Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-01-11
Unionism is Praised BY Secre-
tary in His First Campaign
Address in New York
CAPITAL ALSO HAS PRIVILEGES
Relations of Worker and Employer
Discussed at Cooper Union - Men
Declared to Have a Right to Strike
Audience Asks Speaker Questions
and Answers Are Ready.

strike was recognized by Secretary
of War Taft in his initial campaign
speech in New York, delivered in the
PEOPLES institute. The announced
topic of his address was Labor and
Capital, Their Common Interests,
Their Necessary Controversies. Their
for Their Abuses"
At the conclusion of his address, the
attack from the audience, which
quzzed him keenly in a controversial
spirit, according to the practice Of the
Peoples institute. whose guest he was.
The secretary proved equally eff
iective in attack and defense. and his
prompt and forcible replies. and occa-
sonal witty sallies evoked the same
demonstration of approval that greet
ed the salient points of his address.
AS Mr.. Taft entered the hall he was
cheered as ''the next president" and
when Charles Sprague Smith who
presided, introduced Mr.. Taft, the sec
rotary was again cheered, the demon-
stration lasting three or four min
uteS.
In his address the secretary pointed
out the dependence one upon the other
of capital and labor. He declared that
great aggregations of wealth, properly
employed, Widened the field of labor
and were to be welcomed, while
wealth improperly used was to be con-
demned He advocated unionism in
sofar as sympathy and the resultant
cooperation made for the common
good.
Labor needs capital to secure the
best production said Mr. Taft, while
capital needs labor in producing every
thing. The share of each laborer in
the joint product is affected not exact
ly, but in general way by the amount
of capital in use as compared with
the number of those who labor. The
there is to do, and the more there is
to do the more laborers are needed.
"Manifestly, it is in the direct inter-
est of the laborer that capital shall
increase faster than the number of
those who work Nothing is so likely
to make wealth idle as insecurity of
invested capital and property.
1t only requires the effects OF a
panic thru which we are passing, or
thru which we passed in 1898 or 1873,
to show how closely united in a COM
mon interest we all are in modern So
ciety. We are in the same boat, and
financial and business storms which
affect one are certain to affect all |
others.
Capital Entitled to Reward. !:
"'rhe capitalist. however wealthy,
who is willing to devote his nights and
days to the investment of his capital |,
in profitable, lawful business or man
ufacture, and who studies methods of
the cost of production and |
expenses therein should |
be regarded with favor by the work.
ing man, because, while his motive |
is merely one of accumulation, he is |
not only for himself. but for
labor and for society at large.
1T is greatly in the interest of the
therefore. that corporate
capital should be fairly treated. Any
done to it acts directly upon
the wage earners that must look to
wealth for their employment.
Take the large body of railroad en-
ployes. Any drastic legislation which |
tends unjustly to reduce the legitimate
of the railroad must, in the
end, fall with heavy weight upon the
employees of that railroad, because the
ultimately will turn toward
wages as the place where economy can
be effected.
ut is to the direct interest Of the
to use careful discrimina
lion in approving or disappearing pro-
posed legislation of this kind, and to
oase his conclusions and vote on the
ssue whether the provision is fair or
Just, and not on the assumption that
my legislation that subjects corpor-
,tion to a burden must necessarily be
n the interest of the Workingman."