The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1907-04-03
6he DIGNITY
OF LABOR

From II. 3, ,,: r"s@os s.s:. ..s* Sc ..... ,..,
~HE LAW OF WORTHY WORK WELL DONE is THE
LAW OF SUCCESSFUL AMERICAN LIFE. I Be
~ uEvE IN PLAY TOO. PLAY, AND PLAY HARD
WHILE YOU PLAY, BUT DOM MAKE THE MIS-
TAKE OF THINKING THAT THAT is THE MAIN THING.
THE WORK is VIVA COUNTS, and if a man does his work
WE'LL and tt is worth doing, then it matters but little in which line that
work is done; the man is a good American citizen. If he does his
work in sipshod fashion, then, no matter what kind Of work it is, he is
a poor American citizen.
No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a
burden to carry. FAR AND AWAY THE BEST PRIZE THAT
LIFE OFFERS IS THE CHANCE TO WORK HARD AT
WORK WORTH DOING, and this is a prize open to every man,
for there can be no work better worth doing than that done to keep in
health and comfort and with reasonable advantages those Immediately
dependent upon the husband, the father or the son.
THERE s NO ROOM IN OUR HEALTHY AMERICAN LIFE FOR
THE MERE IoLER, FOR THE MAN OR THE WOMAN WHOSE OBJ.
JEcr 1T ! THROUGHOUT LIFE TO sH'Rk THE DUTIES WHICH
LIFE OUGHT TO BRING.
The men whom we most delight to honor in all this land are those
who, in the iron years from 81 to '65, bore on their shoulders the
burden Of saving the Union. They did not choose the easy task. They
did no: shirk the difficult duty. Deliberately and Of their own free
will they strove for an ideal upward and onward across the stony
slopes of greatness.
As it is with the soldier, so it is with the civilian. To win success
in the business world, to become a first class mechanic, a successful
farmer, an able lawyer OF doctor, means that the man has devoted
his best energy and power through long years to the achievement Of
his ends. So it is in the life Of the family upon which in the last
analysis the whole welfare O. the nation rests.
THE WOMAN WHO HAS BORNE AND WHO HAS REARED As
THEY SHOULD BE REARED A FAMILY OF CHILDREN HAS IN THE
MOST EMPHATIC MANNER DESERVED WELL OF THE REPUBLIC.
e III ~ g - V"O 0'6 ~ e "
BEAR IT WoRTH'LY ONLY BY THE POSSESSION OF RESOLUTION,
OF GOOD SENSE, OF CONSCIENCE AND OF UNsELF'sHNEss.
But, if she has borne it we'll. then to her shall come the supreme
blessing for, in the words Of the oldest and greatest Of books, cher
children shall rise up and call her blessed" and among the benefactors
of the land her place must be with those who have done the best and
the hardest work, whether as lawgivers o r as soldiers, whether in pub
lie or in private life.
This is not a soft and easy creed. to preach. 1t is a creed willingly
learned only by ne and women who, together with their softer viz
tues, possess also the stronger, who can do and dare and die at need,
but who while life lasts will never finch from their allotted task. IT
is NOT ENOUGH TO BE WE'LL MEANING AND KINDLY,
BUT WEAK; NEITHER is II ENOUGH TO BE STRONG
UNLESS MORALITY AND DECENCY GO HAND IN HAND
WITH STRENGTH. W. must possess the qualities which make us
do our duty in our homes and among our %neighbors, and in addition
we must possess the qualities which are indispensable to the makeup
of every great and maSerful naton-the qualities Of courage and
hardihood, of individual initiative, and yet of power to combine for a
common end, and, above all, the resolute determination to permit no
man and no set of men to sunder us one from the other by lines OF
caste or creed or section.
WE MUST ACT UPON THE MOTTO OF ALL FOR EACH AND
EACH FOR ALL.
T. There must be ever present in u minds the fundamental truth
that in a republic such as ours the only safety is to stand neither for
MOI against any man because he is rich or because he is poor, because
he is engaged in one occupation or another, because he works with his
brains or because he works with his hands. We must treat each man
on his worth and merits Is a man. WE MUST SEE THAT EACH
is GIVEN A SQUARE DEAL, BECAUSE HE is ENTITLED
TO NO MORE AND SHOULD RECEIVE NC LESS. Finally,
we must ever keep in mind that a republic such as our can exist only
by virtue of the orderly liberty which comes through the equal domi
nation of the law over all men alike and through its administration III
such resolute and fearless fashion IS shall teach all that no man is
above it and no man below it.
In our present advanced civilization we have to pay certain penal
ties for what we have obtained. Among the penalties is the fact that
in very many occupations there is so little demand upon nerve, hardi
hood and endurance that THERE IS A TENDENCY TO UN
HEALTHY SOFTEN1NG OF FIBER AND RELAXATION OF
FIBER, and, such being the case, I think it is a fortunate thing 70,
our people as a whole that there should be certain occupations, prom
inent among them railroading, in which the man has to show the very
qualities of courage, of hardihood, of willingness to face danger, thu
cultivation Of the power Of instantaneous decision under difficulties
and the other qualities which 60 to make up the vnle side of a man
character. These qualities are all important, but they are not all suf6
cent. 1t is necessary absolutely to have them. No nation An rise t.
greatness without them. But by them alone 10 nation will ever be
come great. 4 y y With the courage, with the %hardihood, with tn
strength, must come the power of self restraint, the power of self mas