LABOR
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labor and the right to the fruits of it. It is now a demonstrated fact that a state cannot profitably force unpaid labor from criminals even as punishment; if it does so,itbecomes a formidable rival to free labor,the support of the social fabric. The only solution of this problem is to pay the convict fair wages, applying his earnings to the support of his family, thus removing that burden from the free community,
These are some of the stumbling blocks that now lie in our pathway which must be removed, for it is evident that labor brings with it its own reward: that we must labor for ourselves; that no class will always remain slaves, nor another, masters. How then can Americans, as a master class, expect to lay claim to the labor of underlings, when the state cannot take so much from a convict? Do they not see that unless they take the helm themselves, the ship will go upon the rocks? Moreover idleness is a disgrace. How much better is an idler than a thief? The one takes secretly: the other brazenly demands a livelihood from a community cursed with his presence. They both share the fruit of another's toil and assume what does not belong to them.
No such stigma, however, can be put upon labor, and what greater incentives can ambition need than the achievements of other men? By work, Newton became a master of philosophy. A man studied iron and water, and sent the locomotive thundering through the valleys and over the hills doing us useful service. Another, by persistent application, taught the steamship how to plow old Ocean. Another worked
out the problem of distant communication by means of a little wire, and still another catches at a natural force and makes night brilliant as the day. Are these men degraded? Is a skillful farmer, mechanic or professional man to be despised? All nature has its labor to perform. A little drop of water makes a continual revolution from earth to heaven and back again, doing in its course a mighty work; the air surges to and fro, every particle of it laden with a life-sustaining property; every atom of matter continually changes its form, now existing as a mere particle of matter, again as a constituent of animal life-always busy. Surely there is nothing degrading in complying with a law of the Universe. Man can be no exception. No! Labor is honorable, and young Americans are making a fatal mistake in trying to avoid it. It is an element necessary to success either individual or national.
The people of America, therefore, must learn that talent and labor are necessary to make the aristocrats of the land; that they cannot rise higher than the source; that no people can become a nation of masters; that if we import a servant class, they will export us; that the homes of free America can never be reared by the hands of foreigners; that every man must abide under a roof of his own making; that whatsoever their hands find to do, they must do it with a will, and then the future can never dim, the sun, as it sinks to rest, will ever crown the end of a beautiful, cloudless, useful and happy day and peaceful night will bring repose to an industrious and prosperous Nation.