744 TRANSACTIONS OP THE 



inaction. But the strong man is not corrupted by tendencies. He over- 

 comes them and his work is the better for the struggle. We all know of 

 farmers who put thought and intelligence into every detail of their work. 

 We have seen some who displayed in the management of their farms an 

 executive ability and a genius for organization that would have done credit 

 to a Wallenstein. Do we respect such men less than those of the learned 

 professions among our acquaintances? They are broad, alive, and inter- 

 esting outside of their business; because they are alert, intelligent, and 

 interested in it. The soil in which they delve has no power to dishonor 

 them. Mere matter is dead and inert, and has no quality of itself. It 

 becomes in some sense human when it passes through man's hands in its. 

 alterations. So that, if we are to call labor honorable, it is so only in the 

 proportion in which human thought enters into and becomes apparent in it. 



There is, however, a noticeable tendency to separate thought from work, 

 to relegate to distinct realms two phases which are naturally the close 

 complements of each other. Too many of our workers act without think- 

 ing, and too many of our thinkers think without acting, thus bringing the 

 reproach of degradation upon the one department of labor, and that of 

 inefficiency and unpracticalness upon the other. We have, broadly, two 

 great classes of laborers — the mind workers and the hand workers — two 

 classes which appear to be much more distinct than they really are, and 

 which are in fact much more distinct than they should be; and this, partly 

 because of the extreme to which the civilized world is now carrying the 

 principle of the division of labor, partly because of a mistaken view regard- 

 ing the relative degrees of honor attaching to the respective grades of labor. 

 For the benefit of both classes of workers, and for the best results in each 

 department of work, there should be a closer affiliation between them ; and 

 this not by a mere coalition of classes, but by a mutual participation in a 

 common labor. The mind worker should have, to a certain extent, both 

 knowledge and practice in industrial labor; and the hand worker should 

 know and apply intelligently the theories relating to his occupation. And 

 not only this, he should go further than the mere mechanical application 

 of the commoner principles of his occupation. He should meet the mind 

 worker half way by bringing all the insight and constructive power of an 

 active intellect to bear upon his occupation. A certain coordination and 

 cooperation between the theorist and the man of practice is necessary to 

 the highest development of their respective departments. There are prob- 

 lems of practice whose solution could never be reached by mere practice, 

 and problems of theory that could never be reached by unaided thought. 

 There is no occupation so simple and mechanical that cannot be raised to 

 a higher degree of efficiency by the application of thought, and no intel- 

 lectual truth so far removed from the practical that it is independent of 

 practice for its suggestion and confirmation. 



This artificial separation of thought work from hand work is injurious 

 alike to the worker and to the work. Everywhere there is poor work, and 

 consequent annoyance between employer and employed, because the laborer 

 insists on believing — to his own degradation and to that of his work — that 

 he is paid for the use of his strength and mechanical skill only, and not 

 for his thought in their exertion as well. It is a common complaint that 

 the master workman, farmer, or manufacturer is obliged to furnish his 

 employes with the brains requisite for the satisfactory execution of their 

 work. When the employe in a given department of labor becomes better 

 informed and fuller of ideas regarding his own work than his employer, 

 his labor loses its servility; he becomes himself a master, respects himself, 

 and compels the respect of others. 



