Article August 19, 1911 Issue

THE QUESTION OF LABOR AND CAPITAL

AGNES FLORIDA CHALMERS.

The fact that a prominent local daily declares it is about to follow the worthy policy adopted some time ago by The Christian Science Monitor, of furnishing free advertising space to those looking for employment or for employers seeking help, gives occasion for rejoicing. Universal salvation may be defined as universal activity, rightly directed. The redemption of the race must come through honest service. The Biblical injunction, "Work out your own salvation," is the best practical solution ever offered of any and all labor problems and it will continue as law, unchanged and unchangeable, until the problem of labor and capital is finally solved.

A laboring man was the means of stopping a runaway horse, and thereby rescued three children of a well-to-do merchant. As a suitable reward for this service, the merchant proffered the man the most valuable gift in his power to bestow, congenial employment for life. A Christian Scientist who had very little in the way of worldly possessions, began to express mentally gratitude for being able to give even limited employment to the seamstress, the housemaid, and the laundress. As this gratitude was more deeply felt, many other employees were added to her pay-roll, such as the carpenter, the office assistant, the day-laborer, and the landscape gardener, and with this increased pay-roll came an added understanding of gratitude, activity, and supply.

It has been wisely said that liberty is not found in doing what one likes; it is in liking what one does. The greatest accomplishment is to gain a genuine liking for one's work. If the spirit of unselfishness and devotion go hand in hand, the working man will strive not alone for his own advantage, but for the state or community as well to which he belongs. Uniting readiness of service, consideration of others, and loyalty, the working man will find the question of labor solved. In using one's gifts for self-advancement only, whether these gifts be increased capital or skill, all progress both for the industrial development of the nation and for the state as a whole would cease. Well-organized technical schools are teaching their pupils the value of working for others. In these trade schools beginners are instructed to make use of skill in work and to find joy in work. It is impossible to separate skill and joy, for true joy in work can only grow out of the real capacity for it.

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