The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-11

ment Of sanitary conditions in mines and
workshops. Those who low enjoy the eight
hour day can remember the nin hour day
and the ten hour day, but hardly the days
OF twelve or fourteen hours.
In the factories that are starting up in
the Orient long hours OF work are required
and there lie attendant degradation Of the
toiler. The demand for the eight hour day
is an international one, and the laboring
nan Is gradually winning his flght, partly
by an appeal to conscience n partly by
proof that the highest efficiency IL incon-
sistent with long hours.
In the raising OF wages two factors have
been at work-the labor organization and
the higher efficiency that has come with
more universal education. The educated
workman can earn more than the ignorant
one and he soon demands a compensation
commensurate with his services.
The labor saving machine has played
no ~unimportant part in increasing the
workmsn's compensation. 1t has raised
the quality OF thew work done and has brought
into use a higher grade Of skill than was
formerly employed.
While the labor saving machine Ii ty some
regarded "a .antagonistio to the welfare
OF the laborer, no far sighted observer
can fail to note that IL has increased rather
than diminished the number employed
at the work into which Il has been intro
duoed. while it has introduced q higher
skin, which in turn has secured a higher
compensation.
LABoB MULTIPLYING MACHINERY.
The handling OF a locomotive requires
more skill than the handling Of a freight
team and the engineer commands higher
wages than the teamster. The railroad.
by vastly increasing commerce. has multi
piled the number OF persons engaged in
the handling Of passengers n freight,
and it has at the same time improved the
character OF the work done and raised
the standard OF those employed.
The same result has followed in other
kinds OF work. It might be stated thus:
labor saving machinery, as It Is called
although it might more properly be called
labor multiplying maohinery-has created
a demand for a higher grade Of labor; uni
versal education has supplied this demand,
and the labor organization has secured
for these higher grade laborers larger
compensation and more favorable condi-
tons.
One thought has grown upon me as we
travelled, namely, the dignity OF labor.
In no other country Is 70 high an esti-
mate placed upon the wage Garner az in
this country. In the Orient there was,
until the advent OF Western ideas, an i'm
passable gulf between the prince and his
people, and there il even now in n large
part OF the Orient a gulf so wide that one
who tolls with his hands cannot look
across IL.
The royal families nave lived by the
sword, and they have forced from those
beneath them a tribute sufficient to support
themselves and their armed retainers.
The masses have been the prey OF the
governing GLASSES, no matter what tribe
or family held the throne.
DIGNITY OF LABOR
In Europe the extremes OF society have
been brought nearer together. although
there is still a gap between the aristocracy
and the masses. This gap, however, is
growing more and more narrow, educa-
ton and popular government being the
most influential factors in bringing about
this result.
With education now more and more
within the reach OF all, the poor boy is
forcing his way to the front in business,
and with his fortune thus acquired he is
dwelling ranks. In the political world,
too, the champion of the weak and hi OPP
pressed is making his influence felt, and his
political power Is opening before him doors
which until recently were closed.
In France Deputies, Senators inc even
Presidents have come up from the people,
and in England a labor leader. John Burns,
has fought his way into the Cabinet. Who
will say that the European laboring nan
is not making progress when labors fore
most representative in Great Britain be-
comes the guest OF the King?
Yes, America leads the world in the
recognition OF the true worth of the man
who tolls, and yet, sven in America. there
is room for still further advancement
Our national life is full OF instances OF rise
from office boy to merchant prince, from
p~loughman to Governor, Congressman
and Senator: we have had a rail splitter
made President-and no President ever
bore himself better or served amid more
trying times-while another President
looked pack to the days when he followed
the towpath on a canal.
ana YET, WIFI Lncbo lllustTlOub cAdLuplce
OF poverty overcome and great careers
built upon a foundation OF manual labor.
there is still much to he done before the
producer of wealth will receive the con-
sideration which he deserves. TIL dignity
of labor will not be appreciated as 1t ought
to be until our young men are taught that
il il more honorable to contribute by labor
to the sum of the worlds wealth than to
spend in idleness the money that others
nave made.
THE STANDARD OF LIFE.
Tolstoi contends that people cannot be
kept in sympathy with one another unless
all perform some physical labor through
out their lives. He says that contempt for
those who do the drudgery Of life is natural
If we put that drudgery upon others and
reserve for ourselves only intellectual
pursuits.
Whether this be true or not, it Is true
that we cannot view labor in its proper
relation to life unless we measure life by a
standard different from that which is now
ordinarily applied. SO long as we measure
life by its income rather than by its outgo