The Tupelo journal., 1913-03-07

out for themselves. We had not for
gotten our morals. We remembered
well enough that we had set up a
policy which was meant to serve the
humblest as well as the most power
full, with an eye single to the stand
ards of justice and fair play. and re-
membered it with pride. But we were
very needless and in q hurry to be
great.
Things to 30 Altered.
We have come now to the sober
second thought. The scales Of heed
lessness have fallen from u eyes.
We have made up our minds to square
every process Of our national life
again with the standards we 80 proud
ly set up at the beginning and have
always carried at our hearts. Our
work is a work of restoration.
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 u proper part in the
lCOululSTCG Vi tAC WOAAO, NAoA&SSc SAS
just principles of taxation, and makes
the government a facile instrument in
the hands of private interests; a bank
ing and currency system based upon
the necessity of the government to
sell its bonds fifty years ago and per-
fectly adapted to concentrating cash
and restricting credits; an industrial
system which, take it on all it's sides,
financial as well as administrative,
holds capital in leading strings, re-
stricts the liberties and limits the OPP
portunities Of labor, and exploits with
out renewing or conserving the nat
ural of the country; a body
of agricultural activities never yet
given the efficiency Of great business
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 un-
developed, waste places unreclaimed,
forests INTENDED, fast disappearing
without plan or prospect of renewal,
unregarded waste heaps at every mine.
We have studied as perhaps no other
nation has the most effective means
Of production, but we have not studied
cost or economy as we should either
as organizers of industry, as states
men, or as individuals.
Government for Humanity.
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 it's men and its women
and it's children, as well 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 be no equality or opportunity, the
first essential of justice in the body
polite, if men and women n chill
dren be not shielded in their lives
their very vitality, from the conse
n of great industrial and soc1a
processes which they cannot alter
control, or singly cope with. Society
must see to it that it does not itsell
crush or weaken or damage its owl
constituent parts. The first duty O.
law is to keep sound the society /
serves. Sanitary laws, pure food laws
and laws determining conditions O.
labor which individuals are ~powerles:
to determine for themselves are init
mate parts of the very business of jus
tice and legal efficiency.
These are some of the things w
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 nev
day; to lift everything that concerns
our life as a nation to the light tina
shines from the hearthfire of ever!
mans conscience and vision of thu
right. 1t is inconceivable that We
should do this as partisans; it is in
conceivable we should do it In ignor
ance of the facts Is they are or IL
blind haste. We shall restore, not de
stroy. We shall deal with our econ
omic system as it is and as it ma!
be modified, not as it might be if W.
had a clean sheet of paper to WRIT
upon; and step by step We shall MAKE
it what it should be, in the spirit o
those who question their wisdom
and seek counsel and knowledge. no
shallow dissatisfaction or the excite
ment of excursions whittier they can
not tell. Justice, and only justice
shall always be our motto.
Nation Deeply Stirred.
And yet it will be no cool process
of mere science. The nation has beef
deeply stirred, stirred by a solemn
passion, stirred by the knowledge o
wrong, of ideals lost, of government
too often debauched and made an in
strument Of evil. The feelings will
which we face this new age Of RICH
and opportunity sweep across ou1
heart-strings like some air out o
Gods own presence, where justice ant