Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1915-10-22
VICTORIOUS PEACE

II JeTEIDle consequences o.
the European war, the vast waste
of life that could be used for thC
benefit of humanity; the inglor.
ious sufferings which no one sees
and no one hears, but which eats
so deep into the vitals of human
progress; the awful blood tax,
the pitiless financial burden laid
upon the people of Europe by
war-seems never to have touch
ed the hearts or influenced the
minds of those who are RESPONSE
BILE for the colossal calamity!
The selfish motives and un-
righteous ambition which prompt
ed the rulers of Europe to in.
stigate war is typical of the spir-
it which today fosters a terrible
conflict in our own countryside
conflict between selfshness and
democracy-the conflict between
the barons of industry, politics
and civic life on the one hand and
the champions of industrial peace,
political purity, and social RICH
teousness on the other. 1t is of
this conflict between selfish indi.
vidualism and christian democ-
Tacy that | sneak of tonight.
My idea is that we, as a people,
are violating the fundamental
principal of our government.
The laws, the Constitution, nay.
the social organization itself,
rests upon the doctrine that pri-
vate interests must be subordi-
mated to the public welfare. With
this cordinal American theory all
are in sympathy. Yet we are
disregarding that principle. |
believe that so long as each
tenaciously to his special
advantage, society as a whole
must languish; a democracy will
progress only so fast as it learns
to set the public welfare
the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of in
or of groups.
Note, first, the outcropping of
this spirit of selfish indiyidualism
IN our industrial life. How shock
ng are the conditions from which
Kelly has twitched the
,eil! Consider the tragedy of
immigrant in the great steel
industry of our country; Lithuan-
ans, Poles, Slavs, Scandinavians 1
from the fields and work shops
f eastern Europe they come |
eeking freedom and opportuni- {
V. And what do they find? The {
nskilled are compelled to work
we've hours a day. seven days /
l the week. Every two weeks {
ney take a Tong turn" twenty :
our hours of fierce, racking, c
Exhaustive work in the glare of !
furnace. immigration, being q
ractically unrestricted, is made |,
mighty lever to force the price I
{ labor down, and to crush all :
at unionism. One of q
ne greatest fortunes in history t
as beer accumulated in steel, r
ut in abject degradation lives e
ne labor which produces steel. r
imilar conditions exist in the q
acking houses of Chicago, in $
ne sweat shops of New York, in g
ne cotton mills and oyster can O
cries of the south, in the coal
lines of many states. Why? i,
'ecause the captains of industry v
colt at any mitigation of the O
wills they impose on humanity. :
he motto, LIVE and let live" b
set at naught. {
How about the other half of +
ldustry, Organized L b r? c
Working men, perceiving that O
Business attains its ends by {
ntair methods. adopt violence b
nd lawlessness to reach their h
oal. The d~ynamiting of the 3
rairie Creek mines was a more t
rect method of retalistion than ,
long legal fight for shorter s
ours. Bludgeons and dynamite o
re handler weapons than courts
I law. Labor leaders argue that s.
law cannot thwart the chilean c,
y of capital. it should not pun. t,
n the turbulence of labor. Nor "
labor content with demanding is
immunity from justice. Once h
Dor organizations become DOM r,
ant they are as dictatorial and "
'presslve as business monopoly. Ii
hen the closed-shop stage is
ached, output is lessened. in
'stry is shackled-a man can. is
It teach his trade to his own h
n! Labor, too, is saving:
is best for us, for our 10
ASS, is best for the public wei. Il
a,
When thoughtful men ask; W
What of the future?" Big Bus. W
ess retorts: "Who laid the as