The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-09-03


do not allow yourselves to be deceived
by those who question the capacity of this
I people or that people for self-government.
! Macaulay. in his essay on John Milton
/ points out the folly of attempting to pre-
pare people for self-government by deny
ing them the right TO participate in their
own government. He said:
Many politicians of our time are in
the habit of laying it down as a self-evi
dent proposition that no people ought to be
free until they are fit TO use their freedom
The maxim Is worthy of the fool in the old
| story, who resolved not to go into the wa
/ ter till he had learned to swim. If men
are to wait for liberty till they become
wise and good in slavery. they may indeed
/ wait forever
''Wher I say that those who distrust the
capacits of the people for self government
/ tend directly toward monarchy l am only
/ repeating what Lincoln deliberately declar-
ed in his first annual messag. He said:
The Warning From Lincoln.
Monarchy itself is sometimes limited
at as possible refuge from the power of
the people. In my present position l could
! scarcely be justified were 1 to omit raising
:. warning voice against this approach of
+ returning despotism. 1t is not needed nor
hitting here that a general argument should
be made in favor of popular institutions
/ but there is one point, with its connec-
! lions not so haCkneyed as most Others to
which | ask brief attention. 1t is the eff
! fort to place capital an equal footing
! with. II not above labor, in the structure
! OF government No men living are more
| worthy TO be trusted than those who toll
up from poverty; none less Inclined 10 take
! or touch aught which they have not hon
! estly earned. Let them beware OF surren-
/ dering a political power which they al
| ready possess. and which If surrendered,
L. IL,
/ vancement against such as they and 10
/ fix new disabilities and burdens up0l them
/ till all of liberty shall be lost
The warning is even more needed now
| than II was forty years ago. The Army
/ and Navy Journal is already justify .ng
the colonial idea. and declargirg that IA e
| has decreed for US destiny in which an
! imperial executive free from the restraints
! OF a written Constitution, viii govern sub,
/ Iects according 10 his own pleasure. T.
/ United States Investor published al
| Boston. in its issue OF July IS says:
Only q blind person can fail TO Sc
| that remarkable transformations OF Gle
I kind or another are IN store for the rae,
/ hence the folly Of asserting that the policy
/ Of this country, which IS destined TO play
| such a leading part in human affairs of the
/ future. shall be governed for me most part
| by political maNimS uttered more than q
! hundred years ago The greatest evil
N4l.G4 INV AOiiLi WIS t4IS IL DubLlN - ttiS
| elamcr raised By a certain faction for q
| settlement of our problems OF state by just
| such method as We have been deprecia-
| ting. Considerably more than century
! ago a certain notable Declaration vas
! made in this country TO the effect that al
men ought to be free and independent
This is merely a generalization OF the
French school of VoitaiTe and the egcyelo-
! pedists- 1t is dictum absolutely lack NJ
! foundation in history and incapable Of syl-
/ logistic justification. IL was, however. a
/ handy phrase Tor US to employ when as
! sorting our right TO break away from the
! mother country; il suited the exigencies
| of situation in 17T6 admirably, though
! in itself but a biz Of Sublimated demagog-
| ism. The Declaration was q servicsable
means to the end that was at that time
! desired. To bring forward this DecIara-
/ ton in this year 1900. in connection with
our treatment OF the Filipinoz aEi the Gu
! bans, Is as gross an absurdity as ever was
practieed. To do 50 is to offer an insult TO
! the intelligence Of the people who first
/ subscribed to the Declaration in quest ton
! The Power of Labor.
But why quote from newspapers as to
what may be done hereafter i'll the pres
I ence OF law already enacted which makes
subjects out of Porto Ricans. withdraws
! from them the guarantees of the Constitu-
/ 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
I supreme question of the present campaign
! In the presence of these perilS the Iaboring
man has A responsibility commensurate
| with his opportunity Without large per
! eentage 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
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 or rather that group OF
problems, which We have grown to speak
of as the labor question. It must be al
ways a peculiar privilege for any thought
ful public man to address a body of men
predominantly composed of wage-workers.
Tor the foundation of our whole social
/ structure rests upon the material and NOR
al well-beng, 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. It would be impossible to
oEerestimate the far-reaching influence of
and on the whole, the amount Of good
done through, your associations. In ad-
! dressing you, the one thing that l wish to
avoid is any mere glfttering generality,
any mere high-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
edieS rights, and wrongs, a ton of ora
tory is not worth an ounce of hard headed.
| kindly common sense.
''Tbe fundamental law of healthy politi-
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 and deeper interests are those
PRIZE WINNERS