Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-07-02
WORK AND WAGES AN OLD ISSUE
BY William T. Ellis

BY William 7. Ellis
The wage question and the whole
industrial issue is mirrored in the
old story told by the worlds great
est teacher, and Is the theme of to-
morrow's Sunday school lesson. There
are perplexities in the parable as in
the facts Of today, but there seems
to be clear trail out in both cases.
The picture is that of the many
who come into the service of the
kingdom of heaven where the re-
wards of the latest accessions are
as great as those of the earliest. Thus
the nations that have most recently
become Christian, like the Fiji Is
lands and Korea, for instance, have
partaken of the fruits of the Cos
pei even more fully than the ancient
nations of Europe. The youngest
convert may know all the joys OF
Christ service as fully as one who
has labored long in the vineyard.
The Burdens of the Boss.
From the fact that Jesus SO often
took the standpoint Of the employ
err in parallels like the present one,
and from the further fact that he
SO easily handled men. it has been
inferred that he was master car
penter with workmen under him
Certainly he understood perfectly
the problem of the man on whose
shoulders rests responsibility.
This householder in the story who
needed laborers for his vineyard, and
who went again and again to the mar
ket place, hiring all he could find, had
the same anxiety as has today the
farmers Of western America He had
to get in his crop in time. His need
for labor was as real AS the laborer's
need for wages. This side OF the
parable may not be overlooked, for
many of us often fail to recognize
the perplexities and cares and broad
responsibility to society, which en-
ployers bravely accept as their share
of the burden Of life. Let us not in
dulge in a mad delirium Of attack
upon capital and employers. The
man who runs business Is not often
rogue, although there are selfish
and ruthless men in business. even
as in labor unions. This graphic little
story from out Of the long-ago brings
with it lesson of tolerance
The VIII to Work.
Some OF the laborers in this vine
yard put in a full days work for as
long as daylight lasted. Another
batch went on duty in the middle OF
the morning; another at noon: an
other in the middle Of the afternoon,
and still another within an hour OF
closing time. All we're given the
same wage by this generous employer, |
grateful because his harvest had been |
gathered.
1ix,ir a
union rate Let us get that clearly in |
mind. Nobody received less than
his due. Those who worked longest |
could not complain that they were
underpaid; their only, objection was
that the late corners were overpaid,
which was not a very generous state
of mind.
The fact was that all the laborers
wanted work and waited for it,
and had the same need of wages. !
The man taken on at the eleventh |
hour had as real need for days
wages as those who had spent the
whole day amid the vines. OF course,
the meaning lies on the surface OF
the parable, that God pays for pur-
pose as we'll as performance. The
good we would do and cannot Is re-
corded in heavens ledger Let us
be glad that there is a higher scale
of justice than prevails on earth, and
that Gods standard of values is not
ours.
The parable IS a parable Of mercy
and not Of economics. 1t portrays |
the gracious consideration of God,
even as it reveals the ungenerous
and unbrotherly complaining of the
workers in the vineyard who were
not glad because their fellow work
men were equal sharers in their own
good fortune.
A Modern Instance.
When Detroit automobile manu-
facturer recently stirred the world
by announcing that nobody In his
employ would receive less than five
dollars day, there was widespread
criticism from other employers who
would not or could not, pay such
a rate. Why should we not all re-
joice that some thousands OF men
are getting even more than they
earn? The man who sweeps the
floors of this automobile factory can
not earn five dollars a day, accord
ing to prevailing standards, any more
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