The Miller sun. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 190?-19??, 1907-05-04

to develop on behalf of the people a co
herent and powerful movement a genuine
and representative nationality.
Two generations passed before the sec.
Ond great crisis in our history had 10 be
faced. Then came the Civil War, terrible
and bitter in itself and in its aftermath,
but a struggle from which the nation
finally emerged, united in fact as we'll as
name, united forever. Oh, my hearers, nv
fellow countrymen, great indeed has been
our good fortune, for as time clears away
the mist that once shrouded brother from
brother and made each look las through .
glass darkly' at the other we can all feel
the same pride in the valOr. the devotion
and the fealty, toward the right as it was
given to each to see the right, shown alike
by the men who wore the blue and by the
men who wore the gray.
prepare to Meet War"
We cannot afford to forget the maxim
that Washington insisted upon, that the
surest way to avert war is to be prepared
to meet ii. Nevertheless the duties that
most concern us Of this generation are not
military but social and industrial. Each
community must always dread the evils
which spring up as attendant upon the
very qualities which give it success We
OF this mighty western Republic have to
grapple with the dangers that spring from
popular self-government tried on a scale
inCOmparably vaster than ever before in Tia
history Of mankind, and from an Astounding
material prosperity greater also than any.
thing which the world has hitherto seen
At the moment, the greatest problem
before us Is how to exercise such control
over the business use of vast wealth, in.
diYidual, but especially cOrpOI ate. as will
insure 1T not being used against the inter
est of the public, while yet permitting
such ample legitimate profits will en-
courage individual initiative. 1t is our bust
ness to put a stop to abuses and to pre-
vent their recurrence. without showing
spirit of mere vindictiveness for what has
been done in the past.
This is the exact spirit in which this
country should move to the reform of cor
pOrate wealth The wrOng-doer, the man
who swindles and cheats, whether on a big
scale or a little one, shall receive at our
hands mercy as scant as If he committed
crimes of violence or brutality. We are
unalterably determined to prevent wrong.
doing in the future. but we have no inteR
ton of trying to wreak such an indiscrimi.
nate vengeance for wrongs done in the past
as would cOnfOund the innocent with the
guilty. Our purpose is TO build up rather
than to tear down. We show ourselves
the truest friends Of property when we
make it evident that we will not tolerate
the abuses Of property.
We are steadily bent on preserving the
institution of private property, we combat
every tendency towards reducing the PEG.
| pie to economic serVitude, and we care
not whether the tendency Is due to a SIMS.
| ter agitation directed against all property
or whether it is due to the actions of those
| members of the predatory classes whose
| anti-social power is UNNECESSARILY increased
| because of the very fact that they possess
wealth.
'Deeds Not Professions"
We base ouI regard for each man on the
| essentials, not the accident. We judge him
not by his professions, bu: by his deeds, by
| his conduct, not by what he has acquired
| of this worlds goods. Other republics have
| fallen because the citizens gradually grew
| to consider the interests of a class before
was the case IL mattered little whether il
| was the poor who plundered the rich or the
rich who exploited the poor; in either event
| the end Of the republic was at hand.
| We are resolute in our purpose not Il
| fall into such a pit. This great republic
| of ours shall never become the government
| Of q mob.