The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-03

of wageworkers, and which shall dis
criminate in favor. of the honest and hui
name employer by removing the disad-
vantage under which he stands when
compared with INSCRIPTIONS competi-
tors who have no conscience and will do
right only under fear of punishment.
Nor can legislation stop only with
what are termed labor questions. The
vast individual and corporate fortunes,
the vast combinations of capital, which
have marked the development OF our in
duStrial system create new conditions,
and necessitate a change from the old
attitude Of the state and the nation to-
ward property.
1t is probably true that the vast ma
joTity of fortunes that now exist in this
country have been amassed not by In
juring our people, but as an incident to
the comforting of great benefits upon the
community, and this, no matter what
may have been the conscious purpose of
tlroSe amaSSing them.
There is but the scantiest justification
for most Of the outcry against the men
of wealth as such, and it ought D be
unnecessary to state that any appeal
which directly or indirectly leads to sus-
picion and hatred among ourselves, which
tends to limit opportunity and therefore
to shut the door of success against poor
men. Of talent, and finally which entails
the possibility of lawlessness and vio- 4
lence, is an attack upon the fundamental
properties of American citizenship.
Our interests are at bottom COM
mon; in the long run we go up or
go down together.
Yet more and more it Is evident that
the state, and if necessary, the nation,
has got to possess the right of supervise
Ion and control as regards the great cor
porations, which are it's creatures; par
ucularly as regards the great business
combinations which derive a portion of
their Importance from the existence of
some monopolistic tendency. The right
should be exercised with caution and
self-restraint; but 1t should exist so that
it may be invoked If the need arises
So much for OUT duties, each to HIM
self and each to his neighbor, within
the limits Of our own country.
HAS WORLD DUTIES.
with ever increasing rapidity to a fore
most place among the world powers
must necessarily find, more and more,
that it has world duties also. There are
excellent people who believe that we can
shlrk these duties and Yet retain our
-self-respect; but these good people are
in error; Other good people seek to de-
ter US from treading the path of hard
but lofty duty by bidding us remember
that all nations that have achieved
greatness, that have expanded and play
have in the, end passed away. So
they have; and so have all others The
weak and stationary have vanished
as surely as, and more rapidly than,
those whose citizens felt within them the
lift that impels generous souls to great
and noble effort. This is only another
way of stating the universal law of
death, which is in itself part of the uni
versal law of life
The man who works, the man who does
great deeds, in the end dies as surely as
surface, but he leaves behind him the
we'll
So it is with nations. While the nation
that mas dared to be great, that has had
the will and the power to change the
destiny of the ages, in the end must die,
yet no less surely the nation that has
played the part of the weakling must also
die; and, whereas the nation that has
done nothing leaves nothing behind it,
the nation that has done a great work
really continues, though in changed
form. to live for evermore.
The Roman has passed away exactly as
all the nations of antiquity which did not
expand when he expanded have passed
1Shed, while he himself is still a living
force throughout the wide world in our
entire civilization of today, and will so
continue through countless generations
through untold ages.
1t is because we believe with all our
heart and soul In the greatness of this
country because we feel the thrill of
hardy life in our veins, and are confident
that to us is given the privilege of play
ing leading part in the century Just
opened that we hail with eager delight
Providence may allot us. We admit with
all sincerity that our first duty is with
In our own household that we must not
merely talk. but act, in favor of clean
illness and decency and righteousness in
all political, social and civic matters.
No prosperity and no glory can save a.
nation that Is rotten at heart
We must ever keep the core of our
national being sound, and see to it that
not only our citizens in private life. but.
above ALL our statesmen in public life.
practice the old commonplace virtues
which from time immemorial have lain
at the root of all true national well be-
ing.
Yet while this is our first duty it is
not our whole duty. Exactly as each
man while doing. first his duty to his
wife and the children within his home.
must yet: If he hopes to amount to much
strive nightly in the world outside his
nome; SO our nation, while first of ali
seeing to its own domestic well being
must not shirk from playing it's part
among the great nations without. Our
duty may take many forms in the fu-
ture. as it has taken many forms in the
past. Nor is it possible to lay down a
hard and fast rule for all cases. We must
ever face the fact of our shifting national
needs of the always changing oppor-
tunities that present themselves. But we
may be certain of one thing, whether we
wish it or not, we cannot avoid hereafter