The labor advocate. [volume] (Cincinnati, Ohio) 1912-1937, 1916-03-04
Rarrkrrri:
Nm. l42n-lfaH
malnut Str.
ClhcIhhArl,O Q.

ton. Man cannot resist the appeal of
human nature.
The labor movement is militant. The
workers understand the necessity for
power and its uses. They fully appre-
ciate the important function that power
exercises in the affairs of the world
Power need not always be used in or
der to be potential. The very existence
constitutes defense against unreason-
able and unwarranted attack. Ability
and readiness for self-defense constitute
a potential instrumentality against un-
necessary and useless wars or the denial
of rights and justice.
The labor movement has never advo-
Gated the abolition of agencies for the
enforcement of right and Justice, or for
the abolition of the military arm of gov
ernment but it does demand that these
shall be SO organized as to prevent their
misuse and abuse as a means of tyran-
ny against the workers. to prevent the
development of pernicious results that
have grown out of mlitarism; the build
ing up of a separate military caste and
the subversion of civic life to military
government and military standards.
service are separated from the general
lie OF the people they become subversive
to the ideals of civic life, they become
dangerous to the best development and
the best interests of the nation.
The rights and privileges of citizen
ship impose a duty upon all who enjoy
them. That duty involves service to
the nation in all relations of the COM
moi L, s.. I,f,
attack and the maintenance of national
institutions and ideals
There are no citizens of our country
who are more truly patriotic than the
organized wagc-earnerS-or all of the
wage-earners. We have done our share
in the civic life Of the nation as well as
in the nations wars. We have done our
share to protect the nation against in
sldiouS attacks from within that were
directed at the very heart of our national
life and would have inevitably involved
us in foreign complications. The wage
carncrS stood unfalteringly for ideals |
OF honor, freedom and loyalty Their
wisdom and their patriotism served our
in time of great need No one
can question that the wagc-earners of the |
United States are patriotic in the truest
sense. No one can question their will |
lingness to fight for the cause of liberty,
freedom and justice. No one can ques-
ton the value of the ideals that direct
the labor movement.
Though we may realize the brutality |
of war, though we may know the value
of life, yet we know equally well what
would be the effects upon the lives and
the minds of men who would lose their
rights, who would accept denial of JUS |
tiCc rather than hazard their physical
safety The progress of all the ages has
come as the result of protests against
wrongs and cruel conditions and through
assertion Of rights and effective demands
for justice. Our own freedom and re-
publican form OF government have been
achieved by resistance to tyranny and
insistcTcc upon rights. Freedom and
democracy dare not be synonymous with
weakness. They exist only because there
is a vision of the possibilities of human
lie, faith III human nature and the will
to make these things realities even
against the opposition of those who see
and understand less truly
Very little progress has been made in
the affairs of the world in which re-
SiStancc and inSiStcnCc are not involved.
Not only must man have keen sense of
his own rights, but the will and the abl-
ty to maintain those rights with cffec-
tive persistence. Resistance to injustice
and tyranny and low ideals is inscpara-
bic from virile fighting quality that has
given purpose and force to ennobling
causcs-to all nations.