The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1910-09-09

other citizen of the Republic; for
to them the Republic owes it's all,
for to them it owes its very exist
ence.
Il do not speak of this struggle of
the past merely from the historic
standpoint. Our interest is Drimar-
lily IN the application today of the
lesson taught by the contest of half
a century ago. 1t is of little use for
us to pay lip loyalty to the mighty
men of the past unless We sincerely
endeavor to apply to the problems
OF the present precisely the qualities
which in other crises enabled the
men of that day to meet those crises,
1t is half melancholy and half anus
ing to see the way in which we'll
meaning people gather to do honor
to the men who, in company with
John Brown, and under the lead of
Abraham Lincoln, faced and solved
the great problems of the nineteenth
century, While at the same time these
same good people nervously shrink
from or frantically denounce those
who are trying to meet the problems
of the twentieth in the spirit which
was accountable for the successful
solution of the problems of Lincoln's
time.
"Of that generation of men. to
whom we w SO much, the man to
whom we owe the most is, of course,
Lincoln. Part of our debt to him is
because he forecast cur present
struggle and saw the way out. He
said:
"'I hold that while man exists it
is his duty to improve not only his
own condition but to assist in ameli-
Grating mankind And again, La
Dor is prior to and independent of
capital; capital is only the fruit OF
labor, and could never have existed
but for labor. Labor is the superior
of capital and deserves much the
higher consideration. Capital has it's
rights which are as worthy Of pro-
lection as any other rights. s. $ s.
Nor should this lead to a war upon
the owners of property. Property is
the fruit of labor; property is desir-
able; it is a positive good in the
world. Let not him who is houseless
pull down the house of another, but
let him work diligently and build
II for himself, thus by example
showing hat his own shall be safe
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 la
Dor, Of human rights and property
rights. Above all, in this speech,
as in many others, he taught a lesson
in wise kindness and charity; an in
~dispensible lesson to us Of today.
But this wise kindness and charity
weakened his arm or numbed
his heart. We cannot afford weakly
to blind ourselves to the actual con-
hict whish faces us today. The is
sue is joined, and we must fight or
fail.
"7n Gerry wise struggle for human
betrerment II of the main objects,
and often the only object, has been
to achieve in larger measure equali-
ty of opportunity. In the struggle
for this great end, nations rise from
barbarism to civilization, and
through it peoples press forward
from one stage of enlightenment to
the next. One of the chief factors
in progress is the destruction of spec
ial privilege. The essence of any
ways been and must always be t.
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 SER
vice to his OF their fellows.
Sat many stages in the advance of
humanity 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 progress. In
our day it appears as the struggle of
free men to, gain anG hold the right
of self-government as against the
special interests, who twist the meth
DDS of free government into machin-
cry for defeating the popular will.
At every stage and under all cir.
cumstances the essence Of the strug-
| gle is to equalize opportunity, des-
troy privilege, and give to the life
and citizenship of every individual
the highest possible value both to
himself and to the commonwealth.
practical equality of opportunity
for all citizens, when we achieve it,