Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1913-03-04

sentimentalizing IL. There mas been
something crude and heartless and I'M
feeling IN our haste 10 succeed and be
great our thought has been. Let ev-
cry man look out for himself; let ev-
cry generation look ont for itself"
while we reared giant machinery which
made il impossible G1at any but those
who stood III the levers of control
should have n change TO look out Tor
themselves We mad not forgotten our
morals We remembered we'll enough
that we had set up policy which was
meant TO serve the hnmbest as well as
the most powerful. with an eye single
TO the staa.iardS of justice and rair
play. and remembered ii with pride.
But we were very needless and in
hurry to be great
We have come now to the sober sec
oild thought The scales OF needless
ness have fallen from our eyes. We
have made up our minds to square ey-
cry process of our national life again
with the standards we so proudly set
up at the beginning and have always
carried at our hearts. Our work is a
work of restoration.
Things to Be Accomplished.
We have itemized with some degree
of particularly the things that ought
to be altered. and here are some of the
chief items: A tariff which cuts us off
from our proper part in the commerce
of the world. violates the just princi-
pies of taxation and makes the govern.
n1ent facile instrument in the hands
of private interests; a banking and cur
rency system based upon the necessity
of the government to sell its bonds fifty
years ago and perfectly adapted to con-
centrating cash and restricting credits;
an industrial system which. take it on
all its sides. financial as well as adj
rliniStra tive. holds capital in leading
strings. restricts the liberties and linz
its the opportunities of labor and ex-
PLOTS without renewing or conserving
the natural resources Of the country: a
body of agricultural activities never
yet given the efficiency of great bust
ness undertakings or served as it
should be through the instrumentality
of science taken directly to the farm
or afforded the facilities of credit best
suited to its practical needs: water
courses undeveloped, waste places I'M
reclaimed. forests INTENDED. fast dis
appearing without plan or prospect Of
renewal. unregarded waste heaps at
every mine We have studied as FER
haps no other nation has the most eff
fective means OF production. but we
have not studied cost or economy as
we shonld either as organizers Of in
duStry, as statesmen or as individuals.
Soeiety's Duty to Itself.
Nor have we studied and perfected
the means by which government may
be put at the service of humanity in
safeguarding the health of the nation.
the health of its men and its women
and it's children, as we'll as their rights
in the struggle for existence. This is
! no sentimental duty. The firm basis
Of government is justice, not pity.
These are matters of justice There can
De no equality or opportunity, the first
essential of justice in the body polite,
if men and women and children be
not shielded in their lives. their very
vitality. from the consequences of great
Industrial and social processes which
they cannot alter. control or singly
cope with. Society must see to it that
it does not itself crush or weaken or
damage its own constituent parts. The
first duty of law is to keep sound the
society it serves Sanitary laws, pure
food laws and laws determining con-
ditions of labor which individuals are
powerless to determine for themselves
are intimate parts of the very bust
ness OF justice and legal efficiency.
These are some of the things we
, ought to do and not leave the others
undone. the old fashioned. never to be
neglected fundamental safeguarding
of property and of individual right.
This is the high enterprise of the new
day: TO lift everything that concerns
our life as a nation to the light that
shines from the hearth fire of every
mans conscience and vision Of the
right 1t is inconceivable we should do
this as partiSans; IL is inconceivable we
should do it in ignorance of the facts
as they are or in blind haste. We shall
restore not destroy. We shall deal
with our economic system as it is and
as it may be modified. not as it might
! be if we had a clean sheet of paper
| to write upon. and step 10y step we
| spirit of those who question their
| own wisdom and seek counsel and
! knowledge. not shallow self satisfac'
| ton or the excitement of excursions
| whittier they cannot tell Justice. and
only justice. shall always be our motto
Task Not Merely One of Politics.
| And yet it will he no cool process OF
mere science. The nation has been
| deeply stirred-Stil'red by solemn pas.
sion. stirred by the knowledge OF
| wrong. of ideals lost. of government
too often debauched and made an in
strument of evil The feelings with
which we face this new age of right
and opportunity sweep across our
| heartstrings like some air out of Gods
own presence. where justice and mercy
are reconciled and the judge and the
brother are one We know dr task to
be no mere task Of politics, but a task