Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-08-08

Prices climb faster than we can push
our earnings up. We know that they
| are not fixed by the competitions OF
! the market, or by the ancient law of
supply and demand which is to be
! found stated in all the primers Of
economics. but by private arrange
ments with regard to what the supply
| should he and agreements among the
producers themselves. Those who buy
are not even represented by counsel.
The high cost of living is arranged by
| private understanding.
I'VE naturally ask ourselves. how did
these gentlemen get control of these
things? Who handed our economic
laws over 70 them for legislative and
eontraetual alteration We have in
these disclosures still another view Of
5he tariff. still another proof that, not
the people of the United States but
only a very small number OF them
have been partners in that legislation.
THE so called labor question is Il
question only because we have not yee
found the rule of right in adjusting
the interests of labor and capital.
Here again, the sense Of universal
partnership must come into play If We
are To act like statesmen. as those who
serve. not class. but a nation.
THE working people of America, IF
they must be distinguished from the
minority that constitutes the rest of it,
are. OF course. the backbone of the
nation. M law that safeguards their
life. that improves the physical and
moral conditions under which they
live, that makes their hours of labor
rational and tolerable. that gives them
freedom te act in their own interest.
and that protects them where they
cannot protect themselves, can prop
erly be regarded as class legislation
or rs anything but as measure TAX
on in the interest of the whole people.
whose partnership in right action we
are trying 10 establish and make real
and practical. 1t is in this spirit that
we shall act If we are genuine spokes-
men CT the whole country.
In dealing with the complicated
and difficult question of the reform OF
cur banking and currency laws. it Is
plain that we ought to consult very
many persons besides the bankers. NOT
because We distrust the bankers, but
because they do not necessarily com
prehend the business of the country,
net withstanding they are indispensa-
HE servants of it and may do a vast
deal to make it hard or easy No
mere bankers plan will meet the re-
qGrements, no matter how honestly
conceived. 1t should be a merchants
and farmers plan as WELL elastic in
the hands of those who use 1t as an
Indispensable part of their daily bust
ness.
I'm dealing with the Philippines. we
should not allow ourselves to stand
upon any mere point of pride. We are
not the owners of the Philippine Is
lands. 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. 1t is our
duty, as trustees, 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,
I do not know any greater ques-
ton than that of conservation. We
have been a spendthrift nation and
must now husband what we have left.
We must do more than that. We must
develop, as well as preserve, our water
RpAti seliN fQb EItdl WdtSIN dXS
to the transportation facilities of the
nation, to supplement the railways
within our borders as we'll as upon the
Isthmus. We must revive our mer-
chant marine, too, and fill the seas
again with our own fleets. We must
add to our present post -office service a
Parcels post as complete as that of
any other nation. We must look to
the health of our people upon every
hand, as we'll as hearten them with
justice and opportunity. This is the
constructive work of government.
This is the policy that has a vision
and hope and that looks to serve
mankind
With regard to the development of
greater and more numerous waterways
and the building up of a merchant ma
rine, we must follow great construc-
tive lines and not fall back upon the
cheap device of bounties and subsidies.
In the case of the Mississippi river,
that great central artery of our trade,
ii is PLAIN that the federal government
must build and maintain the levees,
and keep the great waters in harness
for the general use. 1t is plain. too,
that vast sums of money must be
spend to develop new waterways
where trade will be most served and
transportation most readily cheapened
by them. Such expenditures are no
largess on the part of the government;
they are national investments.
THE very fact that we have at last
taken the Panama Canal seriously in
hand and are vigorously pushing it
towards completion is eloquent of our
re-awakened interest in international
trade. We are not building the canal
and pouring out million upon million
of money upon its construction merely
to establish water connection. be-
tween the two coasts of the continent,
important and desirable as that may
be, particularly from the point of view
of naval defense. 1t is meant to be a
great international highway. II would
be little ridiculous if we should build
Il and then have no ships to send
through it. There have been years