The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-07-28
WORK AS A SAFEGUARD.

WORK AS A SAFEGUARD. : -
The various schemes promulgated by
social scientists, philanthropists and
labor agitators for ameliorating the con-
dition of mankind agree in one particu-
lar, however widely they may differ in
others. They are all alike in holding
that the period of labor must be short
ened. Indeed, the entire reform move
ment turns, according to most of them,
upon this point, the assumption or argu-
ment being that other problems now
vexing the world will gradually solve
themselves when working hours are
reduced to a minimum, and all classes
become, to some degree, at least, the
leisure classes. From the matter-Of- fact
Terence Powderly, who believes eight
hours day too long, and hints at Ben
Franklin's four hours as the proper limit,
to the visionary Bellamy, in whose re-
generated world men are exempt
from LABOR at fOrty-five, the
aim is to tighten human toll.
These would-be refOrmers antagonize
no one with this feature of their plan,
but rather meet with instant approval
from the people who work, the idea of
possessing, simultaneously, leisure and
freedom from financial anxiety conform
ing to the common conception of bliss.
From low to high the individual ex-
preston is in opposition to labor, so far
as the individual himself is concerned.
The object of every man who works is
to provide himself with competence
as soon as possible, in order that he may
cease to work. Oddly enough, when he
obtains this competence, he seldom ac-
cepts the freedom that he has had in
view. When leisure becomes possible
he does not know what to do with it. He
has spent years of his life in
an occupation that absorbed all
his energies, and left no inclination for
engaging in other pursuits. He may not
be especially Industrious by nature, but
he has formed habit of work; he has
no other resource wherewith to occupy
his time and mind, and, without his ac-
custOmed tasks, soon becomes restless
and discontinued. So widely recognized
is this fact that the early withdrawal
from business of any man not known to
have hobby or distinct vocation that
he wishes to follow, is looked upon by
his associates as unwise and leading to
unhappiness. Many a man who might
have left it lives and dies in harness,
because he knows instinctively that he
would be miserable out of harness.
Theoretically, all regard labor as a
curse; practically, the multitude clings
to it as safeguard. Of course, all the
refOrmers and utopian schemers base
their plans on the idea that, once free
from the bonds of labor, men will devote
their new leisure 20 ennObling pursuits.
Mr.. POwderly, for instance, wants work
ingmen to be educated, and when they
have reached the point when four hours
daily toll will provide their daily bread
he believes, perhaps, that the other six
teen hours will be divided between study
and healthful recreation. 1t is to be
feared that the Master Workman is
wrong. If wOrkingmen, in which term
is included the day -laborer, the mer-
chant and the professional man, had each
natural turn for scientific, educa-
tiOnal, philanthrOpic pursuit, or had cul-
tivated specialists taste with view to
coming freedom, then the leisure might
be well employed. Even Mr.. Bellamy
neglects to explain how it is that the
men of fOrty-fve, after twenty four
years of labor for the state, are enabled
to lay aside their old employments for
new, or for complete idleness, without
| discomfort.
The man who has sixteen hours of time
all his own, every day, and the man who
must toll not after the age of forty-five.
are each capable of good deal of mis-
chief, and, while human nature remains
as it is, a long preliminary educational
course would seem necessary before any
| of the reforms, so beautiful at first
| glance, are established.