Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1904-01-22
1t ashin9ton Standard
OLYMPIA, WASH.
FRIDAY MORNING, jANIAIY p, 1901.
A Utopian View.


Daniel Mcdonald, OF Butte, Mont,
President II the American Labor
| mon, has found the golden apple and
hung t on one of the lower limbs OF
the tree that marks the goal Of organ.
led effort N behalf OF labor. He says
that the time VIII soon come when
tailoring men will have to work only
four hours a day and be paid more
money than they are to-day. He bases
this prediction upon the rapid devel-
opment OF labor saving machinery
which will enable a few to do the work
OF the many, which is a soft snap"
surely for the few, if some provision
could be made for the many. Mr.. Nc
Donald suggests none, but claims that
the arrogance and aggressiveness Of
wealth will force the working men
closer together, and they are strong
enough to control the government
were they educated to do it. They are
diligently studying the lesson, how
ever, and the time will come when in
stead of sending boodlers to the Legis.
lature, plain, intelligent honest farm
ers, and competent laboring.men of all
Classes will become our lawmakers
aud then the dawn OF the millennium
will begin and shed its beneficent rays
all over Earth.
Then, he claims, the money will not
be controlled by the few, as now, but
laboring men will control the govern
ment and thus protect themselves
Here is involved fiat decree which
the most rabid greenbacker never
dreamed of advocating. Just how the
government can throw millions OF peo.
pie out of employment by providing
short hours and big pay for a few op-
orators OF machines and provide food
and clothing for those who do not
have even four hours OF labor at any
price, is more than the ordinary mind
can grasp. But still it is exploited by
this President of the Union with all
the assurance OF the professional poll.
tician who jugsles with. big figures
and presumptuous statements Of fact,
and succeeds in securing shouts of ap.
prevail from followers who are led by
the nose more than by the brain.
Unless some method can be dis.
covered to create something out of
nothing, such assurances amount to
nothing. They are disproven with
automatic exactness. Nor does it mat
ter for the well.being of labor. The
most desirable attainment of labor is
not to secure short hours. The best
workman takes pride in bis vocation
and loves his trade. He is never so
happy as when employed at his handi.
craft or in infusing brain and vigor
into any occupation that falls to his
lot. He is never so miserable as when
he encounters period of enforced
idleness, and we often hear the remark,
even during holiday or short vaca
ton, "The hardest work is to do moth
ing" Then again no saying is more
true than that
satan finds some mischief still
For Idle hands to do
Much of the dissipation is the direct
result of voluntary or enforced idle
ness. And that labor is desirable as
recreation and rest for the mind is
shown by the skillful specimens of
handicraft produced by convicts in
the States prisons, where patience and
skill are developed by prolonged con-
finement. 1t has been noted that
very few Of the hours already conceded
to labor have been devoted to either
mental or physical improvement, or
the betterment OF conditions affecting
home and family.
And from these conditions and
causes We fail to discover q CLEAN of
that good time coming so confidently
predicted by President Mcdonald.
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