The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-01
BUFFALO ll1lA SpgIHGs MATER @ sSsEase sSEsss tasis

build one for himself, thus by example showing that his own shall be safe from violence when built
 Tt seems to me that in these words Lincoln took substantially the attitude that we ought to take; he showed the proper sense of proportion in his relative estimates of capital and labor, of human rights and property rights. Above all, in this speech, as in many others, he taught a lesson in wise kindliness and charity; an indispensable lesson to us of today. But this wise kindlness and char ity never weakened his arm or numbed his heart. We cannot afford weakly to blind ourselves to the actual conflict which faces us today. The issue is joined and we must fight or fail.
 Struggle for Betterment "In every wise struggle for human betterment one of the main objects and often the only object, has been to achieve in larger measure equality of opportunity.
 "In the struggle for this great end na- tons rise from barbarism to civilization, and through 1t peoples press forward from one stage of enlightenment to the next. One of the chief factors in progress is the destruction of special privilege, The es- sence of any struggle for healthy liberty has always been and must always be to take from some one man. or class of men the right to enjoy power, or wealth, or position, or immunity, which has not been earned by service to his or their fel- lows.
 At many stages in the advance of hu- manity this conflict between the men who possess more than they have earned and the men who have earned more than they possess is the central condition of prog ress. In our day 1t appears as the struggle of free men to gain and hold the right of self-government against the special interests, who twist the methods of free government into machinery for defeating the popular will. At every stage and under all circumstances the essence of the struggle is to equalize opportunity, destroy privilege and give to the life and citizenship of every individual the highest possible value both to himself and to the commonwealth.
 Equal Opportunity
 Practical equality of opportunity for all citizens, when we achieve 1t, will have two great results. First, every man will have a fair chance to make of himself all that in him lies, to reach the highest point to which his capacities, unassist- ed by special privilege of his own and un- hampered by the special privileges of others can carry him, and to get for himself and his family substantially what he has earned. Second equality of oppor- tunity means that the commonwealth will get from every citizen the highest ser- vice of which he is capable. No man who carries the burden of the special privil- eges of another can give to the common wealth that service to which 1t is fairly entitled.
 q stand for the square deal But when | say that l am for the square deal l mean not merely that l stand for fair play under the present rules of the game, but that I stand for having those rules changed so as to work for a more sub stantial equality of opportunity, and Of reward for equally good service. This means that our governments. national and state, must be freed from the sinister influence or control of spe- cial interests. Exactly as the special Interests of cotton and slavery threat ened our political integrity before the civil war, so now the great special business interests too often control and corrupt the men and methods of gov ernment for their own profit. We must drive the special interests out of pol itics. That Is one of our tasks today Every special interest Is entitled to justice-full, fair and complete-but not one Is entitled to a vote in Con- gross, a voice on the bench or to representation in any public ofhce. The constitution guarantees protection to property and we must make that prom ise good. But it does not give the right of suffrage to any corporation.
 The true friend of property, the true conservative, is he who insists that property shall be the servant and not the master of the common wealth who insists that the creature of man s making shall be the servant and not the master of the man who made It. The citizens of the United States must effectively control the mighty cont mercial forces which they have them- selves called into being.
 There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains. To put an end to it will be neither a short nor easy task. but it can be done
 We must have complete and ef- fective publicity of corporate affairs so that the people may know beyond peradventrre whether the corporati tions obey the law and whether their man agement entities them to the confidence of the public. It is necessary that laws