Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1880-06-18
seleeted Misfellaug.
Bob Ingersoll on Labor.


lngcrsoll is not wholly given up to lee
lures on theological subjects. He delivered
recently an eloquent address on Labor" at
Boston, from which we append the follow
ing extract:
Every man ought to be willing to pay for
what he gets. He ought to desire to give
two dollars worth of work for one dollar Is
no honest man. The man who wants the
toll of others to such an extent that their
lives are burdens is utterly heartless. The
toll Of the world should continually de-
crease. OF what use are your inventions II
no burdens are lifted from industry-if no
additional comforts find their way to the
homes of laborY
Why should labor I'LL the world with
wealth and live in want?
Every labor-saving machine should help
the whole world. Every one should tend
to shorten the hours of labor.
Reasonable labor Is the source of Joy.
To work for wife or child, to toll for those
you love, is happiness, provided you can
make them happy. But TO work like a
slave-to see your wife and children in
rags--to sit at d table where food is coarse
to work all day, and throw your bones on a
miserable bed at night--to live without leis-
ure, without rest, without making those you
love comfortable and happy-this is not liv-
ing-it is dying, slow, lingering crucifxion.
The hours of labor should be shortened.
With the vast and wonderful improvements
of the nineteenth century, there should be
not only the necessarics of life for those
who toll but comforts and luxuries as well.
What is reasonable price for labor2 l
answer: Such price as will enable man
to lay by something for his declining years I;
so that I've can have his own home, his own
firesidc-so that he can have the feelings of
q man
| sympathize with every honest effort
made by the children Of labor 10 improve
their condition. That is poorly governed
country in which those who do the most
have the least There is something wrong
when men have TO beg for leave TO toll We
are not yet civilized people. When we
are, pauperism and crime will vanish from
our land.
There is one thing, however, Of which
am glad and proud, and that is, that society
in our country is not petriicd that the
poor arc not always poor, The children Of
the poor Of this generation may and proba-
bly, will be the rich Of the next. The sons
of the rich of this generation may be the
poor Of the next; 50, after all, the rich fear
and the poor hope.
II is the glory of the United States that
the poor man may take his son upon his
knee, and say "My son, all the avenues Of
distinction are open TO you. You can rise.
There is no station, no position, TO which
you may not aspire. The poverty Of your
father win be no milestone around your
neck. The public schools are open 10 you.
For you there are education, honor, fame
and prosperity"
These thoughts render holy every drop
Of sweat that rolls down the face Of honest
toll
sympathize with the wanderer, with
the vagrant out Of employment, with the
sad, weary men who are seeking for work.
When see one Of these men, poor and
friendless--no matter how bad heis-I think
that somebody loved him once-that he was
once held In the arms Of mother-that he
slept beneath her loving eyes and Weakened
In the light Of her smile. see him in the
cradle, listening 70 lulabies, sung soft and
low, aud his little face is dimpled as though
by the rosy fingers Of Joy. And then think
Of the strange and winding paths--the weary
roads that he has Travelled from that mothers
arms 10 yagrancy and want.
There should be labor and food for all.
We invent We take advantage Of the
forces u nature. We cnslayc the winds
and waves. We put shackles on the unseen
powers. These slaves should release from
bondage all the children u men.