The Prescott daily news., 1910-09-05
ROOSEVELT TALKS
 ID WAGE-EARKERS
Lebor Bay Address Delivered at
 Fargo Is Well Received.
JOINT ACTION A NECESSITY
Trades Unions Commended, But Some or Their Acts sed-Ameri- can Federation Planks Ap-
 proved by Speaker.

Fargo, N. D., Sept 5.-The union labor forces of Fargo and thousands ot 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-I speak in one sense especially to those personally and vitaily 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 ma,.r t-. .ti i,- equitable
 Ihe nineteen,h century was distinctly one of economic triumphs-triumphs in the domain of production, including trans pertation and the mechanics of exchange. The marvellous progress made in these respects multiplied mans productive power to an almost inconceivable degree. In the matter of the production of wealth. ! as much progress made during the nineteenth century as during 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 preceding thousands of years; and these very changes and this material progress have thrust upon us social and ! political problems of the first magnitude. l 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 as with the moral and ethical factors of civilization. Our basic problem is to see that the mar velously augmented nowers of production | bcqUeathed to us by the nineteenth cen- turr 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 l7rger social problem in a dual capacity; first as a citizen of the Republic charged with the full duty of citizenship: and next as a w1ge-earner-as a wage-worker- 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 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;
 Nv hA 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 em- blowers and wage -earners. But to attempt to leave this merely to individual action means the absolute destruction of indivi- duaNsm: for where the individual Is SO weak that he. perforce. has to accept whatever n strongly organized body chooses to give him. his individual liberty becomes mere sham and mockery. It Is indispensably necessary. in order to preserve to the largest degree our sys- tenn of individualism, that there should be effective and organized collective ac- ton The wage-earners must act joint ly through the process of collective bar gaining in great Industrial enterprises. Only thus can they be put upon plane of economic equality with their corporate emplovers Only thus Is freedom of con tract made real thing and not mere legal fiction There are occasional occu- nations wheve this Is not necessary; but, speaking broadly, it is necessary through out the great world of organized indus try believe this practise of collective bargaining. effective only through such
 hn have been one of the most potent factors in the past century In promoting the progress of the wage-earners and In se- curing larger social progress for human ity. believe in the principle Of organ ,zed labor and in the practise or collec- tive bargaining. not merely as oesir- able thing for the wage-earners, but as ,omething which has been demonstrated to be essential in the long run to their permanent progress.
 This dc-- not mean that unequivo- ealiy ind SC any or all praotises that labor organizations may happen to adopt, or any or all principles that they may choose to enunciate. Labor organizations have the weaknesses and defects common to all other forms of human organise- tions Sometimes they act very well. and sometimes they act very badly: ana l am for them when they Aot we'll ana l am against them when they act badly. believe that their existence 10 a necessity; I believe that their aims and purposes arc generally rood; and believe that all of them have occasionally made mistakes. ana that some of them have been guilty of wrong doing. Just in 90 far as they arc strong and effective they tempt de- siGninG men who seek te control them for their own interests. and stimulate tho desires of ambitious leaders who may be clever. crooked men. or who may pc non sst but visionary and foolish. In other words. in treating of labor unions. a in .-~.4ta% o& cornora a tiona or of humanity