The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-03-07

great Our thought has been. Let ev-
cry man look out for himself: let ev
cry generation look out for ITSELF"
while we reared giant ma chinery which
made it impossible that any but those
who stood at the levers of control
should have chance to look out for
themselves. We had not forgotten our
morals. We remembered well enough
that we had set up policy which was
meant to serve the humblest as well as
the most powerful. with an eye single
to the standards of justice and fair
play. and remembered it with pride.
But we were very needless and I'D
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 50 proudly set
mp at the beginning aud have always
carried at our hearts. Our work is
work of restora ton.
Things to Be Accomplished.
We have itemiZed with some degree
OF particularly tue things that ought
to De altered. and here are some of the
chief items: tariff which cuts MS off
from our proper part in the commerce
of the world. violates the just princi-
Piles OF taxation and makes the govern
ment facie 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 it on
all its sides. financial as well as adj
ministrative, holds capital in leading
strings, restricts the liberties and linn
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 instrumentality
of science taken directly to the farm
or afforded the facilities of credit best
suited to its practical needs; water.
courses undeyeloped. waste places un-
! reclaimed. forests INTENDED. fast dis.
appearing without plan or prospect Of
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 meaus by which government may
be put at the service of humanity in
safeguarding the health of the nation
| the health of its men and it's 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 tina t
it does not itself crush or weaken or
damage its 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: 10 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 uncomfortable we should do
this as partisans: it is uncomfortable 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 it is and
as it may be modified, not as it 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 aud seek counsel and
knowledge. not shallow self satsfac.
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 reconciled and the judge aud the
| brother are one. We know our task to
! be no mere task of politics, but task
I, which shall search us through aud
| through. whether we be BILE to nuder-