The Iron Heel by Jack London Read Free Book Online Page A

Holy Writ unequivocally assert the right of property in slaves, together with the usual incidents to that right. The right to buy and sell is clearly stated. Upon the whole, then, whether we consult the Jewish policy instituted by God himself, or the uniform opinion and practice of mankind in all ages, or the injunctions of the New Testament and the moral law, we are brought to the conclusion that slavery is not immoral. Having established the point that the first African slaves were legally brought into bondage, the right to detain their children in bondage follows as an indispensable consequence. Thus we see that the slavery that exists in America was founded in right."
    It is not at all remarkable that this same note should have been struck by the Church a generation or so later in relation to the defence of capitalistic property. In the great museum at Asgard there is a book entitled "Essays in Application," written by Henry van Dyke. The book was published in 1905 of the Christian Era. From what we can make out, Van Dyke must have been a churchman. The book is a good example of what Everhard would have called bourgeois thinking. Note the similarity between the utterance of the Charleston Baptist Association quoted above, and the following utterance of Van Dyke seventy years later: "The Bible teaches that God owns the world. He distributes to every man according to His own good pleasure, conformably to general laws."
    "I did not know," the Bishop murmured faintly. His face was pale, and he seemed suffering from nausea.
    "Then you have not protested?"
    The Bishop shook his head.
    "Then the Church is dumb to-day, as it was in the eighteenth century?"
    The Bishop was silent, and for once Ernest forbore to press the point.
    "And do not forget, whenever a churchman does protest, that he is discharged."
    "I hardly think that is fair," was the objection.
    "Will you protest?" Ernest demanded.
    "Show me evils, such as you mention, in our own community, and I will protest."
    "I'll show you," Ernest said quietly. "I am at your disposal. I will take you on a journey through hell."
    "And I shall protest." The Bishop straightened himself in his chair, and over his gentle face spread the harshness of the warrior. "The Church shall not be dumb!"
    "You will be discharged," was the warning.
    "I shall prove the contrary," was the retort. "I shall prove, if what you say is so, that the Church has erred through ignorance. And, furthermore, I hold that whatever is horrible in industrial society is due to the ignorance of the capitalist class. It will mend all that is wrong as soon as it receives the message. And this message it shall be the duty of the Church to deliver."
    Ernest laughed. He laughed brutally, and I was driven to the Bishop's defence.
    "Remember," I said, "you see but one side of the shield. There is much good in us, though you give us credit for no good at all. Bishop Morehouse is right. The industrial wrong, terrible as you say it is, is due to ignorance. The divisions of society have become too widely separated."
    "The wild Indian is not so brutal and savage as the capitalist class," he answered; and in that moment I hated him.
    "You do not know us," I answered. "We are not brutal and savage."
    "Prove it," he challenged.
    "How can I prove it . . . to you?" I was growing angry.
    He shook his head. "I do not ask you to prove it to me. I ask you to prove it to yourself."
    "I know," I said.
    "You know nothing," was his rude reply.
    "There, there, children," father said soothingly.
    "I don't care--" I began indignantly, but Ernest interrupted.
    "I understand you have money, or your father has, which is the same thing--money invested in the Sierra Mills."
    "What has that to do with it?" I cried.
    "Nothing much," he began slowly, "except that the gown you wear is stained with blood. The food you eat is a bloody stew. The blood of little children and of strong men is dripping from your very roof-beams. I can close my eyes, now, and