The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1892-01-15
WHAT SHALL THE HARVEST BET
Shall It BE Slavery or Shall It Be Peace
Prosperity and Happiness.


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Shall It BE Slavery or Shall It Be Peace,
Prosperity and Happiness.
Wealth in it's truest sense is the
| bounties of nature which have been
converted into forms of utility by pro-
ductive labor This is the great po-
tential force that must be transferred
from the human mind and the human
muscle to the raw material, before
that material is in the shape for hui
man use. The truth applies to every
article of necessity. Man in his
capacity as a productive laborer is a
creator of values. In this character
only can he be regarded as an image of
his creator. It is this fact that labor
is creator that Labor day is de-
signed to celebrate.
The bounties of nature were created
alike for every human being, says the
Topeka Advocate. The Universal
Father makes no charge for the boun-
ties which He has placed within our
reach. This natural wealth of ours
on the condition that we utilize it by
the application of our labor. We can
add nothing to the source from which
all wealth must flow, neither can we
take anything from it. In the econo-
my of nature nothing is lost by being
consumed. 1t is only returned to the
great store house from which it had
been taken by the intelligent applica-
ton of labor in accordance with nat
ural law. Nothing is lost Nature has
provided the greatest abundance for
all. Labor 1ntelligently applied can
always garner these priceless stores.
In the very nature of things no will
ing worker could be hard pressed and
poor. but for the ignorance and greed
OF individuals who by craft deprive
their fellow beings Of the abundance
provided for them by bounteous ma
ture.
Whatever brings poverty and want
destroys happiness which is the ulti-
mate aim and object of human exist
ence A slave cannot be happy unless
too much of an imbecile to aspire to
better conditions. No intelligent
wealth producer can be happy so long
as he is pressed by poverty, while non
producers revel in an abundance of all
the good things Of life. He may not
be able to explain why it is that he is
not able to secure an abundance by
his labor. but he is none the less dis
contented and the more intelligent he
becomes the greater will be his dis
content until ere long it breaks forth
in violent resistance
Such are the lessons taught by hui
man history. The sufferings imposed
upon the toilers by false economic
conditions, have rendered them des-
perate. In their ignorance they have
filled the armies OF tyrants and have
thus been used for ages to keep them
selves in subsection. But they have
been kept in subsection at terrible
cost to the race. Human history is
one long record of nations and civil
izations that have passed away be-
cause of false economic condi-
ditions which brought poverty,
want and suffering to the people.
Shall we as a nation close our
eyes to the lessons taught by history
and commit the same blunder that has
wrecked the nations gone beforep If
we do we may read our fate in the
wrecked civilizations of the past the
ruins of which are the study of the mod
ern antiquarian. Such punishments
as these for the violation of economic
law must continue until the race
learns that the only road to permanent
peace. prosperity and happiness is to
establish absolute justice in the distri-
button of every form of wealth created
by human labor.
This is the demand which is being
made by intelligent labor to-day. and
this demand is directly in the line of
human progress If this demand is
not conceded. our boasted civilization
will be failure. It is not enough
that few possess great wealth and
are able to crafty every taste that be-
longs to the highest refinement of the
age. but these things must be placed
within the reach OF the toilers who
create them. If the powers that be
are wise no distractions will be
placed in the way of these laudible
aspirations for better conditions, and
our civilization will go forward to a
grand elimination on social, economic
and moral lines. which will exceed
even our wonderful material progress.
The mighty army of reformers
which is now marshaling for a grand
forward movement toward these bet
ter economic conditions. higher life
and a nobler manhood, appeals to all
the higher moral impulses of the race
and invites all true friends of human
ity to unite with them in favor of all
that is pure. just fraternal and pro-
gressive. Nothing but the most un-
accountable stupidity can prevent any
real lover of his race from joining
with the progressive wealth pro.
ducers of to-day. Labor is the foun-
dation stone of all progress. It is in
no sense q class. but it is the power
that feeds the classes. Whoever does
not render useful service to society is
sponge and leech upon those who
do. Labor is the source OF all that
renders life endurable on this planet.
All reforms begin at the base and
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