The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1910-09-08
ROOSEVELT TALKS
To WAGE-EARNERS
Labor Day Address Delivered at
Fargo Is Well Received.
JOINT ACTION A NECESSITY
Trades Unions Commended, But Some
Of Their Acts CrItlclsed-Amerl-
can Federation Planks Ap.
proved by Speaker.

labor forces of Fargo and Thousand
of other persons had a treat toda!
when Theodore Roosevelt delivered
the Labor Day address. He spoke
with great seriousness and with frank
ness, and his speech was we'll re
ceived by the big crowd that heard 1t
Colonel -Roosevelt's address was al
follows: =
Today-on Labor Day-I speak in one
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 triumphs-triumplrs in
the domain Of production, including trans
portation 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 was made during the
nineteenth century as during all previous
| periods since history dawned; that u.s. 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 us social and
| political problems Of tie 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 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.m 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 dual capacity:
first, as a 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
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.
1t is true of wage-workers, as Of all
Olner ClIlZenS, lHEL lHOSL VI tIelT 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-earners. But to attempt
to leave this merely to individual action
means the absolute destruction of indivt-
dualsm; 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 individualisn 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 lHuS can IH0y NC put upOIl II pidIlo
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, 1t 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. believe in the principle Of organ
lied labor and in the practise Of collec-
tive bargaining, not merely as 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 de- not mean that unequivo-
cally ind so any or all practises 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 organiza-
tons. Sometimes they act very we'll and
sometimes they act very badly; and
am for them when they act we'll, and
am against them when they act badly.
/ believe that their existence Is necessity;
I believe that their aims and purposes are
generally good; and I believe that all Of
them have occasionally made mistakes,
and that some of them hava been guilty
Of wrong-doing. Just in so far as 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, or 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 an organized
body of men, the power to do good means
that such power may be twisted into evil;
and in proportion as the power grows SO
1t becomes steadily more important that
It should be handled Alright. Just in pro-
portion as in It's proper function power
| Is important to social progress, so in it's
Improper function 1t becomes fraught with
| social disaster.
Wise Course For Original Labor.
| Outside critics should appreciate the
| necessity of organized labor, and under
stGnd and sympathize with what is good