Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-09-06
In His Speech He Impresses
the Need of Labor Unions
Steering Clear of Dishonest
and Grating Leaders
EX-PRESIDENT ENDORSES
PART OF LABOR PLATFORM
Next Quarter of a Century,
Says Col. Roosevelt, win Be
of the Utmost Importance to
Labor-DutieS of Labor

/ Labor day speech here today. He
1 spoke of the necessity of labor unions
and the good work they had done. but
he warned the workingman against
dishonest labor leaders. who misuse the
power Of these great organizations for
! their own selfish ends.
He stated emphatically that he Ia
vored the eight-hour day, and urged the
| enactment of state and federal legisla-
| ton relative to woman and child labor.
| Great preparations had been made Tor
| today's celebration. The streets are de-
corated with flags and pictures of Coli
onel Roosevelt. At Island park a stand
/ has been built TO hold 1,500 persons, and
$500 persons will be able to get into
the natural amphitheatre in which the
| stand Is built and hear what Colonel
Roosevelt has to say
Colonel Roosevelt's first appearance was
at Fargo college at the laying OF tina
corner stone of the library building.
| Colonel Roosevelt will attend din
ner this evening and at IL o'clock to be-
gin his homeward journey trip. Pres
! ident Taft In St. Paul is only Isl miles
from Ex-President Roosevelt. The ex-
president starts for st. Paul tonight, but
as the president also leaves for the east
in the evening, they will not meet.
| It is generally believed to the close
friends of Colonel Roosevelt If fight
develops against the conservation poll
cies Endorsed by him. at the conservation
| congress at St Paul, the colonel Will
support his friends, Clifford Pinchot and
James r. Garfield. He will. 1t is said
! fight to a finish. Reports that have
reached Colonel Roosevelt here have
been to the effect that the plans of Pin
ehot and Garfield for the conservation OF
national resources will be opposed and
that strong combination has been ef-
| fected to nullify the influence in the com
vention of Colonel Roosevelt's friends.
The ex-president's speech 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
growing out Of the attempts to read5ust
social conditions and make them mora
| equitable.
The nineteenth century was distinct.
ly one OF economic triumphs-triumphs
| in the domain OF productions. including
! transportation and the mechanics OF
| exchange. The marvellous progress made
4 in these respects multiplied mans pro-
| ductive power to an almost inconceiv-
| able degree. In the matter of the pro-
! duction Of wealth, as much of progress
( was made during the nineteenth CEN
fury as during all previous periods
/ since history dawned; that is, the
1 changes brought in a single century
! through machinery and steam have
been greater than the sum total OF the
changes Of the proceeding thousands
1 Of years, and these very changes and
| this material progress have thrust upon
us social and political problems of the
first magnitude. The triumphs Of the
physical science in the nineteenth Gems
| fury represented progress primarily IN
| the material elements of civilization
| The most pressing problems that con.
front the present century are not con-
| cerned with the material production
| of wealth, but with its distribution
The demands of progress now deal moi
! so much with the material as with the
| moral and ethical factors Of civiliza-
/ ton. Our basic problem is to see thai
the marvelously augmented powers OF
production bequeathed to us by the
nineteenth century shall in the TWEEN
| tieth be made to administer to the needs
/ OF the many rather than he exhibited
for tho profit of the few.
| PROBLEM OF WAGE GARNER
| The American wage Garner faces thif
! larger social problem in a dual capac-
ity; first as citizen Of the republic
charged with the full duty Of citizen.
ship, and next as a wage Garner. as
| wage worker. who, together with his
fellow workers, is vitality concerned In
the question Of wages and general con.
ditions Of employment when affect nut
! only his well-being and that OF his wiIe
| and children, but the opportunities -
all workers for a higher development.
1t is true Of wage workers, as OF all
other citizens, that most of their pa,,s.
ress must depend upon their own initias
tive and their own efforts. Neyertae-
less. there are three different factors
in this progress. There is, first, tnt
share which the mans own individual
qualities must determine. That is the
most important of all, but nothing can
supply the place of individual capacity
Yet there are two other factors also 81
prime Importance, namely, what can be
done by the wage workers in co-opera-
ton with one another, and what can ID
done by government; that is, by Ehe-in'
strument through which all the people
work collectively. Wages and otfief
most important conditions OF employ
ment must remain largely outside Of
government control; must be left fos
adjustment by free contract betweeu
employers an wage earners- Butte
attempt to leave this merely to indi-
vidual action means the absolute oe.
struction of individualism; for where
the individual is so weak that he, per-
force, has to accept whatever strong.
" organized body chooses 10 give hinns
his individual liberty becomes a mere
sham and mockery. 1t is indispensabiy
necessary, in order to preserve to the
largest degree our system Of individuals
ism, that there should be effective and
organized collective action The wage
carriers must act jointly. through the
process of collective bargaining, In
great industrial enterprises. Only tiaus
can they be put upon plane of eco
nomic equality with their corporate EN-.
ployers. Only thus is freedom made a
real thing and not a mere legal fic-
ton. There are occasional occupations
where this is not necessary. but speak
ing broadly, it is necessary throughout
the great world of organized industry.
I believe this practice of collective bar
gaining, effective only through such or
ganizations as the trades unions, TO
have been one OF the most potent forces
in the past century IN promoting the