Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-09-05
BELIEVES IN UNIONS
Roosevelt in Labor Day Ad-
dress Indorses Good Ones.
STRIKES OFTEN NECESSARY
But They Must Be Conducted With
out q Sign Of Lawlessness.
COLLECTIVE BARGAIN" BEST
Wage Worker Has Best Chance to
Get His Share Of Wealth
Through Organization.
STRIKES OFTEN NECESSARY
COLLECTIVE BARGAIN" BEST

FARGO, n. D., September 5.-Fargos
Labor dey celebration began early.
The program Of the days events called
for Col. Roosevelt's first appearance at
Fargo College. at the laying Of the coz
ner stone Of the library building. to make
q short speech. The parade was next.
with the labor organizations OF the city
at the head. They were followed by
sixty automobiles. with Col. Roosevelt in
the first one.
Lieut.. Gov. r. III. Lewis. United States
Senators McCumber and Purcell of North
Dakota, Representatives Gronna. Steen-
erson and Hanna. James Kennedy. re-
publican national committeeman. and
James r. Garfield OF Cleveland. former
Secretary Of the Interior. also rode in
the parade.
After traversing the principal streets Of
the town the paraders went to Island
Park, where Col Roosevelt made his La
Dor day address. He will attend din
leave Fargo to begin his homeward trip.
President Taft, in st. Paul today, is
only 25l miles from ex-President Roose-
welt. The ex-President starts for st. Paul
for the east IN the evening they. will not
meet. Col Roosevelt is to address the
conservation congress at st. Paul tomor-
row. In his speech today he said In part:
Labor and Its Rights.
"Today-LAbor day-I speak in one
sense especially to those personally and
vitality interested In the labor struggle:
and yet I 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
the domain OF production. including trans
portation and the mechanics OF exchange.
The marvellous progress made In these re-
spects multiplied mans productive power
to an almost inconceivable degree.
Distribution OF Wealth.
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 not SO
much with the material as with the moral
and ethical factors OF civilization. Our
basic problem Is to see that the marvel
ously augmented powers Of production
bequeathed to US by the nineteenth GEN.
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 q dual capacity;
first. as a citizen Of the republic charged
with the full duty OF citizenship; and
next as q wage-earner-as q waee-work-
er-who. together with his fellow-work-
ers. Is vitality concerned in the question
Of wages and general conditions Of en-
ployment, which affect not only his we'll
being and that OF his wife and children.
but the opportunities Of all workers for
. higher development.
The Wage-workers' Problem.
1T is true Of wage-workers. as Of all
other citizens. that most of their prog
ress must depend upon their own mi
tiative 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 moth
Ing can supply the place of individual
capacity. Yet there are two other fac
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
other most important conditions of en-
ployment must remain largely outside Of
government control: must be left for ad-
justment by free contract between en-
ployers and wage-earners. subject to
legislation which will prevent conditions
which compel man or woman to accept
wages representing less than will ensure
decent living. But to attempt to leave
this merely to individual action means
the absolute destruction of individualism;
for where the individual Is SO weak that
he. perforce, has to accept whatever
strongly organized body chooses to give
him his individual liberty becomes
mere sham and mockery. 1t is indispens-
ably necessary. In order to preserve to
the largest degree our system OF indi-
vidualism. that there should be effective
and organized collective action.
Must Act Jointly.
1.-THE wage-earners must act jointly,
through the process OF collective bargain
ing, 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
contract made real thing and not
mere legal fiction. There are occasional
occupations where this is not necessary,
throughout the great world Of organized
industry. ! believe this practice OF col
lective bargaining, effective only through
such organizations as the trade unions. to
the past century In promoting the prog
ress Of the wage-earners and in securing
larger social progress for humanity
Wherever there is organized capital on a
considerable scale believe In the prin-
ciple of organized labor and in the prac-
tice of collective bargaining. not merely
as q desirable thing for the wage-earners.
but as something which has been demon
strated 10 be essential in the long run to
their permanent progress.
Indorses Only Good Unions.
This does not mean that I unequiv-
ocally indorse any or all practices 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 COM
mon to all other forms of human organ
izations Sometimes they act very well.
and sometimes they act very badly, and
am for them when they act well and
am against them when they act badly.
believe that their existence Is a necessity.
I believe that their aims and purposes
n uoparanx, uood and r believe that all