New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1918-07-17

is, therefore, Cne one wiz AclucAo LIE
greatest service. The commands, DO;
unto Others as you would that they
should do unto you,' and Love thy
neighbor,' are immortal because they.|
are founded on service, which is the
first and greatest law of life.
With this service measure OF worth
in mind, to the proposition that this
cotton weaver and that salesgirl are
receiving adequate wages.
Here is man who is giving the best
of his time and energy-his very life
three hundred days a year, ten hours
every day to the weaving OF cotton
cloth. AS return for this labor, he
receives $500 year. If such a man,
giving three thousand hours each year
to the task Of making clothing that
will be worn by his fellows, is worth
$500, HOW MUCH is THE MAN
WORTH WHO HAS BEEN LIVING
SINCE THE DAY THAT HE WAS
BORN, THIRTY YEARS AGO, ON
THE INCOME FROM HIS FATHERS
ESTATE? '>~" r..
Take another case. This girl stands
all day behind the counter in depart
ment store, selling laces. In return
| for this expenditure Of time and energy
she receives $400 year. If such a
girl is worth $500, how much is a gorl
worth who lived on the income earned
by her father until she married her
husband; who has never borne children
or raised her hand to serious labor;
and who comes in the pursuit of her
luxurious tastes to buy laces from the
salesgirl who is worth $500 year.
The ordinary processes of mathe-
mates do not leave for the son of his
father or the wife Of her husband very
ample economic basis for existence.
| If it is true that the worth of any
individual must be measured in terms
of the service which he contributes
to his fellow-men, the status of these
two people is already algebraic.. They
are worth zero at birth, minus the
entire cost of their maintenance since
that time
The father and the husband protest.
'tHave we not right to keep our sons
and our wives in idleness and luxury
! if we see fit to do so?'' To be sure
you have. You may put your wealth
into their upkeep as you would to the
upkeep of any other bit of decorative
fnery. At the same time you must.
realize that they are only decorative
fnery, and that, therefore,, like any
other wanton luxury, they are an Of
Tense to the community so long as
there are working people who lack the
necessaries of life; and furthermore,
that it is unseemly, even grotesque, for
such people and for the group in society
which they represent to say that this
or that person who is engaged in do
ing some useful work is "getting all
he is WORTH
Those who hew the wood and draw
the water, those who labor with the
head or with the hand in the interest
of the upbuilding Of the community,
are in a class by themselves. In an
other class, distinct from the workers,
are those who, because of their owner
ship of some natural resource or of
some productive machinery, are able
to take from the worker a part Of the
product of his labor in the form of
rent or interest. The workers build So
ciety and make progress possible. The
owners live, parasitically, upon the
proceeds of the work which the work
ers are doing.
The workers are an economic asset.
They create prosperity. The owners
are an economic liability. They are a
burden on the productive forces of the
community. Every day that they live
throws them deeper into the debt Of
the society that supports them -.