Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-05

training which will permit them TO
appreciate the danger in the doctrines
preached--all this Is to commit q crime
against the body polite and to be false
TO every worthy principle and tradition
of American national life. Moreover
while such preaching and such agita-
tion may give a livelihood and a GER
tain notoriety to some Of those VINO
take part in II, and may result In the
temporary political success of others,
in the long run every such movement
will either fail or else Will provoke
a violent reaction, which viii itseli
result not merely I'm undoing the ms
chief wrought by the demagogue and
the agltator, but also IN undoing the
good that the honest reformer. the true
upholder of popular rights. has PAIN
fully and laboriously achieved. Cor
ruption is never so rife as i'm commune
tiles where the demagogue and the agl-
tator bear full sway, because in such
communities all normal bands become
loosened and hysteria and sensation
alism replace the spirit Of sound judg-
ment and fair dealing as between man
and man. In sheer revolt against the
suualid anarchy thus produced men
are sure i'm the end to turn toward
any leader who can restore order ana
then their relief at being free from the
intoerable burdens of class hatred,
they cannot for some time be aroused
to Indignation against misdeeds by
men of wealth; so that they permit
a new growth of the very abuses which
were in part responsible for the orig
inal outbreak. The one hope for sue
cess for our people lies in a resolute
and fearless, but sane and cool-headed,
advance along The path marked out last
year by this very congress. There must
I, etn -aff sol 10 ln mil
following either that base creature
who appeals and panders to the lowest
instincts and passions in order to
arouse one set of Americans against
their fellows, or that other creature,
equally base but no baser, who in
spirit of greed, or to accumulate or
add to an already huge fortune, seeks
to exploit his fellow Americans with
callous disregard to their welfare of
soul and body. The man who de-
bauches others in order to obtain
high office stands on an evil equality
of corruption with the man who de-
bauches others for financial profit; and
when hatred is sown the crop which
springs up can only be evil.
The Plain Peoples Duty
The plain people who think-the
mechanics, farmers, merchants, work.
ers with head or hand, the men to
whom American traditions are dear,
who love their country and try to act
decently by their neighbors, owe 1t to
themselves to remember that the most
damaging blow that can be given pop
ular government is to elect an un-
worthy and sinister agitator on plat
form of violence and hypocrisy. When
ever such an issue is raised in this
country nothing can be gained by
f1inching from it, for in such case
democracy is itself on trial, popular
self-government under republican
forms is itself on trial. The triumph
of the mob is just as evil a thing as
the triumph of the plutocracy, and to
have escaped one danger avails nothing
whatever If we succumb to the other.
In the end the honest man, whether
rich or poor, who earns his own living
and tries to deal justly by his fellows,
has as much to fear from the insincere
and unworthy demagogue, promising
much and performing nothing, or else
performing nothing but evil, who would
set on the mob to plumber the rich,
as from the crafty corruptionist, who,
for his own ends, would permit the
common people to be exploited by the
very wealthy. If we ever let this gov
ernment fall into the hands of men
of either of these two classes, we shall
show ourselves false to Americas past.
Moreover, the demagogue and the cor
ruptionist often work hand in hand.
There are at this moment wealthy re-
dictionaries of such obtuse morality
that they regard the public servant
who prosecutes them when they violate
the law, or who seeks to make them
bear their proper share of the public
burdens, as being even more objec-
tionable than the violent agitator who
hounds on the mob to plunder the
rich. There is nothing to choose be-
tween such a reactionary and such an
agitator; fundamentally they are alike
in their selfish disregard Of the rights
of others; and it is natural that they
should join in opposition to any move
ment of which the aim is fearlessly to
do exact and even justice to all.
Railroad Employees Hours and Eight
Hour Law
I call your attention to the need of
passing the bill limiting the, number
of hours of employment of railroad
employees. The measure Is very mod
crate one and l can conceive of no
serious objection to it. Indeed, so far
as it is in our power, it should be our
aim steadily to reduce the number of
hours of labor, with as goal the gen.
eral introduction of an eight-hour day.
There are Industries in which 1t is not
possible that the hours of labor should
be reduced; just as there are commun-
tiles not far enough advanced for such
movement to be for their good, or,
if in the tropics, so situated that there
is no analogy between their needs and
ours in this matter. On the Isthmus
of Panama, for instance, the condi-
tions are in every way so different
from what they are here that an eight
hour day would be absurd; just as 1t is
! absurd, so far as the Isthmus is con-
cerned, where white labor cannot be
employed, to bother as to whether the
necessary work is done by alien black
men or by alien yellow men, But the
wageworkers of the United States are
of so high a grade that alike from the
merely industrial standpoint and from
the civic standpoint 1t should be our
object to do what we can in the direc-
tion of securing the general observance
of an eight-hour day. Until recently
the eight-hour law on our federal stat
ute books has been very scantily OBJ
served. Now, however. largely through
the instrumentality of the bureau of
labor, it is being rigidly enforced, and
l shall speedily be able to say whether
or not there is need of further legis-
lation i'm reference thereto; for our
purpose is to see it obeyed in spirit nc
1 IAkt L. III =