The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-04

4. I9UO.
French school of voitaire and the eneycio-
pedlsts. II Is a dictum absolutely lack M
foundation In history and Incapable of syl-
logistic Justification. II was. however. u
handy phrase for to employ when as
sorting our right TO break away from the
mother country; i; suited the exgsucies
of our situation in lI76 admirably, though
in itself but Bit of sublimated demagog-
| ism The Declaration was a serviceable
means to the end that was at that time
desired. To bring forward this Declafa-
tion in this year 1900. in connection with
our treatment of the FilipiRos and the Gu
! bans is as gross an absUrdity as ever was
practieed. To do so is to offer an insult 20
the Intelligence of the people who a.st
! subscribed to the Declaration in question
But why quote from newspapers as to
| what may be done hereafter in the pres
ence OF law already enacted which makes
! subjects out of Porto Ricans, withdraws
! from them the guarantees of the Constitu-
| ton, and asserts the power of the Presi-
| dent and Congress to govern them without
| their consent and tax them without repre-
sentation-a power as unlimited and tyr
! annical as man ever asserted or exercised
| by any ruler in all the history of the hu-
| man race. This doctrine has not yet been
| approved by the people; it furnishes the
| supreme question of the present campaign.
In the presence of these perils the laboring
man has a responsibility commensurate
with his opportunity. Without large per-
centage of the laboring vote no party can
| win in an election in the United States.
| The men who work for wages can by
throwing their votes on the one side or the
| other, determine the policy of this eoun-
| try. They need not march in parades:
| they need not adorn themselves with the
\ insignia Of any party. but on election day
| their silent ballots can shape the destiny OF
| this nation, and either bring the Govern
! ment back to its ancient landmarks or
turn it into the pathway followed by the
empires of the old"
Governor RooseveIts Address.
| Preceding Colonel Bryan, Governor
Roosevelt made an address. He said in
part:
by far the greatest problem, the most
far-reaching in its stupendous Importance.
| is that problem, OF rather that group OF
! problems, which we have grown to speak
Of as the labor question. 1t must be al
ways peculiar privilege for any thought
full public man TO address a body OF men
predominantly composed of wage-workers
| for the foundation of our whole social
| structure rests upon the material and NOR
al we'll being, the intelligence, the fore
sight. the sanity, the sense of duty, and
the wholesome patriotism of the wage
worker. This Is doubly the case now: for
in addition to each mans individual action,
you have learned the great lesson OF acting
In combination. 1t would be impossible to
oyerestimate the far-reaching influence of
and on the whole, the amount OF good
done through. your associations. In adj
dressing you, the one thing that I wish to
avoid is any mere glittering generality.
any mere bigh-sounding phraseology and.
above all, any appeal whatsoever made in
a demagoGic spirit, or in a spirit of mere
emotionalism. When we come to dealing
with our social and industrial needs, rem
eaies. rights, and wrongs, ton of ora
tory Is not worth IN ounce of hard headed
kindly common sense.
The fundamental law of healthy polti-
cal life in this great Republic is that each
man shall in deed, and not merely in word
be treated strictly on his worth as a man;
that each shall do full justice to his fell
low. and in return shall exact full justice
from him. Each group of men has its
special interests; and yet the higher. the
broader ard deeper interests are those
which apply to all men alike; for the spir-
IL OF brotherhood in American citizenship,
when rightly understood and rightly APP
piled. is more important than aught else.
Let us scrupulously guard the special in
terests of the wage-worker, the farmer.
the manufacturer. and the merchant. Civ
ing to each man his due and also seeing
that he does not wrong his fellows; but let
us keep ever clearly before our minds the
great fact that, where the deepest chords
are touched. the interests OF all are alike
and must be guarded alike
we must beware of any attempt 20
make hatred in any form the basis of &C
tion. Most emDhaticaily each of US needs
to stand up for his own rights; all men and
all groups of men are bound to retain their
self-respect, and. demanding this same re-
spect from others, to see that they are not
injured. and that they have secured to
them the fullest liberty OF thought and ac-
ton. But to feed a.f-; grudge against 9TH
ers, while ii may or may not harm them.
is sure in the long run>>to dc Infinitely
greater harm 10 the man himself
Troubles From Misunderstanding.
THE more a healthy American sees of
ones fellow-Americans the greater grows
his conviction that our chief troubles come
from mutual misunderstanding from fail
ure TO appreciate one another's point of
view. In other words, the great need is
fellow feeling, sympathy, brotherhood; and
all this naturally comes by association. II
is. therefore. OF vital Importance that there
SHOulu Dt SuCh dSSOEldtiOU. i ne most Sefl-
Gus disadvantage in city life is the ten
dency of each man to keep isolated in his
own little set, and to look upon the vast
majority of his fellow citiZens Indifferent
ly, so that he soon comes to forget that
they have the same red blood, the same
love and hate, the same likes and dislikes.
the same desire for good. and
the same perpetual tendency, ever
needing to be checked and Cor
rected to lapse from good into evil
II only our people can be thrown together,
where they act on a common ground with
the same motives and have the same OBJ
jects. we need not have much fear of their
failing to acquire genuine respect for one
another; and with such respect there must
finally come fair play for all.
NO man can do his duty who does not
work aud the work may take many diff
ferent shapes mental and physical but of
this you can rest assured that this work
can be done well for the nation only when
each of US approaches his separate task,
not only with the determination to do 1t,
but with the knowledge that his fellow
when he in his turn does his task has
fundamentally the same rights and the
same duties, and that while each must
work for himself yet that each must also I
work for the common welfare Of all.
lon the whole we shall all go up or go |
Gown together Some may go up or go down
further than others. but disregarding spe- /
cial exceptions the rule is that We must all /
have to share in common something