The Labor enquirer., 1884-06-07
Lesson From Nature.

Lesson From Nature.
Editor Labor Enquirer.
SAN Francisco, June 2.-The drones of
society have found it necessary from
time to time, IN order to reconcile those
whom they have robbed out of the
fruits of their labor, to invent and pre-
sent some plausible excuse to justify their
robbery.
They at first take possession by means
of physical force, but as it requires the
continual employment of force to hold
on to their plunder, they lessen their
task by calling to their aid their talented
hireling writer's, preachers, politicians
lawyers, who by means of sophistry,
chicanery, or fattery, lead the poor, de-
frauded laborer to believe that it is his
natural allotment that in the arrange
ment of society they regard him as the
most important factor, that he is "the
noblest work of God," that Tabor is
noble and holy" etc., etc. They sing
him into silence with songs about the
hoary-handed sons of toll, "who plow
and SOW, who reap and mo W." while in
his silent slumber OF ignorance he fails
to see that the loafers take the wheat and
leave him but the chat, but in order to
reconcile him to his fodder they fatter
him upon his nobility, his holy and hon
orable profession, his manly dependence
and above all his honesty.
In order to fully stimulate him to acts
of unceasing activity and convince him
that labor-drudgerY-is but natural
and amusing pastime, the poet draws a
picture from nature which is held before
his befogged vision from his earliest
childhood days until he becomes crooked
and crippled through excessive toll and
old age. The example of the busy bee is
buzzed into his ears until he begins to
believe the story from the robbers stand
point, in the same way that he is
crammed with other falsehoods of their
invention.
'How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour?
By gathering honey every day
From every opening flower
The objective point of this natural
precept or example is to impress upon
the minds of the honest toilers the i'm
portance of gathering uRand storing the
products of his labor in the same NAH
,ner as the honey bee "labors hard to
store it we'll"
Now, if this example was given him
with ayiew to stimulate his.energies, to
gather up and store his producte while
youth and vigor supplied his body with
abundance of energy, so that when old
age overlook him he would have ease
and abundance of stores to maintain
him, it would be good one, but this is
not their object.
The most singular and unaccountable
part of it is that he takes their advice !;
he does gather and store up the "sweet
food he makes" in the storehouses they
furnish him with, but all for their use
and benefit. The results that attend his
efforts are identical with that OF, the bee !;
he is robbed of the fruits of his labor.
The robber rich are very unfortunate
in pointing us to the example of the
honey bee, for we are no longer so stu
pidly ignorant as to be unable to ana
lyze the case fully and determine the
object in view.
The honey bee, in countries where the
seasons change from warm summer to
very cold winter, through natural in
stinct and experience, has learned that,
in order to live through the winter it
will be compelled to gather the honey in
the summer when the flowers are in
bloom, and store it up in nests. Undis-
turbed by man, they could build their
own "cells" or nests, but in order to Sc
cure the honey. man presents them with
cell, or warehouse already built. Into
this warehouse the bees deposit their
precious burdens, until it is stored to its
fullest capacity Man comes along when
the warehouse is full, drives the bees out,
presents them with an empty warehouse
and removes the fall one.
"The bees would die" he reasons, "if
deprived of food entirely. 1 will
therefore give them some cheap sugar or
molasses in order 10 keep them alive,
SO as to be able to gather more honey for
me in the spring." ..- n. r.
Now, fellow-toilers this is just what
the drones Of society, who exploit the.
laborer, are engagedin doing under the
wages system every day You gather