The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1890-06-27
Cardinal Manning on Labor.

Cardinal Manning on Labor.
Cardinal Manning's utterances on the
rights and dignity of labor ring out
singularly clear and forceful for the
working man, and their logic is admira-
ble
The cardinal traces all wealth whatso-
ever back to labor, and quotes this SEN
tence: elm the dim morning Of society
labor was up and stirring before capital
was awake" He defines labor to be the
honest e1ertion of the powers of our mind
and of our body for our own good and
for the good of our neighbor. He says
''honest exertion," because all exertion
that is not honest is destruction.
Again, bodily labor is the origin Of
everything, though mind must precede
it, and in the labor of the body worthily
performed there is true dignity.
There is no limit to the fertility Of the
earth. In the reign Of King John the
soil Of all England was only one-fourth
as productive as it is at present. Eng
land has developed itself by labor, and
labor may be only in the dawn Of it's ac-
complishment. The cardinal is not Of
those who believe the invention Of ma
chinery has wrought evil to the world.
In ten years after the introduction of
machinery into the spinning and weav-
ing industry, more than forty times as
many persons were employed as before
Since the dawn of civilization there has
been perpetual accumulation Of mus
cular power, of mental power, of man.
ual power and of mechanical power, and
this is the true capital of a country.
His strength and dexterity are the la
borer's capital. The cardinal calls this
living capital, in distinction from money,
which is dead capital. The two must
be united and go hand in hand. Labor
has an undeniable right, moreover, to
decide where. for whom and for what
price it will work If it fixes the price
too high, it will pay the penalty, since
all mistakes carry with them their pen
atty.
The right of workingnen to form
trades unions for their own advancement
and protection is undoubted. This right
existed in the time Of the Greeks and
Romans and is in accordance with a
sound and legitimate social law. The
laborer has therefore the right Of liberty
and of organization.
The cardinal advocates the regulating
of hours of labor by law. If the great
| end of life and the glory Of England con-
sist in multiplying without stint yards
of cloth and cotton twist and undersell-
ing all other nations in these articles,
then let things go on as they are now.
But if the domestic life of the people is
vital above all; if the peace and purity
of homes, the education of children, the
duties of wives and mothers, of husbands
and fathers are things sacred, and if now
fathers and mothers toll such long hours
that they come home so wearied as only
to be able to take food and lie down and
rest, then we dare not go on longer in
this path.
! Families living in single rooms, sometimes
| many families in one room, corner apiece-thest
things cannot 90 on; these things ought not to e
on. The accumulation Ct wealth. in the land, thu
piling up Of wealth like mountains in the posses
sion Of classes or of individuals, cannot 60 on
these moral conditions Of our people are no
healed. No commonwealth can rest on sucl
! foundations.