The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-05-20

joint foreign policy, that on the one nanO
we will not submit to territorial aggran-
dizement on this continent by any old
world power; and that on the other
hand among ourselves each nation must
Scrupulously regard the rights and in
terests of the others, so that instead OF
any one of us committing the criminal
folly of trying to rise at the expense
Of our neighbors, we shall all strive up
ward in honest and manly brotherhood
shoulder to shoulder
A word now especially to my own fell
low cOuntrymen. I think that We nave
all of US reason to be satisfied with the
showing made, in this exposition as in
the other great expositions of the past,
of the results of the enterprise, the
shrewd daring, the wonderful mechan-
ical skill and inventiveness of our peo-
pie In all of this we have legitimate
cause to feel a noble pride, and sttll
nobler pride in the showing made of
what we have done in such matters as
our system of widespread popular edu-
cation and in the field of philanthropy
especially in that best kind Of philan-
thropy which teaches each man to help
lift both himself and his neighbor by
joining with that neighbor hand in hand
in a common effort for the common
good.
But we should err greatly, we
should err in the most fatal
of ways, by wilful blindness
if while justly proud Of our achievements
we talled 70 reatlze InaJ We ma tbege are
ferrihie nrobiems before us which we
must work out ali right under the gravest
nationsI renaities if we fail 1t can not
be too often repeated that there IS no pat
that after all is said and done, after We
have given full credit to every scheme Tor
increasing our material prosperity, to eY-
cry effort of the lawmaker to provide a
hest secured in his own rights it yet re-
mains true that the great factor in work
ing out the success of this giant republic
If +he western continent must be the pos
COG cin Cf
b11ilt IN every great and mighty people
Of the past and the lack of which always
1 1r0,,dest Of nations crashing down to
ruin Here in this exposition the sta
dunn and on the pYlOnS of the bridge, you
have written certain sentences to which
we must all subscribe, and to which We
iness,,re to do our, dutvs ssVVho shuns the
dust and sweat of the contest on his
brow falls not the cool shade OF the
olive. and - Tree STATE SAlstS Olily ~
these statements in theory; but II we do
not live up to them in practice then there
always. In our eager. restless life of ef-
fort. but little can be done by that clois-
such fine contempt. We need the rough
strong qualities that make man MT to
need to remember even more that no
ability. no strength and force, no power
of intellect or power of wealth. shall avail
US if we have not the root of right liv-
ing in us; if we do not pay more than
place virtues which stand at the founda-
ton of all social and political well being
but it is hard to do it: and vet no scheme
can be devised which will save US from
the need of doing just this hard work. Not
merely must each of us strive to do his
duty. in addition it IS imperatively nee
essary also to establish a strong and ir-
teiligent public opinion which will require
each to do his duty If any man here
ashamed of himself. but in some way he
ought also to be made conscious of the
matter what form his shortening takes.
Being our duty is of course incumbent on
blaze for dereliction should fall on the
man who sins against the light, the man
to whom much has been given and from
whom therefore we have a right to expect
much in return. We should hold to a Pc
culiarly rigid accountability those men
who, in public life or as editors of great
papers, or as owners of vast fortunes, or
pulpit or on the platform, or at the bar,
are guilty of wrong doing, no matter what
In addition. however, to the problems
which under protean shapes are yer
fundamentally the same for all nations
and for all time. there are others which
especially need our attention, because
present industrial civilization The ire
mendous industrial development of the
nineteenth century has not only con-
tweHfief5 but if has also exposed US to
crave dspe.ers. This highly complex
movement has had many sides. some good
Iutely novel set of phenomena To secure
for them the best results will tax to the
utmost the resources of the sta esman.
the economist and the social reformer-
There has been an immense relative
growth of urban population. and in conse-
ouence an immense growth of the body
n,,laffon Of enormous fortunes which
more and more tend to express their
power through great corporations that are
of the business world As a result we
are confronted by formidable series OF
perplexing problems. with which 1t is abb
sOluteIy necessary to deal, and yet with
slightest degree unwise and dangerous to
deal save with wisdom, insight and self
restraint
There are certain truths which are so
COMMONPLACE as to be automatic and yet
so important that we cannot keep them
too wildly before our minds. The true
welfare of the nation is undissOlubly
bound with the welfare of the farmer and
the WageWOrker: of the man who tills the
soil and of the mechanic, the handlcrafIs-
man, the labOrer. II we can insure the
prosperity of these two classes we need
not trouble ourselves about the prosperity
Of the rest for that Will follow as mat
ter of course
on the other hand it is equally true
that the prosperity of any of us can best
be attained by measures that Will promote
the prosperity of all. The poorest motto
l1pou which an American can act is the
motto of some men down., and the
safest to follow is that of all men up
by law. For instance. the state and if
necessary. the nation, should by law as
sumo ample power Of supervising and reg
ating the acts OF any corporation tWnicn
can be but its creature). and generally of
those immense business enterprises which
exist only because of the safety and pro-
system of gOvernne nt. Y ct II IS as equal
" true that while this power should e1-
list it should be used Sparingly and with
self-restraint. Modern industrial compe-