The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-09-06

Tn Long Address-DeaIs With Em
 PIoyers' Liaoiiity-Favors PIanks O
 Federation of Labor.
 Fargo, N. D., Sept. 5.-Today, or Labor day, I speak in one sense espe ciaIly to those personally and vitallJ interested in the labor struggle, anG yet speak of this primarily as one aspect of the larger social struggle growing out of the attempts to read just social conditions and make then more equitable.
 The nineteenth century was dis tinctly one of economic triumphs-tri umphs in the domain of production including transportation and the me chanics of exchange. The marvellous progress made in these respects multi piled 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 dur ing all previous, periods since history dawned-that is, the changes brought in single century through machinery and steam have been greater than the sum total Of the changes of the pre- ceding thousands of years, and these very changes and this material prog ress have thrust upon us social and political problems of the first magni- tude-
 The American wage earner faces this larger social problem n a dual capacity-frst as a citizen of the re
 
 citizenship and next as a wage earn er-as a wageworker who, together with his fellow workers. is vitally 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 higher development.
 Three Different Factors.
 It Is true of wageworkers, as of all other citizens, that most of their prog ress must depend upon their own mi uative and their own efforts. Never thelesS there are three different fac tors in this progress. There is, first, the share which the mans own indi- vidual qualities must determine. This is the most important of all, for noth- ing can supply the place of individual capacity.
 Yet there are two other factors also of prime importance-namely, what can be done by the wageworkers in CO., operation 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 re- main largely outside of government control; must be left for adjustment by free contract between employers and wage earners- But to attempt to leave this merely to individual action means the absolute destruction of indi- vidualfsm, for where the individual is so weak that he perfoEce has to accept whatever strongly organized body chooses to give him, his individual lib erty becomes a mere sham and mock cry.
 It is indispensably necessary, in order to preserve to the largest degree our system of individualism, that there should be effective and organized col 1ective action. The wage earners must act Jointly, through the process of col 1ective bargaining, in great industrial enterprises. Only thus can they be put upon plane of economic equality with their corporate employers.
 Only thus is freedom of contract made a real thing and not a mere legal fiction. There are occasional occupa- tions where this is not necessary; but, speaking broadly, it is necessary throughout the great world of organ ized industry
 I believe this practice Of collective bargaining, effective only through such organizations as the trades unions, to have been one of the most potent forces in the past century in promot- ing the progress of the wage earners and in securing larger social progress for humanity. I believe in the prin- cip1e Of organized labor and in the practice of collective bargaining, not merely as a desira b1e thing for the wage earners, but as something which has been demonstrated to be essential in the long run to their permanent progress.
 Weaknesses and Defects.
 This does net mean that unequivo- cally indorse any or all practices that labor organizations may happen to ado.) or any or all principles that they may choose to enunciate. Labor or ganiZations have the weaknesses and defects common to all other forms of human organizations Sometimes they act very well, and sometimes they act very badly And I am for them when they act well. and I am against them when sthey act badly.
 believe that their existence is a necessity. I believe that their aims and purposes are generally good. and I believe that all of them have occa- sionally made mistakes and that some 'i taFe-n- nSte ---- -~--tJ of wrong doing. =
 Just in, so, far as they are strong and effective they tempt designing men who seek to control them for their own interests and stimulate the de sires of ambitious leaders who may be