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Show oo THE REWARD OF MINING MEN. How much of a reward should the world give to a man who discovers a mountain of mineral and proceeds to separate the dross and make available the metallic contents? In the olden days, the discoverer of diamonds made slaves of the natives na-tives The Kaffir boys were worked within a compound until they could work no more, then purged and turned out to die. That was sanctioned then, because slavery was not viewed view-ed as It Is today. The owner of the diamond mine grew immensely wealthy weal-thy and he prided himself on his achievements. He was respected and admired. His great mind had transmuted trans-muted diamonds through human slavery slav-ery into gold. Now, suppose a genius in metallurgy metal-lurgy today discovers a gold deposit depos-it of low grade, and, figuring human toil at the minimum In wage, works out a large profit at the expense of the brain and brawn of thousands; suppose the clever schemer grows rich, should we honor him and encourage en-courage him to go on coining the despair de-spair of his laborers into profits, or should we point him out as one who has not performed his whole duty to his fellow men? There are those who tell us that when a man of money builds up an industry on diamonds, or gold, or copper, extracted from the earth, he Is to be hailed as a benefactor; that we must take Mio account of the heartaches of the men who toil for him, but must keep only one thing In mind, namely, that he has created a new Industry. No man, however brilliant he may be in mind, has a right to beat down labor. Tho working work-ing man plays quite as important a part in the moving of mountains as the most maBterful mind, and he should be rewarded so that he can live In a comfortable home and caro for his family according to the average aver-age demands of American families. Anything less is a crime against society. |
