On the wild, lonely road between Jerusalem and Jericho the desperate plight of the stranger would arouse some sense of duty in the most primitive man. But when at breakfast this same modern man reads that, through the negligence of someone, ten workmen [sic] were mained for life or hurled into eternity -- well, what is that to him? He hardly pauses as he sips his coffee. His eyes and his attention pass to the next news item -- the rise in the price of wheat or the account of the great race. Even if he should own stock in the corporation in whose factories the unfortunate workmen [sic] had been employed, it would hardly occur to him that he was even remotely responsible for their injury or death.
-- J.S. Woodsworth, minister, preacher of the social gospel, and social reformer in early 20th century Canada, in My Neighbour (1911)
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