Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-09-16
PRESIDENT TALKS 10 LABOR.
Warns His Hearers Against Despot-
ism, Envy aud Mob Violence.

warns His Hearers Against Despot-
ism, Envy and Mob Violence.
A community Of interest, with caste
forgotten and personal worth the sole
basis of class distinction. with capitalist
and wage worker helping themselves by
aiding each other and both content to
abide by the laws, was the doctrine
preached at Syracuse Monday by Presi
dent Roosevelt as tie prime requisite
for prosperous and permanent national
life.
AS labor day creed, its acceptance
was urged by a warning against a ten
dency toward despotism, the envv of
demagogues and their bent toward MOI
violence being classed as danger to
the laborer far more maiign than the
arrogance Of the aftinent.
We must act upon the motto Of all
for each and each for all, was the key
note of the address, which denounced the
leaders who incite elias. antagonism,
whether the labor agitator who shouts
Tor plumber or the INSCRIPTIONS man of
wealth who seeks to subYert the laws j.
order TO Cypress.
I'VE must see that each man is given
a square deal, because he is entitled to
no more and should receive no less"
ran the final aphorism with which Presi-
dent Roosevelt drove home his plea for
rhe abolition of industrial castles.
The prosperity of the farmer and the
wage worker is the index of the nations
welfare, argued the President, and the
interests of every business, trade and
profession are so identical that they
tend TO go up or down together" To
maintain healthy government individ-
uals instead of classes must be eonsid
cred, and the permanently of spirit that
will conserve the rights of others as well
as defend ones own.
In the decline of defunct republics of
the medieval age the President traced
examples of the pernicious effect OF class
legislation and gave point to his warning
against demagogy by the conclusion that
the result was equally fata. no matter
whether the mob or the oligarchy con-
quered.
To unite the contending classes, the
President urged that the wage worker
should display sanity and desire to do
justice to others and that the capitalist
should welcome aud aid all legislative eff
forts to settle present difficulties. The
currency system was cited as an exam
pie of legislato on that is good because not
classiike.
With his argument for the abolition
of classes ended, the President launched
into a characteristic eu'ogy of the bene-
fits of hard work, which he styled the
best prize life has to offer" The idler
was dismissed with the quotation, After
all, the saddest thing that can happen
to a man is to carry no burdens" Bread
winners and homemakers, fathers and
mothers of families. were given their trib-
ute. the President declaring that there
Is a place for each among the honored
benefactors of the nation.
Following are paragraphs from the
Presidents Labor Day address:
There is no worse enemy to the wage
worker than the man who condones mob
violence in any form or who breaches
class hatred.
If alive TO their true interests, rich
and poor alike will set their faces like
flint against the spirit which seeks per-
sonal advantage by overriding the laws,
without regard to whether the spirit
shows itself in the form of bodily vio-
lence by one set of men, or in the form
of vulpine cunning by another set of men.
The outcome was equally fatal wheth-
err the country fell into the hands of
wealthy oligarchy which exploited the
poor, or whether it fell under the domi-
nation of turbulent mob which plum
dered the rich.
In the long run. we all of us tend to
go UP or down together. 1t is all-essen-
tial to the continuance of our healthy
national life that we should recognize
this community of interest AmoAg our
people.
We must keep ever in mind that a re-
public such as ours can exist only in
virtue of the orderly liberty which comes
through the equal domination of the law
over all men alike and through its adj
ministration in such resolute and fearless
fashion as shall teach all that no man is
above 1t and no man below it.