THE OLD TIME FARM-HAND 339 



efficient, I believe ; that he is unreasonable in 

 his demands and regardless of the interests of 

 his employer, I know. There are many shining 

 exceptions, and to these I look for the ultimate 

 regeneration of labor ; but the rule holds true. 



I do not believe that the principles of life 

 have changed in forty years. I do not believe 

 that an intelligent, able-bodied man need be a 

 servant all his life, or that industry and economy 

 miss their rewards, or that there is any truth in 

 the theory that men cannot rise out of the rut 

 in which they happen to find themselves. The 

 trouble is with the man, not with the rut. He 

 spends his time in wallowing rather than in 

 diligently searching for an outlet or in honestly 

 working his way up to it. Heredity and en- 

 vironment are heavy weights, but industry and 

 sobriety can carry off heavier ones. I have 

 sympathy for weakness of body or mind, and 

 patience for those over whom inheritance has 

 cast a baleful spell ; but I have neither patience 

 nor sympathy for a strong man who rails at his 

 condition and makes no determined effort to 

 better it. 



The time and money wasted in strikes, agita- 

 tions, and arbitrations, if put to practical use, 

 would better the working-man enough faster 

 than these futile efforts do. I have no quarrel 

 with unions or combinations of labor, so far as 

 they have the true interests of labor for an 

 object; but I do quarrel with the spirit of mob 



