The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1907-12-03

very urgent need that public opinion
should be just as severe in condemna.
ton Of the vice which hides itself be
hind class or professional loyalty OF
which denies that it is vice il it can es.
cape conviction in the courts. The pub
lie and the representative of the pub.
lie, the high officials, whether on the
bench or in executive or legislative Pc.
sitions, need to remember that often
the most dangerous criminals, SO far as
the life Of the nation is concerned, are
not those who commit the crimes
known to and condemned by the popu'
lar conscience for centuries, but those
who commit crimes only rendered pos.
sible by the complex conditions Of our
modern Industrial life 1t makes not
particle of difference whether these
crimes are committed by a capitalist OF
by laborer, by a leading banker OF
manufacturer or railroad man or by a
leading representative of a labor union.
Swindling in stocks, oorrupting legis.
latureS, making fortunes by the infia-
ton Of securities, by wrecking railroads
by destroying competitors through re.
bates-these forms Of wrongdoing in
the capitalist are far more Infamous
than any other form Of embezzlement OF
forgery, yet it is a matter of extreme
difficulty to secure the punishment of
the men most guilty Of them, most re.
sponsible for them. The business man
who condones such conduct stands Oh
level with the labor man who de-
liberately supports a corrupt dema.
gogue and agitator, whether head of
union or head of some municipality,
because he is said to have "stood by
the union" The members of the bust
ness community, the educators OF
clergymen who condone and encourage
the first kind Of wrongdoing are no
more dangerous to the community, but
are morally even worse, than the labor
men who are guilty of the second type
OF Wrongdoing, because less is to be
pardoned those who have no such ex-
cuse as is furnished either by igno.
rance or by dire need.
Farmers and Waseworkers.
When the department of agricul.
ture was founded there was much
sneering as to it's usefulness. No de-
partment Of the government, however,
has more emphatically indicated its
usefulness, and none save the post
office department comes so continually
and intimately into touch with the peo-
pie. The two citizens whose welfare
70 toll 70 %1,o
welfare of the nation and therefore
to the welfare of all other citizens are
the Wageworker who does manual la
Dor and the tiller of the soil, the farm
err. There are of course kinds of labor
where the work must be purely men
tai, and there are other kinds of labor
where under existing conditions very
little demand indeed Is made upon the
mind, though l am glad to say that
the proportion Of men engaged in this
kind of work is diminishing. But in
any community with the solid, healthy
qualities which make up really great
nation the bulk of the people should do
work which calls for the exercise Of
both body and mind. Progress cannot
permanently exist in the abandonment
of physical labor, but in the develop
ment Of physical labor, so that it shall
represent more and more the work Of
the trained mind in the trained body.
Our school system Is gravely defective
In so far as 1t puts a premium upon
mere literary training and tends. there
fore, to train the boy away from the
farm and the workshop Nothing Is
more needed than the best type Of In
dustrial school, the school for mechan-
ical industries in the city, the school
for practically teaching agriculture in
the country. The calling of the skilled
tiller Of the soil, the calling of the
skilled mechanic. should alike be recog-
nized as professions just as emphatic
ally as the calling of lawyer. doctor,
merchant or clerk. The schools should
recognize this fact, and it should
equally be recognized in popular opin-
ion. The young man who has the far
sightedness and courage to recognize
it and to get over the idea that it
makes a difference whether what he
CuAAo 10 SullCu VI wages dAu
who refuses to enter the crowded field
of the so called professions and takes
to constructive industries instead is
reasonably sure Of an ample reward in
earnings, in health, in opportunity to
marry early and to establish home
with a fair amount of freedom from
worry. It should be one of our prime
objects to put both the farmer and the
mechanic on a higher plane of eff
cheney and reward, so as to increase
their effectiveness in the economic
world and, therefore the dignity. the
remuneration and the power of their
positions in the social world
& No growth of cities, no growth Of
wealth. can make up for any loss in
either the number or the character Of
the farming population. We Of the
United States should realize this above
almost all other peoples. We began
our existence as a nation of farmers,
and in every great crisis of the past a
peculiar dependence has had to be
placed upon the farming population.