Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-08-23
NO.. 6S.


ployed by those corporations. Action
was taken by the congress last year
limiting the number Of hours that rail-
way employees should be employed.
The law is a good one; but IL In prac-
tice 1t proves necessary to strengthen
| 1t, II must be strengthened. We have
now secured a national employers LA
bility law; but ultimately a more far
reaching and thorough going law
must be passed. 1t is monstrous that
a man or woman who is crippled In an
industry, even as the result Of taking
what are the necessary risks Of the
occupation, should be required to bear
the whole burden Of the loss. That
burden should be distributed and not
placed solely upon the weakest indi-
vidual, the one least able to carry 1t.
BY making the employer liable the loss
will ultimately be distributed among
all the beneficiaries of the business.
also hope that there will be legis-
lation increasing the power Of the ma
tional government to deal with certain
matters concerning the health Of our
people everywhere: the Federal au-
thorities for instance, should join with
all the state authorities in warning
against the dreadful scourge of tuber-
culosis Your own state government,
here in Massachusetts,, deserves high
praise for the action 1t has taken in
these public health matters during the
last few years; and In this, as in some
other matters, hope to see the ma
tional government stand abreast Of the
foremost state governments.
Influence of Moral Sentiment.
have spoken OF but one or two
laws which in my judgment. 1t is ad-
visable to enact as part Of the general
scheme for making the interference of
the national government more effective
in securing justice and fair dealing as
between man and man here In the
United States. Let me add, however.
that, while It is necessary to have leg
islation when conditions arise where
we can only cope with evils through
the joint action Of all Of US. yet that
we can never afford to forget that In
the last analysis the all-important fac
tor for each Of US must be his own In
dividual character. 1t is a necessary
thing to have good laws, good institu-
tions; but the most necessary Of all
things is to have high quality Of in
dividual citizenship. This does not
mean that we can afford to neglect
legislation. 1t will be highly disas-
trous II we permit ourselves to be mis-
led by the pleas Of those who see II an
unrestricted individualism the all-suf-
ficient panacea for social evils; but
1t will be even more disastrous to
adopt the opposite panacea Of any So
cialistic system which would destroy
all individualism. which would root
out the fibre Of our whole citizenship
In any great movement, such as that
In which we are engaged, nothing is
more necessary than sanity, than the
refusal to be led into extremes by the
advocates Of the ultra course on eth
|er side. Those professed friends Of
liberty who champion license are the
worst foes Of liberty and tend by the
reaction their violence causes to throw
the government back into the hands Of
the men who champion corruption and
tyranny in the name Of order. So 1t Is
with this movement for securing JUS
tice toward all men, and equality OF
opportunity so far as 1t can be secured
by governmental action. The rich
man, who with hard arrogance de-
clines to consider the rights and the
needs Of those who are less well on,
and the poor man, who excites or in
dulges in envy and hatred Of those who
are better of, are alike alien to the
spirit of our national life. Each of
them should learn to appreciate the
baseness and degradation Of his point
of view, as evil In the one case as In
the other There exists no more sor-
did and unlovely type Of social develop
ment than a plutocracy, for there is
peculiar unwholesomeness in a social
and governmental ideal where wealth
by and Of itself is held UP as the great
est good. The materialism Of such
view, whether 1t finds its expression In
the life Of man who accumulates vast
fortune in ways that are repugnant
to every instinct Of generosity and of
fair dealing or whether 1t finds its ex-
preston in the vapidly useless and
self-indulgent life Of the inheritor OF
that fortune, is contemplate In the
eyes Of all men capable Of thrill Of lof-
ty feeling. Where the power Of the
law can be wisely used to prevent or
to minimize the acquisition or busi-
ness employment Of such wealth and
to make 1t pay by income or inher-
tance tax its proper share Of the bur-
den of government, I would invoke
that power without moments hesita-
ton.
All Must Pull Together.
But while we can accomplish some
thing by legislation, legislation can
never be more than a part, and often
no more than a small part In the gen.
eral scheme of moral progress; and
crude or vindictive legislation may at
any time bring such progress to halt.
Certain Socialistic leaders propose to
redistribute the worlds good by refus-.
ing to thrift and energy and Industry
their proper superiority over folly and
idleness and sullen envy. Such legis-