The searchlight. [volume] (Culbertson, Mont.) 1902-current, 1910-09-09
ROOSEVELT TALKS
TO WAGE-EARNERs
Labor Day Address Delivered at
Fargo Is Well Received.
JOINT ACTION A NECESSITY
Trades Unions Commended. But Some
Of Their Acts critieised-Ameri-
can Federation Pianks APP
proved by Speaker.

Fargo, N. D., Sept. b.-The union
labor forces of Fargo and thousands
Of other persons had q treat today
when Theodore Roosevelt delivered
the Labor Day address. He spoke
with great seriousness and with frank
ness. and his speech was well re-
ceived by the big crowd that heard II.
Colonel Roosevelt's address was as
follows:
Today-on Labor Day. speak In one
oense especially to those personally and
vitality interested In the labor struggle:
and yet I speak of this primarily as one
| aspect OF the larger social struggle grow
Ing out OF the attempts to readJust social
conditions and make them more equitable.
The nineteenth century was distinctly
| one OF economic ACCOMPLISHMENTS In
the domain of production. including trans
| portation and the mechanics Of exchange.
The marvellous progress made In these
/ respects multiplied mans productive
| power to an almost inconceivab1e degree.
/ In the matter of the production OF wealth.
| ~ much progress was made during the
| nineteenth century as during all previous
/ periods since history dawned: that Is tho
| changes brought In single century
| through machinery and steam have been
| greater than the sum total Of the changes
| Of the preceding thousands Of years: and
| these very changes and this material
| progress have thrust upon US social and
political problems of the first magnitude.
The triumph OF the physical sciences In
the nineteenth century represented prog
ress primarily In the material elements Of
civilization. The most pressing problems
that confront the present century are not
concerned with the material production
Of wealth, but with Its distribution. The
demands of progress now deal not so
much with the material as with the
moral and ethical factors OF civilization.
Our basic problem Is to see that the mar
velousiy augmented powers Of production
beQueathed to US by the nineteenth CEN
fury shall In the twentieth be made to ad-
minister to the needs Of the many rather
than be exploited for the profit OF the few.
The American wage-earner faces this
larger social problem In dual capacity:
0rst, as q citizen Of the Republic charged
With the full duty of citizenship: and next
~ a wage cameras wage-worker-
Who. together with his fellow workers. Is
vitality concerned In the question of wages
and general conditions of employment.
which affect not only his well-being and
that of his wife and children. but the
opportunities of all workers for higher
development.
Must Depend on Our Own Efforts.
1t IL true of wage workers. as of all
other citizens. that most Of their progress
, must depend upon their own Initiative
, and their own efforts. Nevertheless, there
! arc three different factors In this prog
ress. There Is frst, the share which the
, | mans own individual qualities must de-
termine. This IL the most important OF
all. for nothing can supply the place or
Individual capacity. Yet there are two
} other factor also OF prime Importance;
. | namely, what can be done by the wage
!. workers In cooperation with one another:
{ and what can be done by government
} that II, by the instrument through which
| all the people work collectively. Wages
and other most important conditions of
employment must remain largely outside
) Of government control: must be left for
adjustment by free contract between en-
. | ployers and wage-earners. But to attempt
. | to leave this merely TO individual action
I means the absolute destruction OF indivi-
] | auaiism; for where the individual Ii so
: weak that he, perforce. has to accept
whatever strongly organized body
b chooses to give him. his individual liberty
becomes a mere sham and mockery. II
10 indspensably necessary, In order to
, preserve to the largest degree our sys-
TEN OF individualism. that there should
be effective and organized collective ac-
. ton. The wage-earners must act joint
A ~. through the process Of collective bar
1 gaining. in great Industrial enterprises.
: Only thus can they be put upon a plane
+ Of economic equality with their corporate
employers. Only thus Is freedom OF con-
!. tract made a real thing and not mere
legal fiction. There are occasional occu-
!. pations where this Is not necessary: but.
y speaking broadly. II is necessary through
a out the great world of organized indus
:. try. believe this practise OF collective
y bargaining. effective only through such
!. examinations as the trades unions. to
:. have been one of the most potent factors
In the past century In promoting the
progress Of the wase-earners and In Sc
Q curing larger social progress for human
Z lty I believe In the principle OF organ
= he'd labor and In the practise OF collec-
!. tive bargaining. not merely as desir-
y able thing for the wage-earners, but as
J. something which has been demonstrated
= 10 be essential In the long run to their
a permanent progress.
- This does not mean that I unequivo-
J. saliy indorse any all practises that
labor organizations may happen to adopt.
Or any or all principles that they may
choose to enuneiate. Labor organizations
have the weaknesses and defects common
q 10 all other forms of human organiza-
lions. Sometimes they act very well. and
sometimes they act very badly: and
, am for them when they act well. and
am against them when they act badly.
- believe that their existence II necessity:
- believe that their aims and purposes are
generally good: and believe that all OF
o them have occasionally made mistakes
and that some of them have been guilty
Of wronG-doing. Just In DO far as they
sdgning men who seek to control them
n tor their own interests. and stimulate the
) 0esires of ambitious leaders who may be
clever. crooked men. or who may be hon.
. ct but visionary and foolish. In other
D. words. in treating Of labor unions. as In
treating OF corporations. or of humanity
generally. we will do well to remember
y Abraham Lncoln's saying that there ID
q . deal of human nature in mankind"
Whether in . man or In an organized
). body OF men. the power to do good means
- that such power may be twisted into evil;
Q and In proportion as the power grows. 80
II h becomes steadily more important that
!. Il should be handled Alright Just in pro-
!. portion ~ In its proper function power
= important to social progress. so In itH
Improper function II becomes fraught with
4 social disaster.
Wlss Course For Original Labor.
!. Outside critics should appreciate the
- necessity Of organised labor, and under
. stand and sympathize with what II good
n IN II. instead OF condemning II indiscrim-