The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-05-14
A DAYS WORK.
[From the Atchison Globe. ]

Much as we admire the people. some
of the men who work by the day are
pretty slow. We know a man who was
lately hired to cut the grass on GER
tain lawn He worked two days and
half, at a dollar and a half a day. The
man who owned the lawn concluded
to cut it himself, next time, and went
at it. A neighbor noticed him running
the lawn mower, and came over and
helped, as a sort of amusement The
two men cut the lawn in three hours,
and did a good job. Afterwards they
played seven-up for an hour, and won
five games apiece
These men were workers; they had
been accustomed to hard work all
their lives.
If you expect to succeed, you must
get a move on you. If you work all
your life for a. dollar and a half day.
and are worth no more, you can't get
rich. And it is a fact that it is no
harder to earn ten dollars a day than
it is to earn a dollar and a half. Do
your work we'll; inspire confidence;
be reliable; help at the place where
you are employed. and it won't be
long before you are advanced. Every
particularly good man in a gang Of
men receives extra pay on the side.
You may not know it, but he does;
and when a foreman is wanted, he re-
ceives the promotion.
This is the plain truth; if you do
not know it, it's your fault. This is
the age of the worker. If you hope to
get into the game, you must be a
worker. Paul Morton, the big man of
the Santa F'e, does a good deal more
work than the section men. And he
works with his head as we'll as with
/ his hands. If you hope to get along
you must do it. When a task is en-
trusted to Paul Morton, his employers
know he will do it pretty we'll; they
know he will not neglect it, and play
penuckle in a saloon. His employers
know that he is reliable, and intelli-
gent, and honest, and that he would
rather have a good reputation than a
bad one. Result: Paul Morton makes
more than a dollar and a half day
we don't know how much more, but
he certainly makes a good living
Quit talking about the world being
against you. The plain truth is, the
world is waiting to applaud good men
and women. You are deceiving your
self when you say you have mo
show Paul Morton had no more
chance for promotion than you have;
we used to know him when he was a
little old boy up around Nebraska
City, a town as far off the main road
as Atchison. But the directors of the
Santa Fe found him at Nebraska City
all right; the big employers of labor
will find you at Atchison, if you are a
good workman, a good citizen, and
have good sense.
Good sense is somewhat rare, but it
may be acquired. Quit accepting every
fool story you hear. Accept the plain,
simple facts; facts that have been
proved by centuries of time. The most
important of these facts are: For
your own sake. behave yourself; be
industrious, polite, reliable, kind, hon
orable. It's the easiest way. Paul
Morton works pretty hard, but his
work is easier than that of the idle,
dissipated man who is always in the
way.
We are not trying to be impudent
to the man who earns only a dollar
and half a day. But we are trying
to do justice to the men who earn
more than that-and a vast majority
of the men do. American men are
petted too much; they are told that
their misfortunes are the fault of 9TH