The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-08-31


of wealth, directly, in the interest of
the common good. The fundamental
thing to do for every man is TO give
him the chance to- reach a place in
which. he will make the greatest pos
sible contribution to the public welfare
No man can be a good citizen unless
he has wage more than sufficient to
cover the bare cost of living, and
hours OF labor short enough SO that
after his days work is done he will
have time and energy to bear his share
IN the management of the community
! to help in carrying the general load.
we keen countless men from being
good citizens by the conditions of life
with which We surround them. We
need comprehensive workmen's COM
| pensation acts, both state and national
laws to regulate child labor and the
work of women. and especially we need
| in our common schools not merely
education in book learning but also
practical training for daily life and
work. We need to enforce better san
/ itary conditions for our workers, and
to extend the use Of safety appliances
| in industry and commerce both with
| in and between the states. Also,
| friends, in the interest of the working
man himself we need to set our faces
like flint against mob violence just as
against corporate greed. against vio-
lence and injustice and lawlessness by
| wageworkers just as much as against
lawless cunning and greed and self
| ish arrogance of employers.
National Efficiency.
| National efficiency has many factors.
1t is necessary result of the prin-
| c1ple of conservation widely applied.
In the end it will determine our fail
ure or. success as nation. National
| efficiency has to do not only with nat
ural resources and with men. 1t is
| equally concerned with institutions.
| The state must be made efficient for
the work which concerns only the
| people of the state and the nation for
! that which concerns all the people.
| There must remain no neutral ground
to serve as a refuge for 1awbreakers,
and especially for lawbreakers of great
wealth, viii can hire the vulpine legal
cunning which will teach them how to
avoid both jurisdictions. 1t is a mis-
| fortune when the. national legislature
| fails to do its duty in providing
national remedy, so that the only ma
| tional activity is the purely negative
activity of the judiciary in forbidding
the state to exercise power in the
| premises.
1 do not ask for Decentralization
but I do ask that we work in a spirit
of broad and far-reaching nationalism
when we work for what concerns our
people as a whole. We are all Amer
| leans. Our common interests are as
| broad as the continent. I speak to
you here in Kansas exactly as I would
speak in New York or Georgia, for
| the most vital DTODl6nlS are lnOS0
which affect us all alike. The national
government belongs to the whole
American people, and where the whole
American people are interested, that
| interest can be guarded effectively
ONLY by the national government. The
betterment which we seek must be ac-
complished, believe, mainly through
the national government.
The American people are right in
| demanding that new nationalism with
IL. aN4 h n
new problems. The new nationalism
puts the national need before section
al or personal advantage. 1t is impa-
tient of the utter confusion that
results from local legislatures attempt
| ing to treat national issues as local
! issues. 1t is still more impatient of
the impotence which springs from the
| over division of government powers,
the impotence which makes 1t possible
| for local selfishness or for legal cum
ming. hired by the wealthy special in
| terests, to bring national activities to
| deadlock The new nationaaism re-
CARDS the executive power as the stew
! ard of the public welfare It demands
| of the judiciary that it shall be inter-
| ested primarily in human welfare rath-
er than in property, just as it demands
| that the representative body shall rep
| resent all the people, rather than any
one class or section of the people.
| Ends of Government.
!
| government to protect property as we'll
as human welfare. Normally, and in
| the long run, the ends are the same,
but whenever the alternative must be
faced I am for men and not for prop
ertv. I am far from Understanding
| fine Importance of dividends, but I
rank dividends below human charac-
| ter 1 know we'll that the reformers
must not bring upon the people eco
monte ruin, or the reforms themselves
| will go down in the ruin. But we
must be ready to face temporary dis
| aster, whether or not brought on by
! those who will war against us to the
| knife Those who oppose all reform
| will do well to remember that ruin in
its worst form is inevitable If our ma
tional life brings US nothing better
| than swollen fortunes for the few and
| the triumph in both politics and bust
| ness of a SOrdid and selfish material
| ism.
If our political Institutions were per-
feet, they would absolutely prevent
| the political domination of money In
any part of our affairs We need to
make our political representatives
| more quickly and sensitively respon-
sive to the people whose servants they
are. More direct action by the people
| in their own affairs under proper
| safeguards is vitality necessary. The
direct primary is step in this direc-
| ton If it is associated with a corrupt
practices act effective to prevent the
advantage of the man willing reckless
| ly and unscrupulously to spend money
4 over his more honest competitor. 1t
| is particularly important that all mon
eys received or expended for campaign
purposes should be publicly accounted
for not only after election but before
election as we'll. Political action must
! be made simpler. easier. and freer
from confusion for every citizen. be-
lieve that the prompt removal of I'M
| faithful or incompetent public servants
should be made easy and sure IN
whatever way experience shall show to
be most expedient in any given class
of cases.
A Fundamental Necessity.
One of the fundamental necessities
in a representative government sucn
as ours is to make certain that the