St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-05-12
LIVE AND LET LIVE.
Rev. William WilkinsOn's Adj
dress to Workingmen

yesterday afternoon with a representa-
tive attendance OF the better-clasS OF
wageWorkers, to listen to W. Wllkinson's
talk on labor problems. Said he: A
man saw Michael Angelo washing
piece of very dirty marble and asked
him: "What are you doing that for?'
The sculptor replied: II am going to
bring the angel out of it," His genius
saw that beneath that rough, uncouth
a shapeless mass of stone, there lay
hidden exquisite beauty of outline and
of form; and that in his masters hand
the beauty and the grace OF figure
could be brought to view. This is true
in other realms than that OF marble: it
is true of masses of men. who have not
had the advantage Of schools. and who
have not those graceS which are said to
adorn courts: but beneath that outward
roughneSs resides the angel OF power,
the angel of service; but instead OF be-
ing III the hands of those men, who,
want to bring the angels out too often.
those who call themselves upper classes
have assumed attitudes towards them
calculated to bring out an angel OF quite
another kind, which Scripture Calls the
devil. The history of all ages and of
every civilized people is one of struggle
of the poor to gain their rights at the
hands of the unprincipled rich. This is
commonplace of history, and neither
time allows nor do circumstances demand
that prove it. In the dawn OF mems
life upon earth, it was. needful for God
to threaten Judgment swift and4sure
against men who oppressed the hireiing
in his wages, who turned the poor from
his right. The tendency has been for,
the affiuent to gain, and to keep the,
upper hand; in fact, to keep the turkey
and let the poor man have the crow.
The desire for gain and its corrupt
use has Silenced prophets, and
it has made priests as dumb
as julius Caesar is to-day. And
the conflict for right has been left in
the hands of those who, by knowledge
and by lack of power, were least able to
carry it to a triumphant goal. And
millions of men have lived. worked,
| died, who never had their just claims
! settled, their honest toll rewarded
who, if there is another world. must re-
| oppreSsorS be given over to Satan, or
| that parsonage, being of no use, ought
not to exist. The S10-a-day hotel and
| the 10-cent lodgings would not exist
within a few blocks each of the other,
as if to forever emphasize the supreme
value of true manhood under the most
| adverse, but virtuouS, conditions,
| and to show the eternal rights
| OF the poor. A religion which does
| not stand sternly for honest work, and
is firmly for honest and proper pay for
that work, whatever it calls itself, by
| whatsoever rites, creeds or ceremonies it
is surrounded, is not the religion Of
| Jesus Of Nazareth. 1t does violence to
| the Decalogue. to the Sermon on the
mount, to all we know Of Gods ALSO
ion ought to be swept from the earth to
everlasting destruction. 1t may be said
all this is wasted thunder, for all you
say is conceded. A short review of the
history of the last fifty years will show
it has not been, and is not. Time was
when women and children worked IN
mills from half past 5 in the
morning to in the evening. and with
all the whole family could earn poverty.
gaunt and grim, stalked through the
land, when amongst the laymen Of
England Lord Ashley, afterwards
Shaftsbury, was the only man of great
social influence who lifted his voice
against this abominatiOn. And the
ministers of religion were too craven
hearted to speak for freedom. Bright,
all that school opposed the ten-hour
day labor with ali their power of word
and deed. The poor woman in the coal
mine, the poor woman at the loom, the
child labor, cried to heaven for VEN
geance, and, though rank. wealth,
power said no, the people won. And i'll
the world to-day the man does not live
who will deny that they deserved
the victory. A victory which made
353, 600 women and children free from
at least that oppression. VIII t is that
to US, it may be asked. | reply we are
on the down grade. The larger en-
ployment of young women, which Is a
sign of the times, is one Of decay. There
ought to be little need of it, and in the
course of nature these damSels should
be training for other duties. No woman
is educated who is not we'll up in house
keeping. The working man has right
to a sound ethical education, which will
teach him what his rights are. The
time will come when it will be seen
and acknowledged that man who is
single, OF who can live on dollar a
day, has no right in time of dispute to
come in, and by SO doing lower
wages. Man has no rightin the exercise
of which he makes it impossible for his
less favored fellows to live, or in the ex-
ercise of which he binds letters on men
to make them slaves in all but name.
In laying down these principles am
not against wealth. l am its best pro
tector, for its right use means its con.
tinued possession. Labor has a right tc
organize for its proper share of what
ever is caused by it and capital fol
proper conditions in which to work
clean, light, airy rooms, safety from I'M
due risk to life. limb or health. Labor
has right to organize TOR Its own i'm
provement. A workingman ought tt
strive to become an artist in his line
and to do all in his power to advance
the art by which he lives. Poor worl
and cheap should be the scorn of WORT
ngmen. Labor should remember it ii
possible to make the best OF both worlds
This we are in: that into which we arr
going, and thus follow the example O.
that Christ who Is a savior of man.
Two Fire Alarms.
o1or,,, Of f,ra turDod II, from, fro +,