The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1903-04-10
GREAT TRRONC CR[ETS THE /
PRESIDENT AT SIOUX FALLS


needs in this country, whereas a few
years ago it supplied but one-fourth
of them. The most important OF our
farm products is the grass crop; and to
show what has been done with grasses,
! need allude to the striking change
made In tAs entire West by the extend
ed use of alfalfa.
Moreover, the Department has taxi
en- the lead in the effort to prevent the
deforestatlon Of the country. Where
there are forests we seek to preserve
them; and on the once treeless plains
and the prairies we are doing our beet
to foster the habit of tree planting
among our people. In my own life
time l have seen wonderful changes
brought about by this tree planting
here in your own state and In the
States Immediately around 1t.
There are q number Of very import
ant questions, such as that OF good
roads, with which the States alone can
deal, and where all that the National
Government can do is to cooperate
with them. The same is true of the
education OF the American farmer. A
number of the States have themselves
started to help in this work and the
Department Of Agriculture does an Inn
mense amount which is in the proper
sense of the word educational, and
educational in the most practical way
1t is therefore clearly true that a great
advance has been made In the direction
OF finding ways by which the Govern
ment can help the farmer to help
liimself--the only kind of help which
self-rsspecting man will accept. or,
/ may add, which will In the end do
him any good. Much has been done
lin these ways, and farm life and farm
processes continually change for the
better. The farmer himself still re-
tains, because of his surroundings aud
the nature of his work, to a preemin-
ent degreei the qualities which we like
to think of as distinctly American in
considering our early history. The
man who tills his own farm, whether
on the prairie or in the woodland,
the man who grows what we eat and
the raw material which Is worked up
into what we wear. still exists nor G
noarly under the conditions which
obtained when the "embattled farm
ers'' of '76 made this country Nation
than Is true of any others Of our peo-
pie.
But the wage-workers in our cities,
like the capitalists In our cities, face
totally changed conditions. The de-
velopment of machinery and the ex-
traordinary change in business con-
lditions have rendered the employment
of capital and of persons in large ag-
gregations not merely profitable but
often necessary for success, and have
specialized the labor OF the wage
worker at the same time that they
have brought great aggregations of
wage workers together. More and
more in our great industrial centers
men have come to realize that they
can not live as independently of ono
another, as in the old days was the
case everywhere, and as is now tho
lcase in the country districts.
OF course, fundamentally each mau
will yet find that the chief factor in
determining his success or failure In
life Is the sum of his own individual
qualities. He can not afford to lose
his individual initiative, his individ-
ual will and power; but he can best
use that power II for certain objects
he unites with his fellows. Much can
be done by organization, combination
union among the wage-workers; fin
ally something can be done by the
direct action Of the state. It Is moi
possible, ,empirically to declare when
the interference of the state should be
deemed legitimate and when. illegiti.
mate. =.
The line Of demarcation between un-
healthy overinterference and unheal.
thy lack Of regulation is not always
we'll defined, and shifts with the
change in our Industrial needs. Mos
certainly we should never invoke the
interference of the State or Nation
unless 1t is absolutely necessary; bu
1t is equally true that when confident
Of its necessity we should not on aca
demic grounds refuse It, Wise factory
} laws, laws to forbid the employment
;. of child labor and to safeguard the EN-
ployees against the effects of culpa
BILE negligence by the employer, are
necessary, not merely In the interestso o.
the wage-worker, but in the interes
Of the honest and humane employer
who should not be penalized for hii
honesty and humanity by being ex
pODCu " uACnCShCu COApctittoh VIVA
an unscrupulous rival. 1t is far more
difficult to deal with the greed tha
works through cunning than with thu
greed that works through violence
But the effort. to deal with 1T must b.
steadily made.
Very much Of our effort in rcferenc,
to labor matters should be by every
device and expedient to try to secure
a constantly better understanding be
tween employer and employee. Every
thing possible should be done to In
crease the sympathy and fellow-feel
ing between them, and every chance
taken to allow each to look at allques
tions, especially at questions in dispute
somewhat through the others eyes
!! II met with sincere desire to &C
fairly by one another, and II there is
, furthermore, power by each to appre
ciate the others standpoint, the chance
f, fvnf~ I