The Cairo bulletin., 1913-03-05

ieduint stffhes. ftctiiets thc fioSt
ties and limits the opportunities q
labor. and exploits without renew
ing o. conserving the natural rec
sources OF tie country: body OF
agricultural activities never vet Civ
en- the efficiency of great business
undertakings or served as it should
be through the instrumentality OF
science, taken directly TO the farm
or afforded the facilities of credit
best suited to its practical needs,
watercourses undeyeloped, waste
places unreeiaimed. forests untende
fast disappearing without plan or
prospect OF renewal, unregarded
waste heaps at every mine. We
have studied as perhaps no other
nation has the most effective means
of production. but we have not stud
led cost or economy as We should
either as organizers of industry. as
statesmen. or as individuals.
Nor have We studied and perfect.
ell the means by which government
may be put at the service of human
lily, in safeguarding the heath 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 mat
ters of justice. There can be no
esuality or opportunity, the first es
sential 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
sing cope with. Society must see
to it that it does not itself crush or
weaken or damage its own constitn-
ent parts. the first duty of law IS
TO keep sound the society 1t serves.
Sanitary laws. pure food laws. and
laws determining conditions OF labor
which individuals are powerless TO
determine for themselves are init
mate parts of the very business OF
justice and legal efficiency.
These are some of the things We
ought to do, and not leave the 9TH
ers undone, the old-fashioned, never
to- be-neglected, fundamental safe
guarding of property and OF individ
.ual right. This is the high enter
prise OF the new day: to lift every
thing that concerns our life as a ma
ton to the light that shines from
the hearthfl-e OF every mans con-
science and vision of the right. l.
is inconceivable that we should do
this as partisans; Ii is ineonceivable
we should do it in ignorance of the
facts as they are or in blind haste.
We shall restore, not destroy. We
shall deal with our economic system
as il Is and as it may be modified,
not as 1t might be If we had clean
sheet of paper to white upon; and
step by step we shall make it whai
it should be. in the spirit OF those
who question their own wisdom and
seek counsel and knowledge, not
sha low self-satisfaction or the Elk
eitement OF excursions whittier they
cannot tell. Justice, and only jus
tice, shall always be our motto.
And yet it viii be no cool process
Of mere science. The nation ha
been deeply stirred. stirred by {
solemn passion, stirred by the knowl
edge of wrong, OF ideals lost, of gov
eminent too often debauehed an
made an instrument of evil. TIL
feelings with which we face this ney
age of right and opportunity swee
across our heart-strings like some al
out OF Gods own presence, wher
, Justice and mercy are reconci ed an
J the Judge and the brother are on'
! We know our task to be no mer
, task of politics, but a task whic
, shall search us through and throug
: whether we be able to understan
, our time and the need of our peopl
/ whether we be indeed thir spoke,
men and interpreters, whether W
, have the pure heart to comprehen
! and the rectified will to choose OF
. high course of action.
i This is not day OF triumph;
t is day of dedication. Here music
not the forces of party. but Il
( forces OF humanity. Mems hear
{ wait upon us; mems lives hang
: the balance: mems hopes call upo
I us to say what we will do. WI
) shall live up to the great truss
e Who dares fail to try? | summo
. a 1 honest men, all patriotic. all TO
r ward-loeking men. to my side. &c