Norwich bulletin., 1912-02-01
TRIUMPHANT MANHOOD
 THE SHOP TALK TOPIC. Rev. CHI. Rioketts Heard ct Mecrum- Howell Shop in Twelfth of Series.

Triumphant Manhood made the topic for Rev. c. H. Ricketts on Wednesday In the twelfth of his series of noon- hour shop talks at the McCrum- How ell company plant Mrs L. o. Potter was the soloist, pleasing her hearers with her two selections, which were Heart of Mtae (Galloway) and Eyes That Are Weary (Brackett).
 Rev. MT. Ricketts said, in part:
 The human brotherhood is made possible by certain great common characteristics It is bound together and is kept together because the Cre- ator has deposited in the soul of the individual man the moral likeness of himself, and this is the great out standing fact of human life. In what ever age of the world he may chance to be born, under whatever sky he may first open his eyes to the light of day, to whatever country he may point as the fatherland, or whatever may be the color of his skin, he's a man for all that, because he is the grandest | expression of the universal Father hood.
 Human history is the record of man in his slow approach to triumph. He has not yet reached the summit of the hill, but he Is getting there. There is | admiration as to see manhood now and then rising in triumph above hos | tile conditions that would keep il down.
 Why is the workingInan s condition l better today than at any time in the past? Simply because workingmen l have come to their own in the redis- l covery of their manhood. In my boy | hood days men in a wooen mill work | ed IA hours a. day for $125. The en- ployer fixed both the hours and the price. and from that decision there was no appeal It was inevitable that l such a one sided control of labor should lead to injustice, and that at l first it should be answered by the low ! undergrowls of dfscontent, and finally 1 by open outbreaks against unfairness | and wrong. As long as there is self ishness either on the part of capital or 1 labor the final adjustment will not be | made. As l study the progress of this l question it seems to me that I can see | more and more clearly the triumph of manhood on both sides.
 It is always refreshing to see a per l son in whom manhood is victorious We see so many mere shells, from l which the real man has departed, for one reason or another, that to meet an actual man whom money cannot buy l who will not turn down his friends for gain, who refuses to rise by crush | ing somebody elSe-to meet such 8 man is like coming into the presence l of sainthood, But I love to think that such triumphant manhood Is moi an exception even in a world where there is altogether too much selfish ness. We see it in men of high and | low degree; in public and in private life.
 In the line of industry we have re- peated evidence of triumphant man. | hood. If I was a mill hand in Law renee, with a family on my hands, anC
 was like many of those unfortunate men nOtoriously underpaid, I would
 join the strikers and fight. We ar,
 not in this world through any consen
 of our own; we simply find ourselve!
 her, and must plungs into the strug
 gle for existence. It is a fundamenta
 fact that must not be forgotten, tha
 when man does his best to live, ,societ!
 must see to it that as a reward he re
 ceives at least a living wage. If so
 ciety fails here the Vesuvius of dis
 content will mutter until the wrong i
 righted!
 The forcible demand for rights i
 Justified only as the last sort Ther
 are times when the individual, like tn
 nation, must fight for his honor. w
 are not to so about with a chip on ou
 shoulder Spelling for fight" but W
 must stand up and defend our right
 like good soldiers. There are time when the soldier ought to sing an pray, but God doesn't want a soldie
 to sing hymns, or even pray, when tn
 bugle calls to arms. And I tell you
 men, there Is a mighty army in ou various workshops that will rise up i arms before they see the rights 0
 American citizens trampled upon, an
 American labor pauperized!