The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-09-05
THE IMPORTANCE OF LABOR
ADDRESS ON SOCIAL SIDE OF LA-
 B0R BY DR. GILBERT.

True Labor Appreciated ana Rewarded Present system Existing Between Employs and Employer should be Changed.
 Rev. Dr. Levi Gilbert delivered a sermon on "Labor Day and Thoughts Pertaining Thereto at the Trinity Methodist church last evening. Dr. Gilbert's ddress, which was attentively listened to by good sized audience embraced the following:
 Labor is certainly of the greatest i'm portance in this world. Many are the references made to this in the Bible, perhaps the most important being in the commandment "Six days shalt thou labor" Christ himself was a Iaborer a most industrious carpenter. All of His disciples were laboring men, His greatest disciple supporting him. self by manual labor, during which he followed the footsteps of his Master. Christ's mandate to all men is to labor; He placed Adam and Eve in Eden to toll and make the earth productive. If they had not sinned they would always have possessed Eden to cultivate. La Dor was granted a mitigation and a part of Gods mercy, enabling the toiler to forget some of his affiictions.
 A mans true greatness is attained only by struggle. The struggle with the elements cultivating the soil, ploughing the sea, combating fires all elevate man. Man is made to work his physical frame being constructed for this very purpose
 The spur of necessity to provide him self with food, clothing and shelter makes humanity labor. In the south, where little clothing is required and the earth is so productive the races grow indolent because they are not so prompted to provide for themselves.
 Society decrees work for humanity, having little commisseratfon for the beggar and the 1dler That labor is the grand epic of humanity is hard for the lower class of laborers to understand, and yet this is so. Another fact diff cult for the average manual laborer to comprehend Is that mental worker is a true laborer. It is hard for them to think of Tennyson as really working for the production of one of his poems, or the same of Henry Ward Beecher in some of his apparently extemporane- ously delivered speeches, which were really due to profound meditation.
 The world is always eager to recog- Iize and reward merit. Labor is the material basis of our civilization. Men are bound together by the necessity of service for each other, as no one man can bake, clothe and transport himself The difference that exists between manual and mental labor should be de- stroyed; putting both classes on par "A laborer alone appreciates vacation, a thing which is impossible for the habitual idler.
 Another benefit of labor is that it oc- cupies the mind, expelling melancholy and weird thoughts. likeness too often breeds insanity, as the seclusion of some of the monks in olden times, and the consequent insanity proves.
 There is often too great a tendency to regard certain branches of laborers degenerate, whereas all honest labor is
 
 the south thought freedom meant an idleness like that of his master This is an idea that he has been all these years eliminating from his head The poor white in the south, and the Indian have also had this lesson to learn that freedom and civilization meant labor and not habitual idleness.
 The competition system must be abol- ished and this will do away with the sweat shop evil, which is one of the curses of society Corporations must relax their intense greed for gain and consider the right of the employe
 More attention must be paid to the social side of the workman's life. A great cry has gone out, that all except those incapacitated by age or physical condition must work.
 The idle rich and the idle poor are the two most dangerous classes of so- ciety. This governent must not repeat the mistake of Europe and keep too large a standing army, an idle body de- pendent upon others for support
 The greatest enemy of labor is drink. The strongest bonds exist between work and religion, and these should be strengthened. The church also needs active laborers, and so may it be seen that in all classes and stations labor is of the greatest importance.