The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1903-05-01

al this rush and noise Of business, Of
expansion and success, we are rapidly
growing Incapable of taking or loving
| the deeper views Of life.
Our faith in education is at bottom
the faith in its powers to enable us to
get more money. Our preaching. leav-
Ing aside the things that are eternally
right and true and Indispensable. con-
Germs itself with that which is frivo-
lous. startling and vulgar.
'There is. think, somewhere in the
Bible a text which say that God ia
angry with the nations that are rich.
If we look profoundly. there Is much
in our social and political life which
should make our persistent optimism
seem little else than an unwiiiingncss
or an inability to see things as they
are.
"How many of us in the contempla-
ton Of the lives Of men who have
spent all their energies in accumulat-
ing riches have had an eye for the ex-
actions of this w~ealth-have thought
how misspent these lives for the most
part have been. how barren the ideals?
"Look what this spirit has done for
us. 1t has defiled our rivers until in
u cities today a thirsty man may not
get a glass Of cold water that Is ftsto
drink. 1t has blackened and poisoned
the atmosphere with smoke and nox.
ious vapors. 1t has desecrated the
face Of nature where such Dissertation
was a blasphemy. 1t has made novels
for the occupation of Il where not
ven swine could live in comfort.
"And all for what: That a nation,
already the most wasteful and extrav-
agant on earth. might be able for
greater extravagances.
"We need not SO much new meas
ures. but a new heart. In our labor
difficulties the moraliZation of both en-
ployers and employees is an indispen-
sable condition in the bringing about of
a better state of things. And since the
employers are fewer in number and
presumably more intelligent than are
the laborers the chief effort should be
to give them new minds and new
hearts, that they may understand that
they are trustees not less Of public
interests than of private interests and
that the rights of workers, to say the
least. are as sacred as are the rights
Of owners s
Labor and capital are allied forces,
and workers and owners therefore
should live at peace and work In co
operation. When disagreements arise,
they should be settled by systematized
arbitration, in accordance with joint
agreements between the employers and
the employed involving the recognition
Of unions.
'For the union movement has been
for good always. Here and there it
has destroyed the individual in his
marked capacity above other men. but
In the equilibrium established by un.
ion forces the best interests Of the
greatest number have been conserved.
Therefore l believe that anything
which will work to the fuller recogni-
ton of the union principle ON the part
OF the capital of the country will be of
far more significance than will the
mere patching up Of q forced agree
ment for a fixed period.
"Just as the union is recognized. just
tothat extent it is forced into RESPONSE
btlities which it could not shirk it 1t
would. The time may come when it
will be advisable to incorporate unions,
but it is not yet here: it is enough that
union labor is recognizing that the I'M
ion which repudiates it's contracts
literally kills itself.
America should take the lead in. this
coming understanding and mutual rec
ognition of rights between labor and
capital. AS a people we should be
more in sympathy with labor than al
most any other people ON earth. Our
ancestors worked with their hands.
They came here young. active. vigo-
rous and progressive. and they were
the literal builders of the new country.
We should not have a class so soon
out Of touch with the mar who labors
with his hands. With Il logical under
standing between capital and labor it
might seem on the face of the situation
that the public would need to protect
itself. With competition more nearly
obliterated. however. the prices Of COM
modities may be more nearly subject
to the regulation established by de-
mand.
There is no necessity in society for
that condition described as prosperity.
At the best it is a season in which the
careful man looks to laying up enough
to carry him through the lean years
that because of the connective system
are sure to follow.
''There is an immense difference be-
tween the idea of a general welfare ex-
listing in society and in the dream of
the socialist of the time when man
shall exist on the fiat levels of sloven
ease. devoid of ideals and insensate to
the finer impulses of his nature. This