Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Part II-“The Cry of the Poor” by George Howard Gibson of Social Gospel

Share

Whoso stoppeth his ears
at the cry of the poor,
he also shall cry himself,
but shall not be heard.
-Proverbs 21:13
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday August 2, 1898
From Commonwealth, Georgia – George Howard Gibson Speaks

From the Appeal to Reason of July 30, 1898:

Cry of Poor by GHG Social Gospel Cwealth GA, AtR p4, July 30, 1898

[Part II of article by George Howard Gibson]

In Italy the bread riots in the last few weeks have been almost general and desperate enough to cast down the throne and government. The uprising in many portions of Italy took the form of looting the homes and business places of the wealthy. A millionaire miller in Minervino named Bantella was killed in a brutal manner after he had offered the mob a fortune for his life. His wife also was reported killed. From his window he scattered a thousand francs among the mob, but they could no longer be placated by charity. They destroyed his warehouses and littered the whole country around with his cornered grain.

They also corner wheat and sugar and oil and coal and lumber and houses and land and everything in America. And the masses here love liberty and their inalienable rights.

Force is no remedy. The torch and bomb may destroy the rich, but they can never emancipate the poor. “All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword”—the rich and poor together. Christ-love, brotherhood, unselfish voluntary association is the only way of salvation for both rich and poor. This is the word of prophecy, of warning, of entreaty which we send out today to all classes. Be brothers, live in peace, love one another; or be economic enemies and expect increasing selfishness and poverty that shall ultimate in awful war. It must be the feast of love (Rev. 19:7-9); or the feast of vultures (Rev. 19:17-18).

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Part II-“The Cry of the Poor” by George Howard Gibson of Social Gospel”

Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Part I-“The Cry of the Poor” by George Howard Gibson of Social Gospel

Share

The needy shall not always be forgotten;
the expectation of the poor
shall not forever perish.
-Psalm 9:18
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Monday August 1, 1898
From Commonwealth, Georgia – George Howard Gibson Speaks

From the Appeal to Reason of July 30, 1898:

Cry of Poor by GHG Social Gospel Cwealth GA, AtR p4, July 30, 1898

[Part I of article by George Howard Gibson]

“When a man finds himself going down and down, without power to mend things, freezing, hungering and dying by inches, he’s sure to get desperate, In the last week I’ve been an atheist, anarchist and devil. I’ve sat here and cried out that there was no God except for the rich. I’ve said that if I could get down stairs I’d burn and kill. I’ve looked at my wife and children with murder In my heart.”

Those words were spoken to a reporter for the New York World by a sick man, living with his wife and children in a dingy room on the third floor of a miserable tenement house in New York City. There are millions in like circumstances, landless, homeless, destitute—and they are wealth producers. They are workers, but they must beg for a job and pay tribute for each day’s work when men choose to hire them.

When products cannot be sold at a net profit, the workers can get nothing to do and have no income to live on.

Read another item clipped from a New York paper of about the same date:

At a dinner party given in New York the other day to thirty-three persons, the bill was $6,500, or $200 a plate.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Part I-“The Cry of the Poor” by George Howard Gibson of Social Gospel”