The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-05-21

NO. 9.
health in us. Take lne two together
| always. In our eager restless life Of
effort, but little can be done by that
| cloistered virtue of which Milton
spoke with such fine contempt. We
need the rough, strong qualities that
among men. Yet we need to remem-
ber even more that no ability, no
strength and force, no power Of in
tellect or power of wealth, shall avail
us, if we have not the root of right
living in us; if we do not pay more
than mere lip royalty to the old,
old commonplace virtues, which
stand at the foundation of all social
and political we'll being.
| 1t is easy to say what we ought to
do, but it is nard to do it; and yet
| no scheme can be uevised which will
save us from the need of doing this
hard work. Not merely must each Of
+; us stive to do his duty, in addition
| it is imperatively necessary also to
establish strong and intelligent pub
lie opinion which will require each
to do his duty. If any man here falls
short he should not only feel ashamed
| himself, but in some way he ought
| also to be made conscious of the con-
/ demnation' of his fellows, and this no
matter what form his shortcoming
! takes. Being our duty is of course
/ incumbent on every one of us alike;
vet the heaviest blaze for dereliction
i should fall on the man who sins
against the light the man to whom
much has been given, and from whom
therefore we have the right to ex-
pect much in return. We should hold
to particularly rigid accountability
those men who in public life, or as
editors of great papers, or as owners
OF vast fortunes, or as leaders and
moulders of opinion in the pulpit, or
on the platform, or at the bar, are
guilty of wrongdoing, no matter what
form that wrong doing may take.
In addition, however, to the prob
lens which under the Protean shapes
are yet fundamentally the same for
all nations and for all times, there are
others which especially need our at
tention, because they are the especial
productions of our present industrial
civilization. The tremendous indus
trail development of the ninteenth
century has not only conferred great
benefits upon us of the twentieth, but
it has also exposed us to grave dan
gers. This highly complex movement
has had many sides, some good and
some bad and has produced an abso-
lutely novel set of phenomena, to Sc
cure Tor them the pest results will tax
to the utmost the resources of the
statesman, the economist and the So
cial reformer. There has been an i'm
mense relative growth of urban pop
ulation, and in consequence an i'm
mense growth of the body of wage
workers, together with an accumula-
tion of enormous fortunes which more
and more tend to express their power
through great corporations that are
themselves guided by some master
mind of the business world AS a
result we are confronted by a formid-
able series of perplexing problems;
with which it is absolutely necessary
to deal, and yet with which it is not
merely useless but in the highest de-
gree unwise and dangerous to deal
| save with Wisaom 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 vividly before our
minds. The true welfare of the ma
tion is indesolubly bound with the
welfare of the farmer and the wage
worker; of the man who tills the soil,
and of the mechanic, the handicrafts-
man, the laborer. If 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 matter of course.
| On the other hand, it is equally
true that the prosperity of any of us
can best be obtained by measures
that will promote the prosperity of
all. The poorest motto upon which
an American can act is the motto of
''some men down. and the safest to
follow is that of "all men up A
good deal can and ought to be done
by law. For instance, the state, and
| ii necessary, the nation, should by
| law assume ample power of super
vising and regulating the acts of any
| corporation (Which can be but it's
creature), and generally Of those i'm
| mense business enterprises which ex-
list only because of the safety and pro-
lection to property guaranteed by our
system OF government. Yet it is
equally true that, while this power
ouOuIu SAlSC. IL olOulu UO uSSu spar
Iingly and with self-restraint. Modern
| industrial competition is very keen
between nation and nation, and now
that our country is striding forward
| with the pace OF a giant to take the
leading position in the international
| industrial world, we should beware
how we fetter our limbs, how we
cramp our titan strength. While
striving to prevent industrial injus-
| tice at home, we must not bring upon
ourselves industrial weakness abroad.
| This is task in which we shall fail
with absolute certainty if we ap-
| proach it after having surrendered
ourselves to the guidance of the DEM
agogue or the doctrinaire, of the we'll
meaning man who thinks feebly or
of the cunning self seeker who en-
deavors to rise by committing thac
| worst of crimes against our people
80 ;,,a1