The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1910-09-01

need to enforce oetter sanltary conditions
for our workers, and 70 extend the use
OF safety appliances in industry and oom-
Ynerce both within and between the
states, Also, friends, in the interest OF
the worbinRmen himself we need to set
our faces ike flint against mob violence
1ust as against corporate greed; against
Violence and injustice and lawlessness by
wage-workers just as much as against
lawless cunning and greed and selfish ar
rogance OF employers.
National efficiency has many factors.
It is a necessary result OF the principle
of conservation widely applied. In the
end A will determine our failure or sue
cess as q Nation. National efficiency has
to do not only with natural resources and
with men. It is equally concerned with
institutions. The state must be made ef-
flclent 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 lawbreakers, and
especially for Iawbreakers Of great
wealth. who can hire the culpine legal
cunning which will teach them how to
avoid both Jurisdictions. 1t is a misfor-
tune when the National legislature fails
to do its duty in providing National
remedy, go that the only National activ-
ity is the purely negative activity of the
ercise power in the premises.
Calls for Broad Nationalism.
do not ask for Observation-Disclosures,
| but do ask that we work In spirit OF
broad and far-reaching Nationalism when
we work for what concerns our people as
a whole. We are all Americans. Our
common interests are as broad as the
continent 1 speak to you here in Kan
sas exactly as l would speak in New
| York or Georgia, for the most vital prob
| lens are those 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, I believe, mainly through the
| National government.
The American people are right in de-
| manding that new NauOnalism without
which we cannot hope to deal with new
| problems. The new Nauonalism puts the
| National need before sectional or per-
sonal advantage. 1t is impatient of the
| utter confusion that results from local
legislatures attempting to treat National
| issues as local issues. 1t is still more i'm
| patient of the impotence which springs
from the over-division of government
| powers, the impotence which makes 1t
| possible for local selnshness or for legal
cunning, hired by wealthy special inter-
ests, to bring National activities to a
| deadlock. This new Nationalism regards
the executive power as the steward of the
public welfare. 1t demands of the judci-
ary that 1t shall be interested primarily
| in human welfare rather than in proper
| ty, Just as 1t demands that the represen-
tative body shall represent all the people,
rather than any one class or section of
the people.
believe in shaping the ends of gov
ernment to protect property as well as
human welfare. Normally, and in the
long run, the ends are the same, but
| whenever the alternative must be faced
am for men and not for property.
am far from Understanding the impor-
tance of dividends, but l rank dividends
below human character. I know well
that the reformers must not bring upon
the people economic ruin, or the reforms
themselves will go down in the ruin.
But we must be ready to face temporary
disaster, whether or not brought on by
those who will war against US to the
knife. Those who oppose all reform will
do we'll to remember that ruin in Its
worst form is inevitable If our National
life brings us nothing better than swol-
len fortunes for the few and the triumph
in both politics and business of a sordid
and selfish materialism.
Honesty In Public Servants.
If our political institutions were perfect
they would absolutely prevent the polite
al domination of money In any part of
our affairs. We need to make our polit-
ical representatives more quickly and SEN
sitively responsive 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 a step in this direc-
ton II 1t Is associated with a corrupt
practises act effective to prevent the ad-
vantage of the man willing recklessly and
unscrupulously to spend money over his
more honest competitor. 1t Is particular
ly important that all moneys received OF
expended for campaign purposes should
be publicly accounted for not only after
election but before election as we'll. Po-
litical action must be made simpler. cas-
Ter, and freer from confusion for every
citizen. I believe that the prompt re-
moval of unfaithful or incompetent pub
lie servants should be made easy and
sure In whatever way experience shall
show to be most expedient in any given
class of cases.
One of the fundamental necessities in
representative government such as ours
is to make certain that the men to whom
the people delegate their power shall
serve the people by whom they are elect
ed and not the special interests. I be-
lieve that every National officer, elected
or appointed. should be forbidden to per-
form any service or receive any COM
pensation directly or indirectly from in
ter-state corporations; and a similar pro-
vision could not fail to be useful within
the states.
The object Of government is the well
fare of the people. The material progress
and prosperity of a nation are desirable
chiefly so far as they lead to the moral
and material welfare of all good citizens
| Just in proportion as the average man
and woman are honest, capable of sound
judgment and high ideals, active in pub
lie affairs-but first of all sound in their
home life and the father and mother OF
healthy children-just so far and no far
ther we may count our civilization a sue
cess. We must have-I believe we f&ve
alresdy-a genuine and permanent moral
awakening, without which no wisdom OF
legislation or administration really means
anything; and, on the other hand, we
must try to secure the social and eco
nomic legislation without which any i'm
provement due to purely moral agitation
is necessarily evanescent. What we need
is good citizens. Good citizenship means
progress; and therefore all good citizens
should stand for progress, and must be
progressive.
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