Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1913-03-04

us of our life as whole. We see the
bad with the good. the debased anC
decadent with the sound and vital
With this vision we approach new af
fairs. Our duty is to cleanse. to re
Consider. to restore. to correct the evi
with0ut impairing the good. to purify
and humaniZe every process Of ouI
common life without weakening OF
sentimentaIizing it, There has been
something crude and heartless and un
feeling in our haste to succeed and be
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 machinery which
made it impossible that any but those
who stood at the levers of control
should have a chance to look ont for
themselves. We had not forgotten our
morals. We remembered well enough
that we had set up a policy which was
meant to serve the humblest as well as
the NOS powerful. with an eye single
to thG standards of justice and fair
plav. and remembered 1t with pride
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-
plies Of taxation and makes the govern
ment a 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 it on
all its sides. financial as well as ad-
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; a
body of agricultural activities never
yet given the efficiency of great busi-
ness undertakings or served as II
should be through the instrumpntality
of science taken directly to the farm
or afforded the facilities of credit best
suited to it's practical needs; water
courses undevelOped. waste places un-
reclaimed. forests INTENDED. fast dis
without plan or prospect OF
renewal. unregarded waste heaps at
every mine. We have studied as per
haps no other nation has the most ef-
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. /
soeiety's Duty to Itself.
Nor have we studied and perfecteI-
The means by which government may
be put at the service Of humanity In
the health Of the nation.
The health of its men and its women
md its children. as well as their rights
u the struggle for existence. This is
10 sentimental duty. The hrm basis
II government is justice. not pity.
These are matters Of Justice There can
,e no equality or opportunity. the 6rst
Of justice in the body polite.
( men and women and children be
lot shielded in their lives. their very
'itality. from the consequences OF great
Industrial and social processes which
hey rannOt alter. control or singly
ope with SOciety must see to II that
t does not itself crush or weaken or
amage fits own constituent parts The
Inst duty Of law is to keep sound the
Ociety 1t serves. Sanitary laws. pure
God laws and laws determining con-
itious Of labor which Individuals are
lOwaiess 10 determine for themselves /
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