Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1903-04-18

expansion anl Success, We are rapidly
growing incapable Of taking or loving
the deeper views Of life.
"Our faith in education Is at bottom
tie faith in its powers to enable us 10
get more money. Our preaching. leav-
ing aside the things that are e~ternally
right and true and indispensable. con
Germs itself with that which is friyo-
lous. startling and vulgar.
There IS, / think, somewhere in the
DibIe a text which says that God is
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 unwillingness
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 ali their energies In accumulate
ing riches have had an eye for the ex-
actions Of this wealth-have thought
how misspent these lives for the most
part have been, how barren the ideals7
Look what this spirit has lone for
us. 1t has defled our rivers until In
our cities today a thirsty man may not
get a glass of cold water that is fit to
drink. II ha 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 man where not
even 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 ex%trayagances.
"We need not 50 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.
labor and capital are allied forces,
and workers and 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 II
has destroyed the individual in his
marked capacity above other men, but
in the equilibrium established by I'M
ion forces the best interests of the
greatest number have been conserved.
Therefore | 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 a forced agree
ment for a fixed period.
Just as the union is recognized, just
to that extent it is forced into RESPONSE
billties which it could not shirk If it
would. The time may come when 1t
will be advisable to incorporate unions,
but it is not yet here; 1t is enough that
union labor is recognizing that the un
ion which repudiates its contracts
literally kills itself.
America should take the lead In this
coming understanding and mutual rec
ognition of rights between labor and
capital. AS q 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.
I'VE should not have a class so soon
out of touch with the man who labors
with his hands. With a logical under
standing between capital and labor 1t
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
" INC -ltHuiAtAbh NSAHbAAHhtQ W w
mand.
There is no necessity In society for
that condition described as prosperity.
At the best 1t is a season in which the
careful man looks to laying up enough
TO carry him through the lean years
that because of the competitive system
are sure to follow.
There is an immense difference be-
tween the idea of a general welfare ex-
isting 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
ideal socialism Is a condition not only
not to be desired. but ii is a physical
impossibility. The general well being Of
our country, as compared to the ebb
and flow of the tides of prosperity and