Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1902-09-10

population OF THIS state or OF any 9th
er state. II you want laws of the
right kind and do not get them IL Is
your own fault. You have no occasion
to kick at anybody else; the power
lies in your hands If you will use II
If you do not want child labor. II you
want a proper employers liability ACT
in this state, II you want anything
that is legitimate and right for you
to have, you a get 1t II you want II
and you cannot excus yourselves by
laying the blame on somebody else
Most people in this audience have
heard me say a good many times, ]
think, that no body of men could ever
maintain their rights very long un.
less they were able to get them and
able to hold them, and have the spir
it and the desire TO hold them. There
Is no place in nature for the coward
ad the incompetent. The man who
wants his rights must first know
what they are, with due regard for
the rights of others at all times, and
then he must get them for himself,
because ii he does not get them, you
may be sure that Coo Almighty Him.
self will not give them to him. That
applies in politics or anything else.
And | do not mean by this to encour
age the spirit that would trample up
on the rights of another man; no
man can maintain his own rights any
great length of time unless he is will
ing and anxious to give every other
man his right. There is a spirit in
the American people which says, II
am as good as you are" and that is
all right SO far as it goes, but there
is a better way to express that, gen.
tlemen: A nan wants to be willing
and able to say to his fellow citizen,
You are as good as | am" Now
know and you know-we all know
that all these difficulties regarding
labor questions are undoubtedly the
chief ones to be solved today. We
know further that all these questions
would be comparatively simple of So
luton if we could eliminate two
things from human society, and the
greatest of these is greed and the
other is ignorance. Ii you make men
intelligent and make them unselfish,
in the sense that they are willing to
accord to others each his own rights,
then you have cleared away with one
stroke n~inety-nine per cent of all the
difficulties that surround the various
phases Of the labor question. There
is not a a in this audience or a
man in this country that does not
know that statement to be a moder.
ate one. If men would go right back
to the teachings of Jesus Christ, if
they would go back to the spirit OF the
golden rule. which says: DO unto
others even as we would that others
should do unto You. these difficulties
would vanish like the clouds in the
morning. In fact. there would scarce.
ly be a labor question If that were the
prevalent spirit of society. And |
want to urge that upon you today;
| especially wish to reiterate that no
man can be sure OF his own rights for
any great length of time who does
not build on the solid foundation OF
equal justice to every man. That is
the way, and the only way. to make
our republic secure. There Is no sure
foundation built on wrong. The world
has been trying it for six thousand
years. and there has never been a
case where anything stable, anything
that could endure through the genera.
tons and centuries, has been founded
on wrong.
And we have come now to another
phase, a different turn in human af.
fairs: Perhaps it was necessary at
one time that men should labor ten,
twelve or fourteen hours a day in or.
der to earn their daily bread, but il
is not so at the present time. The
forces of production have increased
so wonderfully within even the last
twenty-five years that their growth
has been something without parallel
in the history of the human race.
presume ii would be a moderate state.
ment to say that the capacity of pro
duction in this country has increased
ten-fold within the last fifty years
When we consider all the improved
appliances that have been broughtin
to being. the improved farming uten
sils, the improved mining machinery
the improved factories, all the vas,
application OF machinery to do the
work that was formerly done by hu
mar hands, it must be plain to the
dullest man, to the most avaricious
and the greediest man, that the nee
essity for ten or twelve hours in daily
toll has passed away; and | want tc
touch upon this point just a minute
not as an expert, but just simply al
a plain American citizen who has one
or two ideas on that subject. Th'
fact is that, with our increased facil
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