The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1906-09-08

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passage Of laws, and to manage and
Greet anvs your representatives, now In fact;
IN my opinion. the nrst thing you
should DO Is to change the constitu--
t1ons OF the states 50 that you can
enact and defeat legislation. = 4
bers af or TO to yS1 Sst
this tti year. IN my opinion. taken the
labor tap1,,n IN this country YoT have de;
and have determined to ignore party
! lines and 50 far as may be to secure
representatlyes, senators and other
ideas. You have also, as understand,
| put yourselves in the way Of question
! Ing these men as to their positions on
f fSsE public questions: See to it that
! see to 1T after they are elected that
they do not forget
You must keep. steady hand and
not not be led away from the main points
IN accomplishing what you seek I be-
| lieye the Initiative and Referendum
s Wi'i be o, your nna chief weapon In this
this movement. A state organization
has been formed and some first class
men are enlisted in the service. A
R,, RaI + been icbp PREPARED as most Ct yog
providing for constitutional amend
ment: following closely the Oregon
/ legislation, This will soon be printed.
circulated through the state for. sigma
lures. Take this matter up in your
unions and see 10 it that these petit
tons are generally signed. See TO it
atcrs are pledged to the measure.
When you have these great move
! ments you have inaugurated we'll un-
der way see to it that you are just
made IN the interests of the whole
people and OF, good government and
not merely to benefit yourselves to, the
ti"A lies, the only true and permanent
, prosperity.
Be steadfast' and sleepless in your
efforts and do not abandon the great
::::n'jples OF human progress. In look
you' "rocessionaI tfward the goal Of
the cooperative commonwealth that is
to be, municipalize all natural mon
: opol1es In cities; then you will reach
out and take over the railways, and
make them common carriers in very
eth and ~, trust question AZ b."
settled In a day; then you will natl, n
alize the telgraphs and Telephone sys-
! postoffice system, and you Will also
acquire or strictly control whatever
| else may be necessary to crush private
on t6 Sro ana alof fair dstrnuton
done SO y,u will DE In a condition. 10
allow privete enterprise to cys:em;ze
INDUSTRY Il; disturbed by the fever OF
equation, and you will need no li;i-
! cation to accomplish it either. You will
! also see to it that private mon opoly in
land is eliminated, and You will estab-
lish a system of finance based ultimate
ly upon the credit of the nation and
under the control of the people and
not g few of them. BY these means
and by means of state insurance and
old age pensions you will be able to
push away the fear of want and perjury
In declining years, and you will, not as
now toll with your faces ever toward
the dark valley of the shadow of help
less want-ridden old age. BY insuring
your lives through your own govern
ment in your own state, you will not
as now, furnish millions to Wall Street
| gamble In the stocks of railways and
/ In the products of the country. You
will never think of allowing a Harri-
| man and his associates by a. cunning
trick. aided by your insurance money,
| to scoop up a hundred million dollars
at one sweep even If foreign ruler
does get a million Of it.
| Another very important thing for
you to do to clear the ground for eff
fectfve work is to destroy the partisan
caucus system. \ GU must see CndC
| legislation is enacted providing for
nominations by ballot under the Aus
| tralian system and that all Candidates
! of all parties tat are running for the
J same office are grouped together on
one ballot. Then pick out and vote to
| nominate the ones you want for Off
cials.
This method will be simple, effective,
| and will almost en- irely do away with
! bossism and will give intelligence a
chance that 1t does not now have In
thi 81, way you can nominate and elect
the greatre part of their time and
talent In building up political machines
Tor the purpose of perpetual ting them
selves in power. If you elect a man
to the office of mayor of your city you
| will always expect him to perform the
duties OF his office, and keep abreast
| of you on progressive lines and If you
elect a man to the legislature or to
congress you will expect him to legis-
late in the interests of a free people
pillow to post and spend his time in
defending it's indefensible positions
You will pick out strong tndepend-
ent and able men and then you will
! the Will Of a sane people, which is
Gods will too, it you want it put that
| way.
Here then is the great work and
! great future of organized labor. To
take the lead in the reconstruction Of
the State and National government is
the great service, which it Is now called
upon to perform. and it will arrive at
better industrial condition, more rapid
~ and more certainly by pursuing this
course, then by. pursuing any other.
England Is in many things far in
| advance of US here in America While
we ARE fighting over the spoils and
| old party henchmen are scrambling to
see who will dictate within the parties:
and while the House Is -pitted against
the Senate, and legislation Is being
enacted or defeated on strictly partisan
lines, the Britons are reconstructing
their legislation with relation to in
dustrial affairs extending greater rights
to citizens, curbing monoplies, and
have made more substantial progress
| during the last session of Parliament
then We have done in the last ten
years. and over the ocean in far New
Zealand is an example Of the cooper
alive commonwealth that makes the
student Of economic conditions stop and
wonder at the blindness, and lethagy,
| which seems to have overtaken us here
! and that their changed conditions have
not been detrimental to the prosperity
Of the country: Is shown by the fact
| that they have a greater per capita of