The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1902-09-02

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never be realized by man, but the
nearer we can approach it the better
it will be for the laboring man. for
that condition is unjust which per-
mits one man to amass fortune at
the expense of his fellows.
The laboring man is constantly
told that he has a remedy for all his
wrongs in the ballot; and while this
is theoretically true, as a matter of
practice, it is lie. When a man
does anything to improve his con-
dition ne generally sees the results,
but how many of you have ever bet
tered your condition by voting for
one candidate or another. You carry
| the torches and do the shooting and
the voting and someone else eats the
the labor vote is divided so that or e
half of it kills the other half. I feel
privileged to speak freely on this
subject because / am not candidate
for any office, and it is a matter of
vital Importance to labor. But if
the laboring man expects to benefit
himself by the ballot he must use the
same rules of common sense that
govern him IN other matters. In
the first place he must abide by the
will of majority of his fellow work
men, for only by majority rule can
united action be had, and only by
united action can anything be accom-
plished. He must confine his atten-
ton to those offices which have power
to affect his own condition-the law
making bodies of the state and ma
ton. He should demand that every
candidate practice the doctrine which
he breaches, and elect to office men
who themselves have Iabored and
have a real interest in the cause of
labor. He should learn to measure
men by what they do and not by
what they say. The man whose
greatest labor is performed with his
mouth can have but shallow interest
in the cause of labor and when you
see a man Logging for a position in
the legislature which pays about $3.50
year, and he is willing to spend
several times that amount to secure
the place it is very safe prediction
that he wants the Office for the boo
die that he can get out of it. He
ceutainly can want it for the honor
there is in it, for such positions
have been robbed of all honor. This
is well illustrated by short article
which | clipped a few days ago, and
which I will read to you:
I've got letter, parson, from my son
away out west,
An my old heart is heavy as an anvil
in my breast,
To think the boy whose futur' l had
once so proudly planned
Should wander from the path O. right
an come to such an end!
I told him when he left us, only three
short years ago,
He'd find himself a plowin' in a
mighty crooked row
He'd miss his fathers counsels, and
his mothers prayers, too,
But he said the farm was hateful,
an he guessed he'd have to go.
I know thar's big temptations for a
youngster in the west,
But | believed our Billy had the cour-
age to resist,
An when he le1r I warned him o. the
ever waitin' snare3
That lie like hidden sarpents in life's
pathway every w4eres,
But Bill he promised faithful to be
keerful and allowed
He'd build a reputation that d make
us mighty proud
But it seems as how my counsel oort
o faded from his mind,
An now the boys in trouble of the
very deepest kind
His letters came so seldom that
somehow sort O. knowed
That Billy was trampin' on
mighty rocky road.
But never once imagined he would
bow my head in shame,
An in the dust'd waller his OF dad
dy's honored name.
He writes from in Montana an the
story's mighty short,
just can't tell his mother; it'll
crush her poor OF heart
An so I reckoned, parson, you might
break the news to her
Bills in the legislator, but he don
say what fur.
In conclusion let me say that the
only one who can elevate the cause
of labor is the laboring man himself.
A stream can rise no higher than it's
source and the cause of labor will
be no better than the character of it's
members, and a pound of honest
character is better than ton of repu-
tation. If we would elevate the
cause of labor we must demonstrate
tho world ,ooo,