The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-08-13

in the Vineyard" Matt 2O:1-16.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
~ERE is a story in which
Jesus seems at first sight to
Wfl have sanctioned what is not
a square DEAL" and a story
which in its application
throws light on present day
world wide religious conditions. 1t is
the perplexing parable of the laborers
in the vineyard, some of whom bore
the burden of the heat of the day for
the very same wage as was given 10 the
men who began work near the close of
the day. Perhaps it does credit to our
mate sense of justice that most read
ers of the parable find themselves in
sympathy with the complaints OF the
laborers who had toiled all day, and
yet received no greater payment than
the late corners. The lesson is one
that will give many a teacher or older
pupils an uncomfortable half hour,
owing to the sensitiveness of our day
to all social questions
A little careful thought removes
most of the difficulties. Let us ind
out what the parable really means,
and why it was related by Jesus.
Equal Wage for Equal Labor.
For equal labor there should be
equal recompenSe; a woman who does
the same work in an Office as a man
is entitled to the same salary. A black
man should get the same wages as a
white for the same work A poor boy
should not be Disseminated against in
favor of an officials son, when both
are at the same sort of task. In a
broad, general sense these propositions
are unassailable, and almost automatic.
Deeper than thes, though, is the
question whether the denarius or
penny (equal to sixteen or seventeen
cents today, with a purchasing power
many times greater), was Just
stipend for a full days labor. That
e. al ~ this D1rQhlR- When
it Is granted that the full market price
had been paid for the hire of the men
who went earliest to work, we find the
way open to other considerations.
So long as he is just with all, an
employer may be lavish with some.
There are other factors than time in
employment, else the foreman might
get less than the Office boy. The quail
ity of the work, and the workers need
and spirit, may so appeal to an en-
ployer as to cause him to pay one
more than another. The labor union
movement among newspaper report
ers has never made much headway be-
cause of the impoSSibility OF estab-
fishing a uniform wage among men
whose work varies as greatly in quail
ity.
The Employers Freedom.
Multitudes of persons will be study
ing this lesson in the light of the labor
question. Such should bear in mind
the principal of the justice of the
denarius a day paid to the men first
hired. Society has a right to insist
upon a living wage for all workers.
After that the employer has rights
which may not be invaded. 1t is his
private affair if he wants to buy a
red vest or a green automobile, or give
a full days wages to a man who
comes to him with hard luck story
just before the whistle blows. There
are personal rights of the individual
which the state may not abrogate. If
choose to fee one sleeping car porter
a hundred per cent above what I fee
another, for reasons which 1 consider
satisfactory to myself, who is to hinder
or criticise me?
The parable may not be pressed too
far any way. 1t simply means that
God pays for waiting as well as for
working. Readiness counts as service
with him. He takes opportunity in
consideration. The men who were
hired at the eleventh hour wanted
work so badly that they sought it up
to the close Of the day. Look at the
situation through the eyes of the man
out of a job and see how its aspect
changes. The employer generously
recognized the late corners need, as
we'll as rewarded their actual labor.
Perhaps it was the eleventh hour la
borers who actually saved the seasons
crop. We do not object nowadays to
paying the specialist who comes to
the sick roon for half an hour at the
crisis, tenfold what the family doctor
receives for weeks of steady attend
ance.
When the Last Are First.
There Is a striking passage at the
close of the seventh chapter of He
brews, following the narrative of the
heroes of faith and their testings:
"And these all-received not the prom
Use, God having provided some better
things concerning US, that apart from
US they should not be made perfect"
ILL., ~
through life and Eliminates this par
able. The last is necessary to the full
fllment Of the first. The work of the
all-day. toiler Is completed by the
eleventh-hour laborer. Others have
1abored and we have entered into
their rest" The work of the world is
90 inextricably interviewer that only
the Omniscient can rightly apportion
rewards. Nobody does complete
task: like the old cathedrals whose
building consumed generations, each of
us carries on toward completion an
others tasks. 1t needs a mother,
teacher, a lover, an enemy and an
event to produce a great writer.
when we consider the vineyard as a
whole-which is always Gods con-
cern-we shall not be perplexed about
seeming iniquities. The harvest is the
thing. In the parable the household
er's zeal for worker and the idle labor
er's zeal for work, combined for
the completion of the days task. SO
It is In the kingdom. God is going to
have his work done. Often he has
been disappointed in the workers first
chosen and has had to supplement
them with others. Thus it comes to
pass that the first are sometimes last,
and the last first.
Enter the Heather Nations.
A shock was given to the insular
self-complacency of Christian denomi-
nations and countries at the recent
wonderful Worlds Missionary Confer
ence in Edinburg by the revelation,
which many received for the first time
that the once deSpised heather ma
lions are to have perhaps the greatest
part in interpreting Christianity to
mankind, and in bringing in the day
of the Lords complete triumph. Well
might the complaint of the all-day Ia