The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1911-09-22

q middle ground. ana that IL the one
want 10 talk TO you about
But before I come to that. let US taI'
about these farmers. After the Discovery
OF steam power. the Invention OF the
steam engine. the application Of that
power TO machinery and particularly aft-
er the discovery OF the existence OF the
power and utility OF electricity. the work
Of the artisan. the laborer In the shops
and the mills and the factories. has in
creased enormously. Their number Is
likewise increasing enormously They
made wealth. tremendous wealth. You
might take the employees Of one OF these
modern factories in Pennsylvania. and
they have in a decade created more
wealth. these nameiess men OF labor and
OF toll, than Croesus dreamed OF. and
put Il TO a thousand times better use.
There has grown up in the employer
class an enormously wealthy class OF
men. who are rich enough for all prac-
teal purposes, should think. yet who
are no more satisfied than you or who
spend half Of our time thinking about the
butcher and the baker. But they want
more. The curse Of the day isn't the love
Of money. II is the lust of power And
the man who has ten million wants a
hundred million. He doesn't want any
more money for moneys sake; he wants
II for the sake Of the power that 1t gives
him. 1.-THE sword has been beaten into
the pruning hook. and your spear into
the plowshare," II haven't got my
scripture mixed, and the way they exert
power in government nowadays is not In
using the sword. 1t is in using wealth.
Wealth 10 Power.
Back yonder about the birth of our re-
public. two mighty figures appeared on
the continent destined to affect all his
tory. One was Peter, afterwards called
Peter the Great of Russia, and the other
was Charles XII Of Sweden. Charles was
a mightier soldier than Peter. but Peter
knew better than Charles. Peter went
into the shipyards OF the Dutch and the
factories of the English and learned to
produce things, to make things. to create
wealth. What was he going to do with
IL? He had foresight and brains to know
that in wealth lay all ultimate power.
Charles relied upon his ranks and coll
umns OF fearless swords. upon their
prowess and courage and intrepidity.
and upon his own daring and skill For
years he drove Peter of Russia, but Peter
finally overcame him. You say. by force
of arms?" No, by force of money, by
corrupting his troops and his subjects,
and sowing dissension in his ranks, by
severing the ties that bound his allies to
him-precisely the tactics used in 1907
1908 by the American Tobacco Co. in
Kentucky
People don't learn many new tricks.
though they learn a good many ways OF
playing old ones. The artisans had form
ed their guilds successfully had main
tained and manipulated them in a way
until finally although for a long time
outlawed. punished. fined. bayoneted
scourged. they survived The president
of the United States, in a public address
not long since. commended the labor
unions as instruments of public benefac.
ton. His distinguished predecessor
(RoosevelD. also declared that the
unions had been boon to
mankind They had improved tn,
conditions Of the laborers. Made
better employed, better contented, better
paid set of people. enabled them to do
better work in better way. aye. ena.
bled them to build the great fabric which
we now call modern commercialism. the
great mechanical age in which we live.
They praise them. the statutes of the
states, including the statutes of Ken
lucky, in explicit terms commend. APP
prove and make lawful those organiza-
tons. So they have lived through the
centuries and survived to a time when
obey have ceased to be scourged and out
iawed as the enemies of government. un-
III they are crowned as the friend OF
mankind. .T
During all these years the farmer has
plodded along and plowed. He has
reaped his harvests and taken them
to market. When he got to
market. he stood around and said to
the man to whom he wanted to sell.
What will you give me?" And the man
set the price. He took his money and he
went across the street to the store, to the
man who wanted to sell that which tina
farmer wanted to buy. and he said.
What will you take:" And the man
set the price The farmer didn't set it a.
all. He paid for It. The matter has gone
along that way through all these centu-
ries. until a great painter put upon the
canvas and in verse that nightmare in
poetry. 1.-The Man With the Hoe?" with
the receding brow, with the stopped form,
his whole sky overcast with clouds, soli-
tary. helpless. benighted. The picture OF
the farmer. God forbid 1t should ever be
more than fancy He has worked all
these years. and finally he woke up and
said: Didn't the merchants combine
for their mutual protection and advance
ment of their interests as a class? Yes |
Were they successful? Eminently So for
have they not now become the princes OF
fortune? Have they not become Napo- |
Icons of finance? Have they not come to
be those who hold the scepter of power
in the world?" The farmer also said
Didn't the artisan also pursue the same
tactics as his employer? What has been
his success? He had long fight and a
hard fight. but stil the sum
of 1t all is he has succeeded.
until the statute books OF the coun-
try approve him, and until the president \
OF the greatest Christian country in thu
world applauds him. and until society
sets apart a day and writes 1t in red let
tiers and christens It Labor Day"
Farmers Organize Last.
Now, where do we come in? Trailing
along behind, but nevertheless there, they
said we viii try this Organization busi- /
ness ourselves. For what purpose? The
most peaceful people that the world has