Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1913-03-06

But we were very needless and In a
hurry to be great.
We have come now to the sober Sec
Ond thought. The scales of needless
ness have fallen from our eyes. We
have made up our minds to square ev-
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-
Piles of taxation and makes the govern
ment facile instrument In the hands
of private interests; 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 1t on
all its sides. financial as we'll as adj
ministrative, holds capital in leading
strings, restricts the liberties and lin
its the opportunities of labor and ex-
ploits without renewing or conserving
the natural resources of the country;
body OF agricultural activities never
yet given the efficiency OF great bust
ness undertakings or served as it
should be through the fundamentally
Of science taken directly TO the farm
or afforded the facilities OF credit best
suited to its practical needs; water
courses nndeveloped. waste places I'M
reclaimed. forests INTENDED, fast dis
appearing without plan or prospect or
renewal, unregarded waste heaps at
every mine. We have studied as per-
haps no other nation has the most eff
fective means of production, but we
have not studied cost or economy as
we should either as organizers OF in
dustry. as statesmen or as individuals
Society'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
be 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
1t does not itself crush or weaken or
damage It's 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 nation to the light that
shines from the hearth fire Of every
mans conscience and vision of the
right. 1t is inconceivabe we should do
this as partisans; it is inconceivable we
should do 1t I'm ignorance Of the facts
as they are or in blind haste. We shall
restore not destroy. We shall deal
with our economic system as 1t is and
as it may be modified, not as 1t might
be IL we had clean sheet Of paper
to write upon, and step by step we
shall make it what it should be, in the
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 be no cool process of
mere science. The nation has been
deeply stirred stirred 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 reconclled and the Judge and the
brother are one. We know our task to
be no mere task OF politics. but a task
which shall search us through and
through. whether we be able to under
stand our time and the need of our
people. whether we be indeed their
spokesman and interpreters. whether
we have the pure heart to comprehend
and the rectified will to choose our
high course of action.
This is not day of triumph: 1t is