Church. Said the Kaiser: + + I make no difference between the adherents of the Catholic + and Protestant creeds. Let them both stand upon the + foundation of Christianity, and they are both bound to be + true citizens and obedient subjects. Then the German people + will be the rock of granite upon which our Lord God can + build and complete his work of Kultur in the world. + +And here is the oath required of the Catholic clergy, upon their +admission to equality of trustworthiness with their Protestant +confreres: + + I will be submissive, faithful and obedient to his Royal + Majesty,--and his lawful successors in the government,--as + my most gracious King and Sovereign; promote his welfare + according to my ability; prevent injury and detriment to + him; and particularly endeavor carefully to cultivate in the + minds of the people under my care a sense of reverence and + fidelity towards the King, love for the Fatherland, + obedience to the laws, and all those virtues which in a + Christian denote a good citizen; and I will not suffer any + man to teach or act in a contrary spirit. In particular I + vow that I will not support any society or association, + either at home or abroad, which might endanger the public + security, and will inform His Majesty of any proposal made, + either in my diocese or elsewhere, which might prove + injurious to the State. + +And later on this heaven-guided ruler conceived the scheme of a +Berlin-Bagdad railway, for which he needed one religion more; he paid +a visit to Constantinople, and made another debut and produced another +god--with the result that millions of Turks are fighting under the +belief that the Kaiser is a convert to the faith of Mohammed! + +#Der Tag.# + +All this was, of course, in preparation for the great event to which +all good Germans looked forward--to which all German officers drank +their toasts at banquets--the Day. + +This glorious day came, and the field-gray armies marched forth, and +the Pauline-Lutheran God marched with them. The Kaiser, as usual, +acted as spokesman: + + Remember that the German people are the chosen of God. On + me, the German emperor, the spirit of God has descended. I + am His sword, His weapon and His viceregent. Woe to the + disobedient and death to cowards and unbelievers. + +As to the Prussian state religion, its attitude to the war is set +forth in a little book written by a high clerical personage, the Herr +Consistorialrat Dietrich Vorwerk, containing prayers and hymns for the +soldiers, and for the congregations at home. Here is an appeal to the +Lord God of Battles: + + Though the warrior's bread be scanty, do Thou work daily + death and tenfold woe unto the enemy. Forgive in merciful + long-suffering each bullet and each blow which misses its + mark. Lead us not into the temptation of letting our wrath + be too tame in carrying out Thy divine judgment. Deliver us + and our ally from the Infernal Enemy and his servants on + earth. Thine is the kingdom, the German land; may we, by the + aid of Thy steel-clad hand, achieve the fame and the glory. + +It is this Herr Consistorialrat who has perpetrated the great +masterpiece of humor of the war--the hymn in which he appeals to that +God who keeps guard over Cherubim, Seraphim, and Zeppelins. You have +to say over the German form of these words in order to get the effect +of their delicious melody--"Cherubinen, Seraphinen, Zeppelinen!" And +lest you think that this too-musical clergyman is a rara avis, turn to +the little book which has been published in English under the same +title as Herr Vorwerk's "Hurrah and Hallelujah." Here is the Reverend +S. Lehmann: + + Germany is the center of God's plans for the world. + Germany's fight against the whole world is in reality the + battle of the spirit against the whole world's infamy, + falsehood and devilish cunning. + +And here is Pastor K. Koenig: + + It was God's will that we should will the war. + +And Pastor J. Rump: + + Our defeat would mean the defeat of His Son in humanity. We + fight for the cause of Jesus within mankind. + +And here is an eminent theological professor: + + The deepest and most thought-inspiring result of the war is + the German God. Not the national God such as the lower + nations worship, but "our God," who is not ashamed of + belonging to us, the peculiar acquirement of our heart. + +#King Cotton# + +It is a cheap way to gain applause in these days, to denounce the +Prussian system; my only purpose is to show that Bible-worship, +precisely as saint-worship or totem-worship, delivers the worshipper +up to the Slavers. This truth has held in America, precisely as in +Prussia. During the middle of the last century there was fought out a +mighty issue in our free republic; and what was the part played in +this struggle by the Bible-cults? Hear the testimony of William Lloyd +Garrison: "American Christianity is the main pillar of American +slavery." Hear Parker Pillsbury: "We had almost to abolish the Church +before we could reach the dreadful institution at all." + +In the year 1818 the Presbyterian General Assembly, which represented +the churches of the South as well as of the North, passed by a +#unanimous# vote a resolution to the effect that "Slavery is utterly +inconsistent with the law of God, which requires us to love our +neighbor as ourselves." But in a generation the views of the entire +South, including the Presbyterian Church, had changed entirely. What +was the reason? Had the "law of God" been altered? Had some new +"revelation" been handed down? Nothing of the kind; it was merely that +a Yankee by the name of Eli Whitney had perfected a machine to take +the seeds out of short staple cotton. The cotton crop of the South +increased from four thousand bales in 1791 to four hundred and fifty +thousand in 1820 and five million, four hundred thousand in 1860. + +There was a new monarch, King Cotton, and his empire depended upon +slaves. According to the custom of monarchs since the dawn of history, +he hired the ministers of God to teach that what he wanted was right +and holy. From one end of the South to the other the pulpits rang with +the text: "Cursed be Canaan; a servant to servants shall he be to his +brethren." The learned Bishop Hopkins, in his "Bible View of Slavery", +gave the standard interpretation of this text: + + The Almighty, forseeing the total degredation of the Negro + race, ordained them to servitude or slavery under the + descendants of Shem and Japheth, doubtless because he judged + it to be their fittest condition. + +I might fill the balance of this volume with citations from defenses +of the "peculiar institution" in the name of Jesus Christ--and not +only from the South, but from the North. For it must be understood +that leading families of Massachusetts and New York owed their power +to Slavery; their fathers had brought molasses from New Orleans and +made it into rum, and taken it to the coast of Africa to be exchanged +for slaves for the Southern planters. And after this trade was +outlawed, the slave-grown cotton had still to be shipped to the North +and spun; so the traders of the North must have divine sanction for +the Fugitive Slave law. Here is the Bishop of Vermont declaring: "The +slavery of the negro race appears to me to be fully authorized both in +the Old and New Testaments." Here in the "True Presbyterian", of New +York, giving the decision of a clerical man of the world: "There is no +debasement in it. It might have existed in Paradise, and it may +continue through the Millenium." + +And when the slave-holding oligarchy of the South rose in arms against +those who presumed to interfere with this divine institution, the men +of God of the South called down blessings upon their armies in words +which, with the proper change of names, might have been spoken in +Berlin in August, 1914. Thus Dr. Thornwell, one of the leading +Presbyterian divines of the South: "The triumph of Lincoln's +principles is the death-knell of slavery.... Let us crush the serpent +in the egg." And the Reverend Dr. Smythe of Charleston: "The war is a +war against slavery, and is therefore treasonable rebellion against +the Word, Providence and Government of God." I read in the papers, as +I am writing, how the clergy of Germany are thundering against +President Wilson's declaration that that country must become +democratic. Here is a manifesto of the German Evangelical League, made +public on the four hundredth anniversary of the Reformation: + + We especially warn against the heresy, promulgated from + America, that Christianity enjoins democratic institutions, + and that they are an essential condition of the kingdom of + God on earth. + +In exactly the same way the religious bodies of the entire South +united in an address to Christians throughout the world, early in the +year 1863: + + The recent proclamation of the President of the United + States, seeking the emancipation of the slaves of the South, + is in our judgment occasion of solemn protest on the part of + the people of God. + +#Witches and Women# + +To whatever part of the world you travel, to whatever page of history +you turn, you find the endowed and established clergy using the word +of God in defense of whatever form of slave-driving may then be +popular and profitable. Two or three hundred years ago it was the +custom of Protestant divines in England and America to hang poor old +women as witches; only a hundred and fifty years ago we find John +Wesley, founder of Methodism, declaring that "the giving up of +witchcraft is in effect the giving up of the Bible." And if you +investigate this witch-burning, you will find that it is only one +aspect of a blot upon civilization, the Christian Mysogyny. You see, +there were two Hebrew legends--one that woman was made out of a man's +rib, and the other that she ate an apple; therefore in modern England +a wife must be content with a legal status lower than a domestic +servant. + +Perhaps the most comical of the clerical claims is this--that +Christianity has promoted chivalry and respect for womanhood. In +ancient Greece and Rome the woman was the equal and helpmate of man; +we read in Tacitus about the splendid women of the Germans, who took +part in public councils, and even fought in battles. Two thousand +years before the Christian era we are told by Maspero that the +Egyptian woman was the mistress of her house; she could inherit +equally with her brothers, and had full control of her property. We +are told by Paturet that she was "juridically the equal of man, having +the same rights and being treated in the same fashion." But in +present-day England, under the common law, woman can hold no office of +trust or power, and her husband has the sole custody of her person, +and of her children while minors. He can steal her children, rob her +of her clothing, and beat her with a stick provided it is no thicker +than his thumb. While I was in London the highest court handed down a +decision on the law which does not permit a woman to divorce her +husband for infidelity, unless it has been accompanied by cruelty; a +man had brought his mistress into his home and compelled his wife to +work for and wait upon her, and the decision was that this was not +cruelty in the meaning of the law! + +And if you say that this enslavement of Woman has nothing to do with +religion--that ancient Hebrew fables do not control modern English +customs--then listen to the Vicar of Crantock, preaching at St. +Crantock's, London, Aug. 27th, 1905, and explaining why women must +cover their heads in church: + + (1) Man's priority of creation. Adam was first formed, then + Eve. + + (2) The manner of creation. The man is not of the woman, but + the woman of the man. + + (3) The purport of creation. The man was not created for the + woman, but the woman for the man. + + (4) Results in creation. The man is the image of the glory + of God, but woman is the glory of man. + + (5) Woman's priority in the fall. Adam was not deceived; but + the woman, being deceived, was in the transgression. + + (6) The marriage relation. As the Church is subject to + Christ, so let the wives be to their husbands. + + (7) The headship of man and woman. The head of every man is + Christ, but the head of the woman is man. + +I say there is no modern evil which cannot be justified by these +ancient texts; and there is nowhere in Christendom a clergy which +cannot be persuaded to cite them at the demand of ruling classes. In +the city where I write, three clergymen are being sent to jail for six +months for protesting against the use of the name of Jesus in the +wholesale slaughter of men. Now, I am backing this war. I know that it +has to be fought, and I want to see it fought as hard as possible; but +I want to leave Jesus out of it, for I know that Jesus did not believe +in war, and never could have been brought to support a war. I object +to clerical cant on the subject; and I note that an eminent +theological authority, "Billy" Sunday, appears to agree with me; for I +find him on the front page of my morning paper, assailing the three +pacifist clergymen, and making his appeal not to Jesus, but to the +blood-thirsty tribal diety of the ancient Hebrews: + + I suppose they think they know more than God Almighty, who + commanded the sun to stand still while Joshua won the battle + for the Lord; more than the God who made Samson strong so he + could slay thousands of his nation's enemies in a righteous + cause. + +Right you are, Billy! And if the capitalist system continues to +develop unchecked, we shall some day see it dawn upon the masters of +the world how wasteful it is to permit the superannuated workers to +perish by slow starvation. So much more sensible to make use of them! +So we shall have a Bible defense of cannibalism; we shall hear our +evangelists quoting Leviticus: "#They shall eat the flesh of their own +sons and daughters.#" Or perhaps some of our leisure-class ladies +might make the discovery that the flesh of working-class babies is +relished by pomeranians and poodles. If so, the Billy Sundays of the +twenty-first century may discover the text: "#Happy shall be he that +taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.#" + +#Moth and Rust# + +It is especially interesting to notice what happens when the Bible +texts work against the interests of the Slavers and their clerical +retainers. Then they are null and void--and no matter how precise and +explicit and unmistakable they may be! Take for example the Sabbath +injunction: "Six days shalt thou labor and do all that thou hast to +do." Karl Marx records of the pious England of his time that + + Occasionally in rural districts a day-labourer is condemned + to imprisonment for desecrating the Sabbath by working in + his front garden. The same labourer is punished for breach + of contract if he remains away from his metal, paper or + glass works on the Sunday, even if it be from a religious + whim. The orthodox Parliament will hear nothing of + Sabbath-breaking if it occurs in the process of expanding + capital. + +Or consider the attitude of the Church in the matter of usury. +Throughout ancient Hebrew history the money-lender was an outcast; +both the law and the prophets denounced him without mercy, and it was +made perfectly clear that what was meant was, not the taking of high +interest, but the taking of any interest whatsoever. The early church +fathers were explicit, and the Catholic Church for a thousand years +consigned money-lenders unhesitatingly to hell. But then came the +modern commercial system, and the money-lenders became the masters of +the world! There is no more amusing illustration of the perversion of +human thought than the efforts of the Jesuit casuists to escape from +the dilemma into which their Heavenly Guides had trapped them. + +Here, for example is Alphonso Ligouri, a Spanish Jesuit of the +eighteenth century, a doctor of the Church, now worshipped as St. +Alphonsus, presenting a long and elaborate theory of "mental usury"; +concluding that, if the borrower pay interest of his own free will, +the lender may keep it. In answer to the question whether the lender +may keep what the borrower pays, not out of gratitude, but out of fear +that otherwise loans will be refused to him in future, Ligouri says +that "to be usury, it must be paid by reason of a contract, or as +justly due; payment by reason of such a fear does not cause interest +to be paid as an actual price." Again the great saint and doctor tells +us that "it is not usury to exact something in return for the danger +and expense of regaining the principal!" Could the house of J. P. +Morgan and Company ask more of their ecclesiastical department? + +The reader may think that such sophistications are now out of date; +but he will find precisely the same knavery in the efforts of +present-day Slavers to fit Jesus Christ into the system of competitive +commercialism. Jesus, as we have pointed out, was a carpenter's son, a +thoroughly class-conscious proletarian. He denounced the exploiters of +his own time with ferocious bitterness, he drove the money-changers +out of the temple with whips, and he finally died the death of a +common criminal. If he had forseen the whole modern cycle of +capitalism and wage-slavery, he could hardly have been more precise in +his exortations to his followers to stand apart from it. But did all +this avail him? Not in the least! + +I place upon the witness-stand an exponent of Bible-Christianity whom +all readers of our newspapers know well: a scholar of learning, a +publicist of renown; once pastor of the most famous church in +Brooklyn; now editor of our most influential religious weekly; a +liberal both in theology and politics; a modernist, an advocate of +what he calls industrial democracy. His name is Lyman Abbott, and he +is writing under his own signature in his own magazine, his subject +being "The Ethical Teachings of Jesus". Several times I have tried to +persuade people that the words I am about to quote were actually +written and published by this eminent doctor of divinity, and people +have almost refused to believe me. Therefore I specify that the +article may be found in the "Outlook", the bound volumes of which are +in all large libraries: volume 94, page 576. The words are as follows, +the bold face being Dr. Abbott's, not mine: + + My radical friend declares that the teachings of Jesus are + not practicable, that we cannot carry them out in life, and + that we do not pretend to do so. Jesus, he reminds us, said, + 'Lay not up for yourself treasures upon earth;' and + Christians do universally lay up for themselves treasures + upon earth; every man that owns a house and lot, or a share + of stock in a corporation, or a life insurance policy, or + money in a savings bank, has laid up for himself treasure + upon earth. But Jesus did not say, "Lay not up for + yourselves treasures upon earth." He said, "Lay not up for + yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth + corrupt and where thieves break through and steal." And no + sensible American does. Moth and rust do not get at Mr. + Rockefeller's oil wells, nor at the Sugar Trust's sugar, and + thieves do not often break through and steal a railway or an + insurance company or a savings bank. What Jesus condemned + was hoarding wealth. + +Strange as it may sound to some of the readers of this book, I count +myself among the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. His example has meant +more to me than that of any other man, and all the experiences of my +revolutionary life have brought me nearer to him. Living in the great +Metropolis of Mammon, I have felt the power of Privilege, its scourge +upon my back, its crown of thorns upon my head. When I read that +article in the "Outlook", I felt just as Jesus himself would have +felt; and I sat down and wrote a letter-- + +#To Lyman Abbott# + +This discovery of a new method of interpreting the Bible is one of +such very great interest and importance that I cannot forbear to ask +space to comment upon it. May I suggest that Dr. Abbott elaborate this +exceedingly fruitful lea, and write us another article upon the extent +to which the teachings of the Inspired Word are modified by modern +conditions, by the progress of invention and the scientific arts? The +point of view which Dr. Abbott takes is one which had never occurred +to me before, and I had therefore been completely mistaken as to the +attitude of Jesus on the question. Also I have, like Dr. Abbott, many +radical friends who are still laboring under error. + +Jesus goes on to bid his hearers: "Consider the lilies of the field, +how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin." What an apt +simile is this for the "great mass of American wealth," in Dr. +Abbott's portrayal of it! "It is serving the community," he tells us; +"it is building a railway to open a new country to settlement by the +homeless; it is operating a railway to carry grain from the harvests +of the West to the unfed millions of the East," etc. Incidentally, it +is piling up dividends for its pious owners; and so everybody is +happy--and Jesus, if he should come back to earth, could never know +that he had left the abodes of bliss above. + +Truly, there should be a new school of Bible interpretation founded +upon this brilliant idea. Jesus says, "Therefore when thou doest thine +alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the +synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men." +Verily not; for of what avail are trumpets, compared with the millions +of copies of newspapers which daily go forth to tell of Mr. +Rockefeller's benefactions? How transitory are they, compared with the +graven marble or granite which Mr. Carnegie sets upon the front of +each of his libraries! + +There is the paragraph, "Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because +thou canst not make one hair white or black." I have several among my +friends who are Quakers; presumably Dr. Abbott has also; and he should +not fail to point out to them the changes which scientific discovery +has wrought in the significance of this command against swearing. We +can now make our hair either white or black, or a combination of both. +We can make it a brilliant peroxide golden; we could, if pushed to an +extreme, make it purple or green. So we are clearly entitled to swear +all we please by our head. + +Nor should we forget to examine other portions of the Bible according +to this method. "Look not upon the wine when it is red," we are told. +Thanks to the activities of that Capitalism which Dr. Abbott praises +so eloquently, we now make our beverages in the chemical laboratory, +and their color is a matter of choice. Also, it should be pointed out +that we have a number of pleasant drinks which are not wine at +all--"high-balls" and "gin rickeys" and "peppered punches"; also +#vermouthe and creme de menthe and absinthe#, which I believe, are +green in hue, and therefore entirely safe. + +Then there are the Ten Commandments. "Thou shalt not make unto thee +any graven image." See how completely our understanding of this +command is changed, so soon as we realize that we are free to make +images of molten metal! And that we may with impunity bow down to them +and worship them and serve them--even, for instance, a Golden Calf! + +"The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy _God_; in it thou +shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy +manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that +is within thy gates." This, again, it will be noted, is open to new +interpretations. It specifies maidservants, but does not prevent one's +employing as many married women as he pleases. It also says nothing +about the various kinds of labor-saving machinery which we have now +taught to work for us--sail-boats, naptha launches, yachts, +automobiles, and private cars--all of which may be busily occupied +during the seventh day of the week. The men who run these +machines--the guides, boatmen, stokers, pilots, chauffeurs, and +engineers--would all indignantly resent being regarded as-"servants", +and so they do not come under the prohibition any more than the +machines. + +"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy +neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, +nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's." I read this +paragraph over for the first time in quite a while, and I came with a +jolt to its last words. I had been intending to point out that it said +nothing about a neighbor's automobile, nor a neighbor's oil wells, +sugar trusts, insurance companies and savings banks. The last words, +however, stop one of-abruptly. One is almost tempted to imagine that +the Divine Intelligence must have foreseen Dr. Abbott's ingenious +method of interpretation, and taken this precaution against him. And +this was a great surprise to me--for, truly, I had not supposed it +possible that such an interpretation could have been foreseen, even by +Omniscience itself. I will conclude this communication by venturing +the assertion that it could not have been foreseen by any other person +or thing, in the heavens above, on the earth beneath, or the waters +under the earth. Dr. Abbott may accept my congratulations upon having +achieved the most ingenious and masterful exhibition of casuistical +legerdemain that it has ever been my fortune to encounter in my +readings in the literatures of some thirty centuries and seven +different languages. + +And I will also add that I respectfully challenge Dr. Abbott to +publish this letter. And I announce to him in advance that if he +refuses to publish it, I will cause it to be published upon the first +page of the "Appeal to Reason", where it will be read by some five +hundred thousand Socialists, and by them set before several million +followers of Jesus Christ, the world's first and greatest +revolutionist, whom Dr. Lyman Abbott has traduced and betrayed by the +most amazing piece of theological knavery that it has ever been my +fortune to encounter. + +#The Octopus# + +Dr. Lyman Abbott published this letter! In his editorial comment +thereon he said that he did not know which of two biblical injunctions +to follow: "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou be +thought like unto him"; or "Answer a fool according to his folly, lest +he be wise in his own conceit". I replied by pointing out a third text +which the Reverend Doctor had possibly overlooked: "He that calleth +his neighbor a fool shall be in danger of hell-fire." But the Reverend +Doctor took refuge in his dignity, and I bided my time and waited for +that revenge which comes sooner or later to us muck-rakers. In this +case it came speedily. The story is such a perfect illustration of the +functions of religion as oil to the machinery of graft that I ask the +reader's permission to recite it at length. + +For a couple of decades the political and financial life of New +England has been dominated by a gigantic aggregation of capital, the +New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. It is a "Morgan" concern; +its popular name, "The New Haven", stands for all the railroads of +six states, nearly all the trolley-lines and steamship-lines, and +a group of the most powerful banks of Boston and New York. It is +controlled by a little group of insiders, who followed the custom of +rail-road-wrecking familiar to students of American industrial life: +buying up new lines, capitalizing them at fabulous sums, and unloading +them on the investing public; paying dividends out of capital, +"passing" dividends as a means of stock manipulation, accumulating +surpluses and cutting "melons" for the insiders, while at the same +time crushing labor unions, squeezing wages, and permitting +rolling-stock and equipment to go to wreck. + +All these facts were perfectly well known in Wall Street, and could +not have escaped the knowledge of any magazine editor dealing with +current events. In eight years the "New Haven" had increased its +capitalization 1501 per cent; and what that meant, any office boy in +"the Street" could have told. What attitude should a magazine editor +take to the matter? + +At that time there were still two or three free magazines in America. +One of them was Hampton's, and the story of its wrecking by the New +Haven criminals will some day serve in school text-books as the +classic illustration of that financial piracy which brought on the +American social revolution. Ben Hampton had bought the old derelict +"Broadway Magazine", with twelve thousand subscribers, and in four +years, by the simple process of straight truth-telling, had built up +for it a circulation of 440,000. In two years more he would have had a +million; but in May, 1911, he announced a series of articles dealing +with the New Haven management. + +The articles, written by Charles Edward Russell, were so exact that +they read today like the reports of the Interstate Commerce +Commission, dated three years later. A representative of the New Haven +called upon the editor of Hampton's with a proof of the first +article--obtained from the printer by bribery--and was invited to +specify the statements to which he took exception; in the presence of +witnesses he went over the article line by line, and specified two +minor errors, which were at once corrected. At the end of the +conference he announced that if the articles were published, Hampton's +Magazine would be "on the rocks in ninety days." + +Which threat was carried out to the letter. First came a campaign +among the advertisers of the magazine, which lost an income of +thousands of dollars a month, almost over night. And then came a +campaign among the banks--the magazine could not get credit. Anyone +familiar with the publishing business will understand that a magazine +which is growing rapidly has to have advances to meet each month's +business. Hampton undertook to raise the money by selling stock; +whereupon a spy was introduced into his office as bookkeeper, his list +of subscribers was stolen, and a campaign was begun to destroy their +confidence. + +It happened that I was in Hampton's office in the summer of 1911, when +the crisis came. Money had to be had to pay for a huge new edition; +and upon a property worth two millions of dollars, with endorsements +worth as much again, it was impossible to borrow thirty thousand +dollars in the city of New York. Bankers, personal friends of the +publisher, stated quite openly that word had gone out that any one who +loaned money to him would be "broken". I myself sent telegrams to +everyone I knew who might by any chance be able to help; but there was +no help, and Hampton retired without a dollar to his name, and the +magazine was sold under the hammer to a concern which immediately +wrecked it and discontinued publication. + +#The Industrial Shelley# + +Such was the fate of an editor who opposed the "New Haven". And now, +what of those editors who supported it? Turn to "The Outlook, a Weekly +Journal of Current Events," edited by Lyman Abbott--the issue of Dec. +25th, nineteen hundred and nine years after Christ came down to bring +peace on earth and good-will toward Wall Street. You will there find +an article by Sylvester Baxter entitled "The Upbuilding of a Great +Railroad." It is the familiar "slush" article which we professional +writers learn to know at a glance. "Prodigious", Mr. Baxter tells us, +has been the progress of the New Haven; this was "a masterstroke", +that was "characteristically sagacious". The road had made "prodigious +expenditures", and to a noble end: "Transportation efficiency +epitomizes the broad aim that animated these expenditures and other +constructive activities." There are photographs of bridges and +stations--"vast terminal improvements", "a masterpiece of modern +engineering", "the highest, greatest and most architectural of +bridges". Of the official under whom these miracles were being +wrought--President Mellen--we read: "Nervously organized, of delicate +sensibility, impulsive in utterance, yet with an extraordinarily +convincing power for vividly logical presentation." An industrial +Shelley, or a Milton, you perceive; and all this prodigious genius +poured out for the general welfare! "To study out the sort of +transportation service best adapted to these ends, and then to provide +it in the most efficient form possible, that is the life-task that +President Mellen has set himself." + +There was no less than sixteen pages of these raptures--quite a +section of a small magazine like the "Outlook". "The New Haven +ramifies to every spot where industry flourishes, where business +thrives." "As a purveyor of transportation it supplies the public with +just the sort desired." "Here we have the new efficiency in a +nutshell." In short, here we have what Dr. Lyman Abbott means when he +glorifies "the great mass of American wealth". "It is serving the +community; it is building a railway to open a new country to +settlement by the homeless; it is operating a railway to carry grain +from the harvests of the West to the unfed millions of the East," etc. +The unfed millions--my typewriter started to write "underfed +millions"--are humbly grateful for these services, and hasten to buy +copies of the pious weekly which tells about them. + +The "Outlook" runs a column of "current events" in which it tells what +is happening in the world; and sometimes it is compelled to tell of +happenings against the interests of "the great mass of American +wealth". The cynical reader will find amusement in following its +narrative of the affairs of the New Haven during the five years +subsequent to the publication of the Baxter article. + +First came the collapse of the road's service; a series of accidents +so frightful that they roused even clergymen and chambers of commerce +to protest. A number of the "Outlook's" subscribers are New Haven +"commuters", and the magazine could not fail to refer to their +troubles. In the issue of Jan. 4th, 1913, three years and ten days +after the Baxter rhapsody, we read: + + The most numerous accidents on a single road since the last + fiscal year have been, we believe, those on the New Haven. + In the opinion of the Connecticut Commission, the Westport + wreck would not have occurred if the railway company had + followed the recommendation of the Chief Inspector of Safety + Appliances of the Interstate Commerce Commission in its + report on a similar accident at Bridgeport a year ago. + +And by June 28th, matters had gone farther yet; we find the "Outlook" +reporting: + + Within a few hours of the collision at Stamford, the wrecked + Pullman car was taken away and burned. Is this criminal + destruction of evidence? + +This collapse of the railroad service started a clamor for +investigation by the Interstate Commerce Commission, which of course +brought terror to the bosoms of the plunderers. On Dec. 20,1913, we +find the "Outlook" "putting the soft pedal" on the public indignation. +"It must not be forgotten that such a road as the New Haven is, in +fact if not in terms, a National possession, and as it goes down or +up, public interests go down or up with it." But in spite of all pious +admonitions, the Interstate Commerce Commission yielded to the public +clamor, and an investigation was made--revealing such conditions of +rottenness as to shock even the clerical retainers of Privilege. +"Securities were inflated, debt was heaped upon debt", reports the +horrified "Outlook"; and when its hero, Mr. Mellen--its industrial +Shelley, "nervously organized, of delicate sensibility"--admitted that +he had no authority as to the finances of the road and no +understanding of them, but had taken all his orders from Morgan, the +"Outlook" remarks, deeply wounded: "A pitiable position for the +president of a great railway to assume." A little later, when things +got hotter yet, we read: + + In the search for truth the Commissioners had to overcome + many obstacles, such as the burning of books, letters and + documents, and the obstinacy of witnesses, who declined to + testify until criminal proceedings were begun. The New Haven + system has more than three hundred subsidiary corporations + in a web of entangling alliances, many of which were + seemingly planned, created and manipulated by lawyers + expressly retained for the purpose of concealment or + deception. + +But do you imagine even that would sicken the pious jackals of their +offal? If so, you do not know the sturdiness of the pious stomach. A +compromise was patched up between the government and the thieves who +were too big to be prosecuted; this bargain was not kept by the +thieves, and President Wilson declared in a public statement that the +New Haven administration had "broken an agreement deliberately and +solemnly entered into," in a manner to the President "inexplicable and +entirely without justification." Which, of course, seemed to the +"Outlook" dreadfully impolite language to be used concerning a +"National possession"; it hastened to rebuke President Wilson, whose +statement was "too severe and drastic." + +A new compromise was made between the government and the thieves who +were too big to be prosecuted, and the stealing went on. Now, as I +work over this book, the President takes the railroads for war use, +and reads to Congress a message proposing that the securities based +upon the New Haven swindles, together with all the mass of other +railroad swindles, shall be sanctified and secured by dividends paid +out of the public purse. New Haven securities take a big jump; and the +"Outlook", needless to say, is enthusiastic for the President's +policy. Here is a chance for the big thieves to baptize themselves--or +shall we say to have the water in their stocks made "holy"? Says our +pious editor, for the government to take property without full +compensation "would be contrary to the whole spirit of America." + +#The Outlook for Graft# + +Anyone familiar with the magazine world will understand that such +crooked work as this, continued over a long period, is not done for +nothing. Any magazine writer would know, the instant he saw the Baxter +article, that Baxter was paid by the New Haven, and that the "Outlook" +also was paid by the New Haven. Generally he has no way of proving +such facts, and has to sit in silence; but when his board bill falls +due and his landlady is persistent, he experiences a direct and +earnest hatred of the crooks of journalism who thrive at his expense. +If he is a Socialist, he looks forward to the day when he may sit on a +Publications' Graft Commission, with access to all magazine books +which have not yet been burned! + +In the case of the New Haven, we know a part of the price--thanks to +the labors of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Needless to say, you +will not find the facts recorded in the columns of the Outlook; you +might have read it line by line from the palmy days of Mellen to our +own, and you would have got no hint of what the Commission revealed +about magazine and newspaper graft. Nor would you have got much more +from the great metropolitan dailies, which systematically "played +down" the expose, omitting all the really damaging details. You would +have to go to the reports of the Commission--or to the files of +"Pearson's Magazine", which is out of print and not found in +libraries! + +According to the New Haven's books, and by the admission of its own +officials, the road was spending more than four hundred thousand +dollars a year to influence newspapers and magazines in favor of its +policies. (President Mellen stated that this was relatively less than +any other railroad in the country was spending). There was a professor +of the Harvard Law School, going about lecturing to boards of trade, +urging in the name of economic science the repeal of laws against +railroad monopolies--and being paid for his speeches out of railroad +funds! There was a swarm of newspaper reporters, writing on railroad +affairs for the leading papers of New England, and getting twenty-five +dollars weekly, or two or three hundred on special occasions. Sums had +been paid directly to more than a thousand newspapers--$3,000 to the +Boston "Republic", and when the question was asked "Why?" the answer +was, "That is Mayor Fitzgerald's paper." Even the ultra-respectable +"Evening Transcript", organ of the Brahmins of culture, was down for +$144 for typing, mimeographing and sending out "dope" to the country +press. There was an item of $381 for 15,000 "Prayers"; and when asked +about that President Mellen explained that it referred to a pamphlet +called "Prayers from the Hills", embodying the yearnings of the +back-country people for trolley-franchises to be issued to the New +Haven. Asked why the pamphlet was called "Prayers", Mr. Mellen +explained that "there was lots of biblical language in it." + +And now we come to the "Outlook"; after five years of waiting, we +catch our pious editors with the goods on them! There appears on the +pay-roll of the New Haven, as one of its regular press-agents, getting +sums like $500 now and then--would you think it possible?--Sylvester +Baxter! And worse yet, there appears an item of $938.64 to the +"Outlook", for a total of 9,716 copies of its issue of Dec. 25th, +nineteen hundred and nine years after Christ came to bring peace on +earth and good will towards Wall Street! + +The writer makes a specialty of fair play, even when dealing with +those who have never practiced it towards him. He wrote a letter to +the editor of the "Outlook", asking what the magazine might have to +say upon this matter. The reply, signed by Lawrence F. Abbott, +President of the "Outlook" Company, was that the "Outlook" did not +know that Mr. Baxter had any salaried connection with the New Haven, +and that they had paid him for the article at the usual rates. Against +this statement must be set one made under oath by the official of the +New Haven who had the disbursing of the corruption fund--that the +various papers which used the railroad material paid nothing for it, +and "they all knew where it came from." Mr. Lawrence Abbott states +that "the New Haven Railroad bought copies of the 'Outlook' without +any previous understanding or arrangement as anybody is entitled to +buy copies of the 'Outlook'." I might point out that this does not +really say as much as it seems to; for the President of every magazine +company in America knows without any previous understanding or +arrangement that any time he cares to print an article such as Mr. +Baxter's, dealing with the affairs of a great corporation, he can sell +ten thousand copies to that corporation. The late unlamented Elbert +Hubbard wrote a defense of the Rockefeller slaughter of coal-miners, +published it in "The Fra," and came down to New York and unloaded +several tons at 26 Broadway; he did the same thing in the case of the +copper strike in Michigan, and again in the case of "The Jungle"--and +all this without the slightest claim to divine inspiration or +authority! + +Mr. Abbott answers another question: "We certainly did not return the +amount to the railroad company." Well, a sturdy conscience must be a +comfort to its possessor. The President of the "Outlook" is in the +position of a pawnbroker caught with stolen goods in his +establishment. He had no idea they were stolen; and we might believe +it, if the thief were obscure. But when the thief is the most +notorious in the city--when his picture has been in the paper a +thousand times? And when the thief swears that the broker knew him? +And when the broker's shop is full of other suspicious goods? Why did +the "Outlook" practically take back Mr. Spahr's revelations concerning +the Powder barony of Delaware? Why did it support so vigorously the +Standard Oil ticket for the control of the Mutual Life Insurance +Company--and with James Stillman, one of the heads of Standard Oil, +president of Standard Oil's big bank in New York, secretly one of its +biggest stockholders! + +Also, why does the magazine refuse to give its readers a chance to +judge its conduct? Why is it that a search of its columns reveals no +mention of the revelations concerning Mr. Baxter--not even any mention +of the $400,000 slush fund of its paragon of transportation virtues? I +asked that question in my letter, and the president of the "Outlook" +Company for some reason failed to notice it. I wrote a second time, +courteously reminding him of the omission; and also of another, +equally significant--he had not informed me whether any of the editors +of the "Outlook", or the officers or directors of the Company, were +stockholders in the New Haven. His final reply was that the questions +seem to him "wholly unimportant"; he does not know whether the +"Outlook" published anything about the Baxter revelations, nor does he +know whether any of the editors or officers or directors of the +"Outlook" Company are or ever have been stockholders of the New York, +New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company. The fact "would not in the +slightest degree affect either favorably or unfavorably our editorial +treatment of that corporation." Caesar's wife, it appears is above +suspicion--even when she is caught in a brothel! + +#Clerical Camouflage# + +I have seen a photograph from "Somewhere in France", showing a wayside +shrine with a statue of the Virgin Mary, innocent and loving, with her +babe in her arms. If you were a hostile aviator, you might sail over +and take pictures to your heart's content, and you would see nothing +but a saintly image; you would have to be on the enemy's side, and +behind the lines, to make the discovery that under the image had been +dug a hole for a machine-gun. When I saw that picture, I thought to +myself--#there# is capitalist Religion! + +You see, if cannon and machine-guns are out in the open, they are +almost instantly spotted and put out of action; and so with magazines +like "Leslie's Weekly", or "Munsey's", or the "North American Review", +which are frankly and wholly in the interest of Big Business. If an +editor wishes really to be effective in holding back progress, he must +protect himself with a camouflage of piety and philanthropy, he must +have at his tongue's end the phrases of brotherhood and justice, he +must be liberal and progressive, going a certain cautious distance +with the reformers, indulging in carefully measured fair play--giving +a dime with one hand, while taking back a dollar with the other! + +Let us have an illustration of this clerical camouflage. Here are the +wives and children of the Colorado coal-miners being shot and burned +in their beds by Rockefeller gun-men, and the press of the entire +country in a conspiracy of silence concerning the matter. In the +effort to break down this conspiracy, Bouck White, Congregational +clergyman, author of "The Call of the Carpenter", goes to the Fifth +Avenue Church of Standard Oil and makes a protest in the name of +Jesus. I do not wish to make extreme statements, but I have read +history pretty thoroughly, and I really do not know where in nineteen +hundred years you can find an action more completely in the spirit and +manner of Jesus than that of Bouck White. The only difference was that +whereas Jesus took a real whip and lashed the money-changers, White +politely asked the pastor to discuss with him the question whether or +not Jesus condemned the holding of wealth. He even took the precaution +to write a letter to the clergyman announcing in advance what he +intended to do! And how did the clergyman prepare for him? With the +sword of truth and the armor of the spirit? No--but with two or three +dozen strong-arm men, who flung themselves upon the Socialist author +and hurled him out of the church. So violent were they that several of +White's friends, also one or two casual spectators, were moved to +protest; what happened then, let us read in the New York "Sun", the +most bitterly hostile to radicalism of all the metropolitan +newspapers. Says the "Sun's" report: + + A police billy came crunching against the bones of Lopez's + legs. It struck him as hard as a man could swing it eight + times. A fist planted on Lopez's jaw knocked out two teeth. + His lip was torn open. A blow in the eye made it swell and + blacken instantly. A minute later Lopez was leaning against + the church with blood running to the doorsill. + +And now, what has the clerical camouflage to say on this proceeding? +Does it approve it? Oh no! It was "a mistake", the "Outlook" protests; +it intensifies the hatred which these extremists feel for the church. +The proper course would have been to turn the disturber aside with a +soft answer; to give him some place, say in a park, where he could +talk his head off to people of his own sort, while good and decent +Christians continued to worship by themselves in peace, and to have +the children of their mine-slaves shot and burned in their beds. Says +our pious editor: + + The true way to repress cranks is not to suppress them; it + is to give them an opportunity to air their theories before + any who wish to learn, while forbidding them to compel those + to listen who do not wish to do so. + +Or take another case. Twelve years ago the writer made an effort to +interest the American people in the conditions of labor in their +packing-plants. It happened that incidentally I gave some facts about +the bedevilment of the public's meat-supply, and the public really did +care about that. As I phrased it at the time, I aimed at the public's +heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach. There was a terrible +clamor, and Congress was forced to pass a bill to remedy the evils. As +a matter of fact this bill was a farce, but the public was satisfied, +and soon forgot the matter entirely. The point to be noted here is +that so far as concerned the atrocious miseries of the working-people, +it was not necessary even to pretend to do anything. The slaves of +Packingtown went on living and working as they were described as doing +in "The Jungle", and nobody gave a further thought to them. Only the +other day I read in my paper--while we are all making sacrifices in a +"War for Democracy"--that Armour and Company had paid a dividend of +twenty-one per cent, and Swift and Company a dividend of thirty-five +per cent. + +This prosperity they owe in good part to their clerical camouflage. +Listen to our pious "Outlook", engaged in countermining "The Jungle". +The "Outlook" has no doubt that there are genuine evils in the +packing-plants; the conditions of the workers ought of course to be +improved; BUT-- + + To disgust the reader by dragging him through every + conceivable horror, physical and moral, to depict with lurid + excitement and with offensive minuteness the life in jail + and brothel--all this is to overreach the object.... Even + things actually terrible may become distorted when a writer + screams them out in a sensational way and in a high pitched + key.... More convincing if it were less hysterical. + +Don't you see what these clerical crooks are for? + +#The Jungle# + +A four years' war was fought in America, a million men were killed and +half a continent was devastated, in order to abolish chattel slavery +and put wage slavery in its place. I have made a thorough study of +both these industrial systems, and I freely admit that there is one +respect in which the lot of the wage slave is better than that of the +chattel slave. The wage slave is free to think; and by squeezing a few +drops of blood from his starving body, he may possess himself of +machinery for the distribution of his ideas. Taking his chances of the +policeman's club and the jail, he may found revolutionary +organizations, and so he has the candle of hope to light him to his +death-bed. But excepting this consideration, and taking the +circumstances of the wage slave from the material point of view alone, +I hold it beyond question that the average lot of the chattel slave of +1860 was preferable to that of the modern slave of the Beef Trust, the +Steel Trust, or the Coal Trust. It was the Southern master's real +concern, his business interest, that the chattel slave should be kept +physically sound; but it is nobody's business to care anything about +the wage slave. The children of the chattel slave were valuable +property, and so they got plenty to eat, and a happy outdoor life, and +medical attention if they fell ill. But the children of the sweat-shop +or the cotton-mill or the canning-factory are raised in a city slum, +and never know what it is to have enough to eat, never know a feeling +of security or rest-- + + We are weary in our cradles + From our mother's toil untold; + We are born to hoarded weariness + As some to hoarded gold. + +The system of competitive commercialism, of large-scale capitalist +industry in its final flowering! I quote from "The Jungle": + + Here in this city tonight, ten thousand women are shut up in + foul pens, and driven by hunger to sell their bodies to + live. Tonight in Chicago there are ten thousand men, + homeless and wretched, willing to work and begging for a + chance, yet starving, and fronting with terror the awful + winter cold! Tonight in Chicago there are a hundred thousand + children wearing out their strength and blasting their lives + in the effort to earn their bread! There are a hundred + thousand mothers who are living in misery and squalor, + struggling to earn enough to feed their little ones! There + are a hundred thousand old people, cast off and helpless, + waiting for death to take them from their torments! There + are a million people, men and women and children, who share + the curse of the wage-slave; who toil every hour they can + stand and see, for just enough to keep them alive; who are + condemned till the end of their days to monotony and + weariness, to hunger and misery, to heat and cold, to dirt + and disease, to ignorance and drunkenness and vice! And then + turn over the page with me, and gaze upon the other side of + the picture. There are a thousand--ten thousand, maybe--who + are the masters of these slaves, who own their toil. They do + nothing to earn what they receive, they do not even have to + ask for it--it comes to them of itself, their only care is + to dispose of it. They live in palaces, they riot in luxury + and extravagance--such as no words can describe, as makes + the imagination reel and stagger, makes the soul grow sick + and faint. They spend hundreds of dollars for a pair of + shoes, a handkerchief, a garter; they spend millions for + horses and automobiles and yachts, for palaces and banquets, + for little shiny stones with which to deck their bodies. + Their life is a contest among themselves for supremacy in + ostentation and recklessness, in the destroying of useful + and necessary things, in the wasting of the labor and the + lives of their fellow-creatures, the toil and anguish of the + nations, the sweat and tears and blood of the human race! It + is all theirs--it comes to them; just as all the springs + pour into streamlets, and the streamlets into rivers, and + the rivers into the ocean--so, automatically and inevitably, + all the wealth of society comes to them. The farmer tills + the soil, the miner digs in the earth, the weaver tends the + loom, the mason carves the stone; the clever man invents, + the shrewd man directs, the wise man studies, the inspired + man sings--and all the results, the products of the labor of + brain and muscle, are gathered into one stupendous stream + and poured into their laps! + +This is the system. It is the crown and culmination of all the wrongs +of the ages; and in proportion to the magnitude of its exploitation, +is the hypocrisy and knavery of the clerical camouflage which has been +organized in its behalf. Beyond all question, the supreme irony of +history is the use which has been made of Jesus of Nazareth as the +Head God of this blood-thirsty system; it is a cruelty beyond all +language, a blasphemy beyond the power of art to express. Read +the man's words, furious as those of any modern agitator that +I have heard in twenty years of revolutionary experience: "Lay +not up for yourselves treasures on earth!--Sell that ye have +and give alms!--Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of +Heaven!--Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your +consolation!--Verily, I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly +enter into the kingdom of Heaven!--Woe unto you also, you lawyers!--Ye +serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of +hell?" + +"And this man"--I quote from "The Jungle" again--"they have made into +the high-priest of property and smug respectability, a divine sanction +of all the horrors and abominations of modern commercial civilization! +Jewelled images are made of him, sensual priests burn insense to him, +and modern pirates of industry bring their dollars, wrung from the +toil of helpless women and children, and build temples to him, and sit +in cushioned seats and listen to his teachings expounded by doctors of +dusty divinity!" + + * * * * * + + + + +#BOOK FIVE# + +#The Church of the Merchants# + + Mammon led them on-- + Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell + From Heaven; for even in Heaven his looks and thoughts + Were always downward bent, admiring more + The riches of Heaven's pavement, trodden gold, + Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed + In vision beatific.... Let none admire + That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best + Deserve the precious bane. + + Milton. + + * * * * * + + + + +#The Head Merchant# + +Ours is the era of commerce, as its propagandists never weary of +telling us. Business is the basis of our material lives, and +consequently of our culture. Business men control our politics and +dictate our laws; business men own our newspapers and direct their +policy; business men sit on our school boards, and endow and manage +our universities. The Reformation was a revolt of the newly-developing +merchant classes against the tyrannies and abuses of feudal +clericalism: so in all Protestant Christianity one finds the spirit, +ideals, and language of Trade. We have shown how the symbolism of the +Anglican Church is of the palace and the throne; in the same way that +of the non-conformist sects may be shown to be of the counting-house. +In the view of the middle-class Britisher, the nexus between man and +man is cent per cent; and so in their Sunday services the worshippers +sing such hymns as this: + + Whatever, Lord, we lend to Thee, + Repaid a thousand fold shall be; + Then gladly will we give to Thee, + Who givest all. + +The first duty of every man under the competitive system is to secure +the survival of his own business; So on the Sabbath, when he comes to +deal with eternity, he is practical and explicit: + + Nothing is worth a thought beneath + But how I may escape the death + That never, never dies; + How make mine own election sure, + And when I fail on earth secure + A mansion in the skies. + +Just as the priest of the aristocratic caste figures God as a mighty +Conqueror-- + + Marching as to war + With the cross of Jesus + Going on before-- + +so the preacher to the trader figures the divinity as a glorified +Merchant keeping books. This Head Merchant has a monopoly in His line; +He knows all His rivals' secrets, so there is no getting ahead of Him, +and nothing to do but obey His Word, as revealed through His clerical +staff. The system is oily with protestations of divine love; but when +you read the comments of Luther upon Calvin and of Calvin upon Luther, +you understand that this love is confined to the inside of each +denomination. And even so restricted, there is not always enough to go +around. Recently I met a Presbyterian clergyman, to whom I remarked, +"I see by the papers that you have just finished a church building." +"Yes," he answered; "and I have had three offers of a new church." I +did not see the connection, and asked, "Because you were so successful +with this one?" The reply was, "They always take it for granted that +you want to change when you've finished a new building, because you +make so many enemies!" + +The business man puts up the money to build the church, he puts up the +money to keep it going; and the first rule of a business man is that +when he puts up the money for a thing he "runs" that thing. Of course +he sees that it spreads his own views of life, it helps to maintain +his tradition. In the days of Anu and Baal we heard the proclamation +of the divine right of Kings; in these days of Mammon we hear the +proclamation of the divine right of Merchants. Some fifteen years ago +the head of our Coal Trust announced during a great strike that the +question would be settled "by the Christian men to whom God in His +Infinite Wisdom has given control of the property interests of this +country". And on that declaration all pious merchants stand; whatever +their denominations, Catholic, Episcopalian, Baptist, Methodist, +Presbyterian or Hebrew, their Sabbath doctrines are alike, as their +week-day practices are alike; whether it is Rockefeller shooting his +Bayonne oil-workers and burning alive the little children of his +miners; or smooth John Wanamaker, paying starvation wages to +department-store girls and driving them to the streets; or that +clergyman who, at a gathering of society ladies, members of the "Law +and Order League" of Denver, declared in my hearing that if he could +have his way he would blow up the home of every coal-striker with +dynamite; or the Rev. R.A. Torrey, Dean of the Bible institute of Los +Angeles, who refused to employ union labor on the million dollar +building of the Institute, declaring that "the Church cannot afford to +have any dealings with a band of fire-bugs and murderers!" + +#"Herr Beeble"# + +The business of the Clerical Department of the Merchants' and +Manufacturers' Association is to justify the processes of trade, and +to preach to clerks and employees the slave-virtues of frugality, +humility, and loyalty to the profit system. The depths of sociological +depravity to which some of the agents of this Association have sunk is +difficult of belief. Twelve years ago I was invited to address the +book-sellers of New York, in company with a well-known clergyman of +the city, the Reverend Madison C. Peters. This gentleman's address +made such an impression upon me that I recall it even at this +distance: a string of jokes spoken with an effect of rapid-fire +smartness, and simply reeking with commercialism. I could not describe +it better than to say that it was on the ethical level of the "Letters +of a Self-Made Merchant to His Son". Again, I attended a debate on +Socialism, in which the capitalist end was taken by another famous +clergyman, pastor of the Metropolitan Temple, the Rev. J. Wesley Hill. +He was so ignorant that when he wished to prove that Socialism means +free love, he quoted a writer by the name of "Herr Beeble"; he was so +dishonest that he garbled the writings of this "Herr Beeble", making +him say something quite different from what he had meant to say. I +could name several clergymen of various denominations who have stooped +to that device against the Socialists; including the Catholic Father +Belford, who says that we are mad dogs and should be stopped with +bullets. + +Or consider the Reverend Thomas Dixon. This gentleman's pulpit-slang +used to be the talk of New York when I was a boy; and when I grew up, +and came into the Socialist movement--behold, here he was, chief +inquisitor of the capitalist Holy Office. I had a friend, a man who +saved my life at a time when I was practically starving, and to whom +therefore I owe my survival as a writer; this friend had been a +clergyman in a Middle Western state, and had preached Jesus as he +really was, and so was hated and feared like Jesus. It happened that +he was unhappily married, and permitted his wife to divorce him so +that he might marry the woman he loved; for which unheard of crime the +organized hypocrisy of America fell upon him like a thousand devils +with poisoned whips. The Reverend Dixon's holy rage was fired; he +applied his imagination to my friend's story, producing a novel under +the title of "The One Woman"; and it is as if you were reading the +story of Jesus and the Magdalen transmitted through the personality of +a he-goat. Of late years this clerical author has turned his energies +to negrophobia and militarism, making millions out of motion-picture +incitements to hatred and terror. The pictures were made here in +Southern California, and friends in the business have described to me +the pious propagandist in the position of St. Anthony surrounded by +swarms of cute and playful little movie-girls. + +Or take the Rev. James Roscoe Day, D.D., S.T.D., LL.D., D.C.L., +L.H.D., a leading light of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who offers +himself as comic relief in our Clerical Vaudeville. Dr. Day is +Chancellor of Syracuse University, a branch of the Mental Munitions +Department of the Standard Oil Company; his function being to +manufacture intellectual weapons and explosives to be used in defense +of the Rockefeller fortune. It is generally not expected that the +makers of ruling-class munitions should face the dirty and perilous +work of the trenches; but ten years ago, during a raid by an active +squad of muckrake-men, Chancellor Day astonished the world by rushing +to the front with both arms full of star-shells and bombs. He +afterwards put the history of this gallant action into a volume, "The +Raid on Prosperity"; and if you want the real thrill of the class-war, +here is where to get it! + +The Chancellor is a quaint and touching figure; an enthusiast and +dreamer, idealist and martyr, in whom the ordinary human virtues have +been fused, absorbed, transformed and sublimated into a new supreme +virtue of loyalty to Exploitation, patriotism for Profiteering. He +began life as a working-man, he tells us, in the good old American +fashion of hustle for yourself; but he differed from other Americans +in that he had an instant, intuitive recognition of the intellectual +and moral excellence of Plutocracy. The first time he met a rich man, +he quivered with rapture, he burst into a hymn of appreciation. So +very quickly he was recognized as a proper person to have charge of a +Mental Munition Works; and the ruling classes proceeded to pin medals +upon the bosom of his academic robes--D.D., S.T.D., L.L.D., D.C.L., +L.H.D. + +The Chancellor knows the masters of our Profit System, those +"consummate geniuses of manufacture and trade by which the earth has +yielded up her infinite treasures." And having been at the same time +in intimate daily communion with the Almighty, he can tell us the +Almighty's attitude towards these prodigies. "God has made the rich of +this world to serve Him.... He has shown them a way to have this +world's goods and to be rich towards God....God wants the rich men.... +Christ's doctrines have made the world rich, and provide adequate uses +for its riches." Also the Chancellor knows our great corporations, and +gives us the Almighty's views about them; they mean that "the forces +with which God built the universe have been put into the hands of +man." Likewise by divine authority we learn that "the sympathy given +to Socialism is appalling. It is insanity." We learn that the income +tax is "a doctrine suited to the dark ages, only no age ever has been +dark enough." Somebody raises the issue of "tainted money", and the +Chancellor disposes of this matter also. As a Deputy of Divinity, he +settles it by Holy Writ: "Paul permitted meat offered to idols to be +eaten in the fear of God." And then, to make assurance doubly sure, he +settles it with plain human logic; and you are astonished to see how +simple, under his handling, the complex problem becomes--how clear and +clean-cut is the distinction he draws for you: + + Every boy knows that one cannot take stolen goods without + being a partaker with the thief. But the proceeds of + recognized business are quite a different thing. + +#Holy Oil# + +And here is Billy Sunday, most conspicuous phenomenon of Protestant +Christianity at the beginning of the twentieth century. For the +benefit of posterity I explain that "Billy" is a baseball player +turned Evangelist, who has brought to the cause of God the crowds and +uproar of the diamond; also the commercial spirit of America's most +popular institution. He travels like a circus, with all the +press-agent work and newspaper hurrah; he conducts what are called +"revivals", in an enormous "tabernacle" built especially for him in +each city. I cannot better describe the Billy Sunday circus than in +the words of a certain Sidney C. Tapp, who brought suit against the +evangelist for $100,000 damages for the theft of the ideas of a book. +Says Mr. Tapp in his complaint: + + The so-called religious awakening or "trail-hitting" is + produced by an appeal to the emotions and in stirring up the + senses by a combination of carrying the United States flag + in one hand and the Bible in the other, singing, trumpeting, + organ playing, garrulous and acrobatic feats of defendant, + by defendant in his talk leaping from the rostrum to the top + of the pulpit, lying prone on the floor of the rostrum on + his stomach in the presence of the vast audience and from + thence into a pit to shake hands with the so-called + "trail-hitters" and the vulgar use of plaintiff's thoughts + contained in said books. Said harangues and vulgarisms of + said defendant and horns, drums, organs and singing by said + choir and vast audience which are assembled by means of said + newspaper advertisements for the purpose of inducing a habit + of free and copious flow of money through religious and + patriotic excitement produced by and through the vulgarisms, + scurrility, buffoonery, obscenity and profanity of defendant + pretending to be in the interest of the cause of religion + through what he denominates "hitting the trail", the real + object being to induce a religious frenzy and enthusiasm + which he announces in advance is to result in large + audiences composed of thousands of people generously + contributing vast sums of money on the last day and night of + the so-called revival which is invariably appropriated by + the defendant and through which scheme and device defendant + has become enormously wealthy. + +As I write, the evangelist is in Los Angeles, and twice each day he +holds forth to a crowd of ten or fifteen thousand; in addition the +newspapers print literally pages of his utterances. The entire +Protestant clergy for a score of miles around has been hitched to his +triumphal chariot, and driven captive through the streets. Here in +this dignified city of Pasadena, home of millionaire brewers and +chewing-gum kings, all the churches have been plastered for weeks with +cloth signs: "This Church is Cooperating in the Sunday Campaign." To +give a sample of the intellectual level of the performance, here is +what Billy has to say about modern thought: + + All this blasphemy against God and Jesus Christ, all this + sneering, highbrow, rotten, loathesome, higher criticism, + wriggling its dirty, filthy, stinking carcass out of a + beer-mug in Leipzig or Heidelberg! + +Whether willingly or reluctantly, the preachers sit upon the platform +and smile while Billy thus slangs the devil; and being themselves, +poor fellows, at their wits end to draw the crowd, they watch and see +how he does it, and then return to their own churches and try the same +stunt; so the manners of the baseball diamond spread like a contagion. +I open my morning paper, and find a picture of an intense-looking +clerical gentleman, the Rev. J. Whitcomb Brougher, pastor of the +Baptist Temple. He is discussing certain slanderous rumors which he +has heard about Billy Sunday, and he offers ten thousand dollars +reward to anyone who can prove these things; though, as he says, + + The dirty, low-down, contemptible, weazen-brained, + impure-hearted, shrivelled-souled, gossipping devils do not + deserve to be noticed.... Scandal-mongers, gossip-lovers, + reputation-destroyers, hypocritical, black-hearted, + green-eyed slanderers.... Corrupt, devil-possessed, vile + debauches.... Immoral, sin-loving, vice-practicing, + underhanded sneaks.... Carrion-loving buzzards and + foul-smelling skunks. + +You will be prepared after this to hear that when the Socialists were +near to carrying Los Angeles, this clergyman preached a sermon in +support of the candidate of "Booze, Gas and Railroads". + +In so far as Billy Sunday is trying to keep the neglected youth of our +streets from drinking, gambling and whoring, no one could wish him +anything but success; but his besotted ignorance, his childish crudity +of mind, make it impossible that he could have any success except of a +delusive nature. He is utterly devoid of a social sense; utterly +unaware of the existence of the forces of capitalism which are causing +depravity ten times as fast as all the evangelists in creation can +remedy it. So he is precisely like the Catholics with their "charity", +cleaning up loathsome and unsightly messes for a thousand years, and +never stopping to ask why such messes continue to come into existence. + +More than that, I question whether the spirit of commercialism which +he fosters does not help the development of evil more than his +preaching hinders it. The newspapers always report the cost of the +tabernacle, and of the "free-will offering", which amounts to hundreds +of thousands of dollars in each "campaign". In each city the expenses +are guaranteed by men who are generally the most sinister exploiting +forces of the community; they welcome and fete him, and he visits +their homes, and is in every way one of the crowd. After the big silk +strike in Paterson, N.J., the employers, Jews and Catholics included, +all subscribed a fund to bring Billy Sunday to that city; and it was +freely proclaimed that the purpose was to undermine the radical union +movement. This was never denied by Sunday himself, and his whole +campaign was conducted on that basis. + +Later Billy came to New York, where he met a certain rich young man, +perhaps a thousand times as rich as any that lived in Palestine. This +young man came to Billy and said: "What shall I do to inherit eternal +life?" And Billy told him to keep the commandments--"Do not commit +adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor +thy father and thy mother." The young man answered; "All these have I +kept from my youth up." And Billy said: "Yet lackest thou one thing; +sell all that thou hast and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt +have treasure in heaven; and come follow me." And when he heard this +he was very sorrowful, for he was very rich. + +--No, I have got the story mixed up. That is what happened in +Palestine. What happened in New York is that Billy said, "I am +delighted to meet you, Mr. Rockefeller." And Mr. Rockefeller said, +"Come be my guest at my palace in the Pocantico Hills; and then we +will go together and you may preach submission to my wage-slaves in +the oil-factories at Bayonne and elsewhere." And Billy went to the +palace, and went and preached to the wage-slaves, telling them to +beware the "stinking Socialists", and to concentrate their attention +on the saving of their souls; so the rich young man was delighted, and +he sent for all the newspaper reporters to come to his office at 26 +Broadway, and told them what a great and useful man Billy Sunday is. +As the New York "Times" tells about it: + + Mr. Rockefeller seldom gives interviews and certainly he has + never been charged with having an excess of verbally + expressed enthusiasm on any subject. But he talked for an + hour and a half about the evangelist. He was full of the + subject of Billy Sunday. "Billy did New York a lot of good," + he said. He went on to tell of 187 meetings held in 100 + different factories, attended by 50,000 men. "That's good + work." And he expressed his satisfaction with Sunday's + theology: "He believes the Bible from cover to cover and + that is good enough for me." The Sunday campaign had cost + $200,000, and "If it had stopped here, if it was not kept + up, it would be poor business; a poor dividend on the + $200,000 and the work invested. But we expect to get + dividends in the next year." + +Again you note the symbolism of the counting-house! + +#Rhetorical Black-hanging# + +It is the duty of the clergy, not merely to defend large-scale +merchants while they live, but to bury them when they die, and to +place the seal of sanctity upon their careers. Concerning this aspect +of Bootstrap-lifting I quote the opinion of an earnest hater of shams, +William Makepeace Thackeray: + + I think the part which pulpits play in the death of kings is + the most ghastly of all the ceremonial: the lying eulogies, + the blinking of disagreeable truths, the sickening + flatteries, the simulated grief, the falsehood and + sycophancies--all uttered in the name of Heaven in our State + churches: these monstrous Threnodies which have been sung + from time immemorial over kings and queens, good, bad, + wicked, licentious. The State parson must bring out his + commonplaces; his apparatus of rhetorical black-hanging.... + +And this, of course, applies not merely to kings of England, but to +kings of Steel, kings of Coal, kings of Oil, kings of Wall Street. +Leland Stanford, son of a great king of Western railroads, died; and +standing over his coffin, a Methodist clergyman, afterwards Bishop, +preached a sermon of fulsome flattery, wherein he likened young Leland +to the boy Christ. In the year 1904 there passed from his earthly +reward in Pennsylvania a United States senator who had been throughout +his lifetime a notorious and unblushing corruptionist. Matthew Stanley +Quay was his name, and the New York "Nation", having no clerical +connections, was free to state the facts about him: + + He bought the organization, bribed or intimidated the press, + got his grip on the public service, including even the + courts; imposed his will on Congress and Cabinet, and upon + the last three Presidents--making the latter provide for the + offal of his political machine, which even Pennsylvania + could no longer stomach--and all without identifying his + name with a single measure of public good, without making a + speech or uttering a party watchword, without even + pretending to be honest, but solely because, like Judas, he + carried the bag and could buy whom he would. + +Such was the lay opinion; and now for the clerical. It was expressed +by a Presbyterian divine, the Reverend Dr. J.S. Ramsey, who stood over +the coffin of "Matt", and without cracking a smile declared that he +had been "a statesman who was always on the right side of every moral +question!" + +In that same year of 1904 died the high priest of our political +corruption, Mark Hanna. He had belonged to no church, but had backed +them all, understanding the main thesis of this book as clearly as the +writer of it. In his home city of Cleveland the eulogy upon him was +pronounced by Bishop Leonard, in St. Paul's Episcopal Church; while in +the United States Senate the service was performed by the Chaplain, +the Rev. Edward Everett Hale. This is a name well-known in American +letters, as in American religious life; it was borne by a benevolent +old gentleman, a Unitarian and a liberal, who organized "Lend-a-Hand +Clubs" and such like amiabilities. "Do You Love This Old Man?" the +signs in the street-cars used to ask when I was a boy; and I promptly +answered "Yes"--for my mother took the "Ladies' Home Journal", and I +swallowed the sentimental dish-water set out for me. But when I read +the Rev. Edward's funeral oration over the Irrev. Mark, I loved +neither of them any longer. "This whole-souled child of God," cried +the Rev. Edward, "who believed in success, and knew how to succeed by +using the infinite powers!" You perceive that the Chaplain of the +Millionaires' Club agrees with this book, that the "infinite powers" +in America are the powers that prey! + +#The Great American Fraud# + +Among the most loathesome products of our native commercial greed is +the patent medicine industry, "The Great American Fraud," as its +historian has called it. In 1907 this historian wrote: + + Gullible America will spend this year some seventy-five + millions of dollars in the purchase of patent medicines. In + consideration of this sum it will swallow huge quantities of + alcohol, an appalling amount of opiates and narcotics, a + wide assortment of varied drugs ranging from powerful and + dangerous heart depressants to insidious liver stimulants; + and, far in excess of all other ingredients, undiluted + fraud. For fraud, exploited by the skillfullest of + advertising bunco men, is the basis of the trade. + +One by one Mr. Adams tells about these medical fakes: habit-forming +laxatives, head-ache powders full of acetanilid, soothing-syrups and +catarrh-cures full of opium and cocaine, cock-tails subtly disguised +as "bitters", "sarsaparillas", and "tonics". He shows how the fake +testimonials are made up and exploited; how the confidential letters, +telling the secret troubles of men and women, are collected by tens +and hundreds of thousands and advertised and sold--so that the victim, +as he begins to lose faith in one fake, finds another at hand, fully +informed as to his weakness. He quotes the amazing "Red Clause" in the +contracts which the patent-medicine makers have with thousands of +daily and weekly papers, whereby the makers are able to control the +press of the country and prevent legislation against the "Great +American Fraud." + +There are a thousand religious papers in America, weekly and monthly; +and what is their attitude on this question? Mr. Adams tells us: + + Whether because church-going people are more trusting, and + therefore more easily befooled than others, or from some + more obscure reason, many of the religious papers fairly + reek with patent medicine fakes. + +He gives us many pages of specific instances: + + Dr. Smith belongs to the brood of cancer vampires. He is a + patron and prop of religious journalism. It is his theory + that the easiest prey is to be found among readers of church + papers. Moreover he has learned from his father-in-law (who + built a small church out of blood-money) to capitalize his + own sectarian associations, and when confronted recently + with a formal accusation he replied, with an air of injured + innocence, that he was a regular attendant at church, and + could produce an endorsement from his minister. + +And here is the "Church Advocate", of Harrisburg, Pa., which publishes +quack advertisements disguised as editorials. One of them Mr. Adams +paraphrases: + + As Dr. Smith is, on the face of his own statements, a + self-branded swindler and rascal, you run no risk in + assuming that the Rev. C.H. Forney, D.D., L.L.D., in acting + as his journalistic supporter for pay, is just such another + as himself! + +And again: + + Will the editor of the "Baptist Watchman" of Boston explain + by what phenomenon of logic or elasticity of ethics he + accepts the lucubrations of Dr. Bye, of Oren Oneal, of + Liquozone, of Actina, that marvelous two-ended mechanical + appliance which "cures" deafness at one terminus and + blindness at the other, and all with a little oil of + mustard? + +And again: + + The "Christian Observer" of Louisville replied to a + protesting subscriber, suggesting that the "Collier" + articles were written in a spirit of revenge, because + "Collier's" could not get patent medicine advertising. When + I asked the Rev. F. Bartlett Converse for his foundation for + the charge, he said that one of the typewriters must have + written the letter! Doubtless also the same highly + responsible typewriter imitated the signature with startling + fidelity to Dr. Converse's handwriting! + +And here is--would you think it possible?--our "Church of Good +Society"! It has an organ in Chicago called the "Living Church", most +dignified and decorous. You have to study quite a while to ascertain +what denomination it belongs to; it will not tell you directly, for +the Anglician pose is that it is #the# church + + Elect from every nation, + Yet one o'er all the earth, + Her charter of salvation, + One Lord, one Faith, one Birth; + One holy name she blesses, + Partakes one holy food, + And toward one Hope she presses, + With every grace endued. + +And this one holy institution was found setting at its peak the black +flag of the trader, the "Jolly Roger" of the modern commercial +pirate--"Caveat emptor!" To quote the precise words: + + The editors and publishers of the "Living Church" assume no + responsibility for the assertions of advertisers. + +And so it threw open its columns to the claims of America's champion +labor-baiter, the late C.W. Post, that his "Grapenuts" would prevent +appendicitis, and obviate the need of operations in such cases! + +And here is the "Christian Endeavor World", organ of one of the most +powerful non-sectarian religious bodies in the country. Some one wrote +complaining of its medical advertising, and the answer was: + + To the best of our knowledge and belief, we are not + publishing any fraudulent or unworthy medical + advertising.... Trusting that you will be able to understand + that we are acting according to our best and sincerest + judgment, I remain, yours very truly, The Golden Rule + Company, George W. Coleman, Business Manager. + +Whereupon the historian of "The Great American Fraud" remarks: + + Assuming that the business management of the "Christian + Endeavor World" represents normal intelligence, I would like + to ask whether it accepts the statement that a pair of + "magic foot drafts" applied to the soles of the feet will + cure any and every kind of rheumatism in any part of the + body? Further, if the advertising department is genuinely + interested in declining "fraudulent and unworthy" copy, I + would call their attention to the ridiculous claims of Dr. + Shoop's medicines, which "cure" almost every disease; to two + hair removers, one an "Indian Secret", the other an + "accidental discovery", both either fakes or dangerous; to + the lying claims of Hall's Catarrh Cure, that it is "a + positive cure for catarrh", in all its stages; to "Syrup of + Figs", which is not a fig syrup, but a preparation of senna; + to Dr. Kilmer's Swamp Root, of which the principal medical + constituent is alcohol; and, finally, to Dr. Bye's Oil Cure + for cancer, a particularly cruel swindle on unfortunates + suffering from an incurable malady. All of these, with other + matter, which for the sake of decency I do not care to + detail in these columns, appear in recent issues of the + "Christian Endeavor World". + +#Riches in Glory# + +There came recently to Los Angeles a "world-famous evangelist", known +as "Gipsy" Smith. There was a shirt-waist strike at the time, and the +girls were starving, and they sent a delegation to this evangelist to +ask for help. They told him how they were mistreated, exposed to +insults, driven to sell their virtue because their wage would not +support life; and to their plea he made answer: "Get Jesus in your +hearts, and these questions will take care of themselves!" + +So we see the most important of the many services which the churches +perform for the merchants--taking the revolutionary hope of Jesus, for +a kingdom of heaven upon earth, and perverting it into a dream of a +golden harp in an uncertain future. To appreciate the fullness of this +betrayal, take the prayer which Jesus dictated--so simple, direct and +practical: "Give us this day our daily bread", and put it beside the +hymns which the slave-congregations are trained to sing. In my +neighborhood is a one-roomed building with a plate glass front, upon +which I observe a painter inscribing in red, white and blue letters +the sign "#Glory Mission.#" I approach him, and he drops his work and +welcomes me with eager cordiality. Am I "living in grace"? I answer +that I am. I have to shout the good tidings into his ear, as he is +very deaf. He presents me with his card, which shows that he bears the +title of "Reverend", also the sobriquet of "Mountain Missionary". I +ask him to permit me to examine the hymn-book which he uses in his +work, and with touching eagerness he presses upon me a well-worn +volume bearing the title "Waves of Glory". I seat myself and note down +a few of the baits it sets out for hungry wage-slaves: + + O, there's a plenty, O, there's a plenty, + There's a plenty in my Father's bank above! + + Riches in glory, riches in glory, + Royal supply our wants exceed! + + Feasting, I'm feasting, + I'm feasting with my Lord! + + Beautiful robes, beautiful robes, + Beautiful robes we then shall wear! + + Jerusalem the golden, + With milk and honey blest! + + Yes, I'll meet you in the city of the New Jerusalem, + I'll be there, I'll be there! + + Blest Canaan land, bright Canaan land, + I love to be in Canaan land! + + Oh, Beulah land, sweet Beulah land, + As on the highest mount I stand, + I look away across the sea, + Where mansions are prepared for me! + + In the sweet bye and bye + We shall meet on that beautiful shore-- + +I stopped there, being reminded of Joe Hill, poet of the I.W.W. who +was executed a few years ago in Utah, and who used this tune in his +little red book of revolutionary chants: + + You will eat, bye and bye, + In the glorious land above the sky; + Work and pray, live on hay, + You'll get pie in the sky when you die! + +#Captivating Ideals# + +In one of the writer's earlier novels, "Prince Hagen", the hero is a +Nibelung out of Wagner's "Rheingold", who leaves his diggings in the +bowels of the earth, and comes up to look into our superior +civilization. The thing that impresses him most is what he calls "the +immortality idea". The person who got that up was a world-genius, he +exclaims. "If you can once get a man to believing in immortality, +there is no more left for you to desire; you can take everything he +owns--you can skin him alive if it pleases you--and he will bear it +all with perfect good humor." + +And is that merely the spiritual deficiency of a Nibelung--or the +effort of a young author to be smart? Would you like to hear that view +of the most vital of Christian doctrines set forth in the language of +scholarship and culture? Would you like to know how an ecclesiastical +authority, equipped with every tool of modern learning, would set +about voicing the idea that the function of the teaching of Heaven is +to chloroform the poor, so that the rich may continue to rob them in +security? + +Here under my hand is a volume in the newest dress of scholarship, +dated 1912, and written by Professor Georges Chatterton-Hill, of the +University of Geneva. Its title is "The Sociological Value of +Christianity", and from cover to cover it is a warning to the rich of +the danger they run in giving up their religion and ceasing to support +its priests. It explains how "the genius of Christianity has succeeded +in making the individual suffering, the individual sacrifices, which +are indispensible for the welfare of the collectivity, appear as +indispensible for the individual welfare." The learned professor makes +plain just what he means by "individual suffering, individual +sacrifices"; he means all the horrors of capitalism; and the advantage +of Christianity is that it makes you think that by submitting to these +horrors, you are profiting your own soul. "By making individual +salvation depend on the acceptance of suffering, on the voluntary +sacrifice of egotistical interests, Christianity adapts the individual +to society". + +And this, as the professor explains, is not an easy thing to do, in a +world in which so many people are thinking for themselves. "The only +means of causing the rationalized individual to consent to the +sacrifice ... is to captivate him with a sufficiently powerful ideal" +And the professor shows how beautifully Jesus can be used for this +purpose. "Jesus, the so-called humanitarian, never ceased to insist on +the necessity of suffering, the desirableness of suffering--of that +suffering which a weak and sickly humanitarianism would fain suppress +if it could." + +You get this, you "blanket-stiff", you "husky", or "wop", or whatever +you are--you disinherited of the earth, you proletarians who have only +your labor-power to sell, you weak and sickly ones who are condemned +to elimination? There has come, let us say, a period of +"overproduction"; you have raised too much food, and therefore you are +starving, you have woven too much cloth, and therefore you are naked, +you have finished the world for your masters, and it is time for you +to move out of the way. As the sociologist from Geneva phrases it, +"Your suppression imposes itself as an imperious necessity." And the +function of the Christian religion is to make you enjoy the process, +by "captivating you with a sufficiently powerful ideal"! The priest +will fill your nostrils with incense, your eyes with candle-lights and +images, your ears with sweet music and soothing words; and so you will +perish without raising a finger! "Here," reflects the professor, "we +see how magnificently the teaching of Jesus applies to all classes of +society!" + +Somebody has evidently put up to our Christian sociologist the +embarrassing fact that so many of those who survive under the +capitalist system are godless scoundrels. But do you think that +troubles him? Not for long. Like all religious thinkers, he carries +with his scholar's equipment a pair of metaphysical wings, wherewith +at any moment he may soar into the empyrean, out of reach of vulgar +materialists, like you and me. "Inequality signifies inequality of +capacity," he explains; but the standard whereby we judge this +capacity "cannot be the standard of the moral law." + + The laws which govern the biological evolution of man are + known, but those which govern his moral nature cannot be + known; the moral nature appertains to the Absolute, and + hence is not subject to the law of inequality! + +As an exhibition of metaphysical wing-power, that is almost as +wonderful as the flight of Cardinal Newman when confronted with the +fact that his divinely guided church had burned men for teaching the +Copernican view of the universe; that infallible popes had again and +again condemned this heresy #ex cathedra#. Said the eloquent cardinal: + + Scripture says that the sun moves and the earth is + stationary, and science that the earth moves and the sun is + comparatively at rest. How can we determine which of these + opposite statements is the very truth #till we know what + motion is#? + +#Spook Hunting# + +Do not imagine that it is only in Geneva that Christian professors +realize this peril from the loss of faith. It is never far from the +thoughts of any of them--for, of course, no man can look at the +present system and not wonder how the poor stand it, and more +especially #why# they stand it. There have been many thinking men who +have given up the miracle-business quite cheerfully, but have stood +appalled at the idea of letting the lower classes find out the truth. +You note that idea continually in the writings of Professor Goldwin +Smith, who was a free-thinker, but also a #bourgeois# publicist, with +a deep sense of responsibility to the money-masters of the world. He +was about as honest a man as the capitalist system can produce; he was +the #beau ideal# of the New York "Evening Post", which indicates his +point of view. He wrote: + + It can hardly be doubted that hope of compensation in a + future state, for a short measure of happiness here, has + materially helped to reconcile the less favored members of + the community to the inequalities of the existing order of + things. + +When I was a student in Columbia University, I took a course called +"Practical Ethics", under a professor by the name of Hyslop. The +course differed from most of the forty that I tried, in that it gave +evidence that the professor was accustomed to read the morning paper. +He had learned that American politics were rotten; his idea of +"Practical Ethics" was to outline in elaborate detail a complete +scheme of constitutional changes which would make it impossible for +the "boss" to control the government. I think I must have been born +with a charm against #bourgeois# thought, for the good professor never +fooled me an instant; I remember I used to smile at the idea of how +quickly the "boss" would brush through his constitutional cobwebs. The +reforms required an elaborate campaign of publicity--and of course +long before they could be put into practice, the politicians would be +ready with devices to make them of no effect. + +Soon after this, my ethical professor resigned and went to hunting +spooks. I don't want to be unfair to him; I know that he is a +determined and courageous man, and it seems possible that he may +really have bagged some spooks. All I wish to point out here is the +method he uses in seeking to persuade the heedless rich to support the +spook-hunting industry. The very same argument as we got from the +University of Geneva and the University of Toronto! Says our head +spook-hunter: + + There has been no belief that exercised so much power upon + the poor as that in a future life. The politicians, men of + the world, have known this so well as to postpone the day of + political judgment by it for many years. + +And again: + + The Church, having lost all its battles with science, and + having abandoned a strenuous intellectual defense of its + fundamental beliefs, has lost its power over the poor and + the laboring classes.... The spiritual ideal of life has + gone out of the masses as well as the classes, and nothing + is left but a venture on a struggle with wealth. + +And again, more menacingly yet: + + The rich will learn in the dangers of a social revolution + that the poor will not sacrifice both wealth and + immortality. + +What is to be done about this? The question answers itself: Step up, +ladies and gentlemen, and empty your purses into the Psychical +Research hat! So that we may accumulate statistics as to the cost of +milk and honey in Jerusalem the Golden! + +You read what I had to say about Bootstrap-lifters, and the Wholesale +Pickpockets' Association making use of their incantations. You admired +my ability to sling language, but not my taste; and you certainly did +not think that I would back my rhetoric with facts. But what do these +quotations mean, unless they mean what I have said? Are not these +three professors men of culture? Are they not as "spiritual" as any +men of learning you can find in our present-day society? + +And now stop for a moment and put yourself in the position of the +young student of the working-class, who goes to these books and +discovers that truth is not truth, but only a bait for a snare. Who +discovers that professors of ethics, practical or impractical, are not +interested in justice among men, but only in collecting funds for +their specialty; that in order to get funds, they are willing to teach +the rich how to paralyze the minds of the poor! Do you wonder that +such young students conclude that #bourgeois# thinkers do not know +what honesty is, but are prostitutes, retainers and lackeys, to be +kicked out of the temple of truth? + +#Running the Rapids# + +And now, can you form to yourselves a clear concept of what it means +to society that practically all its moral teaching should be in the +hands of men who are incapable of clean, straight thinking? That all +the intellectual prestige of the Church should be lent to the support +of vagueness, futility, and deliberate evasion? Here we are, all of +us, caught in the most terrific social crisis of history; I search for +a metaphor to picture our position, and I recall a canoe-trip in the +wilds of Ontario, hundreds of miles down a long swift river. You sit +in the bow of the canoe, your partner in the stern, watching ahead; +and there comes a slide of smooth green water, and you go over it, and +into a torrent of foaming white, which seizes you and rushes you along +with the speed of a race-horse. + +With every sense alert, you watch for the rocks, and when you see one, +you dip your paddle on one side or the other and with a quick motion +draw the canoe clear of the danger. If by any chance you fail to do +it, over you go, and your partner with you, and all your belongings go +down-stream, and maybe you are sucked into a whirlpool, and not seen +for several hours afterwards. Precisely like this is the voyage of +life, for the whole of society and for every individual. The paddle +which would save us from the rocks is experimental science; but in +most of our canoes we put a man who has no paddle, but a Holy Book; +and he casts up his eyes and murmurs words in ancient Greek and +Hebrew, and now and then, when he sees an especially formidable +obstruction--a war, or the gonococcus, or the I.W.W.--he casts a holy +wafer upon the foaming torrent. + + * * * * * + + + + +And mind you, it isn't as if I could save myself and you could save +yourself; we are all in the same canoe, and we all go overboard +together. You, perhaps, have a son who is drafted into the trenches in +winter-time, and drowned in blood and mud, because in Europe the +Catholic party supported militarism, and kept aristocratic criminals +in control of states. Or you find yourself involved in a marital +tragedy, and in order to free yourself from unendurable misery, you +are obliged to go to law-courts dominated by the tradition of Paul, +the Roman bureaucrat, who despised women, and regarded marriage as a +means of gratifying an unclean animal desire. "It is better to marry +than to burn," he said, with unmatchable brutality; and so of course +those who think him a voice of God can form no conception of the +dignity and grace of love, and if you want sound and wholesome +sex-conventions, you will be as apt to find them among the Ashantees +or the Kamchadals as among the followers of the Apostle to the +Gentiles. + +You go to a so-called "divorce-court," which is dominated by this +Christian taboo, and exists for the purpose of barring you from a +second chance at the gratification of your unclean animal desire. You +are not permitted to tell your own story, for that would be +"collusion;" you listen while your intimate friends recite the pitiful +and shameful details of your domestic misfortune, under the +cross-questioning of lawyers who have suppressed for the time whatever +decent instincts they may possess, and follow blindly the details of a +prescribed procedure, at the cost of all sincerity, humanity and +truth. The next morning you find that the privacy guaranteed you by +law has been taken from you by corrupt court officials, who have sold +copies of the testimony to the newspapers, so that all the intimate +details of where you slept and where your wife slept and what you saw +your wife doing have been thrown out to journalistic jackals, who +scream with glee as they rend the carcass of your dead love. And in +the end, perhaps, you find that you have gone through this horror for +nothing--the august court with its Roman Catholic judge throws out +your petition, its suspicions having been excited by the fact that +when you discovered your domestic tragedy, you sought to behave like a +civilized person, with pity and self-restraint, instead of like a +sultan in Turkey, or a basso in an Italian grand opera. + +#Birth Control# + +I assert that the control of our thinking on ethical questions by +minds enslaved to tradition and priestcraft is an unmitigated curse to +the race. The armory of science is full of weapons which might be used +to slay the monsters of disease and vice--but these weapons are not +allowed to be employed, sometimes not even to be mentioned. Consider +the misery which is piling itself up in the slums of our great +cities--the degenerate, the defective, the insane, who are multiplying +as never before in history. There exists a perfectly harmless and +painless method of sterilizing the hopelessly unfit, so that they can +not reproduce their hopeless unfitness; but religion objects to this +operation, and so the law does not make use of this knowledge. There +exists a simple, entirely harmless, and practically costless method of +preventing conception, which would enable us to check the blind and +futile fecundity of Nature, and to multiply as gods instead of as +animals. Consider the festering mass of misery in the slums of our +great cities; consider the millions of terrified, poverty-hounded +women, bearing one half-nurtured infant after another, struggling +desperately to feed and care for them, and seeing them drop into the +grave as fast as they are born--until finally the mother, worn out +with the Sisyphean labor, gives up and follows her misbegotten +offspring. Consider how many women, in their agony and despair, +make use of the methods of the primitive savage, to escape from +Nature's curse of fecundity. Dr. Wm. J. Robinson has estimated +that in the United States alone there are a million abortions +every year; and consider that all this hideous mass of suffering--a +bloody European war going on continually, unheeded by any newspaper +correspondent--might be avoided by the use of a simple sterilizing +formula, which we are not permitted to give! The Federation of +Catholic Societies have placed a law upon the statute-books of the +nation, and of all the states as well; the whole power of police and +courts and jails is at the service of religious bigots, and a young +girl is sent to prison and forcibly fed with a tube through the nose +for telling poverty-ridden slum-women how to keep from becoming +pregnant! + +And go among the sleek, cynical men of the world, the judges and +district attorneys, the commissioners of correction and doctors who +perpetrated this infamy under, a so-called "reform" administration in +New York City--and what do you find? The first thing you find is that +they themselves, one and all, practice birth-control with their wives +or their mistresses. The second thing you find is that the +statute-books are crowded with other laws which they make no pretense +of enforcing; for example, the law which forbids the saloons to be +open on Sunday--which law they take the liberty of understanding to +mean that the saloons shall not have their front doors open on Sunday. +You will find that they are not at all afraid of the religious taboos; +they are afraid of the religious vote--and even more they are afraid +of the campaign contributions of sweat-shop manufacturers and +landlords, who cannot see what would become of prosperity if the women +of the slums were to cease to breed. So once more we discover the wolf +in sheep's clothing, the trader, making use of Tradition-worship; +hiding behind the skirts of devout old maiden aunts and grandmothers, +who repeat the instructions which God gave to Adam and Eve, "Be +fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth." As if God were as +blind as a Fifth Avenue preacher, and could see no difference between +the Garden of Eden, full of all fruits that grow and all creatures +that run and fly and swim, and a modern East Side tenement-room, with +an oil stove and no windows and no water-closet, and the price of +cabbage seven cents a pound! + +#Sheep# + +There are more than a hundred thousand Protestant churches in America. +They own more than a billion dollars' worth of property, and in the +West and South they dominate the intellectual life of the country. I +do not wish to be unfair in what I say of them. They are far more +democratic than the Catholic Church; they fight valiantly against the +liquor traffic and those forms of graft which are obvious, or directly +derived from vice. There are among their clergy many men who are +honestly seeking light, and trying to make their institutions a factor +for progress. But they are caught in the spirit of Lutheran +scholasticism, narrow and ignorant, dogmatic and jealous; and they +cannot help it, because they are pledged by their creeds and +foundations to Tradition-worship; they have to believe certain things +because their ancestors believed them, they have to act in certain +ways, because of certain facts which existed in the world three +thousand years ago, but which now are known only to historians. + +You are familiar with the habit of a herd of sheep to follow the +example of their leader; if this leader leaps over a stick, all the +rest will leap when they come to that spot, even though the stick may +have been taken away in the meantime. The scientist explains this +seeming-foolishness by the fact that sheep once lived in high +mountains, and fled from their enemies in swiftly rushing herds; when +the leader leaped across an abyss, the others had to leap, without +waiting to see in the dust and confusion. Now there are no mountains +and no enemies, but the sheep still jump. And in exactly the same way +the tailor still sews buttons at the back of your dress-coat, because +a couple of hundred years age all gentlemen wore swords; in the same +way our railroad builders make cars narrow and uncomfortable and +liable to overturn, because a hundred years ago all cars were hauled +by mules. In the same way the Orthodox Hebrew will eat no pork, in +spite of the fact that the microscope affords him complete protection +against disease; the orthodox Catholic will not eat meat on Friday, +because he thinks Jesus was crucified on that day; the orthodox +Anglican will not marry his deceased wife's sister, because of +something he reads in Leviticus; the orthodox Baptist requires total +immersion in a climate quite different from that of Palestine; the +orthodox Methodist refuses to enjoy fresh air and exercise on the +Sabbath. + +In ancient Judea, you see, the people lived an open-air life, tending +sheep and working the fields; so it was an excellent thing for them to +rest from labor one day of the week, and to gather in temples to hear +the reading of the best literature of their time. But nowadays the +city slave spends his week-days shut up in an office, poring over a +ledger, or in a sweat-shop, chained to a sewing-machine. Obviously, +therefore, the thing to do on the seventh day is to lure him into the +open air, and persuade him to run and play. But do we do that, we +human sheep? We write ancient Hebrew laws upon our modern +statute-books, and if the city slave goes into a vacant lot and tries +to play base-ball, we send a policeman and take him to jail, and next +morning he is fined five dollars, and probably loses his job. + +In the city where I live, a city supposed to be free and enlightened, +but in reality heavily burdened with churches, there are tennis courts +built and paid for out of public funds, my own included; yet I cannot +use these tennis courts on Sunday, because of the ancient Hebrew +taboo. My mail is not delivered to me, the swimming pool in the park +is closed to me, the library is closed nearly all day. If I enquire +about it, I am told that it is desirable that city employees should +have one day's rest a week; but when I ask why it might not be +possible to relay the employees, so that they might all have one, or +even two days' rest a week, and still give the public their rights on +Sunday, there is no answer. But I know the answer, having probed our +politics of hypocrisy. There is a "church vote" at which all +politicians tremble; there are clergymen, humanly jealous when their +peculiar graft is threatened, and hoping that if the law enforces a +general boredom, the public may be more disposed to endure the boredom +of sermons. + +In New York City the theaters are closed on Sunday; but moving +pictures having come into being since the days of Puritan rule, the +picture-shows are free to keep open. The law permits "sacred +concerts"--which, under the benevolent sway of Tammany, has come to +mean any sort of vaudeville; so what we have is a free rein to the +imbecilities of "Mutt & Jeff" and the obscenities of Anna Held and +Gaby Deslys--while we bar the greatest moralists of our times, such as +Ibsen and Brieux. + +I speak with some crossness of this Sabbath taboo, because of an +experience which once befell me. In the second decade of this century +of enlightenment and progress, in our free American democracy, whose +constitution proclaims religious toleration, and forbids the +establishment by the state of any form of worship, I was made to serve +a sentence of eighteen hours in the state prison of Delaware for +playing a game of tennis on the Sabbath. I was duly arrested upon a +warrant, duly sentenced by a magistrate, duly clad in a prison +costume, duly set to work upon a stone-pile, duly locked up over night +in a steel-barred cell full of vermin--in a building housing some five +hundred wretches, black and white, thirty of them serving life-terms +under circumstances which never permitted them a breath of fresh air +nor a glimpse of the sunshine or the sky. They had no exercise court +to their prison, and the inmates were not permitted to speak to one +another, but ate their meals in dead silence, and walked back to their +cells with folded arms, and had their only occupation working for a +sweat-shop contractor; this on the outskirts of the pious city of +Wilmington, with no less than ninety-one churches! The writer was +informed that he would return to this institution regularly every week +unless he abandoned his godless habit of playing tennis on a private +club court on Sunday; he only escaped the painful punishment by making +the discovery that at the Wilmington Country Club it was the custom of +the leading officials of the city and state to play golf every Sunday, +and by threatening to employ detectives and have these mighty ones +arrested and sent to their own prison. Which shows again the +importance of understanding this relationship of Superstition and Big +Business! + + * * * * * + + + + +#BOOK SIX# + +#The Church of the Quacks# + + They may talk as they please about what they call pelf, + And how one ought never to think of one's self, + And how pleasures of thought surpass eating and drinking-- + My pleasure of thought is the pleasure of thinking + How pleasant it is to have money, heigh ho! + How pleasant it is to have money. + + Clough. + + * * * * * + + + + +#Tabula Rasa# + +Nature has given us a virgin continent, a clean slate upon which to +write what we will. And what are we writing? What is our intellectual +life? I came to the far West, which I had been taught by novelists and +poets to think of as a place of freedom. I came, because I like +freedom; I am staying because I like the climate. I find that what +freedom means in the West is the ability of ignorant and fanatical +persons to start some new, fantastical quirk of scriptural +interpretation, to build a new cult around it, and earn a living out +of it. + +My first contact with that sort of thing was when I went to the Battle +Creek Sanitarium to investigate hydrotherapy, and found myself in a +nest of Seventh-day Adventists. Three generations or so ago some odd +character hit upon the discovery that the Christian churches had let +the devil snare them into resting on the first day of the week, +whereas the Bible states distinctly that the Lord "rested on the +seventh day". So here is a million dollar establishment, with a +thousand or two patients and employees, and on Friday at sundown the +silence of death settles upon the place, and stays settled until +sundown of Saturday, when everything comes suddenly to life again, and +there is a little celebration, like Easter or New Year's, with what I +used to call "sterilized dancing"--the men pairing with men and the +women with women. + +They are decent and kindly people, and you learn to put up with their +eccentricities; it is really convenient in some ways, because, as not +all the city shares their delusions, there are some stores open every +day of the week. But then you discover that the Sanitarium is training +"medical missionaries" to send to Africa, and is teaching these +supposed-to-be-scientists that evolution is a doctrine of the devil, +and not proven anyhow! + +You get the shrewd little doctor who is running this establishment +alone in his office, and he will smile and admit that of course it is +not necessary to take all Bible phrases literally; but you know how it +is--there are different levels of intelligence, and so on. Yes, I know +how it is. You have an institution founded upon a certain dogma, and +run by means of that dogma, and it is hard to change without smashing +things. It is especially convenient when servants and nurses have a +religious upbringing, and do not steal the pocket-books of the +patients. People will come from all over the country, and pay high +prices to stay in such a sanitarium; you can make vegetarians of them, +which you think more important than teaching abstract notions about +their being descended from monkeys. Also you can manufacture +vegetarian foods for them, and build up an enormous business--so +obtaining that Power which is the thing desired of men. + +This is but one illustration of a sort of thing of which I could cite +a hundred. The city in which I live is headquarters of another sect, +the "Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene"; primitive Methodists, +Bible-worshippers not content with the King James version, but going +back to the Sinaitic MS. They have a "University", located in one of +the most beautiful spots that Nature ever made; an institution with +seventy-five students. A couple of years ago I happened to meet the +"president," who was a preacher with grease on the ample expanse of +his black broadcloth waistcoat, and a speech full of the commonest +grammatical errors, such as "you was" and "I seen". The past year +witnessed a split, and the founding of a brand new church and +"University"--because one of the preachers insisted upon preaching so +much that the students got no chance to study; also because he sent +home a rich man's daughter whose shirt-waists revealed too much of her +fleshly nature. + +And there is an even stranger phenomenon in the locality, taking you +back to the Libyan desert and the time of Thais. A lady friend of +mine, generously blessed with this world's goods, asks me have I seen +the hermit. "Hermit?" I say, and she replies, "Didn't you know there +was a hermit? He lives on a mountain, in a cave, and never has +anything to do with the world. He has no books; he contemplates +spiritually." I picture my friend with her large limousine, a rolling +palace full of ladies, drawing up at the door of this hermit's cave. +"He received you?" I ask. "Yes, he was quite polite." "And what was +your impression of him?" "Oh, how he stank!" I answer that this is the +odor of sanctity, and my friend thinks that I am enormously witty; I +have to explain to her that I am not jesting, but that there are +definite physiological phenomena incidental to the ecstatic life. + +#The Book of Mormon# + +Or let us take a trip to Salt Lake City, the headquarters of a still +stranger cult. + +On the morning of the 22nd of September, 1827, the Angel of the Lord +delivered unto Joseph Smith, Jr., an ignorant farmer-youth in a +"backwoods" part of New York State, some plates which had "the +appearance of gold". As we know from the scriptures, it is the habit +of the Angel of the Lord to appear in unexpected places and to make +miraculous revelations to men in humble walks of life; so, as devout +believers, we hold ourselves in readiness. In this case the plates +were written in "reformed Egyptian"; but the Angel thoughtfully +provided Joseph Smith, Jr., with Urim and Thummim, two magic stones +with which to read the records. They proved to deal with a mystery +which has haunted the minds of Bible students for centuries--the fate +of the "lost ten tribes of Israel", who were now revealed to have been +the ancestors of the American Indians. The Angel told Smith to found a +new religion, and gave him prophecies concerning things in general; +so, on the 6th of April, 1830, in the town of Manchester, N.Y., there +was formally launched the "Church of the Latter Day Saints." Smith +turned over to his followers his translation of the miraculous plates, +called "The Book of Mormon"; obviously genuine, for it read precisely +like the books which we already know are the revealed word of God. +But, on chance that this might not be sufficient, we were offered in +the preface two documents, the "Testimony of Three Witnesses", and the +"Further Testimony of Eight Witnesses". The latter being the shorter, +may be quoted: + + Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, + unto whom this work shall come: That Joseph Smith Jr., the + translator of this work, has shewn unto us the plates of + which hath been spoken, which have the appearance of gold; + and as many of the leaves as the said Smith hath translated, + we did handle with our hands; and we also saw the engravings + there-on, all of which has the appearance of ancient work + and of curious workmanship. And this we bear record with + words of soberness, that the said Smith has shewn unto us, + for we have seen and hefted, and know of a surety that the + said Smith hath got the plates of which we have spoken. And + we give our names unto the world, to witness that which we + have seen, and we lie not, God bearing witness of it. + + Christian Whitmer + Jacob Whitmer + Peter Whitmer, Jr. + John Whitmer + Hiram Page + Joseph Smith, Sr. + Hyrum Smith + Saml. H. Smith + +The subsequent career of the Church of the Latter Day Saints bore out +the Angel's prophesies and proved conclusively its divine origin; it +was persecuted as the saints of old were persecuted, and its followers +proceeded to massacre the nearby unbelieving populations, just as the +divinely guided Hebrews had done. Driven from place to place, they +built at Nauvoo, Ill., a beautiful temple, according to plans revealed +in a vision, exactly like Solomon. Finally they settled in Utah, where +they have a magnificent marble tabernacle, and some 300,000 followers. +The United States government, not being entirely Biblical, objected to +their practice of allowing the patriarchs of the tribe to have as many +wives as they could support; the government confiscated the church's +property, and forced it to conceal the practice of polygamy, as is +done by elderly church members in other parts of the country. Recently +the head of the church, who bears the title of "Prophet, Seer and +Revelator", was persuaded to permit an examination of one of its +secret plates, the "Book of Abraham", by egyptologists, who found that +it was ordinary Egyptian hieroglyphics, not "reformed", but containing +prayers to the sun-god. But this will of course make no difference to +the devout followers of Joseph--any more than it has made to devout +Catholics and Episcopalians that German scholars have proven that the +Bible legends and ritual have come from the Babylonians, and that the +four gospels date from the second and third centuries after Christ. + +#Holy Rolling# + +All over America you will find these weird Bible-cults, some of them +pathetic, some of them dangerous, some of them merely grotesque. Thus, +for example, there was John Alexander Dowie, who founded the +"Christian Catholic Church in Zion" and dressed himself up in scarlet +and purple robes with stars on. Through his Zion City Bank and Zion +City Realty Company he became enormously wealthy; he finally announced +himself as "Elijah the Restorer." I remember as a boy how he brought +his gospel to New York, and P.T. Barnum with Tom Thumb and the white +elephant never made such a sensation. The ridicule of the metropolis +overwhelmed the old prophet, and he died and passed on his robes and +his tabernacle and his bank to his son; straightway, according to the +rule of all religions, the followers fell to quarrelling and splitting +up, and suing one another in the law-courts. + +Also there are the "Holy Rollers" and "Holy Jumpers", ghastly sects +which cultivate the religious hysterias, and have spread like a plague +among the women of our lonely prairie farms and desert ranches. The +"Holy Rollers", who call themselves the "Apostolic Church", have a +meeting place here in Pasadena, and any Sunday evening at nine o'clock +you may see the Spirit of the Lord taking possession of the +worshippers, causing moans and shrieks and convulsions; you may see a +woman holding her hands aloft for seventeen minutes by the watch, +making chattering sounds like an ape. This is called "talking in +tongues" and is a sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit. If you come +back at eleven in the evening, you will find the entire congregation, +men and women, prostrate on the floor, or hanging over the benches; +and maybe a child moaning in terror, having a devil cast out. + +You may be interested, perhaps, to know how to throw yourself into +these convulsions. Here is a paper called "Trust", which is "published +Monthly (D.V.) in the interests of Elim Faith Work and Bible Training +School." Elizabeth Sisson writes on "The Pentecostal Baptism", and +tells the story of her experiences. She "camped on the Word of God," +she declares. + + I went up to Calgary in Canada, and the leader of the + mission told me, "You can go down to the mission and stay + there all day. There is plenty of wood, and you can stay + there all night." I went down, and there was plenty of "let + go" in me. I cried, and prayed all I knew, and got + wonderfully loosed.... + + Then the Lord said to me, "Now, no more praying!" God told + me it was mine. What was there left for me to pray about. He + spoiled my praying and I took up praising. I praised God + that He who worked in the Upper Room was working the same in + me. I praised, and I praised, and I praised. The devil said + to me, "That's mechanical." I said, "I'll praise You Lord, + and if You want real praise, You'll have to put the wind in + the sails." + + That's the way I came through. One morning I was just + getting out of bed, "this gibberish, this jargon" as the + enemy likes to call it, began to come. The Lord said, "Let + it babble!" I let. The babble increased, and by night I was + up to my neck. I let. I still let. That's all. Someone else + does the work, and it does not tire you. + +And here is another paper. "Meat in Due Season: published monthly, or +as often as the Lord leads." The editor quotes the Bible, "Call upon +the name of the Lord," and explains that "Call means #call#." The word +appears to have a special meaning to these pentecostal persons--it +means working yourself into a frenzy of agitation; as the editor puts +it, "you must #lay# hold of the #horns# of the #altar#." He goes on to +exhort--the bold face being his: + + Pray as if your very life depended upon it! The first few + minutes seemingly all the powers of hell will contend every + word, the next few, relief in a measure will come, more + liberty in calling. In a very little while you will be #dead + to the room, dead to the chair#, dead to everyone around + you, dead to all and tremendously alive to your desperate + need and emptyness; this conviction will grow as you + increase calling upon Him. It maybe you'll weep, it maybe + you'll perspire, it maybe your clothing will be deranged, it + maybe your throat will get sore. Never for a moment let your + mind rest on the condition of your person. Open your mouth + and God has promised to fill it. Ask persistently until the + very floor seems to sink beneath you and the fountains of + the deep, of your heart let loose. Like David, "pour out + your soul" like one would pour water out of a bucket. I have + seen hundreds get through right at this point. When + #self-thought, reticence, decorum, reserve, propriety and + dignity# had all been thrown to the four winds of heaven. + Self was then obliterated and consciousness of person gone. + Draw near to God and He will draw near to you saith the + scripture, but you must draw near to Him first. + +These enthusiasts derive their practices from the Shakers, a sect +which originated in England, but was driven by persecution to the New +World. The Shakers call themselves the "United Society of True +Believers in Christ's Second Coming," and were founded by Ann Lee, who +variously termed herself the "Female Christ", the "Holy Comforter", +and the "God-anointed Woman". They might be termed the suffragettes of +religion, for they pray always to "Our Father and Mother, which are in +heaven." They were taught the convenient doctrine that their Founder +had "spiritual illumination", so that any evidence of the senses used +against her might deceive. She governed through terror, holding that +by her mental powers she could inflict torment upon any of her +followers. Fortunately she taught absolute celibacy, and so there are +now only about a thousand of her disciples. + +Bible Prophecy + +This far western country swarms with those fanatics who await the +return of Christ, and find in Bible chronology positive evidence that +he is coming on a specified day. Seldom do I give a lecture on +Socialism that some eager old lady does not come up to me and point +out how futile are my hopes, because the Millenium will come before +the Revolution. Several times I have come on an item in the +newspapers, telling of a group of people, sometimes whole villages, +selling their goods and going out into the fields to shout and sing +and pray, expecting the vision of the Lord and His Angels in the +skies. I have in my hand a pamphlet entitled "Shekineh: The Glory of +God in Israel, Facts Mathematically Foretold, of the Soon Coming of +Our Blessed Lord." It is earnestly, yearningly written, in that spirit +of feeble-minded affectionateness which the Bible-sects seem to +encourage: + + Now dear reader you see that these problems tell a wonderful + story which I know are the Eternal Truths of God. Jesus is + soon coming. I believe that from now on we can say, next; + week perhaps our blessed Lord will return. Yet the time may + not end till the close of the A.M. year, which will be March + 20th, 1897. But let us take up the sickle of God, etc. Oh, + my Christian friends, live near the Blessed Christ, and gain + eternal life through Jesus Our Lord! + +In the public library I find another pamphlet, entitled "The Our +Race," which proves that the "lost ten tribes of Israel" are not the +American Indians, but the Irish! And here is a publication of the +"Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society," declaring: + + The great pyramid in Egypt is a witness to all the events of + the ages and of our day. The pyramid's downward passage + under "a Draconis" symbolizes the course of Sin. Its first + ascending passage symbolizes the Jewish Age. Its Grand + Gallery symbolizes the Gospel Age. Its upper step symbolizes + the approaching period of tribulation and anarchy, + "Judgment" upon Christendom. + +It is a Sunday morning, and I sit in the California sunshine revising +this manuscript, when a decorous-looking young man approaches, having +a sack over his shoulder. "From the Bible-students," he says politely, +and hands me a little paper, "The Bible Students' Monthly: an +Independent, Unsectarian Religious Newspaper, Specially devoted to the +Forwarding of the Lay-men's Home Missionary Movement for the Glory of +God and Good of Humanity." The leading article is headed "The Fall of +Babylon: Ancient Babylon a Type--Mystic Babylon the Antitype: Why +Christendom must Suffer--the Final Outcome." A note explains: + + The following article is extracted from Pastor Russell's + posthumous volume entitled "The Finished Mystery," the 7th + in the series of his Studies in the Scriptures and published + subsequent to his death. Pastor Russell held the distinction + of being the most fearless and powerful writer of modern + times on ecclesiastical subjects. In this posthumous volume, + which is called "his last legacy to the Christians on + earth," is found a thorough exposition of every verse in the + entire book of Revelation and also an elucidation of the + obscure prophecy of Ezekiel. The book contains 608 pages, + handsomely bound in embossed cloth. + +Pastor Russell used to publish a two-column sermon in some +hundreds of Sunday newspapers, together with a presentment of his +features--solemn, stiff, white-whiskered, set off with a "choker" and +a black broadcloth coat. There are five million such faces in America, +but if you have an impulse to despair for your country, remember that +it produced Mark Twain and Artemus Ward, as well as Pastor Russell and +the Moody and Sankey hymn-book. I quote one passage from "The Finished +Mystery", in order that the reader may know what it means to "hold the +distinction of being the most fearless and powerful writer of modern +times on ecclesiastical subjects." Pastor Russell does not approve of +the Methodists, and he quotes twelve verses of Revelation, line by +line and phrase by phrase, showing how the evil course and downfall of +the Wesleyan system were divinely foretold. Thus: + + "But that they should be tormented five months."--In + symbolic time, 150 years--5x30=150. (Ezek. 4:6.) Wesley + became the first Methodist in 1728. (Rev. 9: 1.) When the + Methodist denomination, with all the others, was cast off + from favor in 1878 (Rev. 3:14) its powers to torment men by + preaching what Presbyterians describe as "Conscious misery, + eternal in duration" came to an end legally, and to a large + extent actually.--Rev. 9:10. + +P.S. A few months pass, and while this book is going to press, "The +Finished Mystery" is suppressed by the government and several score +"Bible Students" are landed in jail for sedition. + +#Koreshanity# + +Such are the beliefs built on the Bible. But there are other ancient +writings with strange nomenclature and ritual and symbolism, +calculated to impress the unlettered; also our prophets have +imaginations of their own, and can invent nomenclature and ritual and +symbolism never seen in heaven nor on earth before. Thus there is Dr. +Newo Newi New, who called himself "Archbishop of the Newthot Church," +and gathered about him a harem of devoted females in San Francisco, +and was landed in jail for using the mails to defraud. Or there is +"Oahspe, the Cosmic Bible," a work of brand-new revelation with a +brand-new view of the universe and all things therein: + + The reader soon discovers that he must radically revise not + only his ideas of celestial Cosmogony, but the order and + significance of names and titles commonly applied to the + Transcendental Brethren. The great provinces of Etheria are + presided over by chiefs, chosen for their superior + development in wisdom and love. For our solar system to + cross one of these provinces requires about 3,000 years, and + between them are belts of high Etherian light which take + several years to pass over. The passage of each province is + a cycle of earthly history, and the crossings are called + Dawns of Dan. + +And here is Koreshanity, a revelation vouchsafed by the Lord to Dr. +C.R. Teed of Chicago in the year 1889. This new seer took the name of +Koresh, which is Hebrew for Cyrus, "the Shepherd from Joseph, the +Stone of Israel, the Sun-Man; the illuminating center of the Son of +man", and went out on the streets of the city to preach that the earth +is a hollow sphere with the stars inside. The street urchins of the +pork-packing metropolis threw stones at him, and the irreverent +newspapers took up his adventures, with the result that followers +gathered, and now there is a flourishing colony in Florida, with a +dignified magazine called "The Flaming Sword", and a collection of +propaganda volumes: "The Cellular Cosmogony, an Exposition of Koreshan +Universology and the New Geodesy"; "The Immortal Manhood, the Laws and +Processes of its Attainment in the Flesh"; "The Great Red Dragon, by +Lord Chester"; "The Coming of the Shepherd from Joseph, The Standing +of the Great Ensign, by Koresh." The "Religio-science" of this Chicago +revelator is based, first upon some precise measurements of the earth +which prove that its surface is concave; and second upon some +philological discoveries very much resembling puns. Thus the "cross of +Christ" is explained in a sense of the word more common among +horse-breeders than among theologians: + + The highest characteristic of the alchemical law is the + cross of Christ with sensual man. The cross means that the + Lord God, in order to perpetuate his own being, descends + into the race of sensuality. + +And again, when someone asks about meteors: + + The word Heaven means things heaved up, that is, heaved up + from their material basis, the earth; thus, the meteors + which fall to the earth are composed of metallic, mineral, + and geological substances, being materialized or actually + created in the atmosphere by an alchemico-organic process + from zones or belts periodically open, which precipitate + their contents in the form or shape of meteors." + +And perhaps I ought also to quote the "Indicia of Human Progress", by +"Berthaldine, Matrona". I don't know what a "Matrona" is--unless it is +a female matron. This female matron tells me that now is the "Time of +Restitution", and explains that "the prolification of the human race +has reached a fruition of the adultery of the truth and good of the +Lord with the fallacies and evils of the mortal hells" ...We have +come, it seems, to the "age of Pisces", which is "one of the greatest +radical prolification"; and what we now need is the "power of +polarization", so that we may join the "White Horse Army of the Most +High", which is the organization of the "Aquarian age", proclaimed by +Koresh on January 15th, 1891. + +#Mazdaznan# + +And here is another and even more startling revelation from Chicago, +given to a seer by the name of Dr. Otoman Prince of Adusht Ha'nish, +prophet of the Sun God, Prince of Peace, Manthra Magi of Temple El +Katman, Kalantar of Zoroastrian Breathing and Envoy of Mazdaznan +living, Viceroy-Elect and International Head of Master-Thot. If you +had happened to live near the town of Mendota, Illinois, and had known +the German grocer-boy named Otto Hanisch, you might at first have +trouble in recognizing him through this transmogrification. I have +traced his career in the files of the Chicago newspapers, and find him +herding sheep, setting type, preaching prestidigitation, mesmerism, +and fake spiritualism, joining the Mormon Church, then the "Christian +Catholic Church in Zion", and then the cult of Brighouse, who claimed +to be Christ returned. + +Finally he sets himself up in Chicago as a Persian Magus, teaching +Yogi breathing exercises and occult sex-lore to the elegant society +ladies of the pork-packing metropolis. The Sun God, worshipped for two +score centuries in India, Egypt, Greece and Rome, has a new shrine on +Lake Park Avenue, and the prophet gives tea-parties at which his +disciples are fed on lilac-blossoms--"the white and pinkish for males, +the blue-tinted for females". He wears a long flowing robe of pale +grey cashmere, faced with white, and flexible white kid shoes, and he +sells his lady adorers a book called "Inner Studies", price five +dollars per volume, with information on such subjects as: + + The Immaculate Conception and its Repetition; The Secrets of + Lovers Unveiled; Our Ideals and Soul Mates; Magnetic + Attraction and Electric Mating. + +A Grand Jury intervenes, and the Prophet goes to jail for six months; +but that does not harm his cult, which now has a temple in Chicago, +presided over by a lady called Kalantress and Evangelist; also a +"Northern Stronghold" in Montreal, an "Embassy" in London, an +"International Aryana" in Switzerland, and "Centers" all over America. +At the moment of going to press, the prophet himself is in flight, +pursued by a warrant charging him with improper conduct with a number +of young boys in a Los Angeles hotel. + +I have dipped into Ha'nish's revelations, which are a farrago of every +kind of ancient mysticism--paper and binding from the Bible, +illustrations from the Egyptian, names from the Zoroastrian, health +rules from the Hindoos, laws from the Confucians--price ten dollars +per volume. Would you like to discover your seventeen senses, to +develop them according to the Ga-Llama principle, and to share the +"expansion of the magnetic circles"? Here is the way to do it: + + Inhale through nostrils for four seconds, and upon one + exhalation, speak slowly: + + Open, O thou world-sustaining Sun, the entrance unto Truth + hidden by the vase of dazzling light. + + Again inhale for four seconds, and breathe out the following + sentence upon one exhalation as before: + + Soften the radiation of Thy Illuminating Splendor, that I + may behold Thy True Being. + +I have a clipping from a Los Angeles newspaper telling of the +prophet's arriving there. He takes the front page with the captivating +headline: "Women Didn't Think Till They Put On Corsets". The interview +tells about his mysteriousness, his aloofness, his bird-like-diet, and +his personal beauty. "Despite his seventy-three years, Ha'nish +evidences no sign of age. His keen blue eyes showed no sign of +wavering. There were no wrinkles on his face, and his walk was that of +a man of forty." The humor of this becomes apparent when we mention +that at Ha'nish's trial, three or four years ago, he was proven to be +thirty-five years old! + +Being thus warned as to the accuracy of American journalism, we shall +not be taken in by the repeated statements that the Mazdaznan prophet +is a millionaire. But there is no doubt that he is wealthy; and as all +Americans wish to be wealthy, I will quote his formula of prosperity, +his method of accomplishing what might be called the Individual +Revolution: + + When hungry and you do not know where to get your next piece + of bread, do not despair. Thy Father, all-loving, has + provided, you with everything that will meet all cases of + emergency. + + Place your teeth tightly together, with tongue pressing + against the lower teeth and lips parted. Breathe in, close + lips immediately, exhaling through the nostrils. Breathe + again; if saliva forms in your mouth, hold your breath so + you can swallow it first before you exhale. You thus take + out of the air the metal-substance contained therein; you + can even taste the iron which you convert into substance + required for making the blood. Should you feel that, + although you have sufficient iron in the blood, there is a + lack of copper and zinc and silver, place upper teeth over + lower, keep lower lip tightly to lower teeth, now breathe + and you can even taste the metals named. Then should you + feel you need more gold element for your brain functions, + place your back teeth together just as if you were to grind + the back teeth, taking short breaths only. You will then + learn to know that there is gold and silver all around us. + That our bodies are filled with quite a quantity of gold. + +#Black Magic# + +What all this means is that we have a continent, with a hundred +million half-educated people, materially prosperous, but spiritually +starving; so any man who possesses personality, who looks in any way +strange and impressive, or has hunted up old books in a library, and +can pronounce mysterious words in a thrilling voice--such a man can +find followers. Anybody can do it with any doctrine, from anywhere, +Persia or Patagonia, Pekin or Pompei. I would be willing to wager that +if I cared to come out and announce that I had had a visit from _God_ +last night, and to devote such literary and emotional power as I +possess to communicating a new revelation, I could have a temple, a +university, and a million dollars within five years at the outside. +And if at the end of five years I were to announce that I had played a +joke on the world, some one of my followers would convince the +faithful that I had been an agent of God without knowing it, and that +the leadership had now been turned over to him. + +I would not be understood as believing that all our cults are +undiluted fakery, for that would be doing injustice to some earnest +people. There are, in this country, many followers of the Persian +reformer, Abbas Effendi, who call themselves Babists, and who have +what I am inclined to think is the purest and most dignified religion +in existence. There was a man named Jacob Beilhardt, who founded a +cult in Illinois with the painful name of "Spirit Fruit Colony", who +nevertheless was a man of spiritual insight, a true mystic; he was +honest, and so he failed, and died of a broken heart. Also there are +the Christian Scientists and the Theosophists, so exasperating that +one would like to throw them onto the rubbish-heap, who yet compel us +to sift over their mountains of chaff for the grains of truth which +will bear fruit in future. + +While we western races have been exploring the natural world and +perfecting the mechanical arts, the Hindoo students have been +exploring the subconscious and its strange powers. What Myers and +Lodge and Janet and Charcot and Freud and Jung are telling us today +they had hints of a long time ago; and doubtless they have hints of +other things, upon which our scientists have not yet come. I have +friends, perfectly sane and competent people, who tell me that they +can see auras, and use this ability as a means of judging character. +Shall I say that there are no auras, simply because I do not happen to +have this gift of seeing them? In the same way, having read Gurney's +"Phantasms of the Living," I am not ready to ridicule the claim of the +Yogi adepts, that they are able to project some kind of astral body, +and to communicate with one another from distant places. But granting +such occult powers in a world of economic strife, what follows? Simply +new floods of charlatanism, elaborate and complicated systems of +ritual and metaphysic for the deluding and plundering of the +credulous. + +I have seen the thing working itself out in one case known to me. A +young man had a gift of mental healing; I know, because I saw it work; +but it did not always work, and that was annoying. He was penniless +and had a taste for power, and to eke out his erratic endowment he got +himself books of Eastern lore, and day by day as I watched him I could +see him becoming more and more impressive, mysterious and forbidding. +Today he is a full-fledged wonder-worker, with the language of a dozen +mystic cults at his tongue's end, and the reverent regard of many +wealthy ladies. I have never tried to break through his guard, but I +feel certain that he is a deliberate charlatan. + +This is an economic process, automatic and irresistible. Just as the +manufacturer of honest foods is driven out by the adulterator, so the +worker of miracles drives out the sincere investigator. As a result we +have here in America a plague of Eastern cults, with "swamis" using +soft yellow robes and soft brown eyes to win the souls of idle society +ladies. These teachers of ancient Hindoo lore despise us as a race of +barbarians; but they stay--whether because of love of man or woman, I +do not pretend to say. + +There are the Theosophists of many brands, with schools and institutes +and temples and colonies, and a doctrine as complex and detailed and +fantastic as that of the Roman Catholics. I have already referred to +the writings of Madame Blavatsky, a runaway Russian army officer's +daughter, whose career reads like a tale out of the Arabian Nights. +And there is Annie Besant, who was once an ardent worker in the +Social-democratic Federation; H.M. Hyndman tells of his dismay when +she went to India and walked in a procession between two white bulls! +Here in California is Madame Tingley, with a colony and a host of +followers in a minature paradise. Men work at money-lending or +manufacturing sporting-goods, and when they get old and tired they +make the thrilling discovery that they have souls; the theosophists +cultivate these souls and they leave their money to the soul-cause, +and there are lawsuits and exposes in the newspapers. For, you see, +there is ferocious rivalry in the game of cultivating millionaire +souls; there are slanders and feuds, just as in soulless affairs. +"Don't have anything to do with Madame Tingley," whispers a +Theosophist lady to my Wife; and when my wife in all innocence +inquires, "Why not?" the awe-stricken answer comes, "She practices +black magic!" + +Let me add that I do not say that she practices black magic. I do not +believe that she #could# practice it, even if she wanted to--I do not +believe in black magic. My purpose is merely to show how theosophists +quarrel: going back to the days of Anu and Baal and the bronze Image +of the Babylonian fire-god: + + Let them die, but let me live! + Let them be put under a ban, but let me prosper! + Let them perish, but let me increase! + Let them become weak, but let me wax strong! + +#Mental Malpractice# + +This is the other side of the fair shield of religious faith. Why, if +there be a power which loves and can be persuaded to aid us, may there +not also be a power which hates, and can be persuaded to destroy? No +religion has ever been able to answer this, and therefore none has +ever been able to escape from devil-terrors. Even Jesus was pursued by +Satan, and the Holy Catholic Church has its ceremonies for the +exorcising of demons, and a most frightful formula for cursing. And +here are our friends the Christian Scientists, proclaiming the +unreality of all evil, their ability to banish disease by convincing +themselves that they are perfect in God--yet tormented by a squalid +phobia called "Mental Malpractice", or "Malicious Animal Magnetism". + +Christian Science is the most characteristic of American religious +contributions. Just as Billy Sunday is the price we pay for failing to +educate our base-ball players, so Mary Baker Glover Patterson Eddy is +the price we pay for failing to educate our farmer's daughters. + +That she had a power to cure disease I do not doubt, because I have a +little of it myself. At first my opinion was that her "Science" made +its way by curing the imaginary ailments of the idle rich. If a person +has nothing to do but think that he is sick, you can work easy +miracles by persuading him to think that he is well; and if he has +nothing to do but think that he is well, he will help you to build +marble churches and maintain propaganda societies. But recently I have +experimented with mental healing--enough to satisfy myself that the +subconscious mind which controls our physical functions can be +powerfully influenced by the will. + +I told the story of some of these experiments in Hearst's Magazine for +April, 1914. Suffice it here to say that if you will lay your hands +upon a sick person, forming a vivid mental picture of the bodily +changes you desire, and concentrating the power of your will upon +them, you may be surprised by the results, especially if you possess +anything in the way of psychic gifts. You do not have to adopt any +theories, you do not have to do it in the name of any divinity, +ancient or modern; the only bearing of such ideas is that they serve +to persuade people to make the experiment, and to make it with +persistence and intensity. So it has come about that "miracles" of +healing are associated with "faith"; and so it comes about that +scientists are apt to flout the subject. But read of the work of Janet +and Charcot and their followers at the Salpetriere; they have proven +that all kinds of seeming-organic ailments may be entirely hysterical +in nature, and may be cured by the simplest form of suggestion. +Understanding this, you may find it more easy to credit the fact that +cripples do sometimes throw away their crutches in the grotto of +Lourdes. For my part, I can believe that Jesus performed all the +miracles of healing attributed to him--including the raising up of +people pronounced to be dead by the ignorance of that time. I am +convinced that in the new science of psycho-analysis we have a +universe as vast as the universe of the atom or of the stars. + +The Christian Scientists have got hold of this power; they have mixed +it up with metaphysic and divinity, and built some four or five +hundred churches, and printed the Mother Church alone knows how many +million pamphlets and books. I once invested three of my hard-earned +dollars for a copy of the Eddy Bible, and let myself be stunned and +blinded by the flapping of metaphysical wings. It is unadulterated +moonshine--as the Platonist and Berkeleyan and Hegelian and other +orthodox collegiate metaphysical magi can prove to you in one minute. +What interests me about the phenomenon is not the slinging of +tremendous words, but the strictly Yankee use which is made of them. +There is no nonsense about saving your soul in Christian Science; what +it is for is to remove your wen, to nail down your floating kidney, +and to enable you to hustle and make money. We saw in our politics the +growth of a Party of the Full Dinner-Pail; contemporaneous therewith, +and corresponding thereto, we see in our religious life the +development of a Church of the Full Pocket-Book. + +It is a strict religion--strictly cash. The heads of the cult do not +issue cheap editions of "Science and Health, With Key to the +Scriptures", to relieve the suffering of the proletariat; no--the work +is copyrighted, in all its varying and contradictory editions, and the +price is from three to seven-fifty, according to binding. Treatments +cost from three dollars to ten, whether you come and get them or take +them over the telephone. And we have no nonsense about charity, we +don't worry about the poor who fester in our city slums; because +poverty is a product of Mortal Mind, and we offer to all men a way to +get rich right off the bat. You may; come to our marble churches and +hear people testify how through the power of Divine Mind they were +enabled to anticipate a rise in the stock-market. If you don't avail +yourself of the opportunity, the fault is yours, and yours also the +punishment. + +As to the management of the Church, the Roman Catholic hierarchy is a +Bolshevik democracy in comparison. The Church is controlled by an +absolutely irresponsible self-perpetuating body of five men, who alone +dictate its policy. I have in my hand a letter from a Christian +Science healer who was listed as an "authorized practitioner", and who +withdrew from the Church because of its attitude on public questions. +He sends me a copy of his correspondence with the editors of the +"Christian Science Monitor", containing a detailed analysis of the +position of that paper on such issues as the Ballinger land-frauds. He +writes: + + I am thoroughly convinced now that the policy of the Church + is consciously plutocratic. The only recommendation I have + heard of the latest appointee to the Board of Directors is + that he is one of the richest men in the movement. + +After the Titanic disaster, Senator La Follette brought in a carefully +drawn bill to compel steamship companies to provide life-boats and +trained crews. The "Christian Science Monitor" opposed this bill; and +when my correspondent cited the fact, he brought out a quaint bit of +metaphysical logic, as follows: + + One would prefer to travel on a vessel without a single + boat, rather than on some other vessels which were loaded + down with life-boats, where the government of Mind was not + understood! + +#Science and Wealth# + +The truth is that the brand of Mammon was on our Yankee religion from +the day of its birth. In the first edition of her new Bible "Mother" +Eddy dropped the hint to her readers: "Men of business have said this +science was of great advantage from a secular point of view." And in +her advertisements she threw aside all pretense, declaring that her +work "Affords an opportunity to acquire a profession by which one can +accumulate a fortune." When her pupils did accumulate, she boasted of +their success; nor did she neglect her own accumulating. + +It has been a dozen years since I looked into this cult; in order to +be sure that it has not been purified in the interim, I proceed to a +street corner in my home city, where is a stand with a sign: +"Christian Science Literature." I take four sample copies of a +magazine, the "Christian Science Sentinel", published by the Mother +Church in Boston, and turn to the "Testimonials of Healing". In the +issue of August 11, 1917, Mary C. Richards of St. Margarets-on-Thames, +England, testifies: "Through a number of circumstances unnecessary to +relate, but proving conclusively that the result came not from man but +from God, employment was found." In the issue of December 2, 1916, +Frances Tuttle of Jersey City, N.J., testifies how her sister was +successfully treated for unemployment by a scientist practitioner. +"Every condition was beautifully met." In the same issue Fred D. +Miller of Los Angeles, Cal., testifies: "Soon after this wonderful +truth came to me, Divine Love led me to a new position with a +responsible firm. The work was new to me, but I have given entire +satisfaction, and my salary has been advanced twice in less than a +year." In the issue of January 27, 1917, Eliza Fryant of Agricola, +Miss., testifies how she cured her little dog of snake-bite and +removed two painful corns from her own foot. In the issue of August 4, +1917, Marcia E. Gaier, of Everett, Wash., testifies how it suddenly +occurred to her that because God is All, she would drop her planning +and outlining in regard to real estate properties, "upon which for +nine months all available material methods were tried to no effect." +The result was a triumph of "Principle". + + While working in the yard one morning and gratefully + communing with God, the only power, I suddenly felt that I + should stop working and prepare for visitors on their way to + look at the property. I obeyed this very distinct command, + and in about an hour I greeted two people who had searched + almost the entire city for just what we had to offer. They + had been directed to our place by what to material sense + would seem an accident, but we know it was the divine law of + harmony in its universal operation. + +After this no one will wonder that John M. Tutt, in a Christian +Science lecture at Kansas City, Mo., should proclaim: + + My friends, do you know that since the world began Christian + Science is the only system which has intelligently related + religion to business? Christian Science shows that since all + ideas belong to Mind, God, therefore all real business + belongs to Him. + +As I said, these people have the new-old power of mental healing. They +blunder along with it blindly, absurdly, sometimes with tragic +consequences; but meantime the rank and file of the pill-doctors know +nothing about this power, and regard it with contempt mingled with +fear; so of course the hosts of sufferers whom the pill-doctors cannot +help flock to the healers of the "Church of Christ, Scientist". +According to the custom of those who are healed by "faith", they +swallow line, hook, and sinker, creed, ritual, metaphysic and +divinity. So we see in twentieth-century America precisely what we saw +in B.C. twentieth-century Assyria--a host of worshippers; giving their +worldly goods without stint, and a priesthood, made partly of fanatics +and partly of charlatans, conducting a vast enterprise of graft, and +harvesting that thing desired of all men, power over the lives and +destinies of others. + +And of course among themselves they quarrel; they murder one another's +Mortal Minds, they drive one another out, they snarl over the spoils +like a pack of hungry animals. Listen to the Mother, denouncing one of +her students--a perfectly amiable and harmless youth whose only +offense was that he had gone his own way and was healing the sick for +the benefit of his own pocket-book: + + Behold! thou criminal mental marauder, that would blot out + the sunshine of earth, that would sever friends, destroy + virtue, put out Truth, and murder in secret the innocent, + befouling thy track with the trophies of thy guilt--I say, + Behold the "cloud" no bigger than a man's hand already + rising on the horizon of Truth, to pour down upon thy guilty + head the hailstones of doom. + +And again: + + The Nero of today, regaling himself through a mental method + with the torture of individuals, is repeating history, and + will fall upon his own sword, and it shall pierce him + through. Let him remember this when, in the dark recesses of + thought, he is robbing, committing adultery and killing. + When he is attempting to turn friend away from friend, + ruthlessly stabbing the quivering heart; when he is clipping + the thread of life and giving to the grave youth and its + rainbow hues; when he is turning back the reviving sufferer + to his bed of pain, clouding his first morning after years + of night; and the Nemesis of that hour shall point to the + tyrant's fate, who falls at length upon the sword of + justice. + +#New Nonsense# + +In a certain city of America is a large building given up entirely to +the whims of pretty ladies. Its floors are not floors but +"Promenades", and have walls of glass, behind which, as you stroll, +you see bonnets from Paris and opera cloaks from London, furs from +Alaska and blankets from Arizona, diamonds from South Africa and beads +from the Philippines, grapes from Spain and cherries from Japan, +fortune-tellers from Arabia and dancing-masters from Petrograd and +"naturopaths" from Vienna. There are seventy-three shops, by actual +count, containing everything that could be imagined or desired by a +pretty lady, whether for her body, or for that vague stream of emotion +she calls her "soul". One of the seventy-three shops is a +"Metaphysical Library", having broad windows, and walls in pastel +tints, and pretty vases with pink flowers, and pretty gray wicker +chairs in which the reader will please to be seated, while we probe +the mysteries of an activity widely spread throughout America, called +"New Thought." + +We begin with a shelf of magazines having mystical titles: Azoth; +Master Mind; Aletheian; Words of Power; Qabalah; Comforter; Adept; +Nautilus; True Word; Astrological Bulletin; Unity; Uplift; Now. And +then come shelves of pretty pamphlets, alluring to the eye and the +purse; also shelves of imposing-looking volumes containing the lore +and magic of a score of races and two score of centuries--together +with the very newest manifestations of Yankee hustle and graft. + +As in the case of Christian Science, these New Thoughters have a +fundamental truth, which I would by no means wish to depreciate. It is +a fact that the mysterious Source of our being is infinite, and that +we are only at the beginning of our thinking about it. It is a fact +that by appeal to it we can perform seeming miracles of mental and +moral regeneration; we can stimulate the flow of nervous energy and of +the blood, thus furthering the processes of bodily healing. But the +fact that God is Infinite and Omnipotent does not bar the fact that He +has certain ways of working, which He does not vary; and that it is +our business to explore and understand these ways, instead of setting +our fancies to work imagining other ways more agreeable to our +sentimentality. + +Thus, for example, if we want bread, it is God's decree that we shall +plant wheat and harvest it, and grind and bake and distribute it. +Under conditions prevailing at the moment, it appears to be His decree +that we shall store the wheat in elevators, and ship it in freight +cars, and buy it through a grain exchange, with capital borrowed from +a national bank; in other words, that our daily bread shall be the +plaything of exploiters and speculators, until such a time as we have +the intelligence to form an effective political party and establish +Industrial Democracy. But when you come to study the ways of God in +the literature of the New Thought, do you find anything about the +Millers' Trust and the Bakers' Trust and how to expropriate these +agencies of starvation? You do not! + +What you find is Bootstrap-lifting; you find gentlemen and lady +practitioners shutting their eyes and lifting their hands and +pronouncing Incantations in awe-inspiring voices--or in Capital +Letters and LARGE TYPE: "God is infinite, God is All-Loving, #GOD WILL +PROVIDE.# Bread is coming to you! #Bread is coming to you!! BREAD IS +COMING TO YOU!!!" + +You think this is exaggeration? If so, it is because you have +never entered the building of the pretty ladies, and sat in the +gray wicker chairs of the metaphysical library. One of the highest +high-priestesses of the cults of New Nonsense is a lady named +Elizabeth Towne, editor of "The Nautilus"; and Priestess Elizabeth +tells you: + + I believe the idea that money wants you will help you to the + right mental condition. Be a pot of honey and let it come. + +I look over this Priestess' magazine, and find it full of testimonials +and advertisements for the conjuring of prosperity. "Are you in the +success sphere?" asks one exhorter; the next tells you "How to enter +the silence. How to manifest what you desire. The secret of +advancement." Another tells: "How a Failure at Sixty Won Sudden +Success; From Poverty to $40,000 a year--a Lesson for Old and Young +Alike." The lesson, it appears, is to pay $3.00 for a book called +"Power of Will." And here is another book: + + Master Key: Which can unlock the Secret Chamber of Success, + can throw wide the doors which seem to bar men from the + Treasure House of Nature, and bids those enter and partake + who are Wise enough to Understand and broad enough to Weigh + the Evidence, firm enough to Follow their Own Judgment and + Strong enough to Make the Sacrifice Exacted. + +#"Dollars Want Me"# + +I turn to the shelves of pamphlets. Here is a pretty one called "All +Sufficiency in All Things," published by the "Unity School of +Christianity", in Kansas City; it explains that God is God, not merely +of the Soul, but also of the Kansas City stockyards. + + This divine Substance is ever abiding within us, and stands + ready to manifest itself in whatever form you and I need or + wish, just as it did in Elisha's time. It is the same + yesterday, today and forever. Abundant Supply by the + manifestation of the Father within us, from within outward, + is as much a legitimate outcome of the Christ life or + spiritual understanding as is bodily healing.... "Know that + I am God--all of God, Good, all of Good. I am Life. I am + Health. I am Supply. I am the Substance." + +And here is W.W. Atkinson of Chicago, author of a work called "Mind +Power". Would you like to be an Impressive Personality? Mr. Atkinson +will tell you exactly how to do it; he will give you the secret of the +Magnetic Handclasp, of the Intense, Straight-in-the-eye Look; he will +tell you what to say, he will write out for you Incantations which you +may pronounce to yourself, to convince yourself that you have #Power#, +that the INDWELLING PRESENCE with all its #MIGHT# is yours. Mr. +Atkinson rebukes mildly the tendency of some of his fellow +Bootstrap-lifters to employ these arts for money-making; but you +notice that his magazine, "Advanced Thought", does not decline the +advertisements of such too-practical practitioners. + +Next comes a gentleman with the musical name of Wallace Wattles, who +tells in one pamphlet "How to Be a Genius", and in another pamphlet +"How to Get What you Want". The thing for you to do is-- + + Saturate your mentality through and through with the + knowledge that YOU CAN DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.... Look upon + the peanut-stand merely as the beginning of the department + store, and make it grow; you can. + +And Mr. Wattles wattles on, in an ecstasy of acquisitiveness: + + Hold this consciousness and say with deep, earnest feeling: + I CAN succeed! All that is possible to any one is possible + to me. I AM success. I do succeed, for I am full of the + Power of Success. + +Imagine, if you please, a poor devil chained in the treadmill of the +capitalist system--a "soda-jerker", a "counter-jumper", a book-keeper +for the Steel Trust. His chances of rising in life are one in ten +thousand; but he comes to the Metaphysical Library, and pays the price +of his dinner for a pamphlet by Henry Harrison Brown, who was first a +Unitarian clergyman, and then an extra-high Bootstrap-lifter in San +Francisco, an Honorary Vice-President of the International New +Nonsense Alliance. Mr. Brown will tell our soda-jerker or +counter-jumper exactly how to elevate himself by mental machinery. All +calculations of probabilities are delusions of the senses; if you have +faith, you can move, not merely mountains, but Riker-Hegeman's, +Macy's, or the Steel Trust. "How to Promote Yourself" is the title of +one of Mr. Brown's pamphlets, in which he explains that-- + + Your wants are impressed on the Divine Mind only by your + faith. A doubt cuts the connection. + +A second pamphlet, which we are told is now in its thirtieth edition, +bears the thrilling title of "#Dollars Want Me#!" In it Mr. Brown lays +claim to being a pioneer: + + I believe that this little monograph is the first utterance + of the thought that each individual has the ability so to + radiate his mental forces that he can cause the Dollars to + feel him, love him, seek him, and thus draw at will all + things needed for his unfoldment from the universal supply. + +"What are Dollars?" asks our author; and answers: + + Dollars are manifestations of the One Infinite Substance as + you are, but, unlike you, they are not Self-Conscious. They + have no power till you give them power. Make them feel this + through your thought-vibrations as you feel the importance + of your work. They will then come to you to be used. + +"What is Poverty?" Mr. Brown asks, and answers himself: + + Poverty is a mental condition. It can be cured only by the + Affirmation of Power to cure: I am a part of the One, and, + in the One, I possess all! Affirm this and patiently wait + for the manifestation. You have sown the thought seed. + +And our author goes on to hand out packages of these +thought-seeds--"Affirmations" as they are called, in the jargon of the +New Conjuring: + + I desire a deep consciousness of financial freedom. + I desire that the flow of prosperity become equalized. + I desire a greater consciousness of my power to attract the dollar. + The Indwelling Power cares for my purse. + I own whatever I desire. + + I can afford to use dollars for my happiness. + I always have a good bank account. I actually see it. + My one idea of the law is to use, use, USE. + +#Spiritual Financiering# + +If the symbolism of the Episcopal Church is of the palace, and that of +the non-conformist sects of the counting-house, that of the +International New Nonsense Alliance is of Wall Street and the +"ticker". "What is your rating in the Spiritual Bradstreet?" asks +William Morris Nichols in the publication of the "'Now' Folk", San +Francisco: + + Is it low or high? Is your credit with the Bank of the + Universe good or poor? If you draw a spiritual draft are you + sure of its being honored? + + If you can answer that last question affirmatively, you are + on the road to become a Master in Spiritual Financiering. + + Have you an account with the First (and only) Bank of + Spirit? If not, then you should at once open one therewith. + For no one can afford to keep less than a large deposit of + spiritual funds with that Bank. + +And how do you proceed to open your account? It is very simple: + + Intend the mind in the direction indicated by your desire. + Seek for the Light and Guidance by which you may open up the + way for your Spiritual Substance, which governs material + supply, to reach you and make you as rich as you ought to + be, in freedom and happiness. All this you can, and when in + earnest, will do. + +I turn over the advertisements of this publication of the "'Now' +Folk". One offers "The Business Side of New Thought." Another offers +"The Books Without an If", with your money back IF you are not +satisfied! + +Another offers land in Bolivia for two dollars an acre. Another quotes +Shakespeare: "Tis the mind that makes the body rich." Another offers +two copies of the "Phrenological Era" for ten cents. + +There is apparently no delusion of any age or clime which cannot find +dupes among the readers of this New Nonsense. One notice commands: + + Stop! A Revelation! A Book has been written entitled + "Strands of Gold" or "from Darkness into Light!" + +Another announces: + + The Most Wonderful Book of the Ages: The Acquarian Gospel of + Jesus the Christ, Transcribed from the Book of God's + Remembrance, the Akashic Records. + +And here is an advertisement published in Mr. Atkinson's paper: + + Numerology: the Universal Adjuster! Do you know: What you + appear to be to others? What you really are? What you want + to be? What would overcome your present and future + difficulties? Write to x, Philosopher. You will receive full + particulars of his personal work which is dedicated to your + service. No problem is too big or too small for Numerology. + Understanding awaits you. + +And looking in the body of the magazine, you find this Philosopher +imparting some of this Understanding. Would you like, for example, to +understand why America entered the War? Nothing easier. The vowels of +the Words United States of America are uieaeoaeia, which are numbered +2951561591, which added make 45, or 4 plus 5 equals 9. You might not +at first see what that has to do with the War--until the Philosopher +points out that "9 is the number of completion, indicating the end of +a cosmic cycle." That, of course, explains everything. + +And here is a work on what you perhaps thought to be a dead science, +Astrology. It is called "Lucky Hours for Everybody: A True System of +Planetary Hours--by Prof. John B. Early. Price One Dollar." It teaches +you things like this: + + Saturn's negative hours are especially good for all matters + relating to gold-mining.... The Sun negative rules the + emerald, the musical note D sharp, and the number four. The + lunar hours are a good time to deal in public commodities, + and to hire servants of both sexes.... + + A recent lady visitor informed me that she had made several + vain attempts to transact important business in the hours + ruled by Jupiter, usually held to be fortunate, while she + was nearly always fortunate in what she began in the hours + ruled by Saturn. Upon investigation I found her name was + ruled by the Sun negative, and that she had Capricorn with + Saturn therein as her ascendant at birth, which explains. + +And finally, here is a London "scientist", reported in the "Weekly +Unity" of Kansas City, who proves his mental power over two-horse +power oil engines which fail to act. "Going a little apart, he came +back in a few minutes and said: 'The engine is all right now and will +work satisfactorily.' and without any further difficulty it did." We +are told how Dr. Rawson gave a demonstration of his method to a +newspaper reporter the other day. Fixing his gaze as though looking +into space, he apparently became absorbed in deep contemplation and +said aloud: "There is no danger; man is surrounded by divine love; +there is no matter; all is spirit and manifestation of spirit." + +You might at first find difficulty in believing what can be +accomplished by "demonstrations" such as this; not merely are +two-horse power oil engines made to work, but the whole gigantic +machine of Prussian militarism is prevented from working. You may +recall how Arthur Machen's magazine story of the Angels of Mons was +taken up and made into a Catholic legend over-night; now here is a +New-Nonsense legend, complete and perfect, going the rounds of our +Nonsense magazines: + + London, Dec. 14.--Shell-proof and bullet-proof soldiers have + been discovered on the European battle-fronts. Heroes with + "charmed lives" are being made every day, according to + Frederick L. Rawson, a London scientist, who insists he has + found the miraculous way by which they are developed. He + calls it "audible treatment". "Practical utilization of the + powers of God by right thinking," is the agency through + which Dr. Rawson declares he can so treat a man that he will + not be harmed when hundreds of men are being shot dead + beside him. This amazing treatment includes a new type of + prayer. It is being administered to hundreds of men audibly, + and to hundreds more by letter. Nothing since the war began + has aroused so much talk of modern miracles as have many of + the statements of Dr. Rawson.... + + At the taking of a wood there were five hundred yards of "No + Man's Land" to be crossed. Our troops could not get across. + Then Capt.----, who practices this method of prayer, treated + them for an hour before they started, and not a man was + knocked out. He was the only officer left out of eighty in + his brigade. He simply held onto the fact that man is + spiritual and perfect and could not be touched. A bullet + fired from a revolver only five yards away hit him over the + chest, tore his shirt and went out at the shoulder. But it + never penetrated his chest. He was frequently in a hail of + shells and bullets which did not touch him. + +#The Graft of Grace# + +All this is grotesque; but it is what happens to religions in a world +of commercial competition. It happens not merely to Christian Science +and New Thought religions, Mazdaznan and Zionist, Holy Roller and +Mormon religions, but to Catholic and Episcopalian, Presbyterian and +Methodist and Baptist religions. For you see, when you are with the +wolves you must howl with them; when you are competing with fakirs you +must fake. The ordinary Christian will read the claims of the New +Thought fakers with contempt; but have I not shown the Catholic Church +publishing long lists of money-miracles? Have I not shown the Church +of Good Society, our exclusive and aristocratic Protestant Episcopal +communion, pretending to call rain and to banish pestilence, to +protect crops and win wars and heal those who are "sick in +estate"--that is, who are in business trouble? + +The reader will say that I am a cynic, despising my fellows; but that +is not so. I am an economic scientist, analyzing the forces which +operate in human societies. I blame the prophets and priests and +healers for their fall from idealism; but I blame still more the +competitive wage-system, which presents them with the alternative to +swindle or to starve. + +For, you see, the prophet has to have food. He has frequently got +along with almost none, and with only a rag for clothing; in Palestine +and India, where the climate is warm, a sincere faith has been +possible for short periods. But the modern prophet who expects to +influence the minds of men has to have books and newspapers; he will +find a telephone and a typewriter and postage-stamps hardly to be +dispensed with, also in Europe and America some sort of a roof over +his meeting place. So the prophet is caught, like all the rest of us, +in the net of the speculator and the landlord. He has to get money, +and in order to get it he has to impress those who already have +it--people whose minds and souls have been deformed by the system of +parasitism and exploitation. + +So the prophet becomes a charlatan; or, if he refuses, he becomes a +martyr, and founds a church which becomes a church of charlatans. I +care not how sincere, how passionately proletarian a religious prophet +may be, that is the fate which sooner or later befalls him in a +competitive society--to be the founder of an organization of fools, +conducted by knaves, for the benefit of wolves. That fate befell +Buddha and Jesus, it befell Ignatius Loyola and Francis of Assisi, +John Fox and John Calvin and John Wesley. + +A friend of mine who has made a study of "Spiritualism" describes to +me the conditions in that field. The mediums are people, mostly women, +with a peculiar gift; whether we believe in the survival of +personality, or whether we call it telepathy, does not alter the fact +that they have a rare and special sensitiveness, a new faculty which +science must investigate. They come, poor people mostly--for the +well-to-do will seldom give their time to exacting and wearisome +experiments. They come, wearing frayed and thin clothing, shivering +with cold, obviously undernourished; and their survival depends upon +their producing "phenomena"--which phenomena are capricious, and will +not come at call. So, what more natural than that mediums should +resort to faking? That the whole field should be reeking with fraud, +and science should be held back from understanding an extraordinary +power of the subconscious mind? + +Ever since we came to Pasadena, various ladies have been telling us +about the wondrous powers of a mulatto-woman, a manicurist at the +city's most fashionable hotel. The other day, out of curiosity, my +wife and I went; the moment the "medium" opened her mouth my wife +recognized her as the person who has been trying for several months to +get me on the telephone to tell me how the spirit of Jack London is +seeking to communicate with me! The #seance# was a public one, a +gathering composed, half of wealthy and cultured society-women, and +half of confederates, people with the dialect and manners of a +vaudeville troupe. A megaphone was set in the middle of the floor, the +room was made dark, a couple of hymns were sung, and then the spirit +of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes spoke through the megaphone with a Bowery +accent, and gave communications from relatives and friends of the +various confederates. "Jesus is with us", said Dr. Holmes. "The spirit +of Jesus bids you to study spiritualism." And then came the voice of a +child: "Mamma! Mamma!" "It is little Georgie!" cried Dr. Holmes; and +one of the society ladies started, and answered, and presently burst +into tears. A marvelous piece of evidence--especially when you recall +that the story of this mother's bereavement had been published in all +the papers a couple of months before! + +And this kind of swindling is going on every night in every city of +America. It goes on wholesale for months every summer at Lily Dale, in +New York State, where the spiritualists hold their combination of +Chautauqua and Coney Island. And the same thing is going on in the +field of mental healing, and of all other "occult" forces and powers, +whether real or imaginary. It is going on with new spiritual fervors, +new moral idealisms, new poetry, new music, new painting, new +sculpture. The faker, the charlatan is everywhere--using the mental +and moral and artistic forces of life as a means of delivering himself +from economic servitude. Everywhere I turn I see it--credulity being +exploited, and men of practical judgment, watching the game and seeing +through it, made hard in their attitude of materialism. How many men I +know who sit by in sullen protest while their wives drift from one new +quackery to another, wasting their income seeking health and happiness +in futile emotionalism! How many kind and sensitive spirits I +know--both men and women--who pour their treasures of faith and +admiration into the laps of hierophants who began by fooling all +mankind and ended by fooling themselves! + +In each one of the cults of what I have called the "Church of the +Quacks", there are thousands, perhaps millions of entirely sincere, +self-sacrificing people. They will read this book--if anyone can +persuade them to read it--with pain and anger; thinking that I am +mocking at their faith, and have no appreciation of their devotion. +All that I can say is that I am trying to show them how they are being +trapped, how their fine and generous qualities are being used by +exploiters of one sort or another; and how this must continue, world +without end, until there is order in the material affairs of the race, +until justice has been established as the law of man's dealing with +his fellows. + + * * * * * + + + + +#BOOK SEVEN# + +#The Church of the Social Revolution# + + They have taken the tomb of our Comrade Christ-- + Infidel hordes that believe not in man; + Stable and stall for his birth sufficed, + But his tomb is built on a kingly plan. + They have hedged him round with pomp and parade, + They have buried him deep under steel and stone-- + But we come leading the great Crusade + To give our Comrade back to his own. + + Waddell. + + * * * * * + + + + +#Christ and Caesar# + +In the most deeply significant of the legends concerning Jesus, we are +told how the devil took him up into a high mountain and showed him all +the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time; and the devil said unto +him: "All this power will I give unto thee, and the glory of them, for +that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it. If +thou, therefore, wilt worship me, all shall be thine." Jesus, as we +know, answered and said "Get thee behind me, Satan!" And he really +meant it; he would have nothing to do with worldly glory, with +"temporal power;" he chose the career of a revolutionary agitator, and +died the death of a disturber of the peace. And for two or three +centuries his church followed in his footsteps, cherishing his +proletarian gospel. The early Christians had "all things in common, +except women;" they lived as social outcasts, hiding in deserted +catacombs, and being thrown to lions and boiled in oil. + +But the devil is a subtle worm; he does not give up at one defeat, for +he knows human nature, and the strength of the forces which battle for +him. He failed to get Jesus, but he came again, to get Jesus' church. +He came when, through the power of the new revolutionary idea, the +Church had won a position of tremendous power in the decaying Roman +Empire; and the subtle worm assumed the guise or no less a person than +the Emperor himself, suggesting that he should become a convert to the +new faith, so that the Church and he might work together for the +greater glory of God. The bishops and fathers of the Church, ambitious +for their organization, fell for this scheme, and Satan went off +laughing to himself. He had got everything he had asked from Jesus +three hundred years before; he had got the world's greatest religion. +How complete and swift was his success you may judge from the fact +that fifty years later we find the Emperor Valentinian compelled to +pass an edict limiting the donations of emotional females to the +church in Rome! + +From that time on Christianity has been what I have shown in this +book, the chief of the enemies of social progress. From the days of +Constantine to the days of Bismarck and Mark Hanna, Christ and Caesar +have been one, and the Church has been the shield and armor of +predatory economic might. With only one qualification to be noted: +that the Church has never been able to suppress entirely the memory of +her proletarian Founder. She has done her best, of course; we have +seen how her scholars twist his words out of their sense, and the +Catholic Church even goes so far as to keep to the use of a dead +language, so that her victims may not hear the words of Jesus in a +form they can understand. + + 'Tis well that such seditious songs are sung Only by + priests, and in the Latin tongue! + +But in spite of this, the history of the Church has been one incessant +struggle with upstarts and rebels who have filled themselves with the +spirit of the Magnificat and the Sermon on the Mount, and of that +bitterly class-conscious proletarian, James, the brother of Jesus. + +And here is the thing to be noted, that the factor which has given +life to Christianity, which enables it to keep its hold on the hearts +of men today, is precisely this new wine of faith and fervor which has +been poured into it by generation after generation of poor men who +live like Jesus as outcasts, and die like Jesus as criminals, and are +revered like Jesus as founders and saints. The greatest of the early +Church fathers were bitterly fought by the Church authorities of their +own time. St. Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, was turned out of +office, exiled and practically martyred; St. Basil was persecuted by +the Emperor Valens; St. Ambrose excommunicated the tyrannical Emperor +Theodosius; St. Cyprian gave all his wealth to the poor, and was +exiled and finally martyred. In the same way, most of the heretics +whom the Holy Inquisition tortured and burned were proletarian rebels; +the saints whom the Church reveres, the founders of the orders which +gave it life for century after century, were men who sought to return +to the example of the carpenter's son. Let us hear a Christian scholar +on this point, Prof. Rauschenbusch: + + The movement of Francis of Assisi, of the Waldenses, of the + Humiliati and Bons Hommes, were all inspired by democratic + and communistic ideals. Wiclif was by far the greatest + doctrinal reformer before the reformation; but his eyes, + too, were first opened to the doctrinal errors of the Roman + Church by joining in a great national and patriotic movement + against the alien domination and extortion of the Church. + The Bohemian revolt, made famous by the name of John Huss, + was quite as much political and social as religious. + Savonarola was a great democrat as well as a religious + prophet. In his famous interview with the dying Lorenzo de + Medici he made three demands as a condition for granting + absolution. Of the man he demanded a living faith in God's + mercy. Of the millionaire he demanded restitution of his + ill-gotten wealth. Of the political usurper he demanded the + restoration of the liberties of the people of Florence. It + is significant that the dying sinner found it easy to assent + to the first, hard to assent to the second, and impossible + to concede the last. + +#Locusts and Wild Honey# + +This proletarian strain in Christianity goes back to a time long +before Jesus; it seems to have been inherent in the religious +character of the Jews--that stubborn independence, that stiff-necked +insistence on the right of a man to interview God for himself and to +find out what God wants him to do; also the inclination to find that +God wants him to oppose earthly rulers and their plundering of the +poor. What is it that gives to the Bible the vitality it has today? +Its literary style? To say that is to display the ignorance of the +cultured; for elevation of style is a by-product of passionate +conviction; it is what the Jewish writers had to say, and not the way +they said it, that has given them their hold upon mankind. Was it +their insistence upon conscience, their fear of God as the beginning +of wisdom? But that same element appears in the Babylonian psalms, +which are as eloquent and as sincere as those of the Hebrews, yet are +read only by scholars. Was it their sense of the awful presence of +divinity, of the soul immortal in its keeping? The Egyptians had that +far more than the Hebrews, and yet we do not cherish their religious +books. Or was it the love of man for all things living, the lesson of +charity upon which the Catholics lay such stress? The gentle Buddha +had that, and had it long before Christ; also his priests had +metaphysical subtlety, greater than that of John the Apostle or Thomas +Aquinas. + +No, there is one thing and one only which distinguishes the Hebrew +sacred writings from all others, and that is their insistent note of +proletarian revolt, their furious denunciations of exploiters, and of +luxury and wantonness, the vices of the rich. Of that note the +Assyrian and Chaldean and Babylonian writing contain not a trace, and +the Egyptian hardly enough to mention. The Hindoos had a trace of it; +but the true, natural-born rebels of all time were the Hebrews. They +were rebels against oppression in ancient Judea, as they are today in +Petrograd and New York; the spirit of equality and brotherhood which +spoke through Ezekiel and Amos and Isaiah, through John the Baptist +and Jesus and James, spoke in the last century through Marx and +Lassalle and Jaures, and speaks today through Liebknecht and Rosa +Luxemburg and Karl Kautsky and Israel Zangwill and Morris Hillquit and +Abraham Cahan and Emma Goldman and the Joseph Fels endowment. + +The legal rate of interest throughout the Babylonian Empire was 20%; +the laws of Manu permitted 24%, while the laws of the Egyptians only +stepped in to prevent more than 100%. But listen to this Hebrew law: + + If thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, + then thou shalt relieve him, yea, though he be a stranger or + a sojourner, that he may live with thee: Take thou no + interest of him, or increase; but fear thy God that thy + brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him any + money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase. + +And so on, forbidding that Hebrews be sold as bond servants, and +commanding that at the end of fifty years all debtors shall have their +debts forgiven and their lands returned to them. And note that this is +not the raving of agitators, the demand of a minority party; it is the +law of the Hebrew land. + +There has been of late a great deal of new discovery concerning the +early Jews. Conrad Noel summarizes the results as follows: + + The land-mark law, which sternly forbids encroachment upon + peasant rights; consideration for the foreigner; additional + sanitary and food laws; tithe regulations on behalf of + widows, orphans, foreigners, etc.; that those who have no + economic independence should eat and be satisfied; that + loans should be given cheerfully, not only without any + interest, but even at the risk of losing the principal. To + withhold a loan because the year of release is at hand in + which the principal is no longer recoverable, is described + as a grave sin. When you are compelled to free your slaves, + you must give them sufficient capital to embark upon some + industry which shall prevent their falling back into + slavery. A number of holidays are insisted upon. There must + be no more crushing of the poor out of existence, for God + cares for these people who have been driven to poverty, and + they shall never cease out of the land. Howbeit there shall + be no poor with you, for the Lord will bless you, if you + will obey these laws. + +But then prosperity came, and culture, which meant contact with the +capitalist ideas of the heathen empires. The Jews fell from the stern +justice of their fathers; and so came the prophets, wild-eyed men of +the people, clad in camel's hair and living upon locusts and wild +honey, breaking in upon priests and kings and capitalists with their +furious denunciations. And always they incited to class war and social +disturbance. I quote Conrad Noel again: + + Nathan and Gad had been David's political advisers, Abijah + had stirred Jeroboam to revolt, Elijah had resisted Ahab, + Elisha had fanned the rebellion of Jehu, Amos thunders + against the misrule of the king of Israel, Isaiah denounces + the landlords and the usurers, Micah charges them with + blood-guiltiness; Jeremiah and the latter prophets, though + they strike a more intimate note of personal repentance, + strike it as the prelude to that national restoration for + which they hunger as exiles. + + The first chapters of Isaiah are typical of the Old + Testament point of view. Just as the prophets of the + nineteenth century thundered against the "Christian" + employers of Lancashire, and told them their houses were + cemented with the blood of little children, so Isaiah cries + against his generation: "Your governing classes companion + with thieves; behold you build up Sion with blood." Their + ceremonial and their Sabbath keeping are an abomination to + God. "When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes + from you. Your hands are full of blood." The poor man is + robbed. The rich exact usury. "Woe unto you that lay house + to house and field to field, that ye may dwell alone in the + midst of the land." "Wash you, make you clean, put away the + evil of your doing from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; + learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, + judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, let us + reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be + blood-colored, they shall be as white as snow; though they + be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing + and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. But if ye + refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured by the sword. + +#Mother Earth# + +And nowadays we have the Socialist and Anarchist agitators, following +the same tradition, possessed by the same dream as the ancient Hebrew +prophets. I have mentioned Emma Goldman; it may be that the reader is +not familiar with her writings, and does not realize how very Biblical +she is, both in point of view and style. Let me quote a few sentences +from a recent issue of her paper, "Mother Earth", on the subject of +our ruling classes and their social responsibility: + + Yes, you idle rich, you may howl about what we mean to do to you! + Your riches are rotten and your fine clothes are falling from your + backs. Your stocks and bonds are so tainted that the ink on them + should turn to acid and eat holes in your pockets and your skins. You + have piled up your dirty millions, but what wages have you paid to the + poor devils of farm hands you have robbed? And do you imagine they + won't remember it when the revolution comes? You loll on soft couches + and amuse yourselves with your mistresses; you think you are "it" and + the world is yours. You send militiamen and shoot down our organizers, + and we are helpless. But wait, comrades, our time is coming. + +Doubtless the reader is well satisfied that the author of this tirade +is now in jail, where she can no longer defy the laws of good taste. +They always put the ancient prophets in jail; that is the way to know +a prophet when you meet him. Let me quote another prophet who is now +behind bars--Alexander Berkman, in his "Prison Memoirs of an +Anarchist", discussing the same subject of plutocratic pretension: + + Tell me, you four hundred, where did you get it? Who gave it + to you? Your grandfather, you say? Your father? Can you go + all the way back and show there is no flaw anywhere in your + title? I tell you that the beginning and the root of your + wealth is necessarily in injustice. And why? Because Nature + did not make this man rich and that man poor from the start. + Nature does not intend for one man to have capital and + another to be a wage-slave. Nature made the earth to be + cultivated by all. The idea we Anarchists have of the rich + is of highwaymen, standing in the street and robbing every + one that passes. + +Or take "Big Bill" Haywood, chief of the I.W.W. Hear what he has to +say in a pamphlet addressed to the harvest-hands he is seeking to +organize: + + How much farther do you plutes expect to go with your + grabbing? Do you want to be the only people left on earth? + Why else do you drive out the workers from all share in + Nature, and claim everything for yourselves? The earth was + made for all, rich and poor alike; where do you get your + title deeds to it? Nature gave everything for all men to use + alike; it is only your robbery which makes your so-called + "ownership". Capital has no rights. The land belongs to + Nature, and we are all Nature's sons. + +Or take Eugene V. Debs, three times candidate of the Socialist Party +for President. I quote from one of his pamphlets: + + The propertied classes are like people who go into a public + theatre and refuse to let anyone else come in, treating as + private property what is meant for social use. If each man + would take only what he needs, and leave the balance to + those who have nothing, there would be no rich and no poor. + The rich man is a thief. + +I might go on citing such quotations for many pages; but I know that +Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman and Bill Haywood and Gene Debs may +read this book, and I don't want them to close it in the middle and +throw it at me. Therefore let me hasten to explain my poor joke; the +sentiments I have been quoting are not those of our modern agitators, +but of another group of ancient ones. The first is not from Emma +Goldman, nor did I find it in "Mother Earth". I found it in the +Epistle of James, believed by orthodox authorities to have been James, +the brother of Jesus. It is exactly what he wrote--save that I have +put it into modern phrases, and changed the swing of the sentences, in +order that those familiar with the Bible might read it without +suspicion. The second passage is not in the writings of Alexander +Berkman, but in those of St. John Chrysostom, most famous of the early +fathers, who lived 374-407. The third is not from the pen of "Big +Bill" but from that of St. Ambrose, a father of the Latin Church, +340-397, and the fourth is not by Comrade Debs, but by St. Basil of +the Greek Church, 329-379. And if the reader objects to my having +fooled him for a minute or two, what will he say to the Christian +Church, which has been fooling him for sixteen hundred years? + +#The Soap Box# + +This book will be denounced from one end of Christendom to the other +as the work of a blasphemous infidel. Yet it stands in the direct line +of the Christian tradition: written by a man who was brought up in the +Church, and loved it with all his heart and soul, and was driven out +by the formalists and hypocrites in high places; a man who thinks of +Jesus more frequently and with more devotion than he thinks of any +other man that lives or has ever lived on earth; and who has but one +purpose in all that he says and does, to bring into reality the dream +that Jesus dreamed of peace on earth and good will toward men. + +I will go farther yet and say that not merely is this book written for +the cause of Jesus, but it is written in the manner of Jesus. We read +his bitter railings at the Pharisees, and miss the point entirely, +because the word Pharisee has become to us a word of reproach. But +this is due solely to Jesus; in his time the word was a holy word, it +meant the most orthodox and respectable, the ultra high-church +devotees of Jerusalem. The way to get the spirit of the tirades of +Jesus is to do with him what we did with the early church +fathers--translate him into American. This time, since the reader +shares the secret, it will not be necessary to disguise the Bible +style, and we may follow the text exactly. Let me try the twenty-third +chapter of Matthew, omitting seven verses which refer to subtleties of +Hebrew casuistry, for which we should have to go to Lyman Abbott or +St. Alphonsus to find a parallel: + + Then Jesus mounted upon a soap-box, and began a speech, + saying, The doctors of divinity and Episcopalians fill the + Fifth Avenue churches; and it would be all right if you were + to listen to what they preach, and do that; but don't follow + their actions, for they never practice what they preach. + They load the backs of the working-classes with crushing + burdens, but they themselves never move a finger to carry a + burden, and everything they do is for show. They wear + frock-coats and silk hats on Sundays, and they sit at the + speakers' table at the banquets of the Civic Federation, and + they occupy the best pews in the churches, and their doings + are reported in all the papers; they are called leading + citizens and pillars of the church. But don't you be called + leading citizens, for the only useful man is the man who + produces. (Applause). And whoever exalts himself shall be + abased, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. + + Woe unto you, doctors of divinity and Catholics, hypocrites! + for you shut up the kingdom of Heaven against men; you don't + go in yourself and you don't let others go in. Woe unto you, + doctors of divinity and Presbyterians, hypocrites! for you + foreclose mortgages on widows' houses, and for a pretense + you make long prayers. For this you will receive the greater + damnation! Woe unto you, doctors of divinity and Methodists, + hypocrites! for you send missionaries to Africa to make one + convert, and when you have made him, he is twice as much a + child of hell as yourselves. (Applause). Woe unto you, blind + guides, with your subtleties of doctrine, your + transubstantiation and consubstantiation and all the rest of + it; you fools and blind! Woe unto you, doctors of divinity + and Episcopalians, hypocrites! for you drop your checks into + the collection-plate and you pay no heed to the really + important things in the Bible, which are justice and mercy + and faith in goodness. You blind guides, who strain at a + gnat and swallow a camel! (Laughter). Woe unto you, doctors + of divinity and Anglicans, hypocrites! for you bathe + yourselves and dress in immaculate clothing but within you + are full of extortion and excess. You blind high churchmen, + clean first your hearts, so that the clothes you wear may + represent you. Woe unto you, doctors of divinity and + Baptists, hypocrites! for you are like marble tombs which + appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead + men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you appear + righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and + iniquity. (Applause). Woe unto you, doctors of divinity and + Unitarians, hypocrites! because you erect statues to dead + reformers, and put wreathes upon the tombs of old-time + martyrs. You say, if we had been alive in those days, we + would not have helped to kill those good men. That ought to + show you how to treat us at present. (Laughter). But you are + the children of those who killed the good men; so go ahead + and kill us too! You serpents, you generation of vipers, how + can you escape the damnation of hell? + +At this point, according to the report published in the Jerusalem +"Times", a police sergeant stepped up to the orator and notified him +that he was under arrest; he submitted quietly, but one of his +followers attempted to use a knife, and was severely clubbed. Jesus +was taken to the station-house followed by a riotous throng, and held +upon a charge of disorderly conduct. Next morning the Rev. Dr. +Caiaphas of Old Trinity appeared against him, and Magistrate Pilate +sentenced him to six months on Blackwell's Island, remarking that from +this time on he proposed to make an example of those soap-box orators +who persist in using threatening and abusive language. Just as the +prisoner was being led away, a detective appeared with a requisition +from the Governor, ordering that Jesus be taken to San Francisco, +where he is under indictment for murder in the first degree, it being +charged that his teachings helped to incite the Preparedness Day +explosion. + +#The Church Machine# + +The Catholics of His time came to Jesus and said, "Master, we would +have a sign of Thee"--meaning that they wanted him to do some magic, +to prove to their vulgar minds that his power came from God. He +answered by calling them an evil and adulterous generation--which is +exactly what I have said about the Papal machine. The Baptists and +Methodists and Presbyterians and other book-worshippers of his time +accused him of violating the sacred commands so definitely set down in +their ancient texts, and to them he answered that the Sabbath was made +for man and not man for the Sabbath; he called them hypocrites, and +quoted Karl Marx at them--"This people honoreth me with their lips, +but their heart is far from me." Because he despised the company of +the respectables, and went among the humble and human folk of his own +class in the places where they gathered--the public houses--the +churchly scandal-mongers called him "a man gluttonous and a +wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners"--precisely as in the +old days they used to sneer at the Socialists for having their +meetings in the backrooms of saloons, and precisely as they still +denounce us as free-lovers and atheists. + +But the longing for justice between man and man, which is the Kingdom +of Heaven on earth, is the deepest instinct of the human heart, and +the voice of the carpenter cannot be confined within the thickest +church-walls, nor drowned by all the pealing organs in Christendom. +Even in these days, when the power of Mammon is more widespread, more +concentrated and more systematized than ever before in history--even +in these days of Morgan and Rockefeller, there are Christian clergymen +who dare to preach as Jesus preached. One by one they are cast out of +the Church--Father McGlynn, George D. Herron, Alexander Irvine, J. +Stitt Wilson, Austin Adams, Algernon Crapsey, Bouck White; but their +voices are not silenced, they are like the leaven, to which Jesus +compared the kingdom of God--a woman took it and hid it in three +measures of meal till the whole was leavened. The young theological +students read, and some of them understand; I know three brothers in +one family who have just gone into the Church, and are preaching +straight social revolution--and the scribes and the pharisees have not +yet dared to cast them out. + +In this book I have portrayed the Christian Church as the servant and +henchman of Big Business, a part of the system of Mammon. Every church +is necessarily a money machine, holding and administering property. +And it is not alone the Catholic Church which is in politics, seeking +favors from the state--the exemption of church property from taxation, +exemption of ministers from military service, free transportation for +them and their families on the railroads, the control of charity and +education, laws to deprive people of amusements on Sunday--so on +through a long list. As the churches have to be built with money, you +find that in them the rich possess the control and demand the +deference, while the poor are humble, and in their secret hearts +jealous and bitter; in other words, the class struggle is in the +churches, as everywhere else in the world, and the social revolution +is coming in the churches, just as it is coming in industry. + +It is a fact of deep significance that the majority of ministers are +proletarians, eking out their existence upon a miserable salary, and +beholden in all their comings and goings to the wealthy holders of +privilege. Even in the Roman Catholic Church that is true. The +ordinary priest is a man of the working class, and knows what working +people suffer and feel. So in the Catholic Church there are +proletarian rebellions; there is many a priest who does not carry out +the political orders of his superiors, but goes to the polls and votes +for his class instead of for his pope. In Ireland, as I write, the +young priests are defying their bishops and joining the Sinn Fein, a +non-religious movement for an Irish Republic. + +What is it that keeps the average workingman in subjection to the +exploiter? Simply terror, the terror of losing his job. And if you +could get into the inmost soul of Christian ministers, you would find +that precisely the same force is keeping many of them slaves to +Tradition. They are educated men, and thousands of them must resent +the dilemma which compels them to be either fools or hypocrites. They +have caught enough of the spirit of their time not to enjoy having to +pose as miracle-mongers, rain-makers and witch-doctors; they would +like to say frankly that they do not believe that Jonah ever swallowed +the whale, and even that they are dubious about Hercules and Achilles +and other demigods. But they are part of a machine, and the old men +and the rich men who run the machine have laid down the law. Those who +find themselves tempted to think, remember suddenly that they have +wives and children; they have only one profession, they have been +unfitted for any other by a life-time of study of dead things, as well +as by the practice of altruism. + +But now the Social Revolution is coming; coming upon swift wings--it +may be here before this book sees the light. And who knows but then we +may see in America that wonderful sight which we saw in Russia, when +Christian monks assembled and burned their holy books, and petitioned +the state to take them in as citizens and human beings? It is my +belief that when the power of exploitation is broken, we shall see the +Dead Hand crumble into dust, as a mummy crumbles when it is exposed to +the air. All those men who stay in the Church and pretend to believe +nonsense, because it affords an easy way to earn a living, will +suddenly realize that it is possible to earn a living outside; that +any man can go into a factory, clean and well-ventilated and humanly +run, and by four hours work can earn the purchasing power of ten or +fifteen dollars. Do you not think that there may be some who will +choose freedom and self-respect on those terms? + +And what of those thousands and tens of thousands who join the church +because it is a part of the regime of respectability, a way to make +the acquaintance of the rich, to curry favor and obtain promotion, to +get customers if you are a tradesman, to extend your practice if you +are a professional man? And what about the millions who go to church +because they are poor, and because life is a desperate struggle, and +this is one way to keep the favor of the boss, to get a little better +chance for the children, to get charity if you fall into need; in +short, to acquire influence with the well-to-do and powerful, who +stand together, and like to see the poor humble and reverent, +contented in that state of life to which it has pleased God to call +them? + +#The Church Redeemed# + +Do I mean that I expect to see the Church--all churches--perish and +pass away? I do not, for I believe that the Church answers one of the +fundamental needs of man. The Social Revolution will abolish poverty +and parasitism, it will make temptations fewer, and the soul's path +through life much easier; but it will not remove the necessity of +struggle for individual virtue, it will only clear the way for the +discovery of newer and higher types of virtue. Men will gather more +than ever in beautiful places to voice their love of life and of one +another; but the places in which they gather will be places swept +clean of superstition and tyranny. As the Reformation compelled the +Catholic Church to cleanse itself and abolish the grossest of its +abuses, so the Social Revolution will compel it to repudiate its +defense of parasitism and exploitation. I will record the prophecy +that by the year 1950 all Catholic authorities will be denying that +the Church ever opposed Socialism--true Socialism; just as today they +deny that the Church ever tortured Galileo, ever burned men for +teaching that the earth moves around the sun, ever sold the right to +commit crime, ever gave away the New World to Spain and Portugal, ever +buried newly-born infants in the cellars of nunneries. + +The Social Revolution will compel all churches, Christian, Hebrew, +Buddhist, Confucian, or what you will, to drive out their formalists +and traditionalists. If there is any church that refuses so to adapt +itself, the swift progress of enlightenment and freedom will leave it +without followers. But in the great religions, which have a soul of +goodness and sincerity, we may be sure that reformers will arise, +prophets and saints who, as of old, will preach the living word of +God. In many churches today we can see the beginning of that new +Counter-Reformation. Even in the Catholic Church there is a +"modernist" rebellion; read the books of the "Sillon", and Fogazzaro's +trilogy of novels, "The Saint", and you will see a genuine and vital +protest against the economic corruption of the Church. In America, the +"Knights of Slavery" have been forced by public pressure to support a +"War for Democracy", and even to compete with the Y.M.C.A. in the +training camps. They are doing good work, I am told. + +This gradual conquest of the old religiosity by the spirit of modern +common sense is shown most interestingly in the Salvation Army. +William Booth was a man with a great heart, who took his life into his +hands and went out with a bass-drum to save the lost souls of the +slums. He was stoned and jailed, but he persisted, and brought his +captives to Jesus--- + + Vermin-eaten saints with mouldy breath, + Unwashed legions with the ways of death. + +Incidentally the "General" learned to know his slum population. He had +not wanted to engage in charity and material activities; he feared +hypocrisy and corruption. But in his writings he lets us see how +utterly impossible it is for a man of real heart to do anything for +the souls of the slum-dwellers without at the same time helping their +diseased and hunger-racked bodies. So the Salvation army was forced +into useful work--old clothes depots, nights lodgings, Christmas +dinners, farm colonies--until today the bare list of the various kinds +of enterprises it carries on fills three printed pages. It is all done +with the money of the rich, and is tainted by subservience to +authority, but no one can deny that it is better than "Gibson's +Preservative", and the fox-hunting parsons filling themselves with +port. + +And in Protestant Churches the advance has been even greater. Here and +there you will find a real rebel, hanging onto his job and preaching +the proletarian Jesus; while even the great Fifth Avenue churches are +making attempts at "missions" and "settlements" in the slums. The more +vital churches are gradually turning themselves into societies for the +practical betterment of their members. Their clergy are running boys +clubs and sewing-schools for girls, food conservation lectures for +mothers, social study clubs for men. You get prayer-meetings and +psalm-singing along with this; but here is the fact that hangs always +before the clergyman's face--that with prayer-meetings and +psalm-singing alone he has a hard time, while with clubs and +educational societies and social reforms he thrives. + +And now the War has broken upon the world, and caught the churches, +like everything else, in its mighty current; the clergy and the +congregations are confronted by pressing national needs, they are +forced to take notice of a thousand new problems, to engage in a +thousand practical activities. No one can see the end of this--any +more than he can see the end of the vast upheaval in politics and +industry. But we who are trained in revolutionary thought can see the +main outlines of the future. We see that in these new church +activities the clergy are inspired by things read, not in ancient +Hebrew texts, but in the daily newspapers. They are responding to the +actual, instant needs of their boys in the trenches and the camps; and +this is bound to have an effect upon their psychology. Just as we can +say that an English girl who leaves the narrow circle of her old life, +and goes into a munition factory and joins a union and takes part in +its debates, will never after be a docile home-slave; so we can say +that the clergyman who helps in Y.M.C.A. work in France, or in Red +Cross organization in America, will be less the bigot and formalist +forever after. He will have learned, in spite of himself, to adjust +means to ends; he will have learned co-operation and social solidarity +by the method which modern educators most favor--by doing. Also he +will have absorbed a mass of ideas in news despatches from over the +world. He is forced to read these despatches carefully, because the +fate of his own boys is involved; and we Socialists will see to it +that the despatches are well filled with propaganda! + +#The Desire of Nations# + +So the churches, like all the rest of the world, are caught in the +great revolutionary current, and swept on towards a goal which they do +not forsee, and from which they would shrink in dismay: the Church of +the future, the Church redeemed by the spirit of Brotherhood, the +Church which we Socialists will join. They call us materialists, and +say that we think about nothing but the belly--and that is true, in a +way; because we are the representatives of a starving class, which +thinks about its belly precisely as does any individual who is +ravening with hunger. But give us what that arrant materialist, James, +the brother of Jesus, calls "those things which are needful to the +body," and then we will use our minds, and even discover that we have +souls; whereas at present we are led to despise the very word +"spiritual", which has become the stock-in-trade of parasites and +poseurs. + +We have children, whom we love, and whose future is precious to us. We +would be glad to have them trained in ways of decency and +self-control, of dignity and grace. It would make us happy if there +were in the world institutions conducted by men and women of +consecrated life who would specialize in teaching a true morality to +the young. But it must be a morality of freedom, not of slavery; a +morality founded upon reason, not upon superstition. The men who teach +it must be men who know what truth is, and the passionate loyalty +which the search for truth inspires. They cannot be the pitiful +shufflers and compromisers we see in the churches today, the Jowetts +who say they used to believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy +Ghost. Rather than trust our children to such shameless cynics, we +will make shift to train them ourselves--we amateurs, not knowing much +about children, and absorbed in the desperate struggle against +organized wrong. + +It is a statement which many revolutionists would resent, yet it is a +fact nevertheless, that we need a new religion, need it just as badly +as any of the rest of our pitifully groping race. That we need it is +proven by the rivalries and quarrels in our midst--the schisms which +waste the greater part of our activities, and which are often the +result of personal jealousies and petty vanities. To lift men above +such weakness, to make them really brothers in a great cause--that is +the work of "personal religion" in the true and vital sense of the +words. + +We pioneers and propagandists may not live to see the birth of the new +Church of Humanity; but our children will see it, and the dream of it +is in our hearts; our poets have sung of it with fervor and +conviction. Read these lines from "The Desire of Nations," by Edwin +Markham, in which he tells of the new Redeemer who is at hand: + + And when he comes into the world gone wrong, + He will rebuild her beauty with a song. + To every heart he will its own dream be: + One moon has many phantoms in the sea. + Out of the North the norns will cry to men: + "Baldur the Beautiful has come again!" + The flutes of Greece will whisper from the dead: + "Apollo has unveiled his sunbright head!" + The stones of Thebes and Memphis will find voice: + "Osiris comes: Oh tribes of Time, rejoice!" + And social architects who build the State, + Serving the Dream at citadel and gate, + Will hail Him coming through the labor-hum. + And glad quick cries will go from man to man: + "Lo, He has come, our Christ the artisan, + The King who loved the lilies, He has come!" + +#The Knowable# + +The new religion will base itself upon the facts of life, as +demonstrated by experience and reason; for to the modern thinker the +basis of all interest is truth, and the wonders of the microscope and +the telescope, of the new psychology and the new sociology are more +wonderful than all the magic recorded in ancient Mythologies. And even +if this were not so, the business of the thinker is to follow the +facts. The history of all philosophy might be summed up in this +simile: The infant opens his eyes and sees the moon, and stretches out +his hands and cries for it; but those in charge do not give it to him, +and so after a while the infant tires of crying, and turns to his +mother's breast and takes a drink of milk. + +Man demands to know the origin of life; it is intolerable for him to +be here, and not know how, or whence, or why. He demands the knowledge +immediately and finally, and invents innumerable systems and creeds. +He makes himself believe them, with fire and torture makes other men +believe them; until finally, in the confusion of a million theories, +it occurs to him to investigate his instruments, and he makes the +discovery that his tools are inadequate, and all their products +worthless. His mind is finite, while the thing he seeks is infinite; +his knowledge is relative, while the First Cause is absolute. + +This realization we owe to Immanuel Kant, the father of modern +philosophy. In his famous "antinomies", he proved four propositions: +first, that the universe is limitless in time and space; second, that +matter is composed of simple, indivisible elements; third, that free +will is impossible; and fourth, that there must be an absolute or +first cause. And having proven these things, he turned round and +proved their opposites, with arguments exactly as unanswerable. Any +one who follows these demonstrations and understands them, takes all +his metaphysical learning and lays it on the shelf with his astrology +and magic. + +It is a fact, which every one who wishes to think must get clear, that +when you are dealing with absolutes and ultimates, you can prove +whatever you want to prove. Metaphysics is like the fourth dimension; +you fly into it and come back upside down, hindside foremost, inside +out; and when you get tired of this condition, you take another +flight, and come back the way you were before. So metaphysical +thinking serves the purpose of Catholic cheats like Cardinal Newman +and Professor Chatterton-Hill; it serves hysterical women like +"Mother" Eddy; it serves the New-thoughters, who wish to fill their +bellies with wind; it serves the charlatans and mystagogs who wish to +befuddle the wits of the populace. Real thinkers avoid it as they +would a bottomless swamp; they avoid, not merely the idealism of +Platonists and Hegelians, but the monism of Haeckel, and the +materialism of Buechner and Jacques Loeb. The simple fact is that it +is as impossible to prove the priority of origin and the ultimate +nature of matter as it is of mind; so that the scientist who lays down +a materialist dogma is exactly as credulous as a Christian. + +How then are we to proceed? Shall we erect the mystery into an +Unknowable, like Spencer, and call ourselves Agnostics with a capital +letter, like Huxley? Shall we follow Frederic Harrison, making an +inadequate divinity out of our impotence? I have read the books of the +"Positivists", and attended their imitation church in London, but I +did not get any satisfaction from them. In the midst of their dogmatic +pronouncements I found myself remembering how the egg falls apart and +reveals a chicken, how the worm suddenly discovers itself a butterfly. +The spirit of man is a breaker of barriers, and it seems a futile +occupation to set limits upon the future. Our business is not to say +what men will know ten thousand years from now, but to content +ourselves with the simple statement of what men know #now#. What we +know is a procession of phenomena called an environment; our life +being an act of adjustment to its changes, and our faith being the +conviction that this adjustment is possible and worth while. + +In the beginning the guide is instinct, and the act of trust is +automatic. But with the dawn of reason the thinker has to justify his +faith; to convince himself that life is sincere, that there is +worth-whileness in being, or in seeking to be; that there is order in +creation, laws which can be discovered, processes which can be +applied. Just as the babe trusts life when it gropes for its mother's +breast, so the most skeptical of scientists trusts it when he declares +that water is made of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, and sets +it down for a certainty that this will always be so--that he is not +being played with by some sportive demon, who will today cause H20 to +behave like water, and tomorrow like benzine. + +#Nature's Insurgent Son# + +Life has laws, which it is possible to ascertain; and with each bit of +knowledge acquired, the environment is changed, the life becomes a new +thing. Consider, for example, what a different place the world became +to the man who discovered that the force which laid the forest in +ashes could be tamed and made to warm a cave and make wild grains +nutritious! In other words, man can create life, he can make the world +and himself into that which his reason decides it ought to be, The +means by which he does this is the most magical of all the tools he +has invented since his arboreal ancestor made the first club; the tool +of experimental science--and when one considers that this weapon has +been understood and deliberately employed for but two or three +centuries, he realizes that we are indeed only at the beginning of +human evolution. + +To take command of life, to replace instincts by reasoned and +deliberate acts, to make the world a conscious and ordered +product--that is the task of man. Sir Ray Lankester has set this forth +with beautiful precision in his book, "The Kingdom of Man". We are, at +this time, in an uncomfortable and dangerous transition stage, as a +child playing with explosives. This child has found out how to alter +his environment in many startling ways, but he does not yet know why +he wishes to alter it, nor to what purpose. He finds that certain +things are uncomfortable, and these he proceeds immediately to change. +Discovering that grain fermented dispels boredom, he creates a race of +drunkards; discovering that foods can be produced in profusion, and +prepared in alluring combinations, he makes himself so many diseases +that it takes an encyclopedia to tell about them. Discovering that +captives taken in war can be made to work, he makes a procession of +empires, which are eaten through with luxury and corruption, and fall +into ruins again. + +This is Nature's way; she produces without limit, groping blindly, +experimenting ceaselessly, eliminating ruthlessly. It takes a million +eggs to produce one salmon; it has taken a million million men to +produce one idea--algebra, or the bow and arrow, or democracy. +Nature's present impulse appears as a rebellion against her own +methods; man, her creature, will emancipate himself from her law, will +save himself from her blindness and her ruthlessness. He is "Nature's +insurgent son"; but, being the child of his mother, goes at the task +in her old blundering way. Some men are scheduled to elimination +because of defective eyesight; they are furnished with glasses, and +the breeding of defective eyes begins. The sickly or imbecile child +would perish at once in the course of Nature; it is saved in the name +of charity, and a new line of degenerates is started. + +What shall we do? Return to the method of the Spartans, exposing our +sickly infants? We do not have to do anything so wasteful, because we +can replace the killing of the unfit by a scientific breeding which +will prevent the unfit from getting a chance at life. We can replace +instinct by self-discipline. We can substitute for the regime of +"Nature red in tooth and claw with ravin" the regime of man the +creator, knowing what he wishes to be and how to set about to be it. +Whether this can happen, whether the thing which we call civilization +is to be the great triumph of the ages, or whether the human race is +to go back into the melting pot, is a question being determined by an +infinitude of contests between enlightenment and ignorance: precisely +such a contest as occurs now, when you, the reader, encounter a man +who has thought his way out to the light, and comes to urge you to +perform the act of self-emancipation, to take up the marvellous new +tools of science, and to make yourself, by means of exact knowledge, +the creator of your own life and in part of the life of the race. + +#The New Morality# + +Life is a process of expansion, of the unfoldment of new powers; +driven by that inner impulse which the philosophers of Pragmatism call +the #elan vital#. Whenever this impulse has its way, there is an +emotion of joy; whenever it is balked, there is one of distress. So +pleasure and pain are the guides of life, and the final goal is a +condition of free and constantly accelerating growth, in which joy is +enduring. + +That man will ever reach such a state is more than we can say. It is a +perfectly conceivable thing that tomorrow a comet may fall upon the +earth and wipe out all man's labor's. But on the other hand, it is a +conceivable thing that man may some day learn to control the movements +of comets, and even of starry systems. It seems certain that if he is +given time, he will make himself master of the forces of his immediate +environment--- + + The untamed giants of nature shall bow down--- + The tides, the tempest and the lightning cease + From mockery and destruction, and be turned + Unto the making of the soul of man. + +It is a conceivable thing that man may learn to create his food from +the elements without the slow processes of agriculture; it is +conceivable that he may master the bacteria which at present prey upon +his body, and so put an end to death. It is certain that he will +ascertain the laws of heredity, and create human qualities as he has +created the spurs of the fighting-cock and the legs of the greyhound. +He will find out what genius is, and the laws of its being, and the +tests whereby it may be recognized. In the new science of +psycho-analysis he has already begun the work of bringing an infinity +of subconsciousness into the light of day; it may be that in the +evidence of telepathy which the psychic researchers are accumulating, +he is beginning to grope his way into a universal consciousness, which +may come to include the joys and griefs of the inhabitants of Mars, +and of the dark stars which the spectroscope and the telescope are +disclosing. + +All these are fascinating possibilities. What stands in the way of +their realization? Ignorance and superstition, fear and submission, +the old habits of rapine and hatred which man has brought with him +from his animal past. These make him a slave, a victim of himself and +of others; to root them out of the garden of the soul is the task of +the modern thinker. + +The new morality is thus a morality of freedom. It teaches that man is +the master, or shall become so; that there is no law, save the law of +his own being, no check upon his will save that which he himself +imposes. + +The new morality is a morality of joy. It teaches that true pleasure +is the end of being, and the test of all righteousness. + +The new morality is a morality of reason. It teaches that there is no +authority above reason; no possibility of such authority, because if +such were to appear, reason would have to judge it, and accept or +reject it. + +The new morality is a morality of development. It teaches that there +can no more be an immutable law of conduct, than there can be an +immutable position for the steering-wheel of an aeroplane. The +business of the pilot of an aeroplane is to keep his machine aloft +amid shifting currents of wind. The business of a moralist is to +adjust life to a constantly changing environment. An action which was +suicide yesterday becomes heroism today, and futility or hypocrisy +tomorrow. + +This new morality, like all things in a world of strife, is fighting +for existence, using its own weapons, which are reason and love. +Obviously it can use no others, without self-destruction; yet it has +to meet enemies who fight with the old weapons of force and fraud. +Whether it will prevail is more than any prophet can say. Perhaps it +is too much to ask that it should succeed--this insolent effort of the +pigmy man to leap upon the back of his master and fit a bridle into +his mouth. Perhaps it is nothing but a dream in the minds of a few, +the scientists and poets and inventors, the dreamers of the race. +Perhaps the nerve of the pigmy will fail him at the critical moment, +and he will fall from the back of his master, and under his master's +hoofs. + +The hour of the decision is now; for this we can see plainly, and as +scientists we can proclaim it--the human race is in a swift current of +degeneration, which a new morality alone can check. The struggle is at +its height in our time; if it fails, if the fibre of the race +continues to deteriorate, the soul of the race to be eaten out by +poverty and luxury, by insanity and disease, by prostitution, crime +and war--then mankind will slip back into the abyss, the untamed +giants of Nature will resume their ancient sway, and the tides, the +tempest and the lightning will sweep the earth clean again. I do not +believe that this calamity will befall us. I know that in the diseased +social body the forces of resistance are gathering--the Socialist +movement, in the broad sense--the activities of all who believe in the +possibility of reconstructing society upon a basis of reason, justice +and love. To such people this book goes out: to the truly religious +people, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness here and now, +who believe in brotherhood as a reality, and are willing to bear pain +and ridicule and privation for the sake of its ultimate achievement. + + From discord and defeat, + From doubt and lame division, + We pluck the fruit and eat; + And the mouth finds it bitter, and the spirit sweet.... + O sorrowing hearts of slaves, + We heard you beat from far! + We bring the light that saves, + We bring the morning star; + Freedom's good things we bring you, whence all good things are.... + +#Envoi# + +I have come to the end of my task; but one question troubles me. I +think of the "young men and maidens meek" who will read this book, and +I wonder what they will make of it. We have had a lark together; we +have gone romping down the vista of the ages, swatting every venerable +head that showed itself, beating the dust out of ancient delusions. +You would like all your life to be that kind of lark; but you may not +find it so, and perhaps you will suffer disillusionment and vexation. + +I have known hundreds of young radicals in my life; they have nearly +all been gallant and honest, but they have not all been wise, and +therefore not so happy as they might have been. In the course of time +I have formulated to myself the peril to which young radicals are +exposed. We see so much that is wrong in ancient things, it gets to be +a habit with us to reject them. We have only to know that a thing is +old to feel an impulse of impatient scorn; on the other hand, we are +tempted to welcome anything which can prove itself to be +unprecedented. There is a common type of radical whose aim in life is +to be several jumps ahead of mankind; whose criterion of conduct is +that it shocks the bourgeois. If you do not know that type, you may +find him--and her--in the newest of the Bohemian cafes, drinking the +newest red chemicals, smoking the newest brand of cigarettes, and +discussing the newest form of #psycopathia sexualis#. After you have +watched them a while, you realize that these ultra-new people have +fallen victim to the oldest form of logical fallacy, the non sequitur, +and likewise to the oldest form of slavery, which is self-indulgence. + +If it is true that much in the old moral codes is based upon +ignorance, and cultivated by greed, it is also true that much in the +old moral codes is based upon facts which will not change so long as +man is what he is--a creature of impulses, good and bad, wise and +foolish, selfish and generous, and compelled to make choice between +these impulses; so long as he is a material body and a personal +consciousness, obliged to live in society and adjust himself to the +rights of others. What I would like to say to young radicals--if there +is any way to say it without seeming a prig--is that in choosing their +own path through life, they will need not merely enthusiasm and +radical fervor, but wisdom and judgment and hard study. + +It is our fundamental demand that society shall cease to repeat over +and over the blunders of the past, the blunders of tyranny and +slavery, of luxury and poverty, which wrecked the ancient societies; +and surely it is a poor way to begin by repeating in our own persons +the most ancient blunders of the moral life. To light the fires of +lust in our hearts, and let them smoulder there, and imagine we are +trying new experiments in psychology! Who does not know the radical +woman who demonstrates her emancipation from convention by destroying +her nerves with nicotine? Who does not know the genius of revolt who +demonstrates his repudiation of private property by permitting his +lady loves to support him? Who does not know the man who finds in the +phrases of revolution the most effective devices for the seducing of +young girls? + +You will have read this book to ill purpose if you draw the conclusion +that there is anything in it to spare you the duty of getting yourself +moral standards and holding yourself to them. On the contrary, because +your task is the highest and hardest that man has yet undertaken--for +this reason you will need standards the most exacting ever formulated. +Let me quote some words from a teacher you will not accuse of holding +to the slave-moralities: + + Free dost thou call thyself? Thy ruling thoughts will I + hear, and not that thou hast escaped a yoke. + + Art thou such a one that can escape a yoke? Free from what? + What is that to Zarathustra! Clear shall your eye tell me: + free to what? + + Canst thou give to thyself thy good and thine evil, and hang + thy will above thee as thy law? Canst thou be thine own + judge, and avenger of thy law? + + Fearful it is to be alone with the judge and the avenger of + thy law. So is a stone flung out into empty space and into + the icy breath of isolation. + +Out of the pit of ignorance and despair we emerge into the sunlight of +knowledge, to take control of a world, and to make it over, not +according to the will of any gods, but according to the law in our own +hearts. For that task we have need of all the resources of our being; +of courage and high devotion, of faith in ourselves and our comrades, +of clean, straight thinking, of discipline both of body and mind. We +go to this task with a knowledge as old as the first moral impulse of +mankind--the knowledge that our actions determine the future of life, +not merely for ourselves but for all the race. For this is one of the +laws of the ancient Hebrews which modern science has not repealed, but +on the contrary has reinforced with a thousand confirmations--that the +sins of the fathers are visited upon the children unto the third and +fourth generations. + +I get letters from the readers of my books; nearly always they are +young people, so I feel like the father of a large family. I gather +them now about my knee, and pronounce upon them a benediction in the +ancient patriarchal style. Children and grandchildren of my hopes, for +ages men suffered and fought, so that the world might be turned over +to you. Now the day is coming, the glad, new day which blinds us with +the shining of its wings; it is coming so swiftly that I am afraid of +it. I thought we should have more time to get ready for the taking +over of the world! But the old managers of it went insane, they took +to tearing each other's eyes out, and now they lie dead about us. So, +whether we will or not, we have to take charge of the world; we have +to decide what to do with it, even while we are doing it. Let us not +fail, young comrades; let us not write on the scroll of history that +mankind had to go through yet new generations of wars and tumults and +enslavements, because the youth of the international revolution could +not lift themselves above those ancient personal vices which wrecked +the fair hopes of their fathers--bigotry and intolerance, +vindictiveness and vanity, envy, hatred and malice and all +uncharitableness! + + * * * * * + + + + +INDEX + +A + +Abbott, Lyman 175-191 +Abbott, L.F. 189 +Adams 214 +Adventists 237 +Amberley 52 +Anglican Church 47-88 +Appeal to Reason 144 +Archer 133 +Assyria 32 +Atkinson 267 +Austria 155 +Aztecs 32 + +B + +Babists 254 +Babylonia 26, 32, 50 +Baxter 183 +Beilhardt 254 +Berkman 288 +Besant 250 +Bible-students 246 +Bismarck 153 +Black Magic 253 +Blavatsky 23, 256 +Blougram 109 +Bonzano 121, 126 +Booth 298 +Bootstrap-lifting 11, 266 +Brougher 209 +Brown 268 +Buchanan 68, 159 +Buckle 41 +Burns 75 + +C + +Caesar 161 +Cannon 143 +Carlyle 163 +Carnegie 177 +Catholic Church 27, 105-157, 295 +Catholic Encyclopedia 67 +Centrum 152 +Charcot 258 +Chatterton-Hill 220 +Chinese 74 +Christian Endeavor World 216 +Christian Science 254-264 +Churchman 101, 102 +Clark 23 +Clough 235 +Columbus 115 +Conway 127 +Curates 71 + +D + +Darwin 56 +Day 205 +Debs 289 +Dixon 204, 205 +Dowie 242 +Durham 80 + +E + +Eastman 140 +Eddy 257, 261 +Education 81 +England 49, 73, 75 +England, Church of 47-88 +Episcopal Church 89-102 +Eucharist 59 + +F + +Ferrer 51, 133 +Fish 65 +Flint 78, 79 +Fogazzaro 298 +Foraker 143 +Frederick 163 + +G + +Galileo 51 +Gallipoli 61 +Garrison 167 +Gladstone 57, 58, 81 +Goldman 287 +Goode 59, 61 +Green 63 +Gurney 254 + +H + +Hagen 219 +Hale 213 +Hammurabi 85 +Hampton 181 +Ha'nish 250 +Hanna 122, 142, 153, 213 +Harris 72 +Harrison 304 +Haywood 288 +Hebrew 36, 173, 284, 285 +Henry the Eighth 66, 67 +Hill, Joe 219 +Hill, Rev. J.W. 204 +Holmes 276 +Holy Rollers 242, 243 +Hubbard 190 +Huss 38, 41 +Huxley 56, 58 +Hyndman 256 +Hyslop 223 + +I + +Inquisition 39, 51 +Ireland 43 +Isaiah 287 + +J + +Janet 258 +Jastrow 32 +Jehovah 35, 36 +Jesuits 148 +Jesus 74, 100, 101, 161, + 172, 174, 175, 176, 197, 221, + 258, 281, 282, 290, 291, 292 +Jews 284, 286 +Job 25, 26, 55 +Joshua 37 +Jowett 54 +Jungle 190, 194, 197 +Junker 152 + +K + +Kaiser 164-166 +Kant 303 +Kemp 19 +King Coal 137 +Kingsley 34 +Knights of Columbus 123 +Koreshanity 248 + +L + +La Follette 260 +Landor 34 +Lankester 306 +Lea 39 +Leeky 136 +Leo XIII 119, 123 +Ligouri 174 +Li Hung Chang 75 +London 276 +Los Angeles 149, 150, 208, 209, 217 +L.A. Examiner 149 +L.A. Times 44, 151 +Lourdes 258 +Luther 161, 163 + +M + +MacGill 42 +Machen 273 +Mallock 77 +Malthus 77 +Manning 118 +Manu 285 +Markham 302 +Marx 71, 173 +Massey 55 +Mazdaznan 250 +McCabe 148 +McDonald 139 +Mellen 185 +Menace 135 +Milton 199 +Morality 308 +More 85 +Morgan 99, 101 +Mormon 239, 240 +Moses 36, 37 + +N + +Nazarite 29 +New Haven 180, 181 +New Thought 264 +N.Y. Evening Post 223 +N.Y. Sun 193 +N.Y. Times 211 +Nichols 270 +Noel 83, 286 +Northcliffe 72 +Numerology 271 + +O + +Oahspe 248 +O'Connell 120 +Opium 74 +Outlook 175-198 + +P + +Paine 87 +Paley 87 +Pasadena 150, 208, 276 +Patent Medicine 214 +Patterson 139 +Paul 56, 161, 207 +Peabody 99 +Peters 204 +Phelan 119 +Pillsbury 167 +Pius IX 116 +Plowman 64 +Pope 67, 121, 143 +Positivists 304 +Post 216 +Potter 98 +Prescott 32 +Preston 127 +Protestant 201 +Prussia 153, 163 + +Q + +Quakers 177 +Quay 212 +Quigley 129 + +R + +Rauschenbusch 163, 283 +Rawson 272 +Reformation 163, 201 +Religion 16, 17 +Rig-Veda 30 +Robinson 228 +Rockefeller 138, 177, 190, 192, 211 +Roosevelt 142 +Russell, C.E. 95, 181 +Russell, G. 82 +Russell, Pastor 247 +Ryan 105 + +S + +Sacred Heart 113 +Salpetriere 238 +Salvation Army 298 +Sanday 78 +Segur 117 +Shaftesbury 74, 82 +Shakers 244, 245 +Shelley 87, 183 +Siam 34 +Sinn Fein 295 +Smith, Gipsy 217 +Smith, Goldwin 223 +Soap Box 290 +Socialist Movement 311 +Spain 131 +Spiritualism 275 +Stalker 78 +Sterling 45 +Sunday 207, 210 +Swinburne 103 +Syracuse 205 + +T + +Tablet 157 +Tacitus 170 +Taft 142-144 +Tammany 93, 143 +Thackery 68, 212 +Theosophists 254, 255 +Thirty-nine Articles 54 +Tingley 256 +Torrey 203 +Tractarian 55 +Trinity 94 +Trinity Corporation 95 +Trowbridge 29 + +V + +Vedder 76 +Voltaire 53 + +W + +Waddell 279 +Wagner 219 +Wall Street 181 +Wanamaker 203 +Ward 55 +Wattles 268 +Wesley 170 +Westcott 79 +White, A.D. 52 +White, Bouck 192 +Wilberforce 56, 88 +William 63 +Wilson 169, 186 + +Y + +Yogi 255 +York 76 + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Profits of Religion, Fifth Edition +by Upton Sinclair + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROFITS OF RELIGION *** + +***** This file should be named 16470.txt or 16470.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/4/7/16470/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jayam Subramanian and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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