The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-03-11
WHO Is LAB0R'S FRIEND
RaE II. 7. Shepard Discusses That
Question.
WORK is NOT DEGRADING
Ii Is Not Always True That the
Poor Are Despis I'd. But Often
the Rich Man Is Mis-
erabie.


ject of "Who Is Labor's Friend" using
for his text the seventh verse of the 21st
chapter of St. Matthew:
mot every one that saith unto me Lord,
Lord, shall enter into tho kingdom of
heaven; but he that doeth the will of my
father which is in heaven"
He spoke as follows:
Matthew may be true of the practice of
the church of Christ, there can be no
doubt that it's ideal is the common good
of all. 1t may contain men who say Lord :,
Lord, we have denied ourselves for others
and taken up our cross and followed thee,
whose hearts are really faithless to the
gospel which they pretend to love. But
these pretending Christians are false at
heart, and those who follow them are led
astray. Jesus Christ was carpenter.
Some of his immediate disciples were fish
ermen. Paul was n tcntmaker. And the
masses who protested Christianity in
Christ's lifetimewere common people.
The charge is very often made against
the church, that poor people are not
noticed as they should be. This is an old
story, but it is ono that is constantly re-
peated. We have heard it frequently. and
It is a common complaint in every land.
1t is charged that the rich man is placed
in the best pews with soft seats while the
poor man has TO sit in the gallery OF in
some corner or go away unnoticed.
The people who make these complaints
for themselves or for others are often de-
ceived. The charge Is frequently founded
in fact, but those who feel sighted arc
sometimes themselves at fault. They are
looking for Sights and of course they re-
ceive them-that is they think they do
they invite neglect and help i. to come.
Then they turn to false friends, who take
up their cause and make the evil worse.
There are anti-Christs and false teachers
on both sides of the fence-without the
church as we'll as within-who are not
true friends OF the masses. They are the
Judases who say. .Why was not this oint-
ment sold for three hundred pence and
given TO the poor 2" Why is not all this
money that is spent on costly churches
and ali the wealth of these rich church
members sold and divided among those
who have earned it-and "this they say,
not because they care for the poor, but
because they were thieves, and having the
bay took away what was put therein" or
would like this chance. / think no one
can be ignorant of the fact that these
traitors have been among the worst enc
mics of labor. They cry Lord, Lord, in
pious Indignation against the oppressors
of the poor, but they seek their own gain,
and are hypocrites and their followers
suffer with them.
In the first place the efforts of these
false leaders and their ungudeI .c.iowers
are often built upon false distinctions in
labor.
One of these distinctions is that between
brain and muscle. Who is the laborer?
Is be merely the miner, the railway man,
the farmer and the sailor? Is he only the
man who works with his hands and his
feet2 Take little thought and you an
swer no. Yet this is common ground of
action. Labor" often means mere mus
cular toll, and on this ground men rise up
to defend ITS subjects and seek relief
from oppression. Its champions are cry
ing Lord, Lord, while only half the truth
receives consideration.
Is there any such thing as muscular
labor with no brain action? Is not the in
telligent man with n pick or a shovel a
much better workman than he who is
ignorant? Is not the brain an agent in
the commonest manual toll? And what of
the army of men and women whose
labor is chiefly work of the head? Are
not the pubic schools, with the self-deny-
ing and Woodworking teachers. the poor
mans friend? Do their laborious days
and restless nights not mean hard work
Can labor gain Its rights without help
from law? Are the honest lawyers who
work for the poor and plead their rights
not labor's friend? Is the struggling
clerk, who uses his brain for less than the
bookkeepor, with his meager salary, not
laboring men?
We need TO ask more definitely who the
oppressed laborer is. A poor street cleaner
in the East, or travelling wood sawyer,
may receive 81 per day. A skillful me-
chanic makes "a or 50. Arc these two men
victims of equal oppression? And yet the
highly paid laborer is often the one who
makes the loudest COMPLAINT. Where
shall the line be drawn? What are fair
wages? And what wages arc unjustly
low?
The claim is advanced that all men are
equal and wealth should be equally given
TO all. These claimants say that il Is not
brain and muscle, nor high wages and |
low that IS troubling this world. bu, cap
ltal and labor" Where then is the divid- |
ing mark between these two commodities |
and between the capitalist and the lab
orer? When was in the farther west a |
poor man was injured by falling stone |
in the coal mine. He had saved n little |
money and, being crippled tor life and |
unable 10 work again in the mines, he |
looked for fruit stand in the neighbour |
ing city that he might earn an honest liv- |
ing. lie sought to become capitalist, to |
llso tue little money he had in making |
more. Did he do wrong? If he should |
get rich by and by, as many men have |
an enemy of labor? Would he have done |
better 10 throw himself on the county for |
Ii is even claimed that good and poor
clothes are sign of oppressor and OPP
pressed. Yet some of the richest people |
are very poorly dressed and many poor |
spend all they can get on what they |
wear The thief and the gambler are |
often seen in the height of style and the
millionaire in plainest garb. little
money and good taste make the poor
seem we'll clothed, and carelessness
leaves the richest looking like beggars.
Narrowness of view and difference of
opinion on what make the difference be-
tween labor and capital are a source of
greatest loss to employer and employed.
The aCitator fattens on this confusion.
while labor loses and the deceiver gains.
Appeal is made to prejudice. the work
nan loses both work and money, and the
employer suffers greater loss. Violence I
lone by would-oe friends of the poor. who
are really labor's curse. Is charged against
innocent men. and grievances which were
n real existence still remain, and no one