The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1913-03-07

sotten our morals. We remembered
well enough that we had set up q
policy which was meant to serve the
humblest as well as the most power
full, with an eye single to the stand
ards of justice and fair play. and re-
membered it with pride. But we were
very needless and In hurry TO be
great.
Things to Be Altered.
We have come now 10 the sober
second thought. The scales Of heed
lessness have fallen from our eyes.
We have made up our minds to square
every process of our national life
again with the standards We so proud
iy set up at the beginning and have
always carried at our hearts. Our
work is a work of restoration.
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 principles OF taxation, and makes
the government a facile instrument in
the hands OF private interests; bank
ing and currency system based upon
the necessity OF the government to
sell it's bonds fifty years ago and per-
fectly adapted TO concentrating cash
and restricting credits; an industrial
system which, take II on all It's sides.
financial as well as administrative.
holds capital in leading strings. re-
stricts the liberties and limits the OPP
portunities of labor, and exploits with.
! out renewing or conserving the nat
ural resources Of the country; 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 untended, 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.
Government for Humanity.
Nor have we studied and perfected
the means by which government may
be put at the service OF humanity, jp
safeguarding the health OF the nation.
the health OF it's 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 matters OF justice. There
can be no equality or opportunity the
first essential OF justice In the body
polite, IL 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, or singly cope with. Society
must see to 1t that 1t does not Itself
crush or weaken or damage It's owl
constituent parts. The first duty o.
law Is to keep sound the society i
serves. Sanitary laws, pure food laws
and laws determining conditions o
labor which individuals are powerles!
, to determine for themselves are init
mate parts OF the very business OF JUS
tice and legal efficiency.
These are some OF the things w
Z ought to do, and not leave the other
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 concern
our life as nation to the light tina
shines from the hearthfire Of ever.
|, mans conscience and vision OF tn
, right. It Is uncomfortable that W,
should do this as partisans; it is in
conceivable we should do 1t in ignor
: ance OF the facts as they are or II
, blind haste. We shall restore, not de
: stroy. We shall deal with our econ
omic system az it is and as 1t ma.
t be modified, not as it might be if w
, had a clean sheet Of paper to writ
: upon; and step by step we shall max
: it what it should be, in the spirit O
5 those who question their own wisdom
|. and seek counsel and knowledge, no
: shallow self-satisfaction or the excite
Z ment of excursions whittier they car
g not tell. Justice, and only justice
: shall always be our motto.
Nation Deeply Stirred.
: And yet it will be no cool process
: Of mere science. The nation has bee
Q deeply stirred, stirred by a solemn
d passion, stirred by the knowledge O
( wrong, Of ideals lost, Of government
$ too often debauched and made an il
t strument Of evil. The feelings wit
. which we face this new age Of RICH
J, and opportunity sweep across on
= heart-strings like some air out @
e Gods own presence, where justice an
/ mercy are reconciled and the judg
|. and the brother are one. We know
8 our task to be no mere task Of polite
K but a task which shall search u
;. through and through, whether We b