Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-02-10

consequences, is the tendency to check
individual development. enterprise and
opportunity. The, chance that every
poor boy has to rise by his brain as
high as any man Gun go is the very
foundation of American liberty. The
labor organizations Of this country are
including in their rules prohibitions
against the better man earning more
than another subverting ambition and
seeking to keep all down to a level of
sloth and stupidity. do not oppose la
Tor organizations; believe in them.
believe the laborer is bound to or
sanize. is entitled to organization, ami
1 am glad to see him get his own. But
let us set our faces against the ten
dency to say to any American boy:
You shall not do the best you can"
Senator Dolliver in his admirable lee
ture upon Mckinley considers this
American opportunity for the poor boy
to rise to the Hottest heights as the
greatest lesson to be learned from the
Mckinley career. He then tells story
when the Mckinley presidential tour
was in progress. A special train was
speeding across the rrairies filled with
a brilliant party of the ablest and most
distinguished statesmen in the United
States. Early one morning the presi-
dent looked out of the car window and
saw two barefooted farmer boys warm
ing their feet in the spot where the old
COW had spent the night. This led to
Jokes and sentimental expressions
which resulted in a census of the entire
party, disclosing the fact that four out
OF five OF all the great men on that
train had performed the same trick in
their humble boyhood days. The great
est gift this country had to give its
citizens, Dolliver thought, was the free
and unlimited opportunity to rise by
ones own efforts to any station the
abilities of the individual deserve. The
great railway magnate, ]. J. Hill, rose
from the same humble beginning and
when he says that the labor union
killed industrial England he refers TO
the limitation there placed upon indi-
vidual development.
The restrictive regulations OF the
trades unions have aroused grave ap-
prehensions among thinkers, and
among many who are identified with
organized labor. The arbitrary limita-
tions of the amount OF time a man shall
do and the compensation that man
shall receive has a tendency to reduce
artisans to a common level; to make of
many workmen mere time servers; to
suppress individual ambition and to
lower the average of individuality
among craftsmen. There can be no
doubt as to the justice Of Mr.. Roots
conclusion on this point. A man like
jim Hill, who has risen from river
traders clerk at $25 per month to the
principal owner Of three trans-conti-
mental railways, can see the situation as
few others can. Nor can the conclus-
ions of either man be construed as un-
friendly to the lasting interests of the
unions themselves.
That negro suffrage has proved a
failure is statement that will receive
the same severe criticism from preju-
diced sources. as will any criticism of
the course pursued by organized labor.
but thoughtful men have largely come
to the conclusion long ago. Speaking
Of the emancipation of the slave, the
granting Of citizenship and the If
teenth amendment, all following within
few years. Secretary Root said:
These, my friends, embodied the
scheme OF thoughtful men for uplifting
the slaves. You remember how differ
ent this question was. The question
was what to do with the black man who
has been slave from his infancy. The
answer formed in these walls was: Give
him citizenship. equal rights, and he
will rise. And included was the implied
opportunity to exercise these rights. ]
fear that we are compelled to face the
conclusion that this experiment has
failed. The suffrage has been taken
away from the black man in most of the
states where he composes the larger
part of the population. The black man
of the south, in general, no longer has
the privilege Of the suffrage. The RICH;
to aspire to Office is disputed, and, in a
great measure, denied.
"A curious development has been
seen within the past year along this
| lire. President Roosevelt has appoint
ed fewer black men In the south than
President Mckinley. There are fewer
black men holding office in the south
than when Mckinley died. Yet outcries
are to be heard turnout the south
against what is called President Roose-
velts policy of appointing negroes to
office, when under Presidents Hayes
Garfield, Harrison and Mckinley moth
| ing was said, and more were appointed
"a few nights ago black man hold
| ing office attended an official reception
at the white house. There hasn't beer
a time since the civil war when black
men haven't held similar Offices In
| Washington. AT receptions black men
holding these offices always attended
| Yet the attendance of this man at Pres
ident Roosevelts reception was the sig
nal for an Outcry that the whites Were
being insulted by the attendance of this
| black man.