Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-03
THE LABOR QUESTION
Governor Roosevelt Discusses It Be-
fore Workingmen Of Chicago.
LABOR LEGISLATION IN NEW YORK
Warns His Hearers Against Asking
for Impossible Things.
PERS ONAL EXPERIENCES

| CHICAGO, September 3.-Governor Roose
welt addressed the labor organization TAX
! ing part In the Labor day celebration here
| today.
Governor Roosevelt said: 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 ques-
| ton. 1t must be always C peculiar privi-
| lege for any thoughtful public man to ad-
| dress body of men predominantly COM
| posed of wage workers, for the foundation
| of our whole social structure rests upon
| the material and moral well being, the In
| telligence, the foresight, 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 man
| Individual action, you have learned the great
| lesson of acting in combination. 1t would
be impossible to overestimate the far-reach-
| ing inf1u ence CT. and on the Whole, the
| amount of good done through your assoc1a-
| ton. In addressing you the one thing that
/ wiS.I to avoid is any mere giitterlng gen
erality. any mere Understanding phraseolo-
gy and above all, any appeal whatsoever
made in a dcmagogic spirit, or in spirit
of mere emotioEalism. When we come to
| dealing with our social and Industrial needs,
remedies. rights and wrongs. a ton of ora
! tory iS not worth an ounce OF hald-heaued,
| kindly common sense
The fundamental law of healthy political
/ life in this great republic is that each man
shall in deed and not merely In Wc-d, De
| treated strictly on his worth as man;
| that each shall do full justice to his fer
| low and in return shall exact full justice
| from him. Each group of men has Its spe-
cial interests: and yet the higher, the broad
| er and deeper interests are those which APP
ply to all men alike. for the spirit or
brotherhood in American citizenship. when
| rightly understood and rightly applied. is
more important than aught else. Let US
| scrupulOuSly guard the special interests OF
| the wage worker. the farmer, the manu-
! facturer and the merchant. giving 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 to make
hatred in any form the basis of action.
Most emphstically each of us need to stand
up for his own rights: all men ana all
groups of men bound TO retain their
! self-respect. and demanding the 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 action
/ But to feed fat a grudge against others
| while ii may or may not harm them. is
sure in the long run to do infinite harm to
the man himself.
! The more 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 anothers point OF
view. In other words the great need is
fellow feeling, sympathy. brotherhood: and
all this naturally comes by association. IT
is. therefore, of vital Importance that there
! should be such association. The most seri-
+ Gus disadvantage to city life is the tendency
OF each man 10 keep isolated in his own
3 lxyl- n 1S- mn
/ iorty Of his felow-citizens indifferently. so
! that he soon becomes 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
! corrected 10 lapse from good into evil. II
| only our people can be thrown together
| where they act on common ground with
/ the same motives and have the same OBJ
| tects we need not have such fear Of their
| falling to acquire a general respect for one
| another and with such respect there must
| finally come fair play for all.
Experience as a Cowboy.
The first time ever lsbored alongside Of
| and was thrown into intimate companion
ship with men who were mighty men OF
their lands was in the cattle country OF the
| northwest. l soon grew to have i'm
| mense liking and respect for my associates,
| and as l knew them. and did not know
similar workers in other parts of the coun-
! try. it seemed to me that the ranch owner
was a great deal better than any eastern
! business man. and that the COW puncher
stood on a corresponding altitude compared
| to any of his brethren in the east.
| Well. after little while / got thrown into
| close relations with the farmers and 1t did
| not take long before had moved them up
| alongside of my beloved cow men, and
made up my mind that they really formed
| the backbone of the land. Then, because
| Of certain circumstances. l was thrown into
|
| gradually came to the conclusion that these
| railroad men were about the finest citizens
| there were anywhere around Then In the
| course of some official work l was thrown
! into closer contact with a number of the
| carpenters. blacksmiths and men in the
building tradeS-that is. skilled mechanics
| of high order: and 1t was not long before
| had them on the same pedestal with the
| others By that time II began to dawn upon
| me that the difference was not in the men
but in my own point of view. and that If any
man Is thrown into contact with any large
| body of his felloW-cittZens IL Is apt to be
| the mans own fault If he does not grow to
| feel for them very hearty regard, and.
| moreover, grow to understand that on the
| great questions that lie at the root Of hu-
| man well-heing he and they feel alike
| Our prime need as nation Is that every
| American should understand and work with
| his feloW-cltiZens getting into touch with
| them so that by actual contact he may
| learn that fundamentally he and they have
| the same interests, needs and aspirations.
|
| nifty have different needs. The grayest
questions that before u.s. the questions
| that are for all time, affect US all alike But
| there are separate needs which affect sep
| arate groups Of men, Just as there are sep
| arate needs which affect each individual
| man
Hard to Make Good Rules
| 1t Is not possible to lay down hard
and fast rule logically perfect as to when
| the state shall. and when the individual
| shall, be left unhampered and unhelped
| We have exactly the same right to repu-
| late the conditions Of life and work in
| factories and tenement houses that we have
to regulate fire escapes and the like In
| other houses. In certain communities the
| existence of a thoroughly efficient depart
| ment Of factory inspection Is Just as es-
| sential as the establishment of a fire de-
| partment How far shall go in regulat :
| Ing the hours Of labor the liabilities of
| employers, is matter Of expediency and
! each case must be determined on its own
| merits, exactly 1t Is matter of ex-
pediency to determine what so-called pub
| lie utilities the community shall itself
| own, and what ones it shall leave to pri-
| vate or corporate ownership, securing to
| itself merely the right to regulate; some
| times one course is expedient, sometimes
the other.