The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1903-09-17
Folk at r1oberly,

| Hon. Joseph w. Folk addressed q
crowd of between seven and eight thou
sand people at Moberly, Mo, on Labor
day, Monday, September Z. 1893, He
spoke as follows:
Your committee has requested me
| 70 speak TO you on Good Government.
This is an appropriate subject for La
Dor day, for the working man has pc
culiar interest in good government.
Good government rests upon the proper
exercise of the ballot. The ballot is the
| most precious possession of the work.
| ngman. 1t is mighty power, right
fully exercised, in protecting the rights
of the masses against the encroachment
of greed. Labor is pre-eminent in the
industrial fabric of free government;
it stands at the base of our progress
and development. Without labor, cap
| ital would be useless, and it is other
wise true, that capital gives oppor-
| tunity to labor. Corporations of labor
are as necessary Incidents of advanced
| civilization as corporations of capital.
Each has rights which the other should
respect. and rights the government
| must protect.
The chief end and aim OF all gov
eminent is the welfare of its citizens,
The most that can be obtained out of
| life is happiness. The laboring man
who is happy and contented is more to
| be envied than the richest man in the
world whose conscience with injustice
is corrupted. Good government rests,
not on the wealth of citizens, but on
their integrity. Wealth alone does not
make a state great. neither does labor
alone, but the character of the citizen
does. After all is said, it Is the man
that counts.
There is an individual responsibility
for the affairs Of government that many
fail to realize. There is too much of a
disposition i'll many to allow others TO
DO the face sweating in civic affairs
while they do the bread eating. No
class of citizens exercise their civic du-
ties more conscientiously, as a rule,
than those who earn their living by the
toll of their hands. If all Others were
as Jealous in exercising the privileges
of citizenship, there would be less cor
ruption in public life. Indeed, IL the
laborer in the shop and the farmer in
the field, were as Indifferent to civic
duties as the princes of commerce in
the great centers OF population, free
government could not long exist. The
laboring man is sometimes imposed up
on by designing persons. but so are all
people. They are as capable of taking
care of themselves as any other citizen.
and though they make mistakes, as all
humans do, nowhere is civic virtue held
in higher regard than in the heart OF
the average workingman.
The toiling masses are the benefi-
Charles of good government. and II they
want it hard and long enough, they
can get it. Ours is government OF
the people-the people are sovereign;
each man is a constituent part OF SOW
ereignty on the throne of American
manhood. In constructing this great
government our forefathers exercised
a wisdom unsurpassed in the annals OF
mankind. They furnished a republic
guaranteeing rights to the citizen
never obtained or exercised by any
other people. The safety of the re-
public has been menaced, but wise men
have steered the ship of state into a
peaceful harbor. Official corruption is
the most dangerous enemy to free gov
eminent. On this rock, nearly all the
republics of other days have gone
down. The stamping out of public cor
ruption is an honor to a state. The
year Just passed has given to every
Missourian the right to hold his head
higher as a citizen Of the state which
is taking the lead in eradieating civic
evils. The vast disclosures of venality
In city and state have startled the
world, and have brought on the people
of Missouri credit for what has been
done, and grave responsibilities for the
future. We must show. not slight.
but q we'll nigh Unreasonable im-