Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1907-12-12

dustriaf controversies as are OF sufricien
| magnitude and OF suff ficient concern to tn
people OF the country as whole to warran
| the Federal Government in taking action.
| Capital and Labor.
| 1t Is certain that for some time to COM
| there Will be a constant Increase absolutely
| and perhaps relatively, of those among ou
| citizens who dwell in cities or towns of som'
size and who work for wages. This means
| that there Will be an ever increasing neet
| to consider the problems inseparable from
| great industrial civilization. Where an i'm
| Inense and complex business, especially II
| those branches relating to manufacture and
| transportation Is transacted by large mum
Der Of capitalists who employ very
much larger number OF wage-earners
the former tend more and more tc
| combine into corporations and the lat
| ter into unions. The relations of the
| capitalist and wage worker to one an
,, other, and OF each to the general public are
not always easy to adjust; and to put them
and keep them on a satisfactory basis Is ons
| of the most important and one OF the mos
delicate tasks before our whole civilization
Much OF the work for the accomplishment nj
| of this end must be done by the individuals
concerned themselves. whether singly or ir
combination; and the one fundamental fact
that must never be lost track Of Is that the
character of the average man. whether he
be man OF means or a man who works
with his hands, is the most important factor
In solving the problem Alright. But II Is al
| most equally important to remember that
without good laws 1t is also impossible to
reach the proper solution. 1t Is idle to hold
that without good laws evils such as child
labor, as the over-working OF women, as the
failure to protect employees from loss of
life or limb. can be effectively reached, any
more than the evils OF rebates and stock
watering can be reached without good laws.
To fail to stop these practices by legisla ton
means to force honest men into them be-
cause otherwise the dishonest who surely
will take advantage OF them will have every
thing their own way II the states will cor
rect these evils, we'll and good; but the
Nation must stand ready to aid them.
Farmers and Wage Workers.
When the Department Of Agriculture was
founded there was much sneering as to Its
usefulness. No department of the Govern
ment, however, has more emphe ticaly vindi-
Gated its usefulness. and save the
Postofice Department comes continually
and intimately into touch with the people.
The two citizens whose welfare is in the
aggregate most vital to Nhe welfare of the
Nation, and therefore to the welfare of all
other citizens, are the wage worker who
does manual labor and the tiler Of the soil.
the farmer There are, OF course. kinds OF
labor where the work must be purely mental.
and there are other kinds of labor where,
under existing conditions, very little de-
mand indeed is made upon the mind, though
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 shauld
do work which calls for the exercise of Both
body and mind. Progress not pc. ma
nently exist in the abandonment of physi-
cal labor but in the development of physi-
cal labor. that 1t 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 it puts premium upon mere
literary training and tends therefore to
train the boy away from the farm and the
workshop. Nothing is more needed than
the best type of industrial school. the
school for mechanical industries in the city.
the school for practically teaching agricul-
ture in the country. The calling Of the
skilled tiller Of the SOIL the calling of the
skilled mechanic. should alike be recoe-
nized professions, just as emphatically
the callings of lawyer. doctor, merchant
or clerk. The schools should recognize this
fact and 1t should equally be recognized in
popular opinion. The young man who has
the farsightedness and courage to recognize
IT and to get over the idea that it makes
difference whether what he earns is called
salary or wages. and who refuses to enter
the crowded field of the so-called profes-
sions and takes to constructive industry in
stead, Is reasonably sure Of an ample re-
ward in earnings, in health, in opportunity
to marry early, and to establish a home with
a fair amount of freedom from worry. 1t
should be one OF our prime objects to put
both the farmer and the mechanic on a
higher plane OF efficiency and reward sc
as to increase their effectiveness in the eco
nomc world. and therefore the dignity.
the remuneration. and the power of their
positions in the social world.
The grain producing industry Of the
United States, deserves special consider
alton at the hands Of the Congress. Our
grain is sold almost exclusively by grades
To secure satisfactory results in our home
markets and to facilitate our trade abroad
these grades should approximate the high
est degree of uniformity and certainty. The
present diverse methods of inspection and
grading throughout the country under diff
sion and lack of uniformity, destroying that
confidence which is necessary for health
full trade Complaints against the present
have continued for years and they
are growing in volume and intensity, not
only in this country but abroad l there
fore suggest to the Congress the advis-
ability of National system Of inspection
and grading OF grain entering into inter
state and foreign commerce as a remedy
RECLAMAT1oN WORK.
Irrigation should be far more extensively |
developed than at present. not only in the |
states of the great plains and the Rocky |
Mountains, but in many others. as, for in |
stance, in large portions of the South At
antic and Gulf states, where it should go
land in hand with the reclamation of |
wamp land. The Federal Government |
hould seriously devote itself to this task,
ealizing that utilization Of waterways and
forestry, irrigation and the re-
lamation Of lands threatened with overflow |
re all interdependent parts of the same
roblem. The work of the Reclamation
ervice in developing the larger opportuni
les of the western half of our country for
irrigation is more important than almost
ny other movement. The constant purpose |
f the Government in connection with the
reclamation Service has been to use the
iater resources OF the public lands for the
ltimate greatest good Of the greatest num-
er; in other words. to put upon the land
ornament home makers to, use and de-
elop II for themselves and for their Chl-
rem and children's children. There has
Gen. OF course, opposition. to this work
pposition from some interested men who
esire to exhaust the land for their own
profit without regard to the well
ire OF the next generation, and opposition
'om honest and wellmeaning men who did
OF fully understand the subject or who did
OF look far enough ahead. This opposition
, think. dying away. and our people are
understanding that 1t would be utterly {
rong to allow a few individuals to ex-
aust for their own temporary personal |
'oft the resources which ought to be de T
aloped through use SO to be conserved | {
n the permanent common advantage Of the | c
sople whole.
PUBLIC LANDS.
The effort OF the Government to deal with | g
e public land has been based upon the
me principle as that OF the Reclamation T
'rviCe. The land law system which was I
.signed to meet the needs of the fertile Il
I'd well-watered regions OF the Middle Il
est has largely broken down when ap- 4
led to the dryer regions of the great v
aims, the mountains and much of the ?
acific Slope where farm OF 100 acres is $
adequate for self-support. In these )
gions the system lent itself to fraud and :,
uch land passed out of the hands OF the | !,
'vernment without passing into the hands i
the home maker. The Department of the | G
terror and the Department OF Justice a
lned in prosecuting the offenders against d
@ law. and they have | 81