The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-11-11


aries. We do not expect to go forward
so far and SO fast that in any near
future all that we ultimately hope for
may be realized. Nor, ON the other
hand. do we belong among those timid
and sordid souls who fail to go for
is beset with difficulties. We do not
intend to pull down unless at the same
time we build up; and we do not intend
to pull down at all unless It IL neceS-
sary. We believe that the growth Of
modern industry has necessitated a
great increase in the exercise OF gov
ernmental functions 0y the state.
las 1 have before said, We agree
with the seer Of old that the best
ideal for a man Is neither to suffer
grinding poverty nor to possess ex-
cessive riches. Therefore we believe
In laws such as those providing for
heavily graded incomes and inherit
ance taxes. and we believe In using
all safe means to secure the growth
OF the small farmer. the small land
owner who tills his own soil.
I'VE do not intend to favor the vi
cfous and the idle as against the
Trustworthy. the foresighted and the
hardworkfng. We know that it is
folly to try to make the fool the
equal of the wise man. But we intend
to control greed and cunning and bru-
tally In high places just as we con-
troll greed and cunning and brutality
in low places. From the men and
women who work hard and earnest
ly with clean hands we intend to try
to lift the burden of haunting fear
which rests on those who have to
dread an old age of undeserved
perjury and misery or the disaster
which now befalls the family of the
wage-worker who is killed or crippled
in industry.
I'VE intend to provide for the
mother whose husband, the bread
winner, has died; and we intend to
follow the man who deserts his wife
or the mother of his children and
force him to support her and them
by his labor under the direction Of
the state. We intend to protect the
right Of children to their childhood.
their right to wholesome education,
and to the recreation and health
which. together with the proper kind
of education, will fit them to be men
and women able to perform the ex-
acting duties demanded by a democ-
racy.
I'VE do not see all the steps that
1t will be necessary to take in the
future in order to realize this ideal
But we do see the six or eight or a
dozen steps which it is now neces-
sary to take. These we shall take;
and then the further steps will be-
come clearer to us. We welcome the
aid OF those who believe in our tax
ing these first steps. even though 1t
may be that our ways shall be sun
dered from their ways in the remote
future. We are not Utopians. We
know that in spite Of all that govern
ment can do. the prime factor in any
mans life will be in the future, as It
has been in the past. that mans own
character. But we believe that gov
eminent can do much; and we intend
to make 1t a most potent instrument
in working for the uplifting of man
kind. We believe that we can make
things measurably better, partly by
our own individual efforts, partly by
our joint action, through the govern
ment or otherwise.
I'VE do not intend to destroy prop
erty. We intend to protect property.
But we intend to strive for a juster
possession of property and the SER
vice whether of mind or of body
which warrants such possession. We
do not intend to destroy machinery.
But we intend that machinery shall
be the handmafden and not the mis-
tress of humanity.
I'VE do not intend to destroy In
dividualism. We intend to further its
development. But we intend that II
shall be developed as the servant and
not the master of man. All the most
highly developed nations Of the mod
ern era are profoundly affected. for
veal and for woe, by the play of the
blind. tremendous forces which have
produced, and are being produced by.
the complex Industrial civilization OF
today.
I'VE refuse to sit, cowed and gu
pine, before the changing play OF
these vast dim powers. Men Of va
liant soul must be the lords and rot
the servants Of what they have them
selves created AS long as strength ID
given US with cool heads and fear
less hearts we shall war increasingly
against what Is evil and for what ID
good. so as to bring nearer the day
when justice shall be done every man.
every woman and every child within
the borders OF the great free COM
monwealths to which we belong