Devils Lake weekly world. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1911-1914, 1912-02-23
ACHAR TER 81
DEMO I O| 4: J r. !
~ @a CONTINUED page 3 VIZ %Hs II ~
{ Continued from page 7

democracy Is to provide for making the
popular judgment really effective.
Lincoln, with his clear vision, his in
grained sense Of Justice and his spirit
Of kindly friendliness to all, forecast
our present struggle and saw the way
out. What he said should be pondered
by capitalist and nottingham alike.
He spoke MS follows Ct condense):
T I hold that while man exists, it, is his
duty to improve not only. his condition,
but to assist in amellorating mankind.
Labor is prior to and independent Of cap
ital. Labor is the superior of capital and
deserves much the higher considerations.
Capital has its rights, whichSare as worthy
Of protection as any other rights. Nor
should this lead to a war upon property.
Property is the fruit of, labor. Property
10 desirable, is positive good in the
world. Let not him who Is houseless pull
down the house of another. but let him
work diligently and build one for himself,
Z thus by example assuring that his own
shall be safe from violence when built.
This last sentence Enthusiastically
shows Lincoln's homely, kindly COM
mon sense. His is the attitude that we
ought to take. He showed the proper
sense of proportion in his relative esti-
mates of capital and labor, of human
rights and the rights Of wealth.
Prosperity Must Be Distributed.
The ends Of good government in our
democracy are to secure by genuine
popular rule high average of moral
and material we'll being among our
citizens. 1t has been well said that in
the past we have paid attention only
to the accumulation Of prosperity, and
that from henceforth we must pay
equal attention to the proper distribu-
ton Of prosperity. This is true. The
only prosperity worth having is that
which affects the mass of the people.
We are bound to strive for the fair dis
tribution Of prosperity. But it be-
hooves us to remember that there is no
use In deyising methods for the proper
distribution Of prosperity unless the
prosperity is there to distribute. hold
It to be our duty to see that the wage
worker, the small producer, the ordi-
nary consumer, shall get their fair
share Of the benefit of business pros
perity. But it either is or ought to be
evident to every one that business has
to prosper before anybody can get any
benefit from it. Therefore hold that
be Is the real progressive, that he is
the genuine champion Of the people,
who endeavors to shape the policy alike
Of the nation and Of the several states
TO as to encourage legitimate honest
business ut the same time that he wars
against all crookedness and injustice
and unfairness and tyranny in the bust
ness world, for Of course we can only
get business put on a. basis OF perma'
nent prosperity when the element Of in
| Justice Isl taken out Of it. This is the
reason why have for SO many years
insisted, as regards our national gov:
eminent that, It is both futile and mis-
chieyous to endeavor 70 correct the
evils Of big business by an attempt ate
T restore BUSINESS conditions Vas thes
were m.the middle " the last century
Before railways and telegraphs had rem
idered larger business Organizations bota
Inevitable and desirable. toes
The effort to restore such conditions
and to trust for Justice solely to such
proposed restoration IS as foolish as II
4 We should attempt to arm our troops
with the f1ntlocks Of Washington's
Continenta1s instead Of with modern
weapons Of precision. Flintlock legis
lltion of the kind that seeks to pro
hibit all combinations, good OF bad, II
Ebound tosfail, and the effort, in go fal
asaat accompanies anything, at all
merely means that some Of the worst
combinations are not checked and that
honest business Is checked. What Il
needed is, first, the recognition thai
modern business conditions have come
TO stay, In, so far at least as these con
I d1tions mean that business; must b
done in larger units, and then the COO
headed and resolute determination K
Introduce an effective method Of reg
ulating, big corporations 80 as to hell
legitimate business as an incident ii
! thoroughly and completely safeguard
ing the interest of the people as I
whole. We are a business people. Th,
i dllers Of the soil. the wageworkers
the business men--these are the tire,
big and vitality important divisions o.
our population. :. The welfare of eacl
division is vitality necessary to the wei
fare Of the, people as whole. Thu
great mass Of business is, Of course
done by men whose business is eithe
small or of moderate size. ~.
4 Should Be Fixed Policy.
The average business man Of THU
type is, as rule, leading citizen O
his community. foremost in everythin,
that tells for its betterment, a ma,
whom his neighbors look up to and n
spect. He is in no sense dangerous t
his community just because he Is an IL
tegral part Of his community, bone Of it
bone and flesh of its flesh. His life fiber
are intertwined with the life Hbers G
his fellow citizens. Yet nowadays man
men of this kind when they come t
make necessary trade agreements wit
one another find themselves in DANCE
Of becoming unwilling transgressor
Of the law and are ut loss to knO,
what the law forbids and what it pei
mits. This is all wrong. There shout
be fixed governmental policy, polio
which shall clearly define and punis
wrongdoing and shall give in advanc
full information to any man as to jus
what he can and just what he cannc
legally and properly do. It is absur
and wicked to treat the deliberate Law
breaker as on an exact par with tn
man eager to obey the law, whose onl