The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-03-18
b|GEl0W GETS LESSON
IN MINNEAPOLIS Mills
Inscription in Walls of "Wash-
burne A" Offers Food For
Sound Thought.
Holds Monopoly Responsible
For tho Awful Martyrdom
of ALI Labor.

Herbert s. BlgelOW, VINO Is lectur1ng IN
Minnesota, delivered a powerful SER
mon last Sunday on the "Martyrdom
of Labor The following Is an ex-
tract, and may be Of interest to Min
nesota readers:
'Washburne A. boasts of being the
largest -four mill In the world. 1t is
one of the monster mills for which
Minneapolis is famous. Here the Fa-
ther of Waters is made to grind the
grist Of the nations. To follow the
wheat on its journey down floor after
floor. through machine after. machine,
until, with hardly a touch of the hu-
man hand, it yields its golden treas
ure; to see the Mississippi harnessed
to those mighty engines, feeding, at
mans command, the mouths Of mill
ions; this is sight that the Psalmist
should have seen who wrote: Thou
hast made him little lower than the
angels, and hast crowned him with glo-
ry and honor
lone does not think Of the miller as
hero, or his occupation as dangerous.
1t is hard to believe that -four duct is
as explosive as nitroglycerine. On the
visitor may read the following inscrip-
tion: This mill was erected 1879, on
the site Of Washburne Mill A, which
was totally destroyed on the 22d day of
May, 1878, by fire and terrific explo-
sion occasioned by the rapid combus-
ton Of flour dust; not one stone was
left upon another, and every person
engaged in the mill instantly lost his
life The following are the names OF
the faithful and well-tried employees
who fell victims of that awful calami-
ty' After the names Of the martyrs
Of the mill, these words are added:
Labor, wide as the earth,
Has it's summit in heaven
Men freeze In lumber camps that
we may have shelter; they are buried
in mines that we may have fuel; on
the railroads alone, nearly $4,000 are
killed or injured each year: and all
that we have has been purchased by
the blood Of the martyrs. The CO.
operative commonwealth is not far dis
tant. But for the elements of monop-
oily that stin inhere in QUE industrial
life, We should be vast, half-con-
scious brotherhood, in which each man
In serving another in serving himself.
But if these elements of monopoly
were destroyed, 1t is lnconceivable that
life would be held so cheaply as now,
or that so many would fall In the
industrial battle. With the last vestige
of monopoly gone, and Gods store
house open to all alike, the light. OF
brotherhood would break upon the
earth, and we could say without any
cant:
Labor, wide as the earth,
Has its summit in heaven
But the more we appreciate the
service and sacrifice of labor. the more
intolerable becomes the thought that
any should enjoy the legal privilege OF
living without labor.
Zone entrance to the Powers depart
ment store in Minneapolis is built upon
leased land. The owner Of the land
receives ground rent Of one thousand
dollars per month. The land is only
about seventy feet square. The tenant
has put up the Improvement and pays
the taxes, SO that the lord Of the land
has an annual income, for doing moth
ing, of twelve thousand dollars. The
customers do not see him. Yet they
pay toll to him. They pay it in the
price of what they buy. At the door OF
every store there is one OF these invisi-
BILE toll collectors. The tribute they
exact Is tremendous, not only in its
aggregate amount. but also in its VIC
ious, indirect influence.
Must some men die to give us bread
and others eat and give nothing in re-
turn? How would it do to make these
lords of the land support the govern
ment out Of their unearned incomes?
If they have not made these land VAL
ues, if the city has made them, why,
then, should they have them? Why
should not the city take them? Why
tax industry and leave the land-own-
ers in possession Of something the city
has produced? Why not take this step
towards the goal of the emancipation
Of labor-labor, wide as the earth, with
it's summit in heaven?''
YAT 11rY1D AT r0R6REYsvsnESES