Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1902-09-10
AN DER ON BROS
GOVERNMENT AND PROSPERITY.

GOVERNMENT AND PROSPERITY.
All the Government can do is to
create conditions under which pros
perity can come. If the individual
citizen lacks the thrift, the energy, the
power and the mind to work, no laws
will make him prosperous.-Pres.
Roosevelt.
That sounds very we'll at the first
reading, but it will not stand a closer
scrutiny. Government cannot create
conditions under which prosperity
can come. That is the work of provi-
dence. Providence has made this the
wealthiest country in the world. 1t
has given us the largest area of tilla-
BILE and fertile land that any country
possesses; it has put in to the ground
untold mineral wealth; it has clothed
millions of acres with valuable for
for physical and mental labor. These
immense natural resources have drawn
hither the strongest working element
from all parts of the world, but espe-
cially from northern Europe. These
are the Prerequisites for prosperity,
ard no party can claim credit for
them.
With these immense natural advant-
. ges the nation would be wealthy
under any form of government. But
in order to bring the best results it is
necessary that the government does
every thing in its power to insure to
every worker fair share of the riches
produced. Only under such circum-
stances can the full energies of peo-
pie be brought into play. This then
is the province of government, and in
proportion as it fulflls this mission
are the full resources of a country
utilized.
In the first part of onr national exis-
tence, before the era of machinery,
the province of the government was
simple. 1t had to maintain peace,
and as far as possible prevent crime.
Bnt machinery has revolutionized
the social system and given capital
power it never had before. Unless
| this power is restrained it will be
used to wrest from the workers
the larger share of the wealth pro-
duced by them.
The province of the government is to
protect the weak against the encroach.
ments of the stronger, no matter
whether it is physical or mental
| strength. Just because nature has
fitted one man with stronger brain
| and sluggish conscience is no reason
why he should be given a privilege tc
make his less fortunate fellow beings
turn over to him large share of their
profits, giving him such immense
wealth that he does not known what
to do with it, leaving thousands with
just the barest necessaries for sup.
porting life and enable them to fur.
ther enrich him. We must come tc
broader views of the sphere ofgovern
ment. If country is to be truly
prosperous the masses must get their
share of it. No laws will every make
the lazy and thriftless man prosper
Gus: but there in our country millions
of men who are neither lazy nor care
less about their possessions, and YET
they cannot get a competency. It is
not question of equal division OF
property. We might divide it all
equally today, and in a few days some
men would have large share of il
while others would be penniless. The
wasteful competitive system can never
be so adjusted as to give equal rights
to all. The means of communication
and intelligence, the most important
parts of the industrial system, mus,
be made servants of the whole people
instead of being the master. The
| government must cease to build ul
one industry at the expense of an
other. With the largest m0nopolies
nationalized and the main prop of the
others knocked away there will be 6
free field for every nan willing tc
work, and then the sources of wealth
provided by Providence will be oper
to all willing to work. This is thu
view of the province of government
advocated by the peoples party, ant
it is getting to BE- more and more re
jcognized as the true one.