The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1916-10-30

|
ton, upon the principle of giving the
largest protection possible to every
American working man and the larg-
est participation possible in the pros
perity Of our industries with special
favOrs to none.
Finally it is to be remembered that
every European government is put
ting itself behind it's industries; or
ganizing them, encouraging them and
suggesting economies. When the
commercial struggle. begins anew,
the industries of every European
country will go into the world mar
kets backed by the effective COOP
Grafton and Intelligent oversight of
their government.
Our national policy requires that
government maintain a strict super
vision of business organization. This
can be done effectively and yet leave
the government free to encourage
legitimate and wholesome busine ss
enterprise. I stand for such super
vision and control of business, but
| T. demand also that business, great
and small (and especially the small.
business) be treated fairly and just
| ly. Only under such conditions can
business pay living wages or COM
pete with foreign manufacturers.
In this respect again the present
administration holds policy entirely
opposite. 1t has viewed business en-
| terprise with suspicion and has made
the government a brake to stop the
wheels Of legitimate Industrial prog
ress. It has treated the business men
of this country as though they were
suspicious characters. It has as
sumed that capital and labor are nat
ural enemies. In four years it has
put this country further on the road
to class war than has been accom-
plished in a generation before. The
men who stand with me believe in
the honesty of the American working
man, they believe no less in the hon
! esty of the American business man,
and they believe that the common
good is to- be found not in class war
but in mutual Justice and fair deal
ing, not as between capital and la
Dor in the abstract but as between
men and men.
You know the road we have tray
eled this last four years. Mr.. Bryan
and Mr.. Daniels are it's monuments
of executive efficiency. Our murder
ed and forsaken citizens in Mexico
reveal conception of American cit
izenship plain enough to see but a
new one for American patriotism to
adopt; the monument of. class bitter
ness raised by this administration
throws a sinister shadow across our
political horizon; the unjust accusa-
ton against business men has left
a bitter taste in our national life.
If you prefer this path it is plainly
Marked. And the end of it is class
war.
You'ask what road propose to ira
vel? These are the milestones which
mark tan executive responsible to
from tht ablest Americans, a foreign
policy that stands courteously but
firmly for American rights, a flag
that protects the. American in his
lawful rights wherever his legiti-
mate business may take him, a pre-
paration for trade competition which
shall protect all groups of American
| workmen, a government oversight of
business which will fearlessly elimi-
nate abuses, but will act on the as
sumption that the average business
man is honest, and finally domestic
policy which looks to industrial
peace, and to sound and permanent
prosperity based upon the develop
ment of American trade and the
building up of American industries.
We Americans are in one boat.
You cannot strike a blow at one
group without injury to all. Com
mon justice and fair play will settle
our difficulties if suspicion and bit
terness are let alone. These are the
principles by which I propose to be
guided.