Fergus County Democrat., 1912-09-10
1t would be dangerous to strike against
the authority of the federal govern

it would be dangerous to strike against
the authority of the federal govern.
ment.
Moreover, most of his employers,
at any rate, practically all of the most
powerful of his employers, would be
wards and proteges of that very gov.
ernment which is the master of us all.
The government is to set up a COM
mission whose duty it will be, not to
Geek or defeat it, but only to regulate
it under rules which it is itself to de-
velop. So that the chief employers
will have this authority behind them |;
what they do they will have the H.
cense of the federal government to
do including the right to pay the
wages approved by the government.
Attitude Toward Labor.
"And it is worth the while of the
workingmen of the country to recall
what the attitude toward organized
labor has been of these masters of in
dustries whom the federal government
is to take under it's patronage as well
as under it's control. They have al
ways been the stout opponents of or
ganized labor and they have tried to
undermine it in a great many ways.
Some of the ways they have adopted
have worn the guise of philanthropy
and good will and have no doubt been
used, for all l know, in perfect good
faith. Some of them have set up sys-
tens of prOfit-sharing, of compensa-
tion for injuries and of bonuses and
even pensions, but every one of these
plans has merely bound their working
men more tightly to themselves.
Their rights under these various
arrangements are not legal rights.
They are merely privileges which
they enjoy so long as they remain in
the employ and observe the rules of
the great industries which employ
them. If they refuse to be weaned
away from independence they cannot
continue to enjoy the benefits extend
ed to them.
when you have thought the whole
thing out, therefore, you will find that
the program of the new party legalizes
monopOlies and Systematically subOr-
dinates wOrkingmen to them and to
plans made by the government both
with regard to employment and with
regard to wages. By what means, eX-
cept upou revolt, could we ever break
the crust of our life again and become
free men, breathing an air of our own,
choosing and living lives that we
wrought out for ourselves? Perhaps
this new and all-conquering combina-
ton between money and government
would be benevolent to us, perhaps it
would carry out the noble program Of
social betterment which so many
credulously expect of it, but who can
assure us Of that?
"Who will give bond that it will be
general and gracious and pitiful and
righteous? What man or set of men
can make us secure under it by tll,ir
empty promise and assurance that it
will take care of us and be good?
1T is like coming out OF a close and
sitting air into the open, where we
can breath fully again and see the
free spaces of the heavens above us,
to turn away from such program, the
identical program suggested to COM
mittees of congress by Mr.. Gary and
Mr.. Perkins, to the proposals with
which the great democratic thinkers of
the country offset and oppose such a
platform. Democratic leaders turn
away from any plan to legalize monop-
oily and give a federal commission
leave to say how much of it there
should be because they know exactly
what they would mean. What they
promise is the restoration of freedom
What we need is the regulation of
competition and the prosecution of
what has created monopoly When
you have regulated it you have in ef-
feet restored it,