The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-09-05
the natural birthright of every man,
woman and child.
Enforcing the Principles.


woman and child.
Enforcing the Principles.
my friends you will say these
principles you have laid down are
all very fine, but how are you going
to enforce them, how are you going
to bring these reforms about? BY
two means. First, by law. The
state owes protection to all it's citi-
zens, but as the Holy Father says:
When there is question of protect
ing the rights of individuals the
poor and helpless have a claim to
special consideration The greatest
duty of the state then is to the Ia
boring man. Ladies and gentlemen,
believe the time is not far distant
when we will have wiso and just
laws, based upon experience fixing
the minimum wages of labor, laws
that will see to it that the laboring
man is paid a sufficient wage so that he
and his family can live in reasonable
and frugal comfort in his own home,
not in the rented house of another.
/ U0llcN0, Tic IllIlC 10 tlLlOoI iiSi
when we will have sufficient laws
regulating the hours of labor, child
labor, woman labor and the condi-
lions and surroundings of labor
When these laws have reached rea-
sonable perfection, as strikes are in
variably caused because the working
hours are too long, the work too
hard or the wages insufficient, there
will be no further occasion for
strikes. My friends you cannot real
ize what men, women and children
have suffered through strikes. Pan
tries without food, hearths without
fuel, bodies without clothing, these
are the natural companions of al
most every strike. And it makes
my blood boil when / think that so
many of them were brought about
because the state was Sinking its
duty, it's true duty and its full duty
to it's citizens.
Laws Will Not Cure Everything.
But my friends, complete solu-
ton of the labor question cannot be
reached by the enactment of proper
laws. A two fold education is nee
essary for that, an education of the
brain and an education of the heart.
Capital must learn that the inter.
ests of labor are also it's own. 1t
must learn that the prosperity of the
laboring class as also prosperity OF
capital must also be taught to realize
that every blow struck labor is a
| blow to it as well. 1t must learn
the true relation of one to the other.
There must be a moral education
especially. Men must turn from the
worship of Mammon to the worship
of justice. They must learn to feel
that it is better to live in the howell
without bread than In the palace
without Justice and charity. Men
who rob the fellowmen of their la
Dor, men who grind down the poor,
who burden the woman and stultify
and Supply the child with heavy
tasks must learn to know and re-
spect the full meaning of the divine
commandment: Thou shalt not
steal
| Not Fault Finder.
without desiring to acquire a
reputation as a Pathfinder, / must
say for the sake of truth that the
education of my age is sadly def
cient in one respect of education, the
moral side. want to say to it.
Learn every art, conquer every sci.
ence, master all the secrets of ma
ture, master music and song, scan
the mighty heavens and learn the
! secrets of the stars, so did Glorious
Greece in it's day. Reap your ma
tural resources, gain political power
accumulate all material wealth, SO
did Mighty Rome. Neglect the moral
education of your people and like
those two mighty ones in spite of
knowledge and power you will tum,
BILE and fall, and become like them
naught but the poets theme and the
lesson of the historian.
81 say we want moral education
and more of it and then the labor
question will bother us no more; fol-
capital on the one side and labor
on the other will find their true in
terest in the same, and mutual
agreement will produce pleasantness
and good order, while a perpetual
conflict will never result In anything
but confusion and mutual outrage
Understand me right. | do not be
lieve or advocate that moral suasior
is the only weapon we should seize
to protect the working mans rights
am heartily in favor of the states
employing a big and tough spankel
on the obstinate capitalist who can
not read the eighth commandment
until he spells it out like the bright
est schoolboy: Thou shalt MOI
steal But l do believe that mora
reform which springs voluntarily
from the soil of the heart like the
verdure of spring will alone arrive
to the full maturity of perfection.
my friends, | am in favor O
I every law and of every measure thai
conduces to the well being and hap
piness of the working man or his
family. | believe the time will soor
come when the government itsel
will take steps to provide compulsa
tory insurance for the citizen 81
that neither widows nor orphan,
need dread the wolf at their door
that the government itself will tax,