The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1915-12-24
THE BURDEN OF THE MASTER.


of the master. The employee is often
spoken for and finds friend in the
politician, the philanthropist and the
reformer. But the employer has to
fight his own battles, bear his own
burdens, keep his own counsel-and
his task is not an easy one. He may
get more money for what he does, but
the demands upon him are proportions
ately great. He may not earn his
bread by the "sweat of his brow" lit
orally; but he does earn it by the
burden which his soul has upon It.
His responsibility never ceases. He
cannot turn away from the store, shop,
mill or farm with the same care-free
mind that the employee feels. For he
knows only too well the dangers that
lurk in the shadows ahead; he realizes,
too, that misfortunes, when they come,
fall directly upon him. A broken plow:'
it is not much; load of hay al
lowed to spoil after being cut-a will
full cow or horse trampling down the
grain-these are small; each in it,
self is minor loss, but in every
case the loss falls not upon the la
borer, but upon the landlord. A few
rotten apples in a barrel-a dozen
bananas "gone bad-a half-dozenl
cans of meats spoiled--a few bushels
of corn that gets musty-each thin4j
a minor thing, but in every case it H
not the loss of the clerk; the who'll
loss falls Upon the proprietor of til
store. A damaged piece IN fBp
caused by the pesky rata few PAIRS
of shoes grown to be a bit out of
style-a yard of ribbon soiled by too
careless handling-these are minor
things, and each item is of small value
but the loss, if loss there be, falls
not upon the clerk, but upon the owner
of the >usiness. A few bad accounts.
each small in itself-but not one falls
upon the clerk; the aggregate falls
upon the concern. / have reached the
deliberate conclusion that it is more
often the employer than the employee
who deserves and needs commisera
ton, comfort and help. He tolls with
out ceasing. His vacation is not with
out the constant remembrance of pos
sible disaster at home, if, indeed, he
has any vacation. Most men who are
today carrying on the worlds enter
prises and the worlds commerce, the
men who are bearing the full brunt
OF life's battles are not the employees;
1T is the employer; not the wage earn
er but the wage payer. 1t is true the
working man has his woes; he has,
also, at least sometimes, very much
magnified idea of his hardships. He
often feels that his lot is hard and
longs for an exchange of place with
his employer. He often feels that he
could step into the said employer
shoes and run the "shebang" far bet
ter than the "bone-headed boss" runs
it. Poor fool, he little knows to what
stern battles that same "head man" is
often put. He does not realize, as
one really informed knows quite well
that he would have the whole thinp
in a seething sea of trouble in two
winks were he entrusted with the d
recting of affairs. 1t is hard for the
porter who washes the windows to
look without envy upon the bank
president sitting at his desk. He
probably wonders why the porter gets
six dollars a week and the president
hundred. "There's a reason" and
very good one. And the whole advan-
tage does not rest with the president,
even then. H sepiyaiagnmaetaocm
even then. He is paying price which
the other man has not the capacity
to pay. But it is price, neverthe
less.
Union, S. c., Dec. 20, 1915.