Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-04-21
.eaehers, Gorp,,,,,.
W. E. PARKER, Editor.
Thought and Labor.

lolOIdUlC dIc tulllkcTS anu workers.
Splendid achievements are often the
results of severe poverty and terrible
necessity. Every benefit and con-
venience of civilized society comes
through thought and labor. Every
invention of man has required hard
thinking and severe muscular labor
to bring it to perfection and availa-
bility. Let us enumerate a few arti-
Giles of prime necessity that we may
have a clearer idea of the reciprocal
relations existing between thought
and labor and our comfort and hap
piness. The food we eat, the gar
ments we wear and the books and
papers we read are the products Of
thought and patient and persevering
toll. The history of the human race
has been one of steady intellectual
advancement, and thought and labor
have been the instrumentality. There
is majesty in the operations of the
immortal mind, especially in its high
err developments, that gives faint
reflection of its celestial origin
Each succeeding generation may be
wiser than it's predecessor, because
it is the inheritor Of all the knowl-
edge, wisdom and achievement of it's
predecessors. The discoveries of the
last three centuries, and especially of
the last century, are forcible illus
tration of the power of thought and
benefcence of labor.
Every person is the recipient
of the bounty of thought and labor.
1t is wrong-it is ungrateful to dcs-
pise labor or the laborer, however
humble the occupation he follows
The bod carrier labors in humble
way, and we pass by him without
thinking that he Is a benefactor of
mankind; but he is, for the stately
mansion could not be built without
his assistance. Every person that
labors in some useful calling contri-
butes to the wealth of the country in
which he lives, and helps to give
strength to the State, and he is an cx-
ample of practical patriotism. Then
how unreasonable, how unwise, how
unjust to conclude that a man who,
through iron-handed industry, sup
ports himself, yields a margin of
profit by his labor to his more
wealthy employer, helps to augment
the sum Of taxable property of the
State, such taxes by their wise distri-
button returning to all the citizens of
the State through the beneficent ma
chinery of government and institu,
tons Of learning; how unjust to with
hold the social benefits due him from
the very society he helps by his labor
to sustain,
We often admire tho beautiful
mechanism and perfect workings of
a watch, not thinking that thought
and careful labor are required in it's
manufacture. Every production of
art, the beautiful and useful, the PLAIN
and useful, has required thought
and labor to bring it forth.
Take, for example, an ocean steam
er, as it bears proudly on its course
in the very teeth of a gale, success
fully riding ont the storm, bringing
its precious freight of humanity safe
ly into the desired haven where 10y
ing hearts are anXiously waiting to
greet their loved ones. Is there
nothing due the builder of a seawor-
thy vessel but the money considera-
ton he receives? 1t is meet to be-
stow upon the maker Of such a vessel
the tribute of the heart as well as the
tribute of the hand. Is there moth
ing but the tribute of the hand
due Morse for his grand climax
of the 18th oentVry-the telegraph?
Is there no heart in the message we
intrust to the bright wings of the
lightning messenger? Has the COM
mercial world no tribute to offer but
clinking coin for the richly freighted
argosies that ply between the Orient
and the Occident? Has this genera
ton no gratitude to express to the
man Of sorrows who graced the earth
for 33 years and went about doing
good?
He was no idler who discovered
the law of gravitation, and proclaim
ed to the world that the starry host
move in their appointed orbits in
obedience to this law. About 800
years ago the genius of a Copernicus
exploded the old theory that the sun,
moon and stars revolved about the
earth, AS q common center, in an end
less train.
Whatever benefits we receive thro'
science, the arts, and through gov
eminent, we may place these bene-
fits to the credit of the thinkers and
workers of the world. What is the
inference to be drawn from all this?
Simply that there never was an in
stance of individual or national great
ness without thought and labor back
of it. Capital is accumulated, homes
bcautifed and fame acquired through
thought and labor, What is money?
Nothing but the representative of
thought and labor. Greenbacks and
coin are not wealth IN themselves
not so truly so as food and raiment;
but to facilitate commercial transac-
tons they are the most convenient
mediums to be had, hence their as
sumed value.
But the millennium will never dawn
so long as the majority of mankind
regard the boarding of wealth as the
chief end of their earthly existence.
There are some other possessions in
this mercenary world that are as pre-
cious as metallic coin, and green
backs. Nothing but thought and
labor, and the intellectual develop
ment and moral culture which are
their legitimate fruits, will stamp
the currency of the world at its true
value. The names of Henry, Adams,
Franklin and Jefferson as sages, and
Washington, Greene, Hamilton and
Warren, who combined the sage and
hero in their composition, are not
adored by grateful country for the
houses, lands and other evidences of
material prosperity they possessed,
but for the intelligence, integrity and
patriotism that guided them through
their struggle for liberty for them
selves and posterity.
When we consider the beneficence
of the government under which we