Albuquerque citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1907-1909, 1908-02-22
Welfare Not Judged by Mil
llonaireS. But by COndi-
ton of the Millions.
Says StrduS.
OUR DEVELOPMENT
MARVEL OF HISTORY
Secretary of Commerce land In
duStry Stand on HigherPlanthdn
iEver BefOre--PayS Tribute
to Roosevelt
Policies.

Roston. Feb s2|Yhe merchants of
Boston formed a permanent organi7a-
ton for the general commercial and
civic welfare. at a meeting last night.
The principal address of the evening
was made by Oscar s Straus. secre-
tary of commerce and labor, who, al
the banquet which followed the meet
ing. said in part
commerce and industry stand to-
day on a higher plane than in any
other age, and they are contributing
more to the true granduer of nations
and TO the true welfare of the masses
than either the military spirit or the
spirit of conquest. Commerce has
placed more of the comforts of life
within the reach of the masses than
has been enjoyed oy them in any past
age. And | say this, not overlooking
the fact that there is still much mis-
cry, and that the demand of labor for
better wages and for more of the COM
forts OF life is more urgent than ever
before. But that is one of the indl-
cations OF progress, that the masses
seek higher standards of life and NV
ing. The true welfare of a nation Is
not measured by the number of mill
lonaires, but by the condition of the
millions
"The development OF our nation in
four generations from three millions
to ninety millions is the greatest mar
We! in ali national history; but small
fraction of this growth is due to con-
quest--it is due to the planter, the
pioneer, and to the industrial promot-
err. II is due equally as much to the
twenty-five million workers and their
descendants who came to US during
the past one hundred years from for
eign lands as to the descendants of the
Pilgrim and Puritan fathers. 1t is due
to the cooperative energy of labor
and capital To preserve that coop
Grafton is the problem and duty of our
day and generation, and the only way
it can be preserved is on the basis of
right and justice to both and from
both. Bismarck said that, Tine logic
of history is as exact and as eXacting
as Prussia's counting office. And
what does that logic teach US? That
the rights OF the individuals must at
all hazards be preserved, and not be
trodden under foot, either by the tyr
amy of labor or oy the tyranny of
capital, and to the extent that any
government-munic state or fed
eral--either through impotence. weak
ness or indifference, permits these
wrongs to go unchecked and unpun-
ished, it prepares the way for its own
downfall. The ages on conquest nave
passed, and left their wreckage of
bloodshed. misery and want in every
cline.
I'VE are living in a commercial era
the happiest that has ever dawned
upon free nations-an era that does
not depend upon force of arms but
upor markets; an era which makes
for peace and prosperity among ma
tions That nation is the best custo-
mer which is freest, because freedom
works prosperity, industry and wealth.
So true is this that the measure of
nations commerce is directly infiu-
enced by the measure of a nations
freedom. The successive supremacy
I'm commerce Of the Italian republics
Holland and Great Britain. as COM
pared with the commercial backward
ness Of the despotic countries of Eu-
rope during the same periods, ex-
presses almost iu exact figures the
measure Of freedom i'm those respect
i've lands.
On conclusion let me say I con-
gratulate you upon the purposes Of
your organizatiOn--tO promote the
commercial and civic welfare. They
are bound together by an indissoluble
tic. a community can not remain
municipality corrupt and commercial
ly honest. The civic veal and COM
merclal honesty viii go up or go down
together There never was more ur-
8.#H rsaT for right thinking and