The Grange advance., 1873-12-31
UNION KNOWLEDcE POwE


living at his business, is spent in looking
up old cases, in talking with clients, in
writing papers. and collecting evidence,
and if he is able to devote any time to gen.
eral reading and the culture of his mind,
1t must be by taking care Of the stray mo-
ments-the odds and ends Of time pre-
sumo it is much the same with the gentle
men of the other professions.
But, says another, If had the
WISDOM OF SOLOMON
himself, it would not harvest an acre of
my grain. might read and study till doom's
day and that wouldn't do my plowing If
| could talk philosophy and science in forty
languages to these wheat buyers, they
wouldn't give me the fraction of a cent
more for my wheat" This may be all true,
but it is taking one sided and extreme
view of the matter. The man who shares
his labor pretty nearly evenly between
mind and body, is really the most success
full, the most happy and the most contented
man.
Admitting then, that we are ready to
| take hold Of this matter in earnest. what
is the next important thing to do: In my
judgment it is to ascertain where
WE OURSELVES HAVE BEEN AT FAULT AND IN
ERROR.
! IN the past. There can be no improvement
until we know just where we have been at
fault, then we shall see wherein we are to
improve. It is one Of the infirmities of hu-
man nature to take the blame from our own
shoulders, and try to place it upon the
back Of some one else. This is wrong. It
is unjust to others, and it is unjust to our
selves. The best friend that Heaven ever
gives US is the one who kindly points out to
us our faults and our errors. The sick
man who knows just what is the matter of
Of him, and just where the difficulty is, will
be able to apply the proper remedy If
your machine is out Of order, the first thing
you do is to find out where the trouble is :;
to ascertain the exact seat of the difficulty
is one-half the cure.
Now, that we ourselves have been very
much to blame for the present unsatisfac-
tory state of affairs, is undoubtedly the
| fact in the case. When the farmers say
that they have been oppressed and robbed
by gigantic corporations and merciless mo-
nopolists, that others have reaped the re-
ward Of their labor, they tell us in the
same breath and by these same words that
they themselves have been negligent, that
they have been careless in looking after
their own interests, and that they have
been unfaithful husbandmen. Gentlemen,
why have you permitted these things !?
Why have you allowed these men to plum
der you? Are you not vastly in the ma
jority in this country? Do you not hold
the power in your own hands if you desire
to use it: If you do not use it, whose
fault is it If men do not look after their
own interests, who will look after them
You have discovered who will look after
them, and you have not discovered it a
moment zoo soon. A little longer and you
would have been relieved from looking
after anything at ALL
Now if there were six men in a field hav.
ing job of work to do, and one Of them
should say he did not propose to do his
share, and thereupon order the others to d<
his part, and they went on and did it as he
commanded, and at night he drew th'
money and gave the other FIVE men one-hal
of it, keeping the other half himself, ane
they went home cursing him as an unjus
man, IN extortioner, a plunderer, . robber
living upon the labor of others, wha
would you say of the five men who had per
mitted this outrage upon themselves?
, tell you no man has right to permit an
other man to cheat him, any more thai
that other man has right to do the cheat
ing. Neither have we q right to temp
others to do dishonest acts by our loos
and careless manner of dealing with them
The honestest man that lives has need t
K pray daily "Lead me not into temptation
, but deliver me from evil" By our loos
and negligent manner Of doing bushes
, We frequently invite imposition. This
not just to ourselves or to others. If y