The Topeka state journal., 1914-02-12
RAYMOND ROBINS.
CONTINUED nom Paee one.Y


(Continued from Page one.1
pure food laws and the morals by the
environment Of the child. II the child
plays on the street, near saloon.
gambling joint or other evil. his NOR
ais will be regulated to q great extent
the influence OF the father and moth
er. This has been brought about by
the urban movement, the change in
the mode Of living In the cities and
roads. q telephone. telegraph. parcel
post and other methods Of commune
cation and social and business inter-
course.
Conditions Changed.
''The industrial conditions have
changed from the individualistic to
that OF corporate control and this has
brought about abuses and practices
that must be corrected. There IL NO
reason for any company to force q
lockout upon its employees, any more
than there is q reason for the strikes
OF employees. Both are stupid and
foolish. but the clash between capital
and labor cannot be stopped until the
problems that confront capital and Ia
Dor are met and solved. The human
values in production must be changed
to meet the new conditions
why is q twelve-hour day neces-
sary in the steel mills Of this country
when England and Germany are able
to compete with US and they are
eight-hour nations. We are Junk
ing, our men every nine years in the
steel mills and they bring to US feeble.
strain of the twelve-hour day and
simply because the owners of the
mills are trying to pay q five per cent
dividend upon millions Of dollars Of
watered stock.
THE women in the mills are unable
tn 1rA N uiwxSv E~n<2
hundreds of them getting only one
half or one-third as much in wages
as is actually necessary for living ex-
penses and clothing in the same COM
munity.
What Progreesives Propose.
THE Progressive party proposes
an eight-hour day for workers and 1t
would force it upon all classes of Ia
Dor SO the competitive conditions
would not be changed. We propose a
living minimum wage for women
workers that they would not be
tempted into a life of shame to get
sufficient money to live and we would
put a tax upon the product Of child
labor that would drive the child labor
employers to send the children to
school rather than keep them stunted
and dependent in the mills. The
farmers forced protection for pure
butter against Oleomargarine by put
ting a tax upon the imitation butter.
But there has been no effort to IN
sure pure children until the Progress
sive program came with putting a tax
upon the product of child labor.
The Invisible Government.
The political powers have changed
in the last thirty years and inside the
great parties there has grown up an
invisible government that is in actual
control The rank and file Of the par
ties may be all right but when men
like Barnes, Murphy, Sullivan, Wat
son and Penrose are in control of the
actual powers Of government within
the parties the rank and file is unable
to accomplish what it wishes. There
is an fnterlocking bipartisan combine
Of politicians whereby the crooked
Democrats and Republicans alike meet
in rooms in secret conference and di-
vide the spoils and determine what
should be done.
TT is not possible for any party to
accomplish great results when men OF
different stripes are actively engaged
in the partys conduct. Bailey and
Bryan in the Democratic party, Can
non and L.aFollette in the Republican
party indicate the two opposing fac
tions within those parties that prevent
united action along definite lines.
Bryan Failed in 1904.
"In 1904 when Parker was named by
the Democrats William Jennings Bryan
sive movement like this one, an inde-
pendent movement for social justice.
But he failed to rise to the needs of the
time. In 1908 LaFollette was urged to
head a similar movement against Taft
and Bryan but he too, failed to meas
ure up to the need for a great leader
of great movement. But in 1912
Roosevelt sounded the battlecry of the
new program and the result was start
ling to the leaders of the old parties.
Roosevelt had served as president. He
had had great personal success and he
could have remained at home, let Will
son oust Taft and then found the Re-
publicans coming to him. But not like
Bryan and LaFollette. Roosevelt did not
lack in economic and social vision. He
saw the trend of the times and the need
for new program and gave himself to
the cause without regard to personal
euccess.
The Zenith and the End.
''The campaign of 1912 marked the
end of the Republican party a viru-
lent force in the nation. It reached
it's zenith in 1909 when it was in abb
solute control throughout the nation
Then Taft broke down the policy of
conservation by the appointment of
Ballinger, made Cannon and Aldrich
his friends, passed the fake tariff law
and gave every aid and comfort to the
standpatters. In one year and eight
months the Republicans had lost Maine,
New Jersey, Massachusetts,. Ohio and
West Virginia. and the house Of rep
resentatiyes was Democratic. All this
was Is months before the Progressive
party was born. The Republican party
had destroyed itself long before the
Progressive party was ever thought of.
Democrats Cannot Make Good.
The Democratic party cannot make
good on its professions of progressive
ideals. It is a party divided within
itself It still stands for state rights,
a doctrine that was of real value in
the early days OF the nation but which
has no value or force under the new