Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-03-23
Intelligence and Labor.


favorable to labor has almost past away.
We no long or argue that the more man
tb;nts tho iess he is inclined to work, nor
fear that the m> terial interests of our
country will suffer through intellectual
cultivation. We acknt "leuge that we'll
educated man may work a. wen DIS MS
neighbor who can hardly sig- MS name
and we even go step further, al. aoihl'
that certain amount of educatA VI is
necessary to secure the best kind of laL or
Yet we are still far from approaching thu
full effect of mental progress upon indus
trial employments, or estimating the vast
debt which the latter owe to the former
Intellectual culture, so far from unfit
ting men and women for exertiOn, actual
ly excites them to it. Ignorance is the
chief cause of Incidence, and they are
rarely separated. Savage tribes know but
little of the benefits that industry can
secure, and, having scarcely a motive be-
yond that Of appeasing hunger, are pro-
portionately idle. Educate them-show
them the superiority of house to a wig
wan, and of a comfortable dress to
blanket-and the industry which can
secure these benefits Immediately begins
to expand. Each fresh accession of civil
lied life demands a fresh accession of
labor; and III proportion as the results of
industry become more and more ap-
parent, industry itself will more and more
develop.
Education benefits industry, not alone
by exciting and increasing it, 1t has an
equally direct and powerful influence up
on it in raising and improving its quality.
bow is the soil made most productive?
Not by an unthinking routine Of drudgery
upon it, but rather by a knowledge of its
nature and requirements; study Of the
laws which govern vegetation; a thought
full consideration of the relations which
subsist between human needs and the
powers Of agriculture to supply them.
The success of manufactures is due al
most wholly to the busy thoughts that are
ever planning improvements; making new
inventions; constructing machinery; COM
bining and regulating labor, and adapt
ing all the various means within reach to
the highest and most productive ends.
Commerce, too, owes its very existence to
Judgment, discretion and knowledge the
merchant possesses, the more certain we
may be of his ultimate success
The same is true of those occupations
WI ri a1 IN dor
wholly manual. The mechanic or laborer
who thinks out the meaning of his work,
| who enters into its spirit, who deyises
improved plans for its execution, and
sends thought with every stroke, has
| tenfold the value of one who only be-
slows physical strength upon his work.
In the province of domestic service, every
housekeeper knows that the great lack is
Of mental, not bodily, power. There are
plenty of girls who have the requisite
muscle, but few who can furnish the judy
ment, care, forethought and economy
which are so needful in the kitchen and
the nursery. Each laborer, whatever be
his sphere of action, needs to understand
the laws which govern his department Of
labor, and so to adapt his efforts as to con-
form with them. If he does not, his work
must be to that extent unproductive and
unsuccessful. These laws, however, are
so entwined with those of other branches,
and so dependent upon those of life in
general, that thorough education upon
broad basis is the best preparation for
any kind of labor, and a continued mental
discipline the best safeguard for its sue
cess. No industry can afford to slight
the intellect; no man or woman who is a
mere machine can ever give out his full
value to the world, no nation or COM
munity can ever emerge from Incidence,
except in so far as they emerge from ig-
norance. In this country, where the
opportunities of education are so numer-
Gus and so widely spread, it would hardly
seem necessary to urge their acceptance;
yet it is Of the highest Importance to our
national prosperity and personal we'll
being that we all recognize the intimate
connection between the growth of intelli-
gence and the value of labor. -Phil0deJ-
phta Ledger.