River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1912-08-08
TELLS OF PARTYS
AIMS AND IDEALS.
Speech of Senator Beveridge as
Temporary Chairman of Pro-
uressive Convention.
NEW POLITICAL ERA IN SIGHT
Wiser Craftsmanship and Freer Rule
Of the People Declared to Be the
Object of the Movement-Le-
ultimate Business Interests
Not to Be Disturbed.

Chicago. Aug. 5.-Senator Albert J.
Beveridge of Indiana, on assuming the
temporary chairmanship of The Pro-
gressive national convention deliver
ed the speech which is recognized as
embodying the aims Of the rev party.
His address, in effect, was as follows:
We stand for q nobler America. We
stand for an undivided nation. We
stand for a broader liberty, a fuller
justice. We stand for social brother
hood as against savage individualism.
We stand for an intelligent co-opera-
ton instead of reckless competition.
We stand for mutual helpfulness In
stead of mutual hatred. We stand for
equal rights as fact Of life instead of
a catchword Of politics. We stand for
the Eule of the people as practical
truth instead Of meaningless pre-
tense. We stand for representative
government that represents the peo-
pie. We battle for the actual rights Of
man.
The people living in this land Of
gold are the most daring and resource
full on the globe. Coming from the
hardest stock Of every nation Of the
old world their very history in the new
world has made Americans peculiar
people in courage, initiative, love Of
Justice and all the elements of indie
pendent character.
And, compared with other peoples,
we are very few in numbers. There
are only ninety millions Of us, scat
tered over continent. Germany has
s1xty-fve millions packed in country
very much smaller than Texas. The
population of Great Britain and Ire
land could be set down in California
and still have more than enough room
for the population Of Holland. If this
country was as thickly populated as
Belgium there would be more than
twelve hundred million instead Of only
ninety million persons within our bor-
ders.
AS Conditions Should Be.
So We have more than enough to
supply every human being beneath the
flag. There ought not to be In this
republic a single day of bad business,
a single unemployed workingman. a
single unfed child. American business
men should never know an hour Of I'M
certainty. encouragement or fear:
American workingmen never a day Of
low wages, idleness or want. Hunger
should never walk in these thinly peo-
pied gardens Of plenty.
And yet In spite OF all these favors
which providence has showered upon
us, the living OF the people is the prob
lem Of the hour. Hundreds of thou
sands Of hard-working Americans find
1t difficult to get enough to live on.
The average income of an American
laborer is less than $500 year. With
this he must furnish food, shelter and
clothing for family.
Women, whose nourishing and pro-
lection should be the first care Of the
state, not only are driven into the
mighty army Of wage-earners, but are
forced to work under unfair and de
grading conditions. The right of a
child to grow into normal human be-
ing is sacred; and yet, while sma1r and
poor countries, packed with people,
have abolished child labor, American
mills, mines, factories and sweatshops
are destroying hundreds Of thousands
of American children in body, mind
and soul.
At the same time men have grasped
fortunes in this country SO great that
the human mind can not comprehend
their magnitude. These mountains of
wealth are. far larger than even that
lavish reward which no one would
deny to business risk or genius.
On the other hand, American bust.
ness is uncertain and unsteady com
pared with the business of other ma
tons. American business men are the
best and bravest in the world, and yet
our business conditions hamper their
energies and chill their courage. We
have no permanency in business af-
fairs, no sure outlook upon the bust
ness future. This unsettled state OF
American business prevents it from
realizing for the people that great and
continuous prosperity which our coun.
try's location, vast wealth and small
population justifles.
Reforms Projected.
We mean to remedy these condi
tons. We mean not only to make
prosperity steady, btu to give to the
many who earn it a Just share OF that
prosperity instead Of helping the few
who do not earn it to take an unjust
share. The progressive motto is "Pass
prosperity around" To make human