Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-05-04
AMERICAN ENERGY
Shows Its Superiority in All Branches o
Trade.

That Americans are a hard-working
people is a fact which impresses all
our visitors correspondent of the
: Times. who has been reporting upon
our competition with England in
works of mechanical engineering, re-
: ports his surprise at the American
workman's attitude toward his work.
his palpable enjoyment of it, and his
evident determination to get the most
out of the tools he is using. An Eng
lish iIonnian once said to me: II do
not wonder at your iron and steel es-
adjustments getting ahead of ours,
when | see your workmen. after deliv
ering load, running back for another.
| never saw an English workman run,
except out of the shop when his day
ended" For this the English econo-
mists are partly to blame. They have
always taught that labor is a disagree.
able necessity, to which man must be
driven by sort of compulsion. and Of
which he will do no more than he
must. This kind of teaching is apt to
percolate down to the laboring classes,
and to suggest methods of keeping
down work, such as the rule of the
English Unions that brick layer shall
use but one hand in his work.
The American absorption in work is
of modern origin. The early Ameri-
can, as Poor Richard" and other writ
ers described him, was very fond of
leisure for talking politics and whit.
tling sticks, and not overfond of eX-
erting himself. Partly this was due to
the fact that work in the Colonial
times and even later was very heavy
and of small result. In the absence of
modern appliances labor produced very
ertion. The immense toll which was
required to reclaim the wilderness
seemed to make but little impression
on it, and the settler turned away with
a certain disheartenment after he had
got a clearing made in which his fam
lily could turn round.
1t also must be remembered that the
standard of health in Colonial, and
even later times, must have been very
low. Men worked under conditions
which exposed them to malaria, and
the remedies for its depressing and
weakening influences were not so ac-
cessible as they now are Through a
large part of our Southwest the effects
of this in lowering human energy are
still visible
With each generation of occupation
the effects of labor become more evil
dent. and put heart into the workers.
Especially as the country filled up
through immigration, and American
ingenuity was directed to relieving
human muscle of the toll that had been
exacted of it, work became more at
tractive, and at the same time much
better paid. The days ceased when a
farm-boy had to work Il month to pro-
cure the price of coarse cotton shirt
and prices fell and wages rose pari
passu. Fourier's problem, How to
Make Labor Attractive" was thus
solved without his drastic measures for
the reconstruction of society.
Something, perhaps much, was due
to the spirit in which the new emf
grants embraced their lot. They
came very commonly from countries
in which employment was scarce and
i'll paid. Germany was not yet a
, Z 70 pt 70
ceased to be so under the industrial
blight attending the Union of 1901. To
find steady employment and to be we'll
! paid for it were luXuries to which
these newcomers were not accustomed.
They took it up with an enthusiasm
which was infectious, and which
helped to 'set the pace" for the whole
population. Some indeed We're lazy
by long disuse Of their powers. | have
!, known one Irshman who went back to
Ireland because he was worked too
hard in America; but he was an eXcep-
ton.
| AT present our danger seems to be
, ovelwork. In this stimulating climate
ana WIN Sucn endless openings Tor re o
munerative toll, it is necessary at
times to put on the brakes. We are
converting our very amusements into
forms of toll. laborious professions.
The audience at an American baseball
game shares the toll of the players, in
it's nervous results at least. | find tina:
boys are less used up in playing than
in watching those who play and in
yelling for their side" We need
more restful methods of spending our
leisure, and solid conviction that
leisure is not waste-Robert Ellis
Thompson in The Saturday Evening
. Post.
: Wanted--A Husband
Must be strong and never have a lame