Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-08

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bring about condition of affairs under
which the men who work with hand or
with brain, the laborers, the superintend-
ents, the men who produce for the mar
ket 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 it in the tools and instruments by
which all work Is carried OH. AS far as
possible / hope to see frank recognition
of the advantages conferred by ma
chinery, organization and division OF
labor. accompanied by an effort to bring
about a larger share in the ownership
by wageworker of railway, mill and fac
tory.
In farming, 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 European peasant.
Again. the depositors in our savings
banks now number over one-tenth of our
entire population. These are all CAPT.
talists. who through the savings banks
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. Every increase in the
number of small stockholders in corpora
tions is a good thing, for the same rea-
sons: and where the employees are the
stockholders the result is particularly
good.
Very much of this movement must be
outside of anything that can be accom-
plished by legislation; but legislation can
do a good deal. Postal savings banks
will make it easy for the poorest to keep
their savings in absolute safety.
The regulation of the national highways
must be such that they shall serve all
people with equal justice. Corporate
finances must be supervised as to
make it far safer than at present for the
man of small means to invest his money
in stocks. There must be prohibition of
child labor, diminution of woman labor,
shortening Of hours of all mechanical
labor: stock watering should be prohibit
ed. and stock gambling SO far as is posi-
BILE discouraged. There should be. a
progressive inheritance tax on large for
tunes.
Industrial education should be encour-
aged. AS far as possible we should light
EN- the burden Of taxation on the small
man. We should put a premium upon
thrift, hard work and business energy:
but these qualities cease to be the main
factors in accommodating a fortune long
before that fortune reaches point where
it would be seriously affected by any in
heritance tax such as 1 propose.
1t 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 their entirety.
Protection for Wageworkers.
The above is the merest sketch, hardly
even a sketch in outline of the reforms
for which we should work But there is
one matter with which the Congress
should deal at this session.
There should no longer be any palter-
ing with the question of taking care of
the wageworkers who. under our pres
ent Industrial system, become killed
crippled or worn out as part of the regu-
lar incidents OF a given business Inc
majority of wageworkers must have their
rights secured for them by state action;
but the national government should legis-
late in thoroughgoing and far-reaching
fashion not only for all employees of the
national government, but for all persons
engaged in interstate commerce.
The object sought for could be achieved
to a measurable degree. as far as those
killed or crippled are concerned, by
proper employers liability laws. As lar
out, call your attention to the fact that
definite steps toward providing old-age
pensions have been taken in many of our
private industries. These may be indefi-
nitely extended through voluntary asgo-
citation and contributory schemes or
through the agency of savings banks as
under the recent Massachusetts plan.
To strengthen these practical measures
should be our immediate duty; il is not at
present necessary to consider the larger
and more general governmental schemes