Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1912-09-13
The Product of Civilization.

The Product of Civilization.
E. G. Dunn, the Democratic candi-
date for Governor of Iowa, was one of
the Labor Day speakers at Mason City,
and the following is an excerpt from
his address:
Perhaps one of the greatest evils or,
at least, the greatest mistake made by
our people is the fact that the greatest
thing in our civilization is man and wo-
man. Some one asked Mark Twain
once when the great humorist returned
from two years trip in Europe and
Asia, what he saw on the other side?,
and that master mind of American lit
erature didn't tell of the Alps and the
Pyranees, of Mount Vesuvius or the
Valley of the Nile, but he looked into
the face of his questioner and said,
''In two years on the other side I saw
man and woman, that's ALL" and
my friends if you stop to analyze his
answer you must admit that he is
right.
What have you in Cerro Gordo coun-
ty today? What have you in the state
of Iowa? What have you in the length
and breadth of this Nation of ours
that is worth while, save man and wo-
man. Men and women were all there
ever has been in the civilization of the
world from the first morn. of civiliza-
ton down, and men and women are all
there will be when the roll has been
called for the last time and the last
soul has gone to its maker. If that be
true then the great object of our civil
cation should be to raise the standard
of our citizenship to make men and
women happier and better than they
are at the present time. We too often
forget the obligations which we owe to
the community in which we live. Some
times::men Feel that when they pay
their taxes and the debts that they
owe to their fellowmen measured from
a money standard, that they have met
their full obligations to the community
in which they live.
Men who have grown rich by the
labors of others sometimes forget that
it was the people of their community
that made their success possible. That
it was neighbors and friends who
built their churches and their school
houses, laid out the roads, built the
towns and even cared for the little
cemeteries where the ashes of their
dead are sleeping. When men realize
in its fullness the obligation they owe
to the men and women who live around.
them there will be no trouble in solv-
ing the problems which confront US to
the present time.
In solving the problem which seems
to divide labor from capital there are
two systems or conditions which must
be remedied. First, is over capitaliza-
ton of our corporations, and the
second is allowing the officers of the
corporations to take by rebate or other
subterfuge the earnings of the corpor-
alton. In either case the burden falls
on the men who toll. When a corpor-
alton is over capitalized as many of
them are today, the public is called
upon to pay a dividend on the stock
which has been issued without any
money being paid. If the public can
not be forced to pay the advance price
necessary to pay the dividend of this
capitalization, then it is necessary to
resort to the cutting Of price of the
wages in order to secure the money
necessary to pay this dividend In the
other instance, when the officials of
great corporations are allowed to give
in rebate part of the earnings of the
company of subsidiary corporations
dealing with them, who are many
times composed of the officials of the
corporations giving the rebate or paw
ing over the charges which is often
times paid. the money is taken direct
ly from the stakeholder or it Is taken
from the daily earnings of the men
who work for the company.
If labor is to receive its just reward
or create condition where it can show
it is not getting justice it will be nee
essary to eradicate these two evils, in
order that the earnings of the COM
pany may be accurately ascertained.
One of the common cries of our pres
ent industrial world is that business is
poor, we must cut the wages of our
employees, and many times the EN-
ployees are gathered together and told
that conditions are such thas 1t neces-