For centuries the work of the world was done by women and slaves; it was a long time before the virtue of labor was learned by the father,

The animal has few impulses and does not retain them. The human being possesses in a general way all of the powers of the animal and more. Then the powers of each individual are multiplied by as many as there are of him in the community. Some animals, such as wolves, hunt in packs, and thus accomplish what an individual wolf could not do. A man's strength is again multiplied by the tools he uses. No other animai makes tools. Again his power is multiplied enormously by the fact that his tools are detachable and exchangeable; if there are two men, one of whom has a knife. end the other a hatchet, they are virtually four men. Again, the human power is multiplied by the machine, which is many tools in one. The animal has no pushing force, but the human being pushes mankind forward with the forces of the universe-air, water, fire, steam, and electricity.

All of these would be of no avail without the increased brain area possessed by man; machines are of no use to animals because they do not know enough to manage them. Man has an immense reserve force in the arts and in literature; the nerve force of all the ages is behind us, and is transmissible through all the ages yet to come.

The great human purpose is to minister to the necessities and desires of the whole human race; we feel with and for each other. Self interest does exist in man in common with the other animals, but self interest decreases, and the common interest increases with the growth of the higher spiritual life. To work for one's self is not interesting; a woman living entirely alone, with no neighbors likely to drop in upon her, would spend very little time on either her food or her clothing. All the labor that is done in mills, on steamships, bridges, and railroads, is done for a common interest.

We all believe in God; at least we all believe in a gover ning force expressing itself through matter. This force acts on the atoms and compresses them into rock; then it rends or

grinds the rocks into sand and regroups the atoms of which they were composed into vegetable forms; then the vegetable forms are, in their turn, used again in animal forms; finally the animal, as well as the vegetable, forms are eaten to help make us. We infer from this that the human race has before it a continuing series of social forms, each more pleasing to the will of God.

The human being is the end of physical evolution and the beginning of social evolution. First we had the horde, then the family, then the feudal system (which has not yet entirely disappeared,) each playing into the other all the time, marking continuous and overlapping stages of progress. The will of God, working through man, is making a material body for the spirit of humanity.

Clothes are are a sort of medium of civilization, enabling people to live together. If to-morrow the people of the city of Chicago, for example, should find themselves houseless and clothesless, their first impulse would be scatter; human beings without a material structure around them, do not make a city. The manufactures of the world keep pace with the growth of the social spirit. Grouping is a social necessity, joining the body of humanity. We are told by the poet that "God made the country," but God working through man made the city, and a city need not be either dirty or wicked. The thing that human life needs is to grow, and through this growth each generation will produce more beautiful forms for the expression of the spirit of God in man.

From the earliest times the aged have taught their ideas to their children as being absolutely true; the children have accepted these ideas so absolutely that it is only by a forcible effort that the brain of their descendants can get away from these teachings right or wrong, and adapt itself to new forms. of thought.

As an illustration of the fact that the social instinct is outgrowing the self instinct, I want to tell you the story of William Phelps, the boiler maker; he was not half-white, as one of the speakers claimed for Booker Washington; he was a

whole-black man. He and his friend were working inside of of a large boiler, when by mistake the scalding hot steam was turned on. Both rushed for the ladder that was their only means of egress. Phelps was ahead, but when he reached the foot of the ladder he stepped back and exclaimed: "You go first, Jim., you're married."

The actions of men are governed by their ideals. If there is trouble or danger on board ship the sailors of various nationalities act in accordance with their previously acquired concepts. If the ship is about to sink, English and American sailors usually keep back and put the women in the boats; men of other nationalities are more apt to look out for themselves.

The maternal instinct is the strongest instinct in nature and yet under a religious conception women have sacrificed their babes, because they thought God required it. In like manner the sex instinct which is one of the strongest has been nullified by men and women during an entire lifetime.

Many ideas are wrong to-day that were right when they began. People are slow to learn that you cannot can a truth and keep it for ages, and have it taste like a fresh one, The more unfit an old idea or truth becomes for the age to live in the greater the harm done by it.

Two ideas have led to wrong thinking in regard to economics. One of these is that work is a curse. This thought is an essential part of the old theology, and although the churches are outgrowing it and have put in to their hymns that labor is prayer, this idea has worked and is still working evil because it is not true.

The second great mistake is that work is done by an individual for himself, and that every man has a right to the product of his own labor. This is true of only what he could do for himself, without tools, with his own hands. When men became hunters and shared the game they killed, the individual began to lose his importance. When they became raisers of cattle, the mutual dependence was stiil greater; and when they. became farmers and used the tools and thoughts of others in

the tilling of the soil, social evolution was well under way. When labor became specialized and one man shod horses, another built houses, and another made clothes, then each became a necessity to his fellow men.

It is true that many men work for the pay they get, not because they enjoy their work, but that is an outgrowth of wrong conditions. When men cannot do the work they are best fitted for and which they would gladly do in order to live either for love of others or for the joy of the working, they do the thing they are paid for. This is why we sigh when a great artist gets married, for we know that in order to support his family he may have to paint for pay, not embodying his highest conceptions. Under our arbitrary, unnatural conditions we work under pressure, and thus our development seems hindered.

cats.

Let me illustrate our several motives to action by three One cat is jumping and frolicking just for the pure joy of the exercise; a second sees a mouse and runs after it to satisfy its hunger; a third hears a dog coming and runs with every muscle tense, in order to save its life. Under our present industrial conditions thousands of people exert themselves to the utmost, to escape the wolf of want that is howling at the door.

Let us take a lesson from the man who breeds race horses. If he wants an animal that will go at full speed mile after mile, just from the pure joy of motion, he looks well to his stables and to the food of the parent animals; he gives the colts light, air, food and exercise. In the human animal, also, work is a product of energy, and energy is a product of nutriment and other favorable conditions. If we would improve the productiveness of the race, we must give to every individ ual the nourishment and the environment that he requires.

At the close of the address Mrs. Gilman offered the following testimony:

THE LABOR QUESTION.

We recognize that to understand "The Labor Question," involves a study of sociology and in especial, the economic

processes of society: That when properly understood we shall see labor to be a natural social function, the orderly expression of the Divine Spirit in the creative activities of humanity in production and distribution; and that the best way to improve labor conditions is to apply the full advantages of society to all its members, that each may fully and freely give his best service to the world.

Mr. Hinckley then introduced Dr. Fetters, one of the professors who had left Leland Stanford University because. free speech had been curtailed there. Dr. Fetters said that economic interests are not to be separated from political interests, but in any age one or the other must be in the lead. The last century, in which these meetings at Longwood began, was an era of great political excitement; in the century which is just beginnig it is altogether probable that economic questions will be the dominant issues.

Mr. Hetzel thanked Mrs. Gilman for giving him new views of the social relations. He had thought that men were actuated mainly by selfish motives; that each one was striving for that which he thought would make him happy. Hefurther said that in order to make human conditions better, we must protest against the private ownership of any of the gifts of nature.

The testimony concerning labor was then adopted without. dissent.

Mr. Hinckley expressed the pleasure which the meetings. had given to him and he trusted, to all present, and the hope that because of this gathering at Longwood in the first year of the new century, there would be more of justice, liberty and love, more of the spirit of our ideal in the life of the world.

After another song by Mr. Allen C. Hinckley the session of 1901 adjourned.