Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-09-06

: of all. This is no new thought wit
me. Our civilization is not the civil
izatiOn of Rome. a civilization o
mobiles and slaves. but a civilization
which tends to destroy distinction o
classes and to lift all to a common
and higher level. Cheers on tn.
republican side)
There are some men in this worlC
and in this nation who do not like that
When [ talk about wages I use thu
word in its broadest sense as the
price and value of service whether o.
brain or muscle. When [ speak Of con
slant and continuous increase OF
wages I do not mean the caprices OF
benevOlence or of charity, or the
fantasy of mind longing for the i'm
possible.
The increase of wages which the
. service seller ought to have and the
only useful increase he can ever get
will be by the opera ton of natural
/ laws working upon the opportunities
/ which legislation may aid in furnish
ing. The increase will never come
from the outside, viii never / e the gil
/ Of any employer. It must come from
j the improvement in the man himself.
Can you get a carpenter or bricklayer
to work for 25 cents a day? He did
it in England in 1925. Today in the
United States it is a poor place where
he can not get ten times that sum.
Why does he have to have ten times
! as much? Because the carpenter of
today could no more live as did the
carpenter of 1925 than he could live
in a cave and hunt snakes for food
The difference in wages means the diff
ference in living, and the $3.50 is as
much necessity today as the % cents
was hundred and fifty years ago.
This question of wages is a1l-import-
ant as bearing upon the question of
consumption. All production depends
upon consumption. Who are the con-
sumers? In the old days when the
products of manufacturers were lux
uries, the lord and his retainers, the
lady and her maids We're the con
sumers, class apart by themselves,
but today the consumers are the pro-
Queer Long ago the IabOrer CON
sumed only what would keep him
alive. Today he and his wife and their
children are so UNNECESSARILY the most
valuable customers that if the shop
had to give up the wealthy or those
whom it is the custom to call poor,
there would not be a moments hesita-
ton or a moments doubt.
e, n,
other side have persiStently retained
the old idea that the producers are
one class and the consumers are an
other, and hence we hear on all hands
such stupditieS of speech as those
which sum up the workers in each
branch and compare them with the
whole people. One hundred and fifty
thousand workers in WOOlenS-yOu
ask what are they compared with TO-,
100000 of consumers; 100000 workers
in steel, what are they compared with
100000 of consumers; 100000
workers in cotton, what are they com
pared with 100000 of consumers,
and so on all through the long list, for
getting that all these people added to-
gether make the whole 100000 them
selves
TWO PICTURES.
The man who is correct in his polit-
ical views, whose doctrines have been
proven by the logic of events, or the
man who truly and firmly believes in
his religious convictions and faith can
we'll afford to be calm and cOnServa-
tive, says the Torch of Liberty. He
need not fret, but can possess his soul
in the serene peace that is a firm and
sure anchor. He can even be charita-
bic to those who are in error and can
forgive them as the prince Of peace
forgave his murderers when on the
cruel cross he said: Father forgive
them for they know not what they do"
How different with men who have
seen their political doctrines con-
demned by actual test and develop
ment. when they hoped by their par
ties success to see renewed and per-
manent prosperity, to see disaster
and ruin. and all their favored notions
disproven by actual facts, or where,
by some religious pretender, they have
been deceived into following false doc
trines, and mayhap sacrificing all
earthly possessions, to find themselves
duped and despoiled Such men rave
as do the heather.
Republican protective doctrines,
through a long series of years brought
unexampled prosperity to the country.
No land on all this green earth was
ever so prosperous, no people ever adj
vanced so rapidly in wealth, in educa-
ton or in moral development. Those
doctrines, protection to American in
dUstry. free schools and the general
education of the people, were fully
proven to be correct
In the midst of prosperity, by per-
sistent system of misrepresentation the
free trader and states rights agitator
sowed the seeds of discomfort and dis
cord Because there were men who
grew immensely rich, the general pros
perity was forgotten and men were
taught that the wealth that was accum-
mulated by a few, belonged, in justice,
to the many. The many trumpet up
ills and the few that were real, were
charged to protection and the whole
country went, hell bent for free trade
and tariff reform.
Once in the saddle, the real trouble
of organizing the industrial sstua ton
1Innn the new lines began The fear