Semi-weekly herald., 1908-12-10


OF Its exercise to the people.
There are many matters affecting
labor and the status of the wage
worker to which l should like to draw
your attention, but an exhaustive dis
eussion of the problem In all its as
poets is not now necessary. Thii
administration is nearing its end; and
moreover, under our form OF govern
ment the solution of the problem de
pends upon the action of the states a:
much as upon the action of the nation
Nevertheless. there are certain con
siderations which wish to set before
you. because | hope that our people
will more and more keep them in
mind.
A blind and ignorant resistance to
every effort for the reform of abuses
and for the readjustment of society TO
modern industrial conditions repre-
sents not true conservatism but an
Indictment to the widest radicalism
for wise radicalism and wise conserva.
tism go hand in hand. one bent on
progress. the other bent ON seeing that
no change is made unless in the right
direction. l believe in steady effort,
or perhaps IL would be more accurate
to say in steady efforts in many di.
rections, to bring about a condition of
affairs under which the men who work
with hand or with brain, the laborersl
the superintendents, the men who pro
duce the market and the men who find
a market for the articles produced,
shall own a far greater share than
at present of the wealth they produce,
and be enabled to invest 1t In the tools
and Instruments by which all work is
carried on.
As far as possible l hope TO see a
frank recognition OF the advantages
conferred by machinery. organization
and division of labor, accompanied by
an effort to bring about larger share
in the ownership by wage-workers of
railway, mill and factory. In farm
ing. this simply means that we wish
TO see the farmer own his own land:
we do not wish to see the farms SO
large that they become the property
of absentee landlords who farm them
by tenants, nor yet so small that the
farmer becomes like n European peas.
ant Again, the depositors In our say
ings banks now number over one
tenth of our entire population. These
are all capitalists, who through the
savings banks loan their money to the
workers-that is, in many cases to
themselves-to carry on their various
industries. The more we increase
their number the more we introduce
the principles of cooperation into
our industry.
The more small stockholders In cor
porations is good thing, for the same
reasons; and where the employees are
the stockholders the result Is partlc-
ularly good. Very much of this move
ment must be outside of anything that
can be accomplished by legislation; ;
but legislation can do a good deal
Postal savings banks will make IL
easy for the poorest to keep their
savings In absolute safety. The regu-
lation OF the national highways must
be such that they shall serve all peo-
pie with equal justice. Corporate f.
nances must be supervised SO as to
make it far safer than at present for
the man of small means to invest his
money in stocks.
There must pc pronlDitIon or child
labor, diminution of woman labor.
shortening of hours of all mechanical
labor; stock watering should be pro-
hibited, and stock gambling so far as
Is possible discouraged. There should
be a progressive inheritance tax on
large fortunes. Industrial education
should be encouraged. AS far as pos
sible we should tighten the burden OF
taxation on the small man. We should
put a premium upon thrift, hard work,
and business energy; but these quail
tiles cease to be the main factors In
accumulating a fortune long before
that fortune reaches point where II
would be seriously affected by any
inheritance tax such as | propose. II
is eminently right that the nation
should fix the terms upon which the
great fortunes are inherited. They
rarely do good and they often do harm
to those who inherit them In theil
entirety.
The above is the merest sketch
hardly even a sketch In outline, of tn,
reforms for which we should work
But there is one matter with which
the congress should deal at this ses
sion. There should no longer be an.
paltering with the question of takini
care OF the wageworkers who, unde
our present Industrial s. stem, becom
killed, crippled or worn out as part q
the regular incidents of a given bus
ness.
The majority OF wageworkars mus