Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-06-11
Labor IN Civilization.
fnu Inn w A Ihannr

10y nun. W IL N'ShNs-l
Mr.. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: He
was dry wit, DC else was possessed of an
! aff1uent mind, who, when stepping eff the
cars with his friend one day, said. as he
pulled cut his watch, 81 have just five min
utes to spare tell me all about the battle OF
| Waterloo" And presume that | should be
as absurd tonight as he vas in his request, II
| should ask OF ynu to expect me TO pre-
sent to you ell my views upon labor in its
bearings upon civilization in the thirty min
utes to which am limited. 1t Is question
which would require not only thirty minutes,
but an hour, and even day TO present, and
| it is question which has already taken cen
turtles for the world of intelligence and edu-
cation to think about and to deliberate upon.
| Therefore, tonight, can only deal in what
are called glittering generalties."
The only typical representation which his.
tory tells US the Almighty ever gave US Of
civilization was given US n the typical man
Adam. And when he had forgotten his re-
ligious vows to his Creator. when he had for.
gotten the laws of the government Of his
Creator, and when he had eaten Of the tree
of knowledge and acquired an education, the
Almighty sent him forth into the world with
the finishing touch-the last pillar of eiviliza-
tion-the command that he should earn his
bread by the sweat of his brow. In this
| typical man Adam, then, Wa have the typical
| educated labor, educated religion, religious
| education, religious labor, laborious educa-
cation, laborious religion-each entwined
with the others.
We are boasting in this, the nineteenth
century, that our civiliZ alton is at its climax,
that it is at its meridian. Batas Ralph Waldo
Emerson says: 1--WE are only at the cock
Growing and at the early dawn of our civil
izatien" Why, the old inhabitants of Baby
lon, as they looked up st their massive walls,
at their TEMPLES, their dwellings, and the
surroundings OF their stately city, vaunted
themselves upon their civilization, and they
| imagined in their minds thst they saw the
| glorious sun Of civilization and enlightenment
| at that time st the meridian. The old
Romans. az they gathered around the arena
and watched the bloody contest between the
| bleeding Christians and the bloodthirsty lions.
prided themselves upon their civilization, and
| imagined that they saw the sun of enlighten-
ment and the sun OF civilization at its merid-
| ian. Old England, at the very age when her
people wers indulging in the most vicious
acts, and the lowest aud vilest kind OF I'M
aginations and ongersations-whsn her kings
were despots, and her mobiles were petty
despots and her common people slaves of the
soil-vaunted herself that she was then in her
civilization occupying the meridian, at its
hight. But It was rot until the horny
handed. muscular sons of Labor. coming from
the fields and the farms of England, and
! from the hills and the rocky slens Of Scotland,
with the Bible Of their religion under their
arm, and with the grammar of their education
in their hand, and with sublime faith IN
their powers for self-government, crossed the
wild Atlssl.ic, and by the sweat of their
brow turned up tie virgin soil of New Eng
land and wrote across their banner that
Labor conqusrs all 1T was not until then
that the child OF enlightenment and civiliza-
ton began its iafaatile cries in the cradle OF
Liberty.
The absence CT labor always indicates a
state Of barbarism, and the nearer we ap-
proach to the universal in labor, the more
| sublime and the more perfect is our civiliza-
ton. The dividing line between the savage
aud the civilized man simply lies in the fact
his mouth-he labors for nothing beyond
that. He dreams not of the future greatness
of his family he cares not for his wives or
his children. They in turn perform their
individual labors to the extent that they I'LL
their mouths with their daily bread. But
the civilized man labors to accumulate. He
is not satisfied with the dollar which repre-
sents breakfast the dollar which represents
a dinner, the dollar which represents a
supper, the dollar which represents lodg-
ing, but he must lay by another dollar. which
is the accumulation of his labor. He thinks
of the education Of the child growing into
manhood. He looks forward to the advance
Inent of society around him. lie anticipates
the silvery- haired old age, when his limbs
totter and his muscles can ne longer labor.
That is the kind of labor which advances civ.
ilization.
Labor does not mean the simple exercise
Of the muscles. 1t means the intelligent ex-
ercise Of the muscles. Our young men who
Al oft A- do
and go through with the examination, have
little idea of what civilization and enliehten-
ment is. Theirs is the dream of graduation.
For what? To enter forsooth the bar. Soil
their lily fingers? no, indeed. The bar is
open for educated gentlemen, and they must
go there. Or else they must have upon them
the robes Of the holy church, OF as they pass
out OF the portals of the university they
must take the scalpel or the knife and in.
struments OF the surgeon, or engage in the
profession Of physics. They do not seem to
t'reaiize that with all their education crammed
into them; with all their appreciation of the
classics with all their knowledge of the
La.ins aud the Greeks; with all their under
standing of the stars above us, and of the
rocky ribs beneath us-.hey do not seem to
understand and realize with all this educa-
ton that it is still honorable to labor with
the hands. 1t is true that if mans natural
bent takes MIN 20 tne Gaining OF Inc law OF
to the calling of the physician, or, il there
.bc diviner call that places him in the sacred
desk of the church, that it is his duty to use
his education and accept the station; but
otherwise great field Of usefulness is open
for the exercise of his muscles. The college
graduate who goes forth into the world
with the idea that his education is given to
him to avoid labor is simply exemplifyiDg
the philosophy Of Plate, who taught US
that there was no use of astronomy but to
elevate the thought and dignity the intel.
lect he taught us that mathematics were of
no use to us except in so far as they trained
the mind. He could not, and did not appre-
ciate the fact that astronomy and the knowl-
edge of it could teach us to pillow the waves Of
the sea, and measure cur distance from our
port he did not realize that it was quite
useful to apply mathematics to the manu-.
factnre of the steam engine. That was the
philosophy of Plato; but the philosophy of
Bacon is that nothing is advantageous to a
man which does not result in fruit, and the
education which is crammed into a man, and
who, as he goes forth into the world filed
with that education, is ashamed to work, and