Evening star., 1919-09-01
VICE PRESIDENT MARSHALL AND CABINET
MEMBERS GIVE LABOR DAY SENTIMENTS
BY THOMAS r. MARSHALL.
Vice President of the United States.


Somewhere in Holy Writ it is de-
cIared that Jehovah will overturn and
oyerturn until he whose right it is to
rule shall reign. The Adan1ic punish
ment Of earning ones bread by the
sweat of ones brow rests upon all
mankind. The past has not properly
interpreted the divine decree. The
absolute monarch thought he was
obeying it when he bent his energies
toward its enforcement upon the rest
of human kind. himself to go scot
free. The evolution of the ages ad-
mitted into the enforcing class the
lords and gentry, but with the same
erroneous view. Paper and type,
school and newspaper, commerce and
invention enlarged the court, but did
not change the precedent. And now at
the search is for criminals upon
whom to inf1ict punishment
No right-thinking man is going to
defend the idea of the king, the noble
and the business man that each is
favorite son of God, for whom the
world, its riches, it's opportunities and
it's labors were created. If each life is
to be lived solely upon, the theory of
making man take his own medicine,
and if all the history of the past has
laid down correct principles of gov
ernment, then little objection can be
urged to the theory of some men who
urge that they who labor exclusively
by their hands should be the law
making and law-enforcing power of
the world and that, as they were ex-
plotted and treated as modities in
justifies them in treating all other
persons in like manner now that they
have the potential opportunity to con-
troll the politics, the laws and the
business of the world.
This is an erroneous idea, just as
fatal to good government as were the
erroneous ideas of the past by the
sweat of ones brow" does not mean
the exertion of mere physical muscles.
1t applies equally to intellectual.
moral and spiritual labor. If all men
were born alike, then only one kind
of work would be possible in COM
plex world. The mere statement is
refutation of it's truth.
Many of us have for years insisted
that modern machinery and modern
invention have so changed life and
multiplied output that they who labor
with their hands alone have not re-
ceived their fair and just proportion of
the finished product. But having to the
best of our little ability resisted the
theory that governments were insti-
tuted among men for those who rule
and not for those who obey, it is of
little moment to US on principle as to
who rules.
Those who are commonly denomi-
mated as laboring men are now in a
position to rule the world. For my
self, 1 hope that if they undertake. to
rule it they will rule it along different
lines than those which have hitherto
been marked out.
1 hope they will disclose that the
real object of their rule is the COM
mon veal; that government, law and
order are to exist among men, not for
and the candlestick maker, but for
the benefit of the citizen; that the
equitable adjustments of the future,
SO needful to be made, are not to be
made to the glory of one trade or one
profession and to the punishment and
shame of another trade and profess
sion. but to the glory and honor of a
republic. the foundations of which
ought to be the opportunity of every
honest man for reasonable success,
the punishment of every unjust and
inequitable practice and the peaceful
submission of the minority to the will
of the majority so long as that ma
jority shall understand and be gov
erned by the idea that laws are made
and enforced as much for the protec-
tion of minorities as majorities.
The letter of any and every law is
liable to kill it. 1t is the spirit of
every law. that maketh it alive.
1 believe in humility of person, but
1 believe also in pride Of profession.
There is no room in a republic for the
sentiment that a stock broker is 2
gentleman and a machinist is a slave.
1t is not what a man does that makes
him gentleman-it is the spirit in
which he does it that lifts his head
above the clouds.
If / had any message to give to la
Dor it would be: BE proud of the
business in which you are engaged.
Be SO proud OF it that you will not
let it sink to the low level Of narrow
minded kingcraft Be SO proud of it
that you will want it to be the leaven
Of good will which shall permeate
into every heart and home in the re-
public"