The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1910-09-09
] E|:'[|.'||': Talks IA
70 W|||A|g|IlE;'!E|: Earl | 4
Labor Day Address Delivered at
Fargo IS wei n Received ( 4 E 3
Joint ACTION u NECESSITY

Joint ACTION A. NECESSITY
Trades Unions Commended, But Sons
Of Their Acts Criticised AmerI-
can Federation Planks sAp- !,
proved BY speaker.
Fargo. N. D., Sept. e5;-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 we'll re-
ceived by the big crowd that heard 1t.
Colonel Roosevelt's address was as
follows: Ia ttf to. .i
Today-on Labor Day. speak in ono
sense especially to those personally and
and yet 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 triumphs-triumphs in
the domain Of production, including trans
portation and the mechanics Of exchange.
respects multiplied mans productive
power to an almost inconceivable degree.
In the matter Of the production Of wealth.
as much progress was made during the
nineteenth century as during all previous
periods since history dawned; that is. the
changes brought in a single century
through machinery and steam have been
/ knv. NJ oh
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
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
velously 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 a dual capacity;
| first, as citizen of the Republic charged
| with the full duty Of citizenship; and next
as a wage-earner-as wage-worker-
who. together with his fellow-workers. IL
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 a higher
development.
Must Depend on Our Own Efforts.
1t is 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
are three different factors in this prog
ress. There Is. first, the share which the
mans own individual qualities must de-
| termine. This Is the most important OF
all. for nothing can supply the place of
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 is, 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
means the absolute destruction of indivi-
dualism: for where the individual Is so
weak that he, perforce, has to accept
| whatever a strongly organized body
chooses to give him. his individual liberty
becomes mere sham and mockery. II
| Is indispensably necessary, in order to
| preserve to the largest degree our sys-
tenn Of individualism, that there should
be effective and organized collective &C.
ton. The wage-earners must act joint
No. "a <fryN hos
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 real thing and not mere
legal fiction. There are occasional occu-
pations where this Is not necessary: but
speaking broadly. It is necessary through.
try. I believe this practise Of collective
bargaining. effective only through such
organizations as the trades unions. tt
have been one of the most potent factors
in the past century in promoting the
progress Of the wage-earners and in Sc
curing larger social progress for human
ity. believe in the principle Of organ
lied labor and In the practise Of collec
tive bargaining. not merely as desir
able thing for the wage-earners, but a,
something which has been demonstrated
to be essential in the long run to thei
permanent progress.
This does not mean that I unequivo
. cally indorse any or all practises tina
labor organizations may happen to adopt
or any or all principles that they ma!
choose to enunciate Labor organization
have the weaknesses and defects common
to all other forms Of human organiza
tons. Sometimes they act very we'll, an,
sometimes they act very badly; and
r am for them when they act well. and
: am against them when they act badly.
, believe that their existence Is a necessity
! believe that their aims and purposes ar
2 generally good: and believe that all Q
!. them have occasionally made mistakes
i and that some of them have been guilt
F, Of wrong-doing. Just in so far as the
a are strong. and effective they tempt de
y signing men who seek to control ther
= for their own interests, and stimulate tn
desires Of ambitious leaders who may b
e clever, crooked men, or who may be hor
, est but visionary and foolish. In othe
words, in treating of labor unions, as 1
treating of corporations. or Of lumanit
generally, we will do well to remembe
Abraham Lncoln,s saying that there
? q deal Of human nature in mankind.
Whether in a man or in an organize
= =.