Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-09-10
Roosevelt to Labor.

Syracuse, n. Y, on Labor day was a
notable utterance and will receive the
wide attention it deserves. We regret
that the pressure upon our columns,
following the suspension of publication
on Labor day, has prevented US from
giving the Journal readers the full text
of this important speech. Being de-
livered upon Labor day and at the New
York State fair. it was natural for the
President to keep especially in mlnd
the two bodies who compose the major
ity of our people and upon whose well
fare depends the welfare of the whole
country. 1t was the farmer and the
wage worker, therefore, whom he ao-
dressed and his keynote was the COM
munity of interests upon which hinges
national prosperity and progress.
The President spoke in independent
and manly terms and his address IS
nothing less than a classic Of Industrial
and social duty. On the whole his view
is optimistic while it is finely judicial
II. is not blind to the perils of 'specu-
lative frenzy" nor to the danger which
arises from the lack of wisdom on the
part of certain elements of labor. He
says: "It is treachery to our institu-
tons to apply to any man any test save
that of personal WORTH ''They are as
unfit for liberty who submit to anarchy
as those who submit to tyranny.
The exploitation of the rich is as fatal
as the exploitation of the poor. Envy
and arrogance are opposite sides OF the
same shield" 1.-THE courtier and the
demagosue are but developments of the
same type under different conditions"
conduct, not size of purse, is the test
of citizenship"
The President sharply characterizes
la breaking as menace OF the gov
crnment-no matter whether the law
be quietly broken by greed or
unanimously upset by open anarchy.
These are far-reachng and significant
statements, which apply to malignant
promoters as well as to noisy mobs.
Put here is a Significantly masterful
paragraph: 1--WE ask no mans permits
sion when we require him to obey the
law; neither the permission OF the poor
man or yet Of the rich man. Least Of
al can the man of great wealth afford
to break the law, even for his own
financial advantage: for the law is his
prop and support, and it is both fool
isl and profoundly unpatriotic for him
to fail in giving hearty support to
thos, who show a disposition to en-
force the law"
Let us quote below few Of the more
striking sections of this mastery adj
dress They are worth memorZinS by
every citizen, and some of them de-
serve to become proverbs in the shop
and the counting room. They we'll
show the impregnablc security of our
country Wnlit III us HlSllt't 'iii'c - :"
man Of such courage and sincerity
such lofty ideals and broad culture,
such sympathy and common sense.
mo man needs sympathy because he
has to work, because he has a burden
to carry. Far and away the best prize
that life offers is the chance to work
hard Mt Work worth doing; and this is
a prize open to every man.
"if all the existing instrumentalitles
of wealth could be abolished. the first
and severest suffering would come
among those of us who are least we'll
off at present The wage-worker is
we'll off only when the rest of the coun-
try is we'll off: and he can best con-
tribute to this general well-being by
showing sanity and 1irm purpose 10
do justice to Others.
There is no room in our healthy
American life for the mere idler, for
the man or the woman whose object
it is throughout life to Shrk the duties
which life ought to bring. Life can
mean nothing worth meaning. unless
its prime aim is the doing of duty, the
achievement of results worth achieV-
ing"
1T can not be too often repeated that
in this country, i'll the long run, we all
of us tend to go up or go down to-
gether."
Fundamentally. the unscrupulouS
rich man who seeks to exploit and OPP
press those who are less well off is i'll
spirit not opposed to. but identical WITH
the INSCRIPTIONS poor man who desires
to plumber and Cypress those who are
better off,
THE reason why our future is as
sured lies in the fact that our people
are genuinely skilled in and fitted for
government and therefore will
spurn the leadership of those who seek
to excite this ferOcious and foolish
class antagonism. The average Amer
lean knows not only that he himself
intends to do about what is right. but
that his average fellow-countryman
has the same intention and the same
power to make his intention effective"
There is no worse enemy of the
wage-worker than the man who con-
dones mob violence in any shape or
who breaches class hatred; and surely
the slightest acquaintance with our in