The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1913-03-07


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 a hurry to be
grea
Things to Be Altered.
We have come now to the sober
second thought. The scales of heed
lessuess 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
by set up at the beginning and have
always carried at our hearts. Our
work is a work of restoration.
We have tented 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 u 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; a bank
ing and currency system based upon
the 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 It on all its sides,
financial as well as administrative,
holds capital in leading strings, re-
stricts the liberties and limits the op.
portunities 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 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 un-
developed, waste places unreclaimed.
forests INTENDED, fast disappearing
without plan OF prospect of renewal,
unregarded waste heaps at every mine.
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
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
the struggle for existence. This is
10 sentimental duty. The firm basis
If government is justice, not pity.
These are matters of justice. There
AN be no equality or opportunity, the
irst essential Of justice IN the body
If men and women and chill
lren be not shielded in their lives,
heir very vitality, from the %conse-
luences Of great Industrial and social
processes which they cannot. alter,
control, or singly cope with. Society
must see to 1t that It does not itself
rush OF weaken or damage its own
constituent parts. The first duty Of .
aw is to keep sound the society It
erves. Sanitary laws, pure food laws,
nd laws determining conditions Of
lbor which individuals are powerless I
D determine for themselves are inti-
nate parts Of the very business of jus
ice and legal efficiency.
These are some of the things wei
ught to do, and not leave the others
ndone, the old-fashioned, never-to-be-
eglected, fundamental safeguarding
( property and Of individual right.
his is the high enterprise of the new
ay; to lift everything that concerns,
ur life as a nation to the light that
hines from the hearthtire Of every
conscience and vision of the
.ght. 1t is inconceivable that we
Mould do this as partisans; it is in
onceivable we should do 1t In ignor-
nee OF the facts as they are or in
lind haste. We shall restore, not de-
We shall deal with our econ
mic system as 1t is and as It may
e modified, not as It might be II we
ad a clean sheet Of paper to write
pom; and step by step we shall make
what It should be, in the spirit of
lose who question their own wisdom
I'd seek counsel and knowledge, not
dissatisfaction or the excite
.ent Of excursions whittier they can
ot tell. Justice, and only justice,
TALL always be our motto.
Nation Deeply Stirred.
And yet it will be no cool process :
mere science. The nation has been =
stirred, stirred by a solemn
lssion, stirred by the knowledge Of =
rong, Of ideals lost, OF government
often debauched and made an in.
rument of evil, The feelings with !
hich VIZ face this new age of right 1
opportunity sweep across our
aart-strings like some air out Of
W presence, where justice and ,
ercy r. "reconciled and the Judge /
Id the brother are one. We know \
IT task to be nc mere task Of politics |
1t a task which shall search us /
rough and through, whether we be /
lie to understand our time and the I
ed Of our people, whether we be in.
ed their Spokesman and interpre- \
RS, whether we have the pure heart
comprehend and the rectifed will /