The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-09-06


prised at the makeup of the audi
ence as he had expected to see a large
gathering of brawny men, but, on the
contrary, the audience was well sprln-
killed. with ladies, and one OF great
beauty. 1t was a pleasure to speak
in the presence of ladies, as their
attendance was an insignia Of refine
ment. After referring to the signiti-
canoe of labor day and its benefits to
the laboring man, President Northr2p
said:
The greatest happiness for the greatest
number" is the ideal OF life. We all seek
happiness. Very few of us get as much
happiness as we would like. We might have
a great deal more, ii we were content to
enjoy that which comes to us, without undue
very because other things do not come.
The best state IS one in which no one is i'm
mensely ricA and no one missIably poor
Perfect equality of wealth IS not 10 be eX-
pected nor desired. But condition Of things
which makes it possible for some men to
own many millions of dollars while many
men have nothing and can neither provide
for themselves comfortable means of llvi- g
nor decently dispose of their poor bodies
dead, is a cond on to be de2lored,
But no man ought to complain or find fault
with fate because he Is compelled to labor
in order to live. Labor is the greatest
blessing of human life. Without it, mind,
body and spirit go to ruin. With 1t mind,
body and spirit are kept healthy and vgor-
under ordinary conditions, to be a happy
man. And the man who does no useful work,
ought to be and usually is en- unhappy man
though he be as rich as CIoesus. We all
Of US cherish more or less the hope of being
able TO lay down our work ard rest beso.
life is over. But if the time ever comes,
we shall find ourselves less happy than we
were when each day had its allotted work,
and we had strength to do It, For myself,
while l cannot say that l would wish that
TIE day I cease to be able to work should
be the day of my death l can say that
NEST heartily hope that the day of my death
viii be the time when | cease to labor.
And II does not matter so much as we
some times think, what our labor is, pro-
v.ded It is useful and we know how to do
1t well. There is a very foolish inclinat on
among the young men Of today to secure
employment in what they are pleased to re-
gard as genteel occupations and avoid those
positions which require muscle and strength.
An advertise ment in the paper OF Lynn,
Mass, for a shoemaker brought two re-
plies only, though Lynn is full OF shoe
makers; while an advertisement at the same
time and place for a clerk, brought $50 a?pli-
cations. 1t was not the difference in wages
that made the difference in the number Of
applications The shoemaker would earn
as much as the clerk But the clerks work
is supposed to be little more genteel than
the other though 1 can not possibly see
for what reason.
This effort to get away from manual labor
has shown itself all over our country. Farm
er's boys have been anxious to get Into the
cities and take up the work Of city life
instead Of the independent life Of the farm.
l am glad that with the development Of
education and especially of agricultural edu-
cation, the young men Of our state are learn
ing that there Is as much of science and
knowledge and skill and brains required to
make a frst-class farmer to make a
man Of any other occupation, and that no life
is more respectable and independent that that
of the successful farmer; and that the
different parts of the world are brought
nv increased travel
transportation, the farmer becomes the most
important factor IN the problem of how to
feed-not his own little family merely-but
the great family Of man. So that the intel
ligence and industry and skill OF the farmer
of this country can render impossible a
famine which might otherwise decimate half
the globe as result of drought in Australia
or Asia, end rains in Europe. And, 1, for
my part, hold 1t no less honorable to have
hand in clothing these prairies with the
bending heads Of wheat that shall feed the
nations, that 1t would be to sell silk behind
the counter, or work with the pen in an office.
It is a good thing to be a skilled laborer.
Whatever we undertake we ought to try to
do In the best way. There are always at
least two ways Of doing thing-a good way
and bad way-a right way and wrong way.
The skilled laborer Is the man who knows
how to do thing in the right way. 1t of
course requires more knowledge and judg-
mont to do some things right than to do
other things right. The engineer who takes
train loaded with men and women through
every moment he Is on duty heavy respon-
sibility and must have more knowledge, more
alertness, more pTopptness Of decision and
more accuracy Of judgment than the fireman
or the brakeman needs in the discharge OF
his duties; but all alike up to the require
nents of their places ought to be skilled la
Dor. Nobody should know how to perform his
duties such as they are better than they do.
true man gets a pleasure out of his work
we'll done that the man whose only idea is
to get his pay with as little real work done
as possible, never can know. 1T pays to be
a skilled and faithful man, even If you are
only shoveler Of dirt.
This country has suffered great loss by the
expenditure Of unnecessary force for the doing
of what might have been done much more
easily If the workers had been properly train
ed do not think that we need to go to
foreign countries to learn what is best for
the laboring man; for do not think the con-
dition Of the laboring man is as good In any
country as 1t is in this. But the old countries
have custom Of training men for their work
that might be adopted with advantage by us.
Take, for example, the diplomatic service
The European ambassadors and ministers and
consuls are all trained for their work. Our
country takes some politician or stump
speaker and sends him abroad as minister
plenipotentiary, with no more fitness for his
work than blind man has for microscopy
How much better if our men were trained
for their work. Just now Mr.. Strauss. Of
New York, has been appointed minister to
Turkey He Is Democrat, but appointed by
a Republican administration-but with good
reason. Mr.. Strauss has had experience and
once before proved himself a most capable
and influential minister to Turkey-and no
better appointment could have been made
If diplomacy can make Turkey pay us what
she owes US, Mr.. Strauss will bring it about
and If It cannot be brought about In that
way the echoes of Manila and Santiago will
have to be heard in Constantinople and along
the Bosphorus
1t is not uncommon to hear a man say
with a don 't-care sort Of manner, 1.-THE world
owes me q living, and I'm going to have It.
He probably supposes that he is speaking the
truth. But generally he is not. In nine
tenths Of such cases the man has done moth
ing for the world, and therefore the world
owes him nothing. The idea that the world
owes a living to everybody-no matter how
lazy, shiftless improvident, or viciously
Wasteful he may be, is a false idea. And 1t
needs to be met with that tonic: He that
will not work, neither shall he eat" What
do think the world owes to every man, in
virtue of his being a human creature, is the
right to work and thus to earn living. But
that Is a very different thing from owing him
a living, and this is a distinction that the
no means anxious to make. He wants care
without paying for 1t. / grant that If the
| world will not give a man chance to earn
| his living-if we can imagine the world thus
! combined against man-then the world
| ought to give him a living-but the trouble
| in cases that seem Of this nature is that the
! applicant for labor insists on saying what the
| labor shall be and refuses work unless he can
| get work to his taste Whereas it ought to
| be the privilege of the world that employs
him and gives him a living to say what kind
of work it wishes to have done and therefore
| what kind of work he shall do.
| Nearly everything that is valuable to man
| is the product of labor. The great cities
| have been built UP brick by brick or stone
! by stone by the labor Of countless patient
and industrious men. Wherever "a human
habitaton is found. in town, village or coun-
| try, human labor has produced 1t. Sherman's
army marches through Georgia, carrying de-
| XaStation in its course. and the Shenandoah