The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-08-08

system account
Of our problem. Their very existence
gives rise to the suspicion Of a money
trust" a concentration Of the control OF
credit mhich may at any time become
infinitely dangerous to free enterprise If
such a concentration and control does
not actually exist, 1T is evident that II
can easily be set up and used at viii.
Laws must be devised which will pre-
vent this, If laws can De worked out by
fair and free counsel that viii accomplish
that result without destroying or seri-
ousy embarrassing any sound or legiu-
mate business undertaking or necessary
and wholesome arrangement.
NOT SEEKING DESTRUCTION.
Let me say again. that what we are
seeking is not destruction Of any kind,
nor the disruption of any sound or hon
est thing, but merely the rule of right
and of the common advantage. am
to show itself in the last year or two
among influential men of business, and,
what is perhaps even more significant,
among the lawyers who are their expert
advisers; and that this spirit has dis
played itself very notably in the last few
months in an effort to return, in some
degree at any rate, to the practices of
genuine competition. only a very little
united in resisting every proposal of
change and reform as an attack on bust
ness, an embarrassment to all large en-
terprise, an intimation that settled ideas
new and strange order Of things created
out Of hand. While they thought in that
way progress seemed impossible without
hot contest and a bitter clash between
interests, almost a war of classes. Com
mon counsel seemed all but hopeless,
because some of the chief parties in in
terest would not take part-seemed even
to resent discussion as manifestation
of hostility towards themselves. They
talked constantly about vested interests
and were very hot.
It is happy omen that their attitude
has changed. They see that what is
right can hurt no nan: that a new ad-
iustment of interests is inevitable and
desirable. is in the interest of everybody;
| that their own honor their own intelli-
gence, their own practical comprehen-
sion Of affairs is involved. They are be
ginning to adjust their business to the
new standards. Their hand is no longer
their interests are bound UP with its
| interests. This is not true of all of them.
but 1t Is true of enough Of them to show
what the new age is to be, and how
the anxieties of statesmen are to be
eased, If the light that is dawning broad
ems into day.
If am right about this. It is going
to be easier to act in accordance with
| the rule Of right and justice in dealing
with the labor question. The so-called
labor question is a question only because
we have not yet found the rule Of right
in adjusting the interests of labor and
69DDlneSS.
energy and spirit Of the men and women
who do the daily work in our mines and
factories, on our railroads, in our offices
and marts of trade, on our farms and
on the sea, Is of the essence of our ma
tional life. There can be nothing whole
some unless their life is wholesome: there
can be no contentnaent unless they are
contented. Their physical welfare af-
| fects the soundness of the whole Nation.
We shall never get very far in the settle
ment Of these vital matters so long as
we regard everything done for the work
Ing man, by law or by private agree
ment, as concession yielded to keep
him from agitation and a disturbance of
our peace. Here, again, the sense Of
universal partnership must come into
play II we are to act like statesmen, as
those who serve, not a class, but
nation.
WORKING PEOPLE ARE BACKBONE.
The working people of Amcrica-if
| they must be distinguished from the min
| GRITTY that constitutes the rest of it-are,
OF course, the backbone of the Nation.
No law that safeguards their life, that
improves the physical and moral condi-
lions under which they live, that makes
cradle, that gives them freedom to act
in their own interest, and that protects
| them where they cannot protect them
selves, can properly be regarded as class
legislation or as anything but az a meas
ure taken in the interest of the whole
people, whose partnership in right action
we are trying to establish and make real
and practical. 1t is in this spirit that we
shan act If we are genuine spokesman Of
| the whole country.
AS our program is disclosed-for no
man can forecast it ready-made and be-
| fore counsel is taken of every one con-
cerne d-this must be its measure and
standard, the interest of all concerned
For example, in dealing with the com
plicated and difficult question of the re
form Of our banking and currency laws,
1t is plain that we ought to consult very
many persons besides the bankers not
because we distrust the bankers, but be-
cause they do not necessarily conpre-
| bend the business Of the country, not
withstanding they are indispensable ser
wants of 1t and may do a vast deal to
make 1t hard or easy No mere bankers
plan will meet the requirements. no mat
ter how honestly conceived. It should
be a merchants and farmers plan as
well, elastic in the hands of those who
use II as an Indispensable part of their
daily business. I do not know enough
about this subject to be dogmatic about
1t, know only enough to be sure what
the partnerships in IL should be- and
that the control exercised over any sys-
tenn we may set up should be, so far as
possible, a control emanating, not from
single special class, but from the gen.
erai body and authority Of the Nation
In dealing with the Philippines, we
should not allow ourselves to stand upon
any mere point Of pride, as II. IN order
of nations, II were necessary for US to
make the same plumbers of selnshness
that other nations have made. We are
not the owners Of the Philippine Islands
We hold them in trust for the people
who live in them. They are theirs, for
the uses Of their life. We are not even
their partners. It is our duty as trus-
tees, TO make whatever arrangement Of
government will be most serviceable to
their freedom and development. Here,
again, we are to set up the rule of justice
and Of right.
RULE OF PEOPLE NO IDLE PHRASE.
The rule Of the people IS no idle phrase,
those who believe in 1t, as who does not
that has caught the real spirit Of ATeri-
ca, believe that there can be no rule of
right without At; that right in politics
is made up of the interests Of everybody,
and everybody should take part in the
action that is to determine it. We have
been keen for presidential primaries and
the direct election Of United State Sen
ators, because we wanted the action Of
the government to be determined by
persons whom the people had actually
designated as men whom they were ready
to trust and follow. We have been
anxious that all campaign contributions
and expenditures should be disclosed to
the public in fullest detail, because we
regarded the influences which govern
campaigns to be as much a part Of the