The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-09-10
THE DIGNITY OF LABOR.

THE DIGNITY OF LABOR.
Last Monday, by law in almost all
the states of the union, was set apart
in recognition of labor. 1t is well
that we have one day in the year
when those who labor, and that in
cludes most all of us, cease to turn
the wheels that make our country
move, and calmly consider the posi-
ton which they occupy in the ma
tons progress. In republic espe-
ciaily it is fitting that labor should be
dignitied and the United States above
all other nations should be foremost
i'll honoring it. The American people
are aboring people. In little over
century labor has converted this
continent from wilderness of forest
and prairie into a mighty nation of
cities and farms. Whatever we have
and whatever we know we owe to
labor, labor of the muscle and the
brain. To intelligent labor is due the
superiority of present methods over
past methods. Man comes into the
world without knowledge and with
out tools. BY labor man makes him
self The proportion in which he
labors with his brain is largely dec-
sive Of the success which he attains.
Intelligent labor is what counts. And
it is intelligent labor which distin-
guishes the American laborer from
the European. In the far East to-day
men carry one another upon their
backs. The Chinese and japanese
haul human freight in jinrikisha,
while the American locomotive EN-
gineer, through his knowledge of
mechanics, by simple turn Of the
hand directed by a trained and skilled
mind starts the force which carries
hundreds Of persons or tons of freight
over the country. The American
locomotive engineer is laboring
man, yet it is not long ago since his
work, even in this country. was done
by the pack horse and the human
pack animal. To-day in many parts
of the world laborers gather their
grain by means Of the scythe and the
rake. The American farmer who does
this work with horses and self-binder
is no less laboring man, because he
works with his brain and less with
his muscles than his less favored la
borer of other countries. To-day the
brains and muscle which make and
direct the mighty ships that ply the
ocean do thousands upon thousands
of times as much work as the galley
slaves of olden times. The men who
make and operate these ships are
more truly laborers than the slaves
compelled to work until released by
death. What, then, should be the
thought uppermost in our minds on
+, labor day? 1t is the dignity which
has been impaired to labor by intelli-
gence. Labor with the muscles is
necessary and dignified, but labor
with the muscles directed by the
brain is what has changed the condi-
ton Of the world. Labor has difficult
ties today, but labor always had diff
fculties and always will. Were that
not the fact there would be no further
place for brains in the world. The
laborer Of the past had to use his
physical strength more than the labor
er Of to-day. He met his difficulties
by his brains. He devised means by
which he could produce more and
easier. His difficulties were economic.
just as the difficulties of the la
borer to-day are economic. Gradually,
yes, rapidly, the difficulties of the
past have been remedied, but other
troubles have arisen. These troubles
must be met and solved like the
troubles Of the past. Dignified and
powerful as is the laboring man of to-
day, yet he has obstacles to meet.
Everything is not right. There are
inequalities. Those who produce do
not all obtain their fair share of the
worlds products. All muscles are
not Of equal strength and equal deft-
ness, all brains are not Of equal size
and equal training, and never will be,
but intelligence will operate to reduce
the inequalities. Knowledge, the re-
suit of brain labor, has operated to
ameliorate the conditions Of all who
labor. knowledge will solve the diff
! hculties Of to-day. LaboFing men