The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1898-06-09
REV. S. w. NAYLOR SPEAKS ON THE
GREAT QUESTION OF LABOR.
ADVOCATES SHORTER HOURS
And Declares that Short Hours Means
High Wages Education and Re
ligion Must Finally Solve the
Question.

grl6VOuS. Nineteen nunureQ years
ago the labOrer received l5 cents per
day, now $3.50. The condition is ten
times better today than then, but his
wants and aspirations through better
education, ETC., have increased a hun
dred fold. 1t is this vast increase of
wants over conditions that makes labor
more Jealous today of its rights, more
intolerant of any injustice than ever
before.
1t i no longer of any use to tell the
labOring man that out Of the twenty six
barons that signed the English Magma
Charter only three could write their
own names, and therefore that the
laboring man of today in the United
States is better off than the English
Lord of 500 years ago; because the
" therefore" doesn't follow in that
order. 1t is rather that the labOring
man of the United States knows mora,
aspires to more and is more of man
than the English Lord of that time,
therefore he appreciates more keenly
the discrepancy between his condition
and his wants
Russia by law in 1887 prohibited the
children of peasants and farmers and
laborers. etc., from acquiring good
educations on the very pertinent plea
that education made them dissatisfied
with their lot and become Initiated,
under the inevitable inequalities" of
life l am glad that we live under the
Stars and Stripes" where an Illinois
rail splitter, an Ohio River flat boat
driver and common tanner through
integrity, push and grit can rise to the
first office within the gift of the people.
A sorry day it will be for the United
States if ever her laboring people are
content to plod on like dumb driven
cattle with barely sufficient TO feed and
clothe the body. Such day will mark
the decline and certain ruin of our
great nation.
Happy will be the day for the nation
when eight hours per day is the law OF
the land. Higher wages will inevitably
follow. Mr.. GOmpers cited the fact in
the experience of nations and institu-
tions that long hours mean low wages
and short hours mean high WagesL
Paradoxical as it appears, it is in the
reason of the thing. The law of sup
ply and demand is at the bottom of it.
Long hours mean greater production,
hence supply beyond demand, and
hence by reflex influence low wages,
and vice versa.
But some say if the laborer should
receive more wages for less time, he
would squander both his extra time
and wages in the saloon. Even grant
that that might be true for the major
ity, yet there are those who wish to
give attention to self culture, who wish
to get acquainted with their families,
and there is no righteousness IN any
wages or any hours of labor that will
not permit this.
So long as the Uuited States enforces
her common school law and encourages
higher education, so long as she stands
at the head of nations in respect to
culture among the masses, so long must
she expect discomfort among laoorers
whose wants and aspirations, cultivated
under the patronage of the government
so greatly surpass the opportunity and
means of satisfaction.
The laborer has tried organization,
union, strikes and boycotts, weapons
good, bad and Indifferent, but labor as
a body has not yet tried the one remedy
of Him who spoke as never man spake:
Come unto me all ye that labor and
are heavy laden and l will give you
rest" Wherever individuals have
accepted that challenge it has been
found sufficient. | have yet to know
the first really thorough going christian
who has gone out on a strike, not be-
cause strikes may not sometimes be
right, but because he has found the
words of the Great Teacher true, that
those who accepted His method have
never found their condition to warrant
such action, and have verified His other
word: Blessed are the meek for they
shall inherit the earth"
Never in costly palace did rest on goloeh
bed,
Never in hermit's cavern have 1 eaten idle
| bread.
Born within lowly stable, where the cattle
| round Me stood,
Trained a carpenter in Nazareth, Ihave tolled
| and found it good.
They who tread the path of labor follow where
Ny feet have trod;
They who work without complaining 90 1ne
holy will of God
| Where the many toll together there am
among MY own;
Where the tired workman sleepeUh' there am
/ with him alone
| /, the peace that passeth knowledge oWen
amid the daily strife,
T. the bread of heaven, am broken in the sacra-
ment OF life.
very Low Rates to San Francisco,
| ~. - NJo.kh Woetorn r inc EXcur-