The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1900-11-24
GIBBONS ON LABOR.
GIBBONS SPEAKS OF Ia
BORIS RIGHTS AND DUTIES.
Have the Wealth and Those Who
- Produce ft-BOth Are Asked To
Foster Charity. Mercy, Habits of
Economy ind Self Denial nnil
SObriety,

1 say labor contributes to the pros
conduces to nations welfare is most
worthy of commentator. 1t is not
the office or occupation that dignifies
the man, but it is the man that digni-
fies the office.
Honor and shame from no condition
rise;
Act we'll your part-there all the
honor lies.''
Cincinnatus lent dignity to agricul-
ture by working at the plow! Cali
gura, by an Infamous lie, degraded his
crown and imperial purple.
DeTocqueville could not pay juster
and more beautiful tribute of praise to
the genius of our country then when
he wrote in 1885 that every honest oc-
cupation in the United States was
honorable.
The honest industrial man is honor
ed among us, whether he work with his
hands or with his brains, because he is
an indispensable factor in the nations
progress He is the bee in the social
hive; he is the benefactor of his race,
because he is always producing some
thing for the commonwealth.
Our sympathie for those in our en-
plOy. whether in the house hold, the
mines or the factory, are wonderfully
quickened by putting ourselves in their
place and asking ourselves how we
would wish to be treated under similar
circumstances.
We should remember that they are
our felloWb beings. that they have feel
ins like ourselves, that they are stung
by sense of injustice, repelled by an
overbearing spirit, and softened by
kindness, and it largely rests with us
whether their hearts and homes are to
be clouded with sorrow or radiant with
joy.
Surely men do not amass wealth for
the sole pleasure of counting their
bonds and of contemplating their gold
insecret. No, they acquire it in the
hope that it will contribute to their
rational comfort and happiness. Now,
there is no joy in life SO pure and
substantial as that which springs from
the reflection that others are made con-,
kppy sGt11 oettg 7o1et
And am scpeaking here not of the
benevolence of gratuitous bounty, but
of fair dealing tempered with dignity.
Considerable Kindness is like her sister
Mercy:
1T droppeth as the gentle rain from
heaven
Upon the place beneath it is twice
bless'd
1t blesseth him that gives, and him
that takes;
Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it
becomes
The throned monarch better than his
crown"
While applauding the tender feelings
and magnanimity of the capitalists 7
am constrained in the interest of truth.
humanity and religion to protest
against the heartless conduct of others
| whose number, for the honor of the
country, is hope. comparatively small.
No friend of his race can contemplate
without painful emotions those heart
less monopolists exhibiting grasping
aVarice which has dried up every senti-
ment of sympathy, and sordid sell
| fishness which is deaf to the cries of
distress. The sole aim is to realize
large dividends without regard to the
paramount claims of justice and
Christian charity. These trusts and
| monopolies, like the car of Juggernaut.
crush every. obstacle that stands in
their way. They endeaver. not always.
! it is alleged, without success to cor
| rupt our national and state legisla-
lures and municipal councils. They
are so intolerent of honest rivalry as to
use unlawful means in driving from
the market all competing industries.
They compel their operatives to work
| for starving wages, especially in min
ing districts and factories, where pro-
tests have but feeble echo, and are
easily stifled by intimidation.
In may places the corporation are
said to have the monopoly of stores of
supply. where exorbitant prices are
charged for the necessaries of life; bills
are contracted which the workmen are
unable to pay from their scanty wages,
and their forced insolvency places
them entirely at the mercy of their
task masters.
10 such Shylocks may we'll be applied
the words of the apostle: Go to. now
I've rich men: weep and howl fol, your
miseries which shall come upon you.
You have stored up to your
selves wrath against the last days. Be-
hold the hire of iabcreEs,
which by fraud hath been kept back
by you crieth. and the cry of them
hath entered into the ears of the God
of Sabbath"
How forcibly our language applies
now to our own country, and how earn
estly the warning should be needed by
the constituted authorities J! The
supreme law of the land should be
vindicated and enforced. and ample
protection should be afforded to legiti-
mate competing corporations as we'll as
to the laboring classes against unscru-
pulous monopolies. .>...-
But if labor organizations have rights
to be vindicated and grievances to be
fulfilled and ,angers to guard against,
they should exercise unceasing vigil
lance in securing their body from the
control of designing demagogues who
would make it subservient to their own
selfish ends. orFconvert it into a poll
ticals engine. They should also be ieal.
II Gus Of the reputation and good name