The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1909-09-02

UPWARD
To Improve Conditions-Materia1 or
Spiritual-Means Constant Strug-
gle-BY Rev. Chas. StelzIe.

1t isn't 50 very long ago thar an east
ern college president told US that the
- seab is the real American hero. We II
all admit that there is occasional man,
who, during strike, feels that he is justi-
fed in taking his neighbor's job, while
his neighbor is fighting hard to improve
not only his own condition, but the con
dition of every man in the craft, includ-
ing that of the ''scab'' who has taken his
place. 1t may be heroic in sense, TO
face the wrath of one IS fellow-workers,
because of necessity, or because of the
conviction that the fight is unjustifable,
anyway. I can easily imagine that some
men have persuaded themselves that they
We're right in assuming such an attitude
during an industrial warfare, and that
they were convinced that their action
was heroic.
But to characterize ne average - scab
as the great American hero is a SANDER
on the men who really worthy of the
name. Far more heroic are the men who
are hard-pressed by necessity, but who
stand by their fellows and suffer with
them, fighting to the end if they are
Jul OHI WIFI IUeIl anu
trying to convince them of their mistake,
if they are wrong.
Is anyone foolish enough to suppoS.
that men go out on strike because they
want a holiday, or simply because their
''w walking delegate tells them to do so
1t has not been so in my experience. 1t
requires more hcroism to remain on strike
in just cause and suffer, than it does to
step in and take striker S place
And now the same college president
who lauded this American ''hero' hls
come out advocating a new religion whIclr
is adapted simply to Il comfortable, well
fed class, that never knew anything
about the hard knocks of the fellow who
has been up against the real thing. AS
in the case of the striker, so in the case
of the average man-ths great college
president knows much about human
home and need as the average theorist
who confines himself to dry-as-dust books.
They study us as the entomologist
studies his eleven million bugs They
look upon us-most of these students of
80 so see olo-gee AS automatons without
blood or passion, without life or soul. We
are calmly advised to ''be good - and it
Will come out all right in the end, unmind-
full of the tugs and pulls of thousand
imPs of hell, or the driving of a devil
be he real or imaginary-who compels us
to sin and to fall, in spite of our honest
intentions.
To improve our condition-material OF
spiritual-mcans a constant struggle
fighting within and without-with all
the help that God gave us. But left TO
our own resources, most of us would make
poor job of it. Flabby, bloodless men
may manage to get along without very
much help, insofar they get along at
all, or those who were born with every
inclination to do the right thing, al
though it may be tame thing-but ]
take it that most of us aren't built of
that material. Its all the time a qucs-
tion as to who is to come out on top
God or the Devil. And it requires a SUI
pcrnatural power to win out. 1t ism t all
of life to fight, but fight we must at
times, and we all of us ''hate a GUTTER