The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-05-03

pASCOAS oSOASoAAC CAnC, Liz
universal habit of mankind, we tend
now to ignore the fact that they ever
existed, or that those who solved
them have a lasting claim upon the
gratitude of all of us.
Before treating of the new duties
that have come to us in the larger
national life upon which we have en-
teered. | wish to say a word upon the
extraordinary domestic prosperity
which has been brought about in such
large part by the policy for which the
Home Market club has so preem-
nently stood. Exactly as a man can
not do much for his neighbor unless
he first of all earns his own livelihood
and sees to the well being of his own
household. so our domestic well-being
must ever be of prime Importance in
the eyes OF II public men. You of
this club have been answering in
your devotion to sound economic
thought. You have with heartiest en-
thusiasm upheld the finally sue
~cessful effort to put the gold standard
upon as safe a basis as it is possible
by legislation to put it. You have
steadily advocated a tariff policy
which in it's actual working has vim
Dictated itself by a success which is
literally astounding. 1t has benefited
not merely the manufacturer and the
wage worker, but the whole popula-
ton . 1t has built UP an elaborate
and highly diversified industrial sys-
ten at home, has procured a return
for labor which is absolutely unparal-
leled anywhere else, and, contrary to
all the predictions of it's opponents,
has opened an immense export trade
with every part of the world. There
may have to be changes in detail to
suit the shifting national needs; but
you have once for all established the
principle that the tariff shall always
protect the conditions of American
life by a duty at least equivalent to
the difference in the labor cost here
and abroad. So complete has been
the general acceptance of this propo-
sition, so complete the self-justifica-
tion of the protective system, that I
almost venture to hope for the arrival
of the day when the tariff shall be
treated less as a matter for party con-
troversy. than for scientific discussion
and administrative application-in
other words. shall be treated simply
from the business standpoint, from
the point of view of the nation as a
whole. and Of our several national
needs as time and the exigencies of
new conditions may make these clear.
AS for the gold standard, even it's op-
ponents are now but half-hearted in
their opposition to it; for whoever at
tacks it now must indeed sin against
the light.
So complete has been the success
of our economic legislation and ad-
m~inistration that this very success
brings with it a certain element of
danger. Since the days of Heshurun
the tendency of prosperity to unsettle
the people who benefit by it has been
a commonplace of philosophy. No
law and no administration of the law
can insure prosperity. All that can
be done is to make the conditions
such as to give the best chance for
honesty, business capacity, industry
and intelligence. This has been done,
and so triumphant has been the re
suit that it can only be jeopardized
by the over-eagerness to discount the
future, or recklessness in the enjoy
sure good fortune either to the in
dividual or to the community, when
the one or the other embarks on a
NolSSA vi opCSu1oLloA. Ii lAC UuSllCSS !
world loses its head, it has lost what
legislation cannot supply. Just ex-
actly as no laws can make a farming
community prosper in time of drought
flood, so the wisest conduct OF the
government cannot offset a general
business refusal to act with modera-
ton and prudence. Against our own
folly we must ourselves be on our
guard.
In dealing with our new duties
abroad we must approach them in
the same spirit necessary for the So
luton of the problems that confront
at home; that is, in a spirit which
will combine business efficiency with
the highest standard Of fearlessness
and integrity-practical common
sense with %resolute devotion to duty.
Only by acting in such a spirit will we
ever be able to cleanse the dark spots
in our municipal life. Only by acting
in such a spirit can we solve the ire
mendous problems arising from the
extreme rapidity and highly complex
nature of our great industrial devel-
opment. Finally. only by acting in
such a spirit can we rightly do our
duty in the new fields of labor and
effort which have been opened to us
by the results of the Spanish war.
Whether we are glad or sorry that
this new work has been allotted to
us is a matter of small moment COM
pared to the purpose with which we
approach The work. The one is a mat
ter of temperament. the other a matter
Of principle. Some among us feel
that. this generation should count it.
self thrice favored by Providence
hat to it is given the chance to do a
task; that this nation should
as a strong man to run a race,
because the future opens to it the
opportunity for triumph-crowned
effort which has been it's glory in the
)ast. Others of us approach our new
1utles in more sober spirit, as mat
,ers neither for joy nor regret, but
Is tasks which henceforth come in
he days work and must be perform |
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