The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-03-03
LABOR'S BURDEN.
n Never Can Re Lightened by Senti-
mental Poets.

mental Poets.
II TIRE EDITOR OF THE SuN--SW.
have profound respect for a genuine
laborer. no matter what kind OF work
he does. With so many millions of lie
on this planet, and all OF us daily In
need of bread and raiment and shelter
there Ia endless work to be done and
most of it is sure to bring WEAKNESS.
As a boy and young man | was taught
mostly In the school OF hard work on a
farm in western New York. My fathei
used to raise several acres OF potatoes
and he depended OH me and my brothers
to take most Of h care OF them. Ere
quently W. planted them In newly
turned green sod" which had never
been under the plough. 1t was trying
labor for young hands to find earth
enough to cover the seed. 1t was hot
nsrd labor in tho month OF Juno &c
drive a horse between the rows with q
shovel plough II was back breaking
toll to bend over a row OF potatoes all
day long and pound sods among the
stalks with the hoe.
When the hoelng was lone we began
haying. # was a WEAKNESS to the
bones for "A young man OF Is or 16 10
drag a scythe through lodged clover In
stony. stumpT fields from morn to
dewy eve
on days for hauling in the hay
have helped to handle ten big loads
from dew of" to sunset. and ] used
to grow so tired with tho effort tina;
my body seems weary yet. though II
IL a quarter OF a century since ] left
the farm. There were other kinds OF
hard labor on n farm In Allegany
county thirty years g Father and
my brothers and / cleared up n put
In shape to TIL abou nifty acres of
woodland in ten years. II is no fun
for a growing boy to swing an axe or
to pun a crosscut saw or to pile up
logs all day long
l therefore know what Il Is to earn
my bread with the sweat of my brow.
And though | have been supporting
myself for nearly twenty-five years
with a Kind of employment far less
physically fstiguing han the work |
have been describing. | feel that when
men are seeking a solution for the per
picking problems OF labor | nave some
right to be heard.
In THE Sun OF February II Benjamin
Macmahon breaches what seems TO me
IA foolish and dangerous doctrine. Its
fundamental error. taken from quack
reformers like William Morris and Ed
win Markham. seems to bc that when
the world progresses far enough a
uaI labor VIII cease to be irksome. II
MIR. Macmahon has ever done an honest
days manual labor he ought 10 know
that he Is helping TO create a fools
paradise and to augment the discomfort
which is threatening to overturn civil
lization.
But to head or ose sort OF reply
which is sometimes resorted to by shall
low philosophers who imagine that we
look down un labor merely because We
tell the plain truth about 1t, | wish 20
explain what my attitude Is toward the
worklngnan. My father has been :.
workingnan all his days, and so have
most OF my relatives. These things be-
ing so. and having earned my bread in
the sweat Of my brow. | contend that
my feeling for the iaborer is a feeling
Of strong iuteres, and deep sympathy.
though ! have received a college educs-
ton and have been a teacher IN a public
high school for A years. But | do
not see the iaborcr through the murky
atmosphere OF Edwin Narkham's The
Man with the Hoe" the worst insult
ever offered To- the poor and the lowly
since man was condemned TO earn his
bread with his hands.
! look upon the laborer as A man and
a brother | see In him what might
have been II my owing parents had not
made sacrifices that I might have an
occupation not so hard and bitter as
their own. No. the man | look down
upon is not the poor fellow condemned
20 toll. He IS not what the s~hallowest
poetasicr OF al ages has painted niu.
a kline OF mutt or IDIOT with the light
blown out In his brain. Robert Burns.
n man with the hoe, rose To be the
superior OF several of the poets trained
In tho nc!en universities OF Great
Britain Abraham Lincoln. another man
with tho hoo, rose to be the peer Of
Plutarch's men.
No, tho man ! scorn il the senttmen-
talist who Will not see labor as Il has
always been, as II is, as IL shall ever
be; the man | d"sp!se Is the lying
dreamer, the stuffed prophet, the fool
philosopher. who imaglres some crazy
Utopia IN which labor IS 10 be a roseate
Joy. a kline OF picnic forevermore. Will
lam Morris and Edwin Markham for
sooth,
These s~o-called stirring lines OF
Markham are not only false as the very
devil. they are q subtle and dangerous
poison in this age OF social unrest. No
wonder this generation breeds fools like
the McNamaras. who imagine you can
change mans destiny with dynamite
No wonder that ~socialistic %loafcrs, who
have ceased to labor themselves. talk
murderously when YOU mention success
ful men like Carnegie and Rockefeller.
| believe In union labor. / believe
In reasonable legislation for the work
!nsmsn. | believe IN reasonable hours.
] believe in just wages and IN all ieg.t,-
mate means to procure 'or the ltuorer
what he has earned. | believe IN democ-
racy yet ! contend hat no majority at
the ballot box can alter a fact or change
the heart Of ms / believe In progress,
yet ! contend that no forward move
ment can ever sweetsn the bitterness
Of toll.
Back on the farm from which I came
they do many things by machinery now !,
but when | go there year by year | see
that those who have taken my place,
though they are young are rutted and
marked with the primeval curse OF
manua! labor. They are still up from
sun 10 sun, and when night comes they
drag their bodies across the fields 20 the
house as YEARLY as We did thirty years
g Down in the mines men work only
eight hours now but they are just as
dissatisfied as they were when they
worked fourteen, Nay. they are more
d,scontented II they worked only four
hours they would be more d~!scontented
still. MICHAEL G. DONOVAN
WATERBURY,, Conn, March g.
THE POLISH NUNS SONG.