The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1913-09-26

NAuulC w L
Marsh, of the Washington State
Federation of Labor, before the
Columbia River Conference of M. E.
Church at Walla Walla, September
I6)
I come to you tonight representing
a different movement than yours and
yet alike in it's influence upon the
character of men and the destiny of
the nation. The organized labor move
ment of America is essentially ma
terialistic yet it is closely allied to the
more than I it's imperfections, none
are working harder than I to shape
the labor movement along construc-
tive lines. Because of lack of I'M
derstanding, each of the other, our
movement and yours works at cross
purposes some times to achieve the
same ends. | am here tonight with
but one purpose, viz, to make you,
if can, see the great underlying prin-
ciples of trade unionism stripped of
their false interpretations and toI
grasp your view of the great struggle
for social and industrial justice which
should be essentially the mission of
the modern church. If, in my re-
marks, l go somewhat deeply into our
particular philosophy, 1 trust you will
see the reason therefor. Any re-
marks that l may make about the
church movement of today are made
in the friendliest spirit and from a
desire to draw closer together these
two great forces.
We owe much to the men of labor.
This edifice in which we meet to-
night, dedicated to the service of Him
who trod the shores of Galillee, was
builded by the skilled hands of men
from the ranks of the toilers. The
temples of worship, the educational
structures, the great buildings of
brick and stone and marble in which
we carry on the business of a nation,
our Twentieth Century Limited and
ocean leviathans, time and space an
nihilators, all combined to make this
twentieth century notable for its
achievements, could not have been
save that men from the ranks of labor
planned and others fashioned, these
works of civilization.
We prate of wealth. What is,
wealth? Though all the gold mined
through all the centuries were placed
in glittering heaps before us, not one
step forward of progress could we
take but for the mind and eye and
hand of the toilers. We cannot
escape if we would that edict made
when the world was young, Gin the
sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat
bread" But we deny that that edict
carried with it command to work
increasingly. If Holy Writ teaches
anything it is that there is time
for work and a time for play. be-
lieve that the Divine law of life is not
fulfilled until all the children of earth
have time for wholesome recreation,
time to observe and study the marvels
of Nature, time to read good litera-
ture, time TO appreciate and profit by
the works of art and sculpture. | be-
lieve that labor, if it be not recon-
pensed to a point where man can have
and enjoy all these things, becomes
curse upon mankind. Labor should
be the means through which these op-
portunities are brought to mans door.
not the objective end of life. In the great
scheme of things it was not planned
that man should simply eat and sleep
and eat and sleep again that physical
strength necessary to perform labor
might be conserved. 1t was meant for
man to create and have leisure and
opportunity to enjoy that which he
had created.
There. my friends, you have the
KEYNOTE to the labor movement, the
moving power behind this age old
struggle of the workers. In every
cline, among every race of people,
men and women are asking why they
must bear heavy burdens of toll. while
others, cast in the same human mold,
toll and spin not. 1t is the Gagged
spirit of the working people struggling
to be freed from an industrial sys-
tenn that dooms men to sweat out