Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-07-25

ages the principles based on justice have
never yes been conquered.
Talks on Poverty and Vice.
And now in this twentieth century. it
is said that poverty and vice, the two
black clouds that hang over us and cast
their shadows across our paths, must
ever be, because they are part OF natures
own law. but I tell you IT Is not true
for 1t is not Just, and that the eternal
tendencies of the world are ever positive
and never negative: ever full of hope and
never of despair; ever forward, never
backward: ever upward ana never down,
ward, ever toward the truth, toward
health, toward power, toward the spirit
sof things and toward the morning light.
if the term Is not too pompous Tor
these few thoughts on general principles,
you have in them my political philoso-
ply.
/ want now to tell you something Of
the specific recommendations | shall make
to the convention Of Progressive eandi-
dates If am nominated as your candi-
date for Governor.
In the first place, | believe IN home
rule. ! believe In home rule Tor the per.
fectly obvious reason that the people of
Newark know far more about their own
business than the representative from
Camden. and the people, of Camden know
more about their own business than the
Assemblymen and Senator from Essex.
Favors Short Ballot.
| believe in the short ballot. The
principle upon which this suggestion Is
made is that while the people have
the capacity to govern themselves. they
have no more capacity than the individual
for doing the impossible and 1t is i'm
possible for the people to select at any
one time from twenty five to thirty repre-.
sentatives for different positions and
know anything about the ability and in
tegrity of each. The reason we hear
so much about the initiative, referendum
and the recall today is because, the peo-
pie have been electing men to office whom
hey didn't know and in a way that
makes II impossible to fix responsibility
for inefhciency or wrong doing. Have
few candidates let the people know. all
about them, give them authority and hold
them strictly accountable. This is good
receipt.
Labor Strikes and Lockouts.
! now want to discuss a problem IN
which ] became greatly interested last
winter during the Garment Workers
in great suffering to hundreds of our
citizens and heavy loss TO the manu-
factnrers: and that is. the problem that
arises when the employee claims that
he cannot live In dec-ncy on the wage
that he Is receiving and the employer
claims tina he cannot grant higher
wage and make reasonable profit.
conclude. therefore that the most practi-
cal method of dealing with strikes Is
to educate public opinion 10 the point
where IL will first demand the facts.
and then upon forcing both capital
and labor to meet in conference That
is the first essential. The time has
gone by when the owner of fac-
tory can say. Il will not confer
with the representatives of lab)' The
most successful schemes, to M inina,
that have been worked ont - secure
publicity and Cancellation without com
pelling arbitration are the Erdman act.
the Canadian industrial disputes invts
/ tigation act and the Massachusetts
Minimum Wage Commission.
Evils Of Monopoly.
But methods for settling strikes and
| lockouts do not settle the labor problem.
and | do not know of anything that will
tain evils associated with the problem
are obvious and | believe the remedies
| for these evils have been found and can
be supplied successfully. The two oh
4 Withholding of land the source of oppor-
tunity, from labor for purposes of specu-
! lation.
The remedies for these evils of private
monopoly engaged in interstate commerce
are TO be found. | believe. i'm Federal
! legislation and not by statutes of the diff
ferent States; Nothing, however. in this
/ theory should prevent the several States
from doiag their duty toward the cor
porations within their jurisdiction. so that
there shall be no twilight zone be
tween Federal and State authority in
which trust evils may breed undisturbed.
| believe in this method of regulation
as opposed to the method of breaking up
large business units simply because they
are large. and for these reasons: First
! because experience proves that you can
not prevent secret agreements, and sec
| opd. because the large unit In business
can be made more efficient and bring
about economies which. with proper reg
/ ulation. will he reflected in the lower
prices and higher wages.
As TO municipal ownership. ! am per
sonally committed TO the theory Of regu-
Ia al until "a
mission Is defeated in Its effort to prop
erly safeguard the interests of the pub
lie. We made many campaigns on plat
forms calling for Public Utility Com
mission. and to insist now upon municipal
ownership. just as we secure a commits
sion aud without giving the commission
Il fair chance to solve the problem of good
service aud reasonable rates. would justi-
fy the charge that we were looking more
for issues upon which to get into office
than to secure practical results.
IT, however, after reasonable time the
present plan Of regulation does not prove
| successful, even with greater powers
vested in the commission. | would APP
prove of a law giving any municipality
utilities requiring for its operations mini
mum amount of labor II that was oper-
ated to advantage we would know what
step to take next.
Monopoly of Land Values.
| now come TO the other great evil OF
monopoly-the monopoly Of land values
which withholds opportunities from labor
The facts are these: Under the present
system of taxation a man can buy d
piece of property and hold II out of use
and unimproyed He can 20 to Europe
absence another NAH Guys the adtolninl
lot and puts up home. an apartment
house or a factory. The owner in Europe
does nothing for the community; on the
4 contrary, he prevents an apartment from
going up on his lauo, thereby preventing
decrease in rents, and he prevents .