The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-04-19
evening State Snltrnat.
TO wORKINGMEN.

Great truths grow and are not made 10
hand, like the clothes which are sold in the
shops, nor are they discovered all at once
but are brought to light little by little like
the hidden treasures, the better part ol
which remain forever under ground. We
can remember when it was necessary by
argument and speech to maintain the dig
nifty and honorableness of labor; to do SC
now is out of fashion and unnecessary, ex-
cept occasionally with those of such small
pretensions as belong to men of thin blood
and weaker heads. A great change was
wrought when workers began not only to
work but to think still how many men
to-day knop that labor is honorable, not in
proportion to the rate at aohich it is paid
for, but Just as it is more or less useful
Few, very few, indeed; yet this test is Sc
simple as to be within the easy compre-
hension of the most inefficient workman
who plies the poorest trade, or does the
commonest drudgery for the smallest pit
tance; but not one in thousand, who
ought to be lifted up and made
better by this truth, knows it at
all, or if dimly suspecting the truth,
they have utterly failed to recognize it
for what it is worth aud right here it is
necessary that new departure should be
taken from the errors of the past, and a
new advance be made towards the light of
the future. We do not want less work,
but more thought. Labor has no more
right to indulgence than laziness. Virtue,
vice, poverty, wealth, freedom and servi-
tude have each their opportunities, and
each will be judged, thrust down, or lifted
up as they are improved. The worst vice
may become the grandest virtue ; poverty
and riches may change place, and must if
the drone becomes the working bee of the
hive. We as workers have right to speak
to you as workipgmen, nor have you any
right to close your ears to what we may
say therefore it is that we tell you plainly
that your present duty is to see, recognize
and act upon the truth to which we have
referred, that your labor is honorable only
as it is useful.
The man who works with his hands has
a right to higher station but if it is to
come by mere changing of places with
other men, then it were as we'll that it
should not come at ALL In other words,
if his improved condition is the result of
somebody else's being put down, then he
may as we'll stay where he is. His true
elevation comes when be ascends acith
others, and not upon others. He must
rise by his own improvement, and not by
trampling some one down. To achieve
this grand result, labor must plant itself
on higher and frmer ground, where it can
breathe a better air, and have a broader
outlook upon the world.
Two men born of the same parentage,
rocked in the same cradle by the mother
who loved and nursed them both, started in
life together. They began at the bench,
and ended SO differently. The one Jared
sumptuously every day one with bis
family sat in the free seats in the gallery ;
the other had his cushioned pew, central /,
on the main AISLE When they bought
butchers meat, one carried home shank,
for the same reason that the other chose
the sirloin, because he was able to pay
for it. One filled stations of trust and
profit to himself and honor to his children !;
the other, from his humble lot, only ad-
mired what his brother possessed-both
were honorable men of equal breadth
of brain, strength of will and pow
er of muscle-both worked with equal
industry, but there is an infinite chasm,
separating between them, deep and i'm
passibe to-day, to beinfioitely exaggerated
in their children. One swings the ham,
mer on the anvil where iron is wrought,
with the same purpose, zeal and earnest
ness that the other uses his power of pen,
voice and head. The difference in the re-
wards which they gathered for themselves
and their progeny is the result of the false
and vicious measure which honors labor
according to the price it brings, rather
han the good it does. The man that was
not clad in fine linen or Jared sumptuously
every day because he ever spoke word +,
declared truth or vindicated cause by
which humanity was made better, or an in
dividual man was elevated. These two sep
arated when one clung to the hard drudgery
of physical work, while the other aban-
doning it, placed himself on the level
where charlatans as well as hon.
est men thrive on injustice and
hard Determinations. Shanks and flanks,
it may be, make as supple muscles, as
round bone and thick blood, as sirloin
Real comfort and domestic peace is quite
as likely to be found in humble dwelling
as in the palace, while God is quite as
likely to hear and see the man who sits on
N hard banab as him mho cultiuatou bic