United labor bulletin., 1913-09-13

pleased to call "cagrants" and
'tramps' because it was monarchial
and its character to dricve. A place
where honest men though poor could
be forced into.
Place it upon the highest, noblest
basis of benevolent philanthropy and
you will find labor will be its warmset
friends.
The state labor colony will not only
mean haven, a harbor for the needy
and the unfortunate, it will not only
mean a building up of the individual
physically and mentally, but be an in
fluence in conserving American citi-
zenship 1t will, also, be producre
of life's necessities from the soil
alone, and will not interfere with me-
chanical labor or otherwise in the
least. 1t will be state institution
where the unskilled laborer and those
who wish to learn the art of soil cu:-
tivation will be taught.
The foundation for a good govern
ment is good citizen.
One will tell us the greatest prob
lem confronting us today is the high
cost OF living; another. the regulation
lof corporations; another, the tariff;
still another, the reclamation and con.
seryation of our lands and natural re-
sources. But the greatest problem con-
fronting us today is the preservation
of our republic by the conservation of
the American citizen through every
source.
We sem to think our timber land
our coal land, our oil land and our
water power sites, must be saved. For
whom? Is it for the people? If SO.
what people? The American citizen?
But If we destroy the citizen by a
system that is fatal to good citizen
ship. what then? We are promoters
lof disastrous folly.
The mansions, the balances. the Ital-
ian villas, the French chateaus. and
English castles, possessions of but
few of the Hudson plutocrats, cover
100000 acres besides a state park of
100000 acres. Among these very few
and In this local spot. think of the de-
serted farms they embody,
/ speak OF these few because they
cluster around and look down upos.
Sing Sing. Matteawan. and the new
prison site.
II the state of New York cannot
quite see its way to establish the state
labor colonies. perhaps someone of the
people who are inclined to give their
money away as n heavenly invest
ment. Of have a desire of creating 4
memorial, would see they could not
do worthier thing than by giving at
least portion of their landed estate
for humane state labor colonies. These
estates are in many cases being added
to Just as fas as the land can be &C
lquired all about them. This land grab
bing scheme is not going on in New
York alone, but all over our nation,
tens q thousand of acres are being
held IDLE in every state and in many
states they amount to millions
Why this cry back to the land.
when there is no land to be had for
the poor man? Our natural resources
are being held to make some parasite
still richer. When justice opens these
lands to the people who would uss
them. and FOR that reason has the first
human right TO them. the waiting liue
VIII reach from New York to Albany
and you won't have to urge the people
to go back to the land. either.
Figuratively speaking. Graystone.
Lyndhurst. Pocantico Hills. Ophir
Farm, lockwood Hall. Ellerslie. Fern
Cliff and Malmaison On-Hudson. have
looked down a great many years on
Sing Sing. and now they are going to
look down upon the worlds greatest
prison. Sing Sing doubled many times.
They are going to continue to coddle
cur temporary makeshift of private
charities and foreign missions. and
still continue to ignore our plain duty
to our own citizens. Are We not all
of us going to continue in a more vast
and greater way TO look down compla.
Gently upon the taking of human life
both immediate and slow: to continue
IN deceiving ourselves into believing
that two wrongs make one right: to
) continue to allow law and custom to
pronounce damnation on society by
creating and supporting hells in this
our boasted civilization; to force men
; through poverty into the lowest
depths; and hungry. homeless women
to forget
~ my Hatlun Wlue investigation
lind New York is the leader for our
nation today. They have taken that
power from the old commonwealth OF
Massachusetts, and no one knows bet
ter than the people of that grand old
commonwealth why. New York has
the only free municipal emergency
home. almost perfect in construction
and in many ways in conduction, In
our nation. IL not int he world. They
are coming from all parts of the coun
, try to see and to copy that institu
ton. And they will soon come to see
land COPY Americas nerfecf state In ho,