The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-09-19

and obedience to the law must be exacfed
not as a favor but as q right. Every one
SHOULD belong to the party OF law and
order. But there can be no permanent
reign Of law and order unless It .
tice.
1T Is the duty of the state, the duty
OF the government. to put down rioting,
! lawlessness and violence, whether by the
strikers or the agents OF the corporations.
Having secured order. however, nothing
OF permanent benefit will result unless
the injustice which has been the cause OF
the disorder is remedied. The testimony
taken before the congressional investigzt-
ing committee shows that managers and
the larger stockholders OF the Colorado
Fuel and Iron company have not the
slightest sense of their real OBLIGATIONS
to their employees and to the community
at large. This testimony shows as clear
~ as the exposures in connection with
the New York, New Haven and Hartford
railway the folly and worse than folly
OF those who believe that there must be
no overseeing--or, as our enemies call it,
no policing of big Industries, or big bus
mess. by the government
When employers show themselves as
callous to the public need. as short-sight-
ed and as greedy OF their own profit with
out regard to the welfare OF the wage
workers or Of the people at large as has
been the case In the >Colorado' Fuel and
Haven and Hartford Railway company.
. 1t is essential that the people Of the coun-
try shall be able through the exercise of
their collective power to remedy the
wrongdoing.
Relation CAPITAL and Labor.
Just as !! believe in full recognition of
the corporation. but in control Of the cor
are not anti-social SO 1 believe in full
recognition OF the trade union, but in full
recognition OF the fact that the duties of
the union must increase with its powers.
| and that when we achieve the ideal of a
strong labor union with a recognized
share in the control of its own industry.
must accompany such power, such share
| In control. do not believe in imposing
responsibility upon unions in such way as
; to cause them to lose the power that
for responsibility. or. if that form Of
words seems objectionable. then to insist
hand in hand growth of responsibility. so
that, for example. the union that has a
right to elect some Of the directors in a
such provision for the election Of d.
| rectors could be brought about). or a
| union that has some power in connec-
ton with shop discipline. must accept
responsibilities to the government, to the
capitalists, and to the public at large.
We ought not to be content with any
solution which leaves labor all on one
side and capital on the other. We should
not be content until we have found
| constructive solution where the active re-
sponsibility Of the best employers shall
| be recognized and pressure thereby put
| on the unfair employer, while at the same
time any conduct on the part of the la
bo-er which tends against the efficiency
| of the business must be no less frowned
upon. 1 believe emphatically in unions.
believe that every wise employer or cor
poration should recognize the union.
should recognize the right of the men
who work for wages to bargain collective
| ~. whenever and SO far as they desire.
and in the form which they desire.
| believe no less emphatically in the right
of nonunion men to work side by side
with q union man exactly as the anthra-
cite strike commission in its report, which
was signed by one of the most prominent
representatives Of labor. advocated. I
| will no more stand for tyranny by a
labor union than for tyranny against
| in which there is discrimination again st
union men is one of the most vicious
types Of closed shop.
Legal Repression of Violence.
81 believe in the rigid repression of
no less heartily believe in the active in
reference OF the government to prevent
| a denial OF the right OF free speech. of
such the right not to trade with the
company's store. not to employ the COM
pany's doctor, or not to live in a town
| where the company has absolute and COM
| plete control. This is merely to say that
I believe in American ideals, and in the
| only effective way Of gaining loyalty to
| the American government-by the crea-
| ton Of q government to which men can be
This IL not the place, as I have said.
for me to try to set forth in detail the
laws by which we are trying to secure
the objects we have in view, but the OBJ
jects themselves should be kept clearly
before us. There must be efficiency in in
dustry. There must be success on the
part OF the average business man. This
; is not only essential for the business man
himself, but essential for his customers.
and for the men who work for him.
solution Of Problem.
I'm this country the present moment
we can get rid of the depression in in
dustry, We can get rid Of general or par
tial unemployment, only by recognizing In
the frankest way that the laws must be
such as to promote and not hamper tho
honest and intelligent business man in
his business activities. and this whether
he be big man or small man. On the
other hand, We must work intenigent1y to
democratize industry, to make our indus
trial conditions correspond with our p0-
lftical conditions, to give to the wage
worker who is competent and honest the
chance to secure his share Of the success
which his activity brings to the industry
for which he works.
I'VE must everywhere favor the move
ment gradually, and as far as we are
able, turn the laborer into a capitalist.
giving him q share in the capital, the
profits and the management of the in
dustry. Finally. we must give. not NOM
inally but genuinely. the wage-workers
the same right to combine which business
men obtain through corporations. We
must secure to the wage-workers their
absolute right to those liberties Of the or
binary man which this government was
founded to secure and to perpetuate"