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Show PROGRESS OF LABOR THROUGH THE YEARS Steady Rise From Degraded Position Long Occupied. The subject of labor ls a growing one n Derennial one, and a few thoughts upon the subject are still quite opportune. And let me begin be-gin by giving a c e rt a i n date May 4, 1860. In the evolution of fundamental social conditions the period of time since the date given above Is an insignificant one; J J. 1 Kn UUU J?L 11 Warren Stone. hooveg thQge who are dissatisfied with what they would call the slow progress of things to stop and reflect upon what has been accomplished. It was on May 4, 1860, that Rev. Henry Solly of Lancaster, England, organized or-ganized the "Workingmen's Mutual Improvement and Recreation society," the first of the numerous institutions for the mental and social uplift of the toiling masses. It- ls a dismal fact, but still a fact not to be wiped out, that from the dawn of history right down to the middle of the Nineteenth century the lot of the worklngman was. In all lands, a most pathetic one, says Rev. Thomas B. Gregory, In an article on "Labor's Progress." Dear old Herodotus makes a true picture for us of the slaves who built the Pyramids by the Nile, and also of the heartless "taskmasters" standing over them. He shows us the fearful struggling and straining, the acute privation pri-vation and deep degradation of the tollers, the whole combination making a picture which, once seen, can never be forgotten. And it must be remembered that the spirit of i the Egyptian taskmaster practically held Its own nearly all over the world snug down to the time of the French revolution. The mosses of the people in France when the Bastile fell were quite as forlorn for-lorn and degraded as the people of Egypt were when Old Rameses reigned at Memphis. The worklngman was simply a nobody. no-body. If he was permitted to toil and by the sweat of his brow to obtain ob-tain a fairly decent animal existence, a plenty of coarse food and a pile of straw to sleep on at night, he had no right to complain, no reason to ba looking for anything better. The idea that the millions who did the work of the world might justly deelre to Improve themselves mentally and socially; might have the wish to hear music and to look upon beautiful pictures In their habitations; might desire to become acquainted with the thoughts of the great men whose names they had In one way or another an-other heard of, was utterly ridiculous. The tollers needed only strong muscles and stout backbones. They had no use for mental culture, for social so-cial aspirations, or for the knowledge that gives one power and self-respect and the ambition to rise in the world. Labor was a degraded thing. Only the gentleman was respectable and the gentleman was the man who did not have to work. Such was the absurd and degrading idea that prevailed pretty nearly everywhere from the days of Aristotle to those of DantQn, Mirabenu and Patrick Henry. And to add to the badness of the situation, the masses of the people were largely of the same way of thinking think-ing with the "gentlemen." In the majority of Instances they were satisfied with their sorrowful lot; feeling that they were getting all that they deserved. They were stirred by no ambition beyond that of the coarse material compensations of their daily toll. Caliban was contented with being Caliban. Hence the significance of that date May 4, 1800. With the noble-minded clergyman of the English church who started the good work among the Lancashire weavers we have the beginning of the movement for the betterment of the disgraceful situation that prevailed for so long. Today the amelioration of the workingmen's work-ingmen's condition has assumed worldwide world-wide proportions. The great problem, for so long a period totally Ignored, has become the burning theme In every country. In all countries there are to be found, In great numbers. Institutions that are working along the lines laid down In Rev. Mr. Solly's "The Workingmen's Work-ingmen's Mutual Improvement society," so-ciety," with the result that the toilers are rapidly censing to be mere toilers. They are ceasing to be things' and are becoming men, with the thoughts, hopes and ambitions that properly belong be-long to them as such. Each new year means for the workers work-ers better homes, better apparel, larger thoughts, a keener appreciation of the beautiful In nature and In art, a deeper deep-er self-respect; a finer manhood and a wider, more varied and more sutis-factory sutis-factory existence. |
