Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1910-09-08

Labor Day Address Delivered at
Fargo Is Well Received.
JOINT ACTION A NECESSITY

Trades Unions Commended, But Some
of Their Acts iticsed-Ameri-
can Federation PIanks Ap-
proved by Speaker.
Fargo, n. D., Sept 5.-The union
labor forces Of Fargo and thousands
of other persons had a 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 it,
Colonel Roosevelt's address was as
| follows:
| Today-on Labor Day. speak in one
sense especially TO those personally and
| vitality interested in the labor struggle;
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 mphs-triumphs in
| the domain of production, including trans
portation and the mechanics of exchange.
The marvellous progress made in these
respects multiplied mans productive
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
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 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 it's distribution. The
demands of progress now deal not so
much with the material 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 citizen of the Republic charged
with the full duty Of citizenship; and next
as a wage-earner-as a wage-worker-
who, together with his fellow-workers, is
vitality concerned in the question of wages
which affect not only his weH-heing and
that Of his wife and children. but the
opportunities of all workers for a higher
development
Must Depend on Our Own Efforts.
It 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 factors 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 arners. 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 a mere sham and mockery. It
! Is indispensably necessary, in order to
! preserve to the largest degree our sys-
| tenn OF individuaHsm. that there should
| be effective and organized collective ac-
| ton. The ge-earners must act joint
| ly, through the process of collective bar
| 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 a mere
| legal fiction. There are occasional occu-
| pations where this is not necessary; but,
| speaking. broadly, it Is necessary through
| out the great world of organized indus
| try. I believe this practise of collective
| bargaining effective only through such
| organizations as the trades unions, to
| 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 I believe in the principle of organ
! lied labor and in the practise of coliec-
! tive bargaining, not merely desir-
| able thing for the wage-earners, but as
| something which has been demonstrated
| to be essential IN the long run to their
! permanent progress.
This does not mean that I unequivo-
| cally indorse any or all practises that
! labor organizations may happen to adopt,
| or any or all principles that they may
| choose to enuncfafe. Labor organizations
| have the weaknesses and defects common
| to all other forms of human organiza-
| tons. Sometimes they act very well, and
| sometimes they act very badly; and
| am for them when they act we'll and
| am against them when they act badly. l
| believe that their existence Is a necessity;
| I believe that their aims and purposes are
| generally good; and ] believe that all Of
| them have occasionally made mistakes,
| and that some of them have been guilty
| of wrong doing. Just in SO far they
| are strong and effective they tempt de-
| signing men who seek to control them
! for their own interests, and stimulate the
| desires of ambitious leaders who may be
| clever, crooked men, or who may be hon
/ est but visionary and foolish In other
| words in treating Of labor unions as in
| treating of corporations, of humanity
| generally, we will do well to remember
| Abraham Lincoln's saying that there is
/ a deal of human nature in mankind"
/ Whether in a man or in orgs nized
body of men, the power to do good means
| that such power may be twisted into evil;
! and in proportion the power grows SO
! 1t becomes steadily more important that
| 1t should be handled Alright. Just in pro-
portion in it's proper function power
| is important to social progress, so in it's
| improper function it becomes fraught with
social disaster.
Wise Course For Original Labor
Outside critics should appreciate the
/ necessity of organized labor. and under
stand and sympathize with what is good
| in it, instead of condemnins it indiscrim-
| iHateIy. On the other hand, those within
/ It's ranks should fearlessly analyze the
| criticisms directed against it and ruthless