The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1908-09-10

that may be called natural rights;
they are inherent; we have them be-
cause we are human beings. The gov
ernment did not bestow them upon us
the government cannot rightfuily
withdraw them from us. We all come
into the world without our volition;
the environment OF youth largely de-
termines, the course of our lives. and
this environment is not OF our own
choosing. We live under the same
moral obligations, and are RESPONSE
5le to the same Supreme Being. We
have our needs that must be supplied;
we require food, clothing, shelter,
companionship. We have our domestic
ties, and the tenderness of these ties
is not measured by wealth or position
in society Man has used pretty dis
tinctions to separate society into diff
ferent classes, but these distinctions
are insignificant when compared with
the great similarities that unite us in
a common destiny and impel us to-
ward a common end
"On this day it is well to empha-
size the fact that we are linked to-
gether by bonds which we could not
break IL we would and should not
weaken If we could. 1t ought to be
easy to learn this lesson in the United
States, for here, more than anywhere
else, people feel their independence.
We have no law of primogeniture to
separate the oldest son from his
brothers and sisters, and we have no
law of entail to prevent the alienation
of an estate. There is no aristocracy
resting upon birth nor kingly favor;
and if the people perform their civic
duties, there will be no plutocracy
ruling in the name of the dollar. Here
the road to advancement is public
highway, and it is within our power
to keep it open to all alike. Here,
too, the government is within the
control of the people, and no depart
ment is out of the reach of the voter
or beyound the influence of public
opinion. Under our constitution,
some branches of the government are
more responsive than others to the
public will, but our government can
be controlled by the people, from the
organic law which we call the consti-
tuition to the statute and the courts
decree.
"a long step taward the elevation
of labor to its proper position in the
nations deliberations is to be found
Is the establishment of a Department
of Labor, wiiha cabinet officer at it's
head. The wage-earners deserve this
recognition, and the executive is en-
titled 10 the assistance which such
all official could render him. regard
the Inauguration of this reform as the
opening of a new era in which those
who toll will have a voice in the de-
liberations of the Presidents council
chamber.
'The labor organization has been
seriously handicapped by the fact that
1t has been-and l am sure that 1t has
not been done nwittingly-yoked up
with industrial combinations known
as trusts, The proneness of trust de-
tenders to use the labor organization
as an excuse for combinations in re-
straint of trade has aroused the sus-
picion that they have been classed to-
sether for the purpose of shielding the
combinations of capital AS the result
of eighteen years of antitrust legisla-
ton; only one man has been given a
penal sentence for violating the fed
eral law on this subject, and that man
was member Of labor organization
rather than u trust magnate. The
laboring man is justified in his de-
mand that a distinction shall be
drawn between the labor organization
and the industrial monopoly.
THE trust and the labor organiZa-
tion cannot be described in the same
language. The trust magnates have
used their power to amass swollen
fortunes, while no one will say that
the labor organization has as yet Sc
cured for it's members more than their
share Of the profits arising from their
work. But there are fundamental diff
ferences. The trust is a COM
bination of dollars; the labor organi-
Zation Is an association of human
beings. In a trust a few men attempt
to control the product of others; in a
labor organization, the members unite
for the protection of that which Is
their own, namely, their own labor,
which, being necessary to their exist
ence, is a part of them. The trust
deals with dead matter; the labor or
ganiZation deals with life and with in
tellectual and moral forces. No i'm
partial student of the subject will
deny the right Of the laboring man to
exemption from the operation Of the
existing antitrust law.
'If the labor organization needs to
be regulated by law, let it be regulated
by law which deals with man as
man, and not by a law which was
aimed to prevent the cornering of a
commodity or the forestalling of the
market.
1--WE have the best government on
earth. 1t gives the largest liberty, the
greatest hope and the most encourage
ment to the citizens, and yet, even in
this country, it is always necessary
to be on the watch to keep. the In
strumentalities of government from
being turned to private gain.
zone of the great problems of today
is to secure an equitable distribution
OF the proceeds of toll The material
wealth of this country is largely a
joint product; in factories few people
work alone, and on the farm certain
amount of cooperation is necessary.
Where men work together, the army
organization applies to some degree;
that is, some direct, others are di-
rected The difficulty has been to di-
vide the results fairly between the
captains OF industry and the privates
in the ranks. AS the dividing is done