The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1914-11-13
DIGNITY OF LABOR.
Not a Curse Laid Upon Mankind,
but a Blessing.
WORK ALONE is TRULY NOBLE


the Advance of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
of the Workingman as Sounded In
Ecclesiasticus.
For these workmen maintain the
fabric of the world. and in the handi-
work of their craft is their prayer
(Ecclesiasticus xxxviii, 34.
Here is a very different idea Of work
from that contained in the opening
chapters Of Genesis. According to this
prophet, labor is not curse laid upon
man for his sin, but a service so holy
that the very doing of it constitutes
"prayer." Therefore does he sound
the praises of the workingman as
others have sounded the praises of
king and soldier. The plowman, the
jewel cutter, the blacksmith, the potter
all these, although they are not
sought for in the council of the people
nor exalted in the assembly. though
they sit not in the seat of the judges
nor understand the covenant of judg-
ment," are still to be numbered among
the great and honorable Of mankind!
In order to understand the justice of
this tribute we only have to remind
ourselves that it is work which has
made the world what it actually is at
the present moment. All that we
mean by civilization. in the material
sense, is the result of toll in the sweat
of mems brOws. For ages past the
men who have labored with their
hands-the farmers, the woodsmen.
the blacksmiths. the spinners, the
builders-have been contemptuously re-
garded as an inferior grade Of human
ity, as little better, indeed, than ami
mails. And yet while kings have
fought and noblemen hunted, while
gilded courtiers have twirled their
scented handkerchiefs and toyed with
their jeweled swords, while so called
superior classes of all ages and coun-
tries have sported, gambled and de-
bauched, these same inferior laborers
have made the world what we see 1t
today! 1t is their toll which has
y
lands, opened mines. constructed rail
roads, laid out and builded cities. 1t
is their work which has created
wealth, founded nations, redeemed the
waste places of the earth, reared the
vast monuments of civilization. Not
more surely are the pyramids of Egypt
the memorial not of the pharaohs, but
of their driven slaves. than are the
huge piles of stone and steel in our
modern cities the memorials of the I'M
named toilers of this later age.
And not only is it work which has
made the world what it is today, but
it is work also which keeps the world
going from hour to hour. l have food
upon my table, clothing upon my back,
a roof over my head. books upon my
shelves only because a million hands
are toiling in my service. Let this labor
be suspended but for a little time and
death and destruction would stand
towering at my threshold. without
these" says the author of Ecclesias-
ticus, 'shall not a city be inhabited.
nor shall men sojourn or walk up and
down therein; these maintain the
fabric of the world"
1t is these facts which are slowly
teaching the supreme dignity Of labor
Carlyle had these in mind when he de-
clared that work and work alone is
truly noble; Ruskin. when he revealed
the beauty gained through toll; Morris.
when he preached and practiced the
gospel of skilled craftsmanship; Millet,
when he painted the "Sower," the
Reaper" the "Gleaners;" Abbey.
when he used the steel worker and
coal miner for his symbolic frescoes
in the Harrisburg capitol. Idleness is
doomed as a badge of distinction.
Work must henceforth be the sole title
to nobility. Whitman is the true
prophet when in his Song of Occupa-
lions" he chants the Homeric cata-
logue, "house building. blacksmithing,
glassblowing, ship joining, pile driving,
fish curing" and declares that there is
nothing (which leads to greater than
these lead tO."-John Haynes Holmes,
Church Of Messiah, New York City.