The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1874-03-28
Is LABOR DIGNIFIED?

Who has not heard. read or sung Of the
dignity of labor Tributes have been paid
q It in story and in song by the high and
the lowly, 10y the peasant and the prince.
In the pulpit. on the forum, and in the
Senate Chamber, divlnes. philosophers,
and statesmen have time and again grown
eloquent in its defence, rloriied the man
who earned his living by honest toll, until
1T required no fervent imagination to sup
pose that the curse had been removed,
and the golden rule becomes the guide Of
human actions. But in this matter, as in
all others connected with our every day
experience, 1t viii be found upon inyesti-
CATION that there exists vast difference
between profession and practice, between
the fertile Imagination of the enthusiast,
and the stern realities Of life While We
have no desire To screen the guilty, truth
compels the admission that workingmen
themselves are in great measure respon-
sIbe for the contempt with which they are
frequently regarded, by pandering daily
70 the vItIated sentiment Of which they
- loudly complain.
How frequently have we heard the *
preston II am only q ,corktEqmdr. As if
that tact should form an impossible barrier
to social recognition or advancement
only worklngman, forsouth Do those
who give utterance "a such statements
realize for a moment what the world would
be without her workingmen Did they
ever realize that it Is to their labor the
capitalist Is indebted f1r every dollar he
possesses that if the scriptural injunc-
tiou that those who do not work should
not eat, was literally carried out-one Of
Two things must came to pass number
OF laborers would be materially increased,
OF the boundaries Of our cemeteries would
soon be materially enlarged. On the con
trary We believe they have seldom given
the question moment consideration sell
dom realized that they have been helping
to fashion that corrupt public opinion which
stamps the bali NC inferiority on the fist Of
the toller, and guages a man by the ex-
tent OF his possessions, rather than BY the
means by which they were acquired, or
the moral worth or character Of their pos
sessions iorgetful II the fact that
Honor 81 shame from nn condition rise
that while
A king NAV make h-Itrd knight
lord. duke and "a that
All honest man ANN NE might
mans mau for a thar.
How few workingmen for example would
not feel embarrassed even while listening
to a discourse on THE DIGNITY OF La
Dor, or an invocation 70 that God, who
made Of one blood all nations of the earth,
should they happen to rub a cloth coat
Or be brought i'll contact with perfumed
purchased Now whence this feeling III
country like our own One piece % NOR
tally ia awe Of another-who III few
short years will be good for worms-not
On account Ut physical lmperfections, for
the probabilities are ten to one that the
mechanic is the peer of the child of for
tune IL thar respect, not on account Of
superior intellectual endowments, but
simply because by a process of robbery,
justified by Law % the fruits Of the labor
Of the producer have been transferred to
the pockets Of the drone, and that that
society which pirates 50 ghbly about the
dignity Of labor" grades its member
ship by the extent OF such robbery, and
bows i'll obsequious submission to its die
tates
But we have no desire to be misunder-
stood We wish 10 see the dignity Of
labor exemphhed only in becoming man
ner There is as much difference between
the braggadocio of the bully (Which is
sometimes falsely claimed for independ
ence) and the sterling independence Of an
honest manhood, as there is between an
angel OF darkness and an angel Of light
The former is vice to be stunned, the
latter virtue to be cultivated by all who
expect to succeed in hfes great race. The
one is the companion of the coward and
knave, while the other IS the attendant of
a true manhood The braggart is a fraud
on society, and with him honor or truth
can have no utilization The underlying
principles to which We have referred, and
for the development and extension Of
which We hope, is Of another and far
different charaster, blind subserviency
and reckless, uniustlhaDle demand being
alike foreign to their spirit.
The Independence We desire to see pre-
vail Is a manly, unobtrusive Independence,
which springs from moral rectitude, from
a correct appreciation of the genius of our
and the respect that Is due to
those who earn their living by honest toll
a sterling, unpurehasable Independence,
which will eventually revolutionize society,
and secure ami equitable distribution Of
the products of labor.
Vioiarlon of the Eight Hour Svskem