Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-03-06

chief items: A tariff which cuts us off !
from our proper part in the commerce
Of the world violates the Just princi
pies Of taxation and makes the govern.
ment a facile instrument in the hands
Of private interests: a banking and cur
reucy 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 1t on
all its sides. financial as well as ad
ministrative holds capital In leading
strings, restricts the liberties and lin
its the opportunities Of labor and ex
PLOTS without renewing or conserving
the natural resources of the country; n
body of agricultural activities never
yet given the efficiency Of great bust
ness 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 undeveloped. waste places un
reclaimed. forests untended. fast dis
renewal, unregarded waste heaps M
every mine. We have studied as per
| haps no other nation has the most eff
| fective means Of production. but we
| nave not studied cost or economy as
| we should either as organizers of in
dustry. as statesmen or as individuals.
Society's Duty to Itself.
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 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.
If men and women and children be
not shielded in their lives, their very
vitality, from the consequences 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 its own constituent parts. The
first duty of law is to keep sound the
society ii serves. Sanitary laws. pure
food laws and laws determining con
ditions Of labor which individuals are
powerless to determine for themselves
are intimate parts of the very bust
ness of justice 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 nation to the light that
shines from the hearth fire OF every
mans conscience and vision or the
right 1t Is Uncomfortable we should do
this as partisans; it is inconceivable we
should do it in ignorance of the facts
as they are or in blind haste. We shall
restore, not destroy We shall deal
with our economic system as it is and
as it may be modified. not as 1T might
be If we had n 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 self satisfac
ton or the excitement of excursions
, whittier they cannot tell Justice, and
only justice, shall always be our motto
, Task Not Merely One OF Politics.
t And yet it will be no cool process OF
mere science, The nation has beeL
deeply stirred-stilred by a solemn pas
sion, stirred by the knowledge OF
wrong. Of ideals lost. OF government,
a too often debauched and made an In
I strument of evil The feelings witt
e which we face this new age of righi