The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1913-03-04
WILSON'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS
New Chief Executive Declares His Aim wilt Be to Correct the
Evils Of Our National Life Without mparmg the Good

OIIhVul SSSIpdh NY llIo uVVsss
ly set up at tho beginning and have
always carried at our hearts. Our
work in a work Of restoration.
. We have itemtzed 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 of from our proper part In tho
commerce of the world, violates the
just principles of taxation, and makes
the government q facile instrument In
the hands Of private interests: bank
ing and currency system based upon
tho necessity OF the government to
sell its bonds fifty years ago and per
fectly adapted to concentrating cash
and restricting credits; an industrial
system which, take 1t on all It's sides,
financial as well as administrative.
holds capital In leading strings, re-,
stricts the liberties and limits the op-
portunlties of labor, and exploits With
out renewing or conserving the nat
ural resources Of the country: a body
Of agricultural activities never yet
given the efficiency of great business
undertakings or served as 1t should be
through the fundamentally of science
taken directly to the farm, or afforded
the facilities of credit best suited to
it's practical needs; water courses un-
developed, waste places unreclaimed,
forests INTENDED, 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 studied
cost or economy as We should either
as organizers Of industry. as states
men, or as individuals. ~:
Nor have we studied and perfected
the means by which government may
be put at the service Of humanity. in
safeguarding the health OF the nation,
the health Of Its men and its women
and its children, as well as their rights
In the struggle for existence. This IL
no sentimental duty. The Arm 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 chill
dren be not shielded In their lives,
their very vitality, from the conse-
quences of great Industrial and social
processes which they cannot alter,
control CT singiy cope with. Society
must see to it that it does not itself
crush or weaken or damage it's: own
constituent parts. The first duty OF
law is to keep sound the society it
serves. Sanitary laws. pure food laws,
and laws determining conditions OF
labor which individuals are powerless
to determine for themselves are 1nti-
mate parts Of the very business of jus
tice 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; 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. It is uncomfortable that We
should do this as partisans; 1t is in
conceivable we should do it In ignor-
ance OF the facts as they are or In
blind haste. We shall restore, not de-
stroy. We shall deal with our econ
omic system as 1t 10 and as 1t may.
be modified, not as It might be II 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
and seek counsel and knowledge, not
shallow dissatisfaction or the excite
ment Of excursions whittier they can
not tell. Justice, and only justice.
shall always be our motto IA
And yet 1t will be no cool process
of mere science The nation has been
deeply stirred, stirred by solemn
passion, 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
heart-strings like some air out of
Gods own presence, where Justice ano
mercy are .reconciled and the Judge
and the brother ere one. We know
our task to be no mere task Of politics,
but a task which shall search 10
through and through. whether we be.
able to understand our time and the
need Of our people. whether we be In
deed their spokesman and interpre-
tiers. whether we have the pure heart
to comprehend and the rectif1ed will
to choose our high course Of action.
This Is not a day Of triumph: It 10
q day Of dedication Here muster, not
the forces Of party. but the forces Of
humanity. Mems hearts walt upon US:
mems lives hang in the balance; mems
hopes call upon us to say what We
Will do. Who shall live up to tho
great trust? Who dares fail to try1
I summon all honest men. all patriotic,
all forwardlooking men. to my seds.;
God helping men, win not fail them,
Il they viii but counsel and sustain
mel So