.16 



ami unite all men by stronger bonds in the peaceful arts 

 of industry. 



The dignity of labor! It lies nt the base of all our his- 

 tory. It is the secret of our prosperity. 



Greece and Rome had somewhat of glory — reached a 

 high plaee in history. Bui both fell because of the ostra- 

 cism o( true manhood, the loss of the true dignity o{ the 

 working men. It is an idea which belongs to our history 

 ami rims through the whole of it that labor is capital. It 

 is a factor in society ami the state. The terrible tragedy 

 o\' history is seen in its dread culmination, when degraded 

 and despairing manhood in the struggle o\' death reaches 

 upward its arms to grasp the neck of power and drag it 

 to the dust. 



In old days, war was an industry. Its reward was 

 plunder. It reduced man to ignominy if he was conquered. 

 It did little less for the victor if he were a common sol- 

 dier. Victory was the assertion of power, the deceptive 

 success in a contest which was soon to he tried over again. 

 It was not the triumph of aggressive force over evil, and 

 the reduction oi' the obstacles in the way oi' human ad- 

 vancement. War itself upheld the aristocracy and de- 

 graded labor. 



It remained for our day and the men of our time to 

 make the pages of history to glow with the record of an- 

 other thought. Our eyes have looked on a struggle, the 

 grandest struggle the world has ever seen, in which war 

 was for principle. The old monarchies fell in their efforts 

 to repress rising humanity. It was our nation that first 

 sounded the note of war and went down to the field of 



