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the household by her dilligence and activity. It is only when she has fully acquitted herself in these respects that she can turn to other occupations, even for the sake of helping her husband. Mgr. von Ketteler passes to point out the false consequences which have been promulgated from a wrong notion of labor. Then he proceeds to explain the conditions of Christian labor—that is, of labor carried on as Christ labored. Having referred to the marvelous dispensation of Divine Providence, which has given to the workmen of all time a pattern in the foster-son of a poor carpenter, the Bishop lays down as the first condition of Christian labor, that it shall be performed in a right spirit—that is not merely to earn our daily bread. We should labor willingly, well, and honorably. We must not complain of the toil, which is the inseparable companion of labor.Such an address is worthy of a minister of Jesus Christ, come from what branch of the church it may. We wish it could be published in full, and sent as an Apostolic letter toevery church in Christendom; andcould be there read before a full con-.gregation. Christianity has not reached the world’s work yet, though the time is drawing near when it will. That work is yet done in pagan ways; its methods of management are despotic as the rule of a czar, and its distribution of labor products is as monstrous an injustice as the rapacityof man can devise, unless slavery be counted worse.Every Christian minister ought totake up the question, and teach hiscongregation what God’s ways ofwork are, as distinct from the world’s ways; or, as the Bishop would phrase it, what are the laws, methods and aims of “ Christian labor.” A standard of Christianity must be erected such as our modern world has not seen. A Christianity that does not cure poverty down to its roots, and remove it from society is not the Christianity of Jesus Christ, The Kingdom of God, which he taught, is righteousness and peace and joy; a rule -where there can be neither strikes nor lockouts, neither hunger nor riot, but under which all will work, and all have plenty; and this plenty will come to all in the natural order of production and distribution, and not by charity. Let the ministry be as faithful to teach us concerning that Kingdom, and its ways of getting a livelihood on this earth, as they have been to teach us how to so spend our money here, as to save our souls in another world after death, and the time when all the miseries of the world will be relieved will at oncedawn.■. H. J.[“Extremes meet,” and the above is a gratifying example that they can do so very handsomely, as well as honestly. An earnest and able Congregational minister commending an orthodox Catholic Bishop, is a rarer sight than it will be in a few years. For the best ministers of all creeds are beginning to “see eye to eye” in regard to the condition and wants of the masses. And those whose hearts are giving clearness of preceptions in this subject are not be kept apart.As for those who “care for none ofthese things,” they wall keep up their political and sectarian fences as highand as long as possible, and sorrow as those who have no hope when theybegin to see their premises invaded by the advancing hosts of “deadly-in-earnest” religion, that shows reverence for God by love and good-will to his poor down-trodden creatures, though not remarkable as devotees of any system of forms and ceremonies, however excellent they may be in themselves.—En. Free Fkag.]From the Labor Standard.SPIRIT OF THE LABOR PRESS.Thousands are in a state of actual starvation in Scranton Pa. They are not capitalists, however. Only workpeople!Any movement which does not aim at reducing the hours of labor and increasing the wages of working people, is of no earthly concern to them.The capitalistic system is turning the working people into a herd of beggars and parasites. Will any sane workingman quietly submit to such an atrocious system? No workman is really sane who does.The name of the man who introduced the or-der for the repeal of the Ten Hour Law in Massachusetts is Henry'-pierce, of West Boylston. Benedict Arnold was an angel in comparison to such a wretch. But are not all the bosses likehim ?Any “reform” which does not weaken the power of the employing class over their workmen is a mockery, a delusion and a snare. Short hours for all, not a city or a state, but for the whole nation, is what we wage-workers want.When some great ‘I am’ tells you that all your ills are due to high interest or hard money, and that you must help him to abolish both, tell him not to bother you any further; that the abolition you and all your real workingmen want, is the abolition of long hours.A lawyer named Oakey Hall recently disappeared suddenly in New York. The papers have been teeminar with articles upon his disappearance and a great many workingmen have been bothering their heads about his whereabouts. Is it not strange that the workingmen should always take more interest in other people’s business than in their own ?* The woman suffrage movement still lives in Massachusetts. It is well for these women that nothing bothers them but the want of a vote. We wonder what would most trouble them if they had to work in a factory for 10 or 12 hours a day for $4 or $5 a week. Let them go ahead. They have nothing else to do.We hear nothing of the good men. GoodHayes is the boss politician; good Tilden is still a lawyer and a millions i re, and good Cooper sticks to his glue and his opinions in favor of low wages and long hours. The good men we want to know are those who show their goodness by organizing for better pay and shorterhours.It is the custom of the capitalistic press to ridicule the unfortunate men whom poverty has driven to trampism. Here is what one paper says: “One night last week thirty-two trampslodged at the Oneida station house; during theweek 112, They like Oneida because there is nice upholstered furniture in the station house, and many of them enjoy playing on the piano, which always stands open.”In 1870 there were over 250,000 manufacturing establishments in the United States with a capital of more than $2,118,000,000. The rawmaterial consumed was worth $2,500,000,000. The value of the products was over $4,232,000,-000. The wages amounted to $775,000,000 andthe profits realized by the non-producersamounted to $1,800,000,000. We ask or readers to ponder over these facts,The political liberty cannot exist with an economical inequality. The rich will always put a moral pressure on the poor. Under present circumstances the employer has it in his power to prostitute the political rights ot the workingman who toils for him. Real political liberty exists as present only for those who possess money and credit and the means of develop lg {nature. We must therefore strengthen our economical position before political liberty will be of real value to us. To do this the hours of labor must be redueed.Poverty is in our midst; it is in our workshops, in our houses and at our doors It is carrying death and sorrow with it into many a homestead and sundering the most sacred family relations. So long as one man or one] woman continues to do the labor of three this will be the case, because the employed will be always kept in competition with the unemployed. Reduce the hours of labor all over the land so that every unemployed man and woman will have employment and you will have more harmony of action amongst the workers—you will have more union—you will have better wages, poverty will disappear and you will gradually bring down to the level of producers, all those who strive to live in luxury and idleness.DISCONTENT.How universal it is! We never knew one who would say, “ I am contented.” Go where you will, among the rich and the poor, the man of competence, or ttrn Tmrn who earns his bread by the daily sweat of his brow, and you hear the sound of murmuring and the voice of complaint. “The other day,” said Freeman Hunt, a good while ago, “I stood by a cooper, who was playing a merry tune with his adze around a cask. 1 Ah! ’ said he3 ‘ mine is a hard lot—forever trotting around like a dog, driving a hoop.’ ‘Heigho!’ sighed our neighbor, the blacksmith, in one of the hot days, as he wiped the drops of perspiration from his brow, while his red hot iron glowed on the anvil; ‘ this is life with a vengeance, melting and frying one’s self over the fire.’ ‘ Oh, that I were a carpenter!’ ejaculated a shoemaker, as he bent over his lap-stone; ‘here I am day by day, working my soul away in making soles for others, cooped up in this little sevenby nine room.’ ‘I am sick of this out-door work,’ exclaims the carpenter, ‘broiling and sweating under the sun, or exposed to the inclemency of the weather—if I only was a tailor!’‘ This is too bad,’ perpetually cries the tailor, ‘ to be compelled to sit perched up here, plying my needle — would that mine was a more active life!’‘ Last day of grace—the banks won’tdiscount—customerswhatshall I do ?’ grumbles the merchant; ‘ I had rather be a dray horse—a dog anything!’ ‘ Happy fellows,’ groans the lawyer, as he scratched his head over some perplexing case, or pores over some dry record—‘happy fellows! I had rather hammer stone than cudgel my brain on this tedious, vexatious question.’ And through all the ramifications of society, all are complaining of their condition—finding fault with their pari cular calling. ‘If I were only this or that, or the other,I should be content,’ is the universal cry,—‘anything but what I am.’ So wags the world, so it has wagged, and so it will wag.”—Scientific American.ANOTHER SHOT AT TOBACCO.Dr. D. D. Trimble, in a lecture at Chicago, furnishes the following theories about tobacco, which* will be found good reading by lovers of thewreed:The commonest effects of tobacco are excitement of the nerves, sleeplessness, loss of flesh and general debility. The speaker elaborated this portion of the subject. One of its most terrible effects is upon the heart, especially in the case of those who are predisposed to disease of that character. So common and peculiar is this disease, that it has received the name of narcotism. The effect of excessive smoking upon the mouth is to produce cancer of the lip, which extends to the cheek, and results most seriously. This is observed in men,
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Minneapolis Free Flag
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
Thu, Apr 19, 1877
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