The Problem

I.     Not without envy Wealth at times must look     On their brown strength who wield the reaping-hook."     And scythe, or at the forge-fire shape the plough     Or the steel harness of the steeds of steam;     All who, by skill and patience, anyhow     Make service noble, and the earth redeem     From savageness. By kingly accolade     Than theirs was never worthier knighthood made.     Well for them, if, while demagogues their vain     And evil counsels proffer, they maintain     Their honest manhood unseduced, and wage     No war with Labor's right to Labor's gain     Of sweet home-comfort, rest of hand and brain,     And softer pillow for the head of Age. II.     And well for Gain if it ungrudging yields     Labor its just demand; and well for Ease     If in the uses of its own, it sees     No wrong to him who tills its pleasant fields     And spreads the table of its luxuries.     The interests of the rich man and the poor     Are one and same, inseparable evermore;     And, when scant wage or labor fail to give     Food, shelter, raiment, wherewithal to live,     Need has its rights, necessity its claim.     Yea, even self-wrought misery and shame     Test well the charity suffering long and kind.     The home-pressed question of the age can find     No answer in the catch-words of the blind     Leaders of blind. Solution there is none     Save in the Golden Rule of Christ alone.