Labor Wisely Led.

Evening Star, Issue 8406, 6 January 1891, Page 3

Labor Wisely Led.

The following is from an address to the English dockers, in their official organ:— "Beware of haste. An American proverb says "Make haste slowly.' The evils we have to remove, or, at least to lessen—poverty, vice, and all that makes Jife less bright and pure than God intended it to be—are not to be destroyed in a year or two. We cannot jump into the golden days—we must work for them. The toil will be hard and long, but it is worth all our energy ; aye, it is worth life itself. Patience, my men ; Rome was not built in a day. We are building a fairer city than the world has yet seen ; the work must not be scamped. A rash strike ending in defeat will do more for the foe than he can do for himself. Deliberation before action must be the motto. We cannot afford to be un j ust wh'le we plead for justice. The toiler's strength is in the fact that justice is on the toiler's side. When this is not so the toilers must fail, as they ought to do. Many a difficulty will become easy when considered in calm patience. I know it is hard to be patient when so many wrongs wait to be swept away; hard to be just when smarting under ages of cruel injustice; but baste too often means rashness and failure, so take care not to be too quick. Beware of the beer! Cool, clear heads are needed now; the time and the work demand men who can think as well as act. We do not believe there is more drinking among dockers than dukes; but we cannot afford it. Muddled minds have spoiled many a good cause, and our cause is too sacred to be put in danger. The man ' three sheets in the wind' is no uac at a council meeting where careful and clear advice is needed. We may take courage, and in our realised strength go from victory to victory, until England Bhall be the land of the pure and the free."