Omaha daily bee., 1915-06-14

The whole scheme ~
of work whether
done in an office SSLR / GT |
or factory OF in ad-
Ininistering the government Of a state, II
done with the sincere Investment of ones I
self in ones employment. win yield to
the doer something that will be worth 70 4
him as much as the pay he gets, u not
more. Work that is accomplished in a
live way puts us N touch with the real !
/ tiles represented by whatever we expend
! our work upon. Reality always educates.
\ There is no material upon which one
lay the hand. even in common toll.
that is not ready to speak to him a long
lesson. or at least to offer a auiokening !
suggestion. There is in everything all
that we have the eye to find In It; and
the findings of the eye are the Filings Of
the soul.
The office boy or the mill hand. who
simply goes in in the morning and out
at night without in the meantime enter
ing into the meaning OF what he Is doing
.or into ait interested understanding OF
the service he renders, or OF the stuff he
handles does Elave work. not the work
Of freeman; and toll OF that servile
kind has In II no educational ingredient,
and the longer he does 1t the more stupid
he becomes.
1t is because Of this attitude of servility
that hundreds OF thousands Of young men
ana young women find themselves, so far
as relates to internal condition, in a
sorrier state at the end of each year than
they we're at the years beginning. To
be only ordinary is sin.
Emptiness of mind and heart and soul
is criminal and the man in the parable
who hid his talent in the earth was cast
into outer darkness. There are trees that
can grow inly in certain soils. Man can
grow in any SOIL and II is noteworthy
that one who starts in comparatively lean
soil is quite as likely TO grow into large
ne IS of life as one whose rootings are in
ground that is richer; which shows that
the fault - not with destiny, but with
the mar WHO makes his own destiny
Men are put into life with a view to
their becoming actualties, not apologies
wise strong, true. well-uounded, full
complete and opportunities for its
achievement are as thick as roses in
June, or as water drops in a summer
shower Opportunities are Gods over
lures, and their misuse or non-use means
disrespect shown the Master Teacher un-
der whose tuition we are all OF us placed.
An untitled human soul is . divine dis
appointment.
The results needing TO be wrought in
us by our daily employment are such as
accrue to us by coming into vital touch
with things, into close quarters with
them, close enough to them to hear the
story they tell to experience the pressure
they exert, to feel the vitality they ex-
press 70 catch the life of things that
shine ana to be trained into pace with
things that are on the march, and in
every way TO be drawn out of the society
Of those who. having ears. hear not, and
having eyes.l sec not.
DO not be a slave in your work then,
4 Work but don't be worked. II you have
TO do the work OF an OK, don't be an OK.
Under all circumstances be true TO your
humaness. Even when you work with
YOUR hands work also with your mind
and you will get mind; work with your
soul and you win get soul. / venture to
say that full 30 per cent Of our day
laborers are slaves under a free govern
ment Some times 1t is because they
are victims of circumstances perhaps
our office hoy was not. He was a slave
because in his work he saw nothing but
toll, with pittance thrown in to keep
him tied down to toll The money was
merely the chain that kept him from
running away.
One word, in closing, to employers;
You have not discharged your full obliga-
ton to your employe when you have paid
him his wages II you deal with him only
on a wage basis. he will do his work only
on a wage basis, and when he works on
that basis he does slave work. Slave
work is debasing, for II fosters in the
worker sense OF being tool; sense Of
tool becomes stronger the sense OF being
a.man becomes weaker.
So that an employer who goes no
farther than to say, 80 many chores,
so many dollars" debases his men and
not only uses up their bodies, but Inn
poverishes their souls, with nothing on
their part but little money to show for
the double exhaustion. That is not fair
TO the man and not worthy Of any honor
able employer.
And il would be to the advantage OF
their cause. II dissatisfied workingmer
would level more Of their complaint thar
they do against the tendency. Of the pres
ent economic system. which not simply
wastes the tissue OF the body but alsC
represses and discourages those finei
mental. moral and religious impulses
whose adjudication is the only means b.
which a male or a female can grow int
q thorough man or a thorough woman.
While insisting upon their claim to fai
monetary compensation. their most EN-
phatie demand should not be for en-
reimbursement from labor. even from
labor that is wearying. but from servil
debasement. that relation between tn
man who hires and the man who is hired
that creates in the latter the sense o
I being only serf. toll the badge o
degradation. with the consequent extinc
tlon OF all those finer passions Of thought
Of sentiment. and devout aspiration
,-hich really are the only things tina