Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1913-03-04

cess 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 re
storation.
, I'VE 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 m of the
world, violates the just principles Of
taxation, and makes the government a
facilc Instrument in the hands Of private
interests; Il banking and currency sys-
TEN based upon the necessity Of the gov
ernment to sell its bonds fifty years ago
and perfectly adapted to concentrating
cash and restricting credits; an indus
trial system which, take it on all sides,
financial as well as administrative,
holds capital in leading strings, restricts
the liberties and limits the opportunities
of labor, and exploits without renewing
or conserving the natural resources of
the country; a body of agricultural ac-
~tivitics never yet given the efficiency of
So" nv bhlhSo vi cCLNOd
as it should be through the instrument
tality of science taken directly to the
farm, or afforded the facilities Of credit
best suited to its practical needs; water
courses undeveloped, waste places unre-
claimed, forests INTENDED, fast disap-
pcaring without plan or prospect of re-
neWal, unregardca 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 statesmen, or
rs individuals.
Nor have we studied and perfected
the means by which government may be
put at the service of humanity. in safe
guarding The health of the nation, the
health of It's men and its women and its
"hildrcn, as well as their rights in the
struggle for existence. This is no scnti-
mental duty. The firm basis Of govern
ncnt is justice, not pity. These are mat
'ers Of Justice. There can be no equality
or opportunity, the first essential of JUS
tice in the body polite, if men and
rOmen and children be not shielded in
heir lives, their very vitality. from the
consequences Of great Industrial and so
cial processes which they can not alter.
control or singly cope with. Society
must see to it hat it does not itself
crush or weaken or damage its own con
stituent parts. The first duty of law is
to keep sound the society it serves. San
.itary laws. pure food laws, and laws de-
%tcrmining conditions of labor which in
dividuals are pOwerless to determine for
themselves are intimate parts Of the very
business of justice and legal efficiency.
These are some of the things we
done, the old-fashiOned, never-to-bc-neg-
lected, 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 hearthfire of every mans conscience
and vision of the right. 1t is incon-
ceivable that we should do this as par
tisans; it is inconceivable that we should
do it i'll ignorance of the facts as they
are or III blind haste. We shall restore,
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 by step we shall make it what it
should be, i'll the spirit of those who
question their own wisdom and seek
counsel and knowledge, not shallow self
satisfaction or the excitement Of excur-
sions whittier they can not tell. Justice.
and only justice, shall always be our
motto.
And yet it will be no cool process of
mere science, The nation has been deep
ly stirred, stirred by a solemn passion.
stirred by the knowledge Of wrong, of
Ideals lost, OF government too often de-
and made an instrument of evil.
The feelings with which we face this new
age Of right and opportunity sweep
across our heart-strings like some air
out OF Gods Owl presence, where Justice
and mercy are reconciled 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 Deo.
pie, whether we be indeed their spokcs-
men and interpreters, whether we have
the pure heart TO comprehend and the
rectified will to choose our high course
of action.