The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-07-22
A NEGLECTED. PHASE OF THE
LABOR QUESTION.

n
LABOR QUESTION.
The labor question is discussed to tire
some degree in these days. but with all
the talk one phase of it does not get the
attention it deserves. This is the fact
that labor is honorable; that it is neces-
sary TO the moral and the physical we'll
being; that it is wholesome, and, above
all, that it is not irksome or burdensome
TO the healthy. normally constituted work.
er. The tendency of many so-called labor
movements is not to dignity toll, but to
magnify its burdens; the teachings of So
called labor leaders treat of labor as
curse and not a blessing. Would-be social
scientists and writer's for periodicals too
often moan and sentimentalize, not over
actual wrongs of the laborer. which is a le-
Ultimate theme, but over the evil Of labor
itself. Whether they mean it not. the
burden of their cry is that work is cp-
pressive. the workman a being to be COM
miserated. The r-ouble is that these writ
ers and preachers, and leaders do not
really represent the laborer; they do not
speak from his standpoint, but their own,
which is a very different thing. Mr.. Debs,
for instance. has done little manual labor
in all his life-none for ten years-and his
tender sympathies are deeply wrought up
en- by the mere fact that Pullman employees
and other members OF the A. r. U. toll
arduously. Hamlin Garland. who affects
to speak for the "down-trodden classes"
apparently regards as downtrodden those
men who must e1rn their living by the
sweat of their brows. He draws dark and
gloomy pictures of the ceaseless and wear
impression that it is toll without reward.
He goes to Homestead and describes the
work in the iron mills as something fit
Only to be required of fiends in the Internal
regions. Mr.. Belamy paints Utopia in
which all men work, it is true. but in
which work is limited to a few hours in a
of their song is that hard physical labor
is an evil to be avoided when possible-a
necessary evil. perhaps, but one for which
those persons forced 10 submit to it's ex-
actions deserve great pity. All this is nom
sense. 1t is worse. for it creates needless
discomfort among the thoughtless followers
of blatant demagogues and poetical vision
aries. The truth is that nothing is more
difficult than to put oneself into another
mans place-to think and see as he thinks
and sees. The laboring man himself does
not find his toll without mitigation how
ever hard and trying it may appear to out
siders and really is. Artisans and workmen
of all grades are, as a rule. fitted to their
labor by long practice, experience. and
men worked like slaves among red-hot fur
naces and molten metal. but by his own
showing their sports, when they were at
leisure. were brutal and cruel. They had
none of his tender sensitiveness to make
them shrink from their callings or to pre-
vent their indulgence in recreation after
their kind. The farmer who plows, and
plants and works in the field through rain
or shine early and late, does not find the
heat of the sun so oppressive as it neems
to the white-handed observer who looks on
from the shade of the apple tree the
shelter of his carriage. There is one &C.
curation which. to all outward seeming, is
ore of unqualified suffering-that of stoker
in an ocean steamship-yet it is told that
on the new cruiser Minneapolis because
those whose hours had expired wanted TO
continue their work during the trial OF
speed There is an adaptability about the
himself rather comfortably to almost any
condition.
Theoretically. no one loves work for
itself; practically. many do. even those
engaged in dangerous and exacting pur-
suits 1t is well that this is so. for the
work of the world must be done, and ii is
better that it be done willingly and gladly.
To remedy wrongs that the toilers suffer is
" CANieS 'NiSSS-
ness and discomfort where it does not ex-
ist is an offense hardly less than crime
There has been enough gushing sentiment
spoken about labor; it is time for I. repre-
sentation of IL with no hectic illustrations
THE GREATEST OF PROBLEMS.
To listen TO much of the talk which is