The Call of the Almighty-Dollar

The Rev. Dr. Jowett has left Birmingham and gone to New York.

He didn’t want to, but a call from God and a big increase in salary pointed his saintly way.

He got only £1,000 a year in Birmingham, because that city makes cheap idols for expensive export. He gets £2,400 in New York, plus a motor-car and a Fifth-avenue residence rented at £1,600 yearly.

I wish I could get a call from God. My telephone number is 5s. 13/4/11, Attenborough.

Before his departure, but after his feed with Georgie Rix (at which there was considerable Wettin), the rev. gent. protested that the New York stipend out not to be larger than the Birmingham “screw.” Once in America, however, he found the cost of living so high that, in his opinion, Jesus himself would require £2,400 of Caesar’s image, a £1,600 house on Fifth-avenue, and a motor-car.

This explanation aims a blow at the Tariff Reformers. All the Liberal papers therefore have given it prominence.

Dr. Jowett wasn’t a Presbyterian in Birmingham; he was some other brand of Christian. But the call specifically mentioned the Fifth-avenue Presbyterian Church as the custodians of the Almighty dollar, so Jowett did what John Burns, Ll D. or Keir Hardie, or any other wise Christian would have done for less than £4,000 a year. He changed his label.

Fellow workers, the moral for you is this:

Stick to your job, if you have one, and be content with your wages when you get any. Your reward will come after death, in the shape of a nice, new, six pedal harp. Verily, it is easier for a needle to go through the eye of a camel than for a poor man to pass the New York Custom House.

A. Hoskyns