Socialism and the Pope

their concern, but their own pockets. Monstrous efforts all- faithfully detailed and checked in Hibben's book- were made to save Beecher, "the star lecturer" of the Redpath Lecture Bureau, including blackmailing, bullying, and the destruction of the records of Beecher's church in Laurenceburgh: mutilating the files of Indiana newspapers kept in the public libraries to get rid of evidence of ancient controversies; spiriting away servants who had been employed in the Tilton household.

Who shall say that this covering of tracks to save the reputation of the "Great Preacher" did not succeed? Not only did his "disciples" save their investments, but they created the Beecher myth that grew and multiplied to his death, and long afterwards, the myth of the Great and Godly Preacher. The rise, evolution, and demolition of this myth, is social history. It symbolizes the place of the Protestant Church, and of the popular Protestant preacher, in class society. His function is the perpetuation of parasitism. He is opposed to Socialism, because Socialism means the abolition of the wages system, the passing of profits, and the doom of the parasite and his panderers.

For these reasons, Big Business Protestantism identifies itself with the Papal Denunciations of Socialism.