The states-graphic. (Brownsville, Tenn.) 1???-1984, 1917-11-16

Of the government but by the power Of
the American spirit. Our duty, if we
are to do this great thing and show
America to be what we believe her to
be, the greatest hope and energy of
the world, then must be to stand to-
gether night and day until the job is
finished.
"While we are fighting for freedom
we must see, among other things, that
labor is free; and that means a number
of interesting things. 1t means not
only that we must do what we have
declared our purpose to do, see that
the conditions of labor are not render
ed more onerous by the war, but also
that we shall see to it that the instru-
mentalities by which the conditions OF
labor are improved are not blocked or
checked. That we must do. That has
been the matter about which / have
taken pleasure in comforting from
time to time with your president, Mr..
Gompers. And if l may be permitted
to do so, / want to express my admit
ration of his patriotic courage, his
large vision and his statesmanlike
sense of what is to be done. | like to
lay my mind alongside of a mind that
knows how to pull in harness. The
horses that kick out of the traces will
have to be put in a corral.
"Now to stand together means that
nobody must interrupt the processes
of our energy, if the interruption can
possibly be prevented without the abb
solute invasion of freedom. To put it
concretely, that means this: Nobody
has a right to stop the processes of la
Dor until all methods of Cancellation
and settlement have been exhausted;
and l might as we'll say right here
that | am not talking to you alone.
You sometimes stop the course of la
Dor, but there are others who do the
same, and | believe that | am speaking
of my own experience, not only, but
of the experience of others when I say
that you are more reasonable in a
large number of cases than are the
capitalists.
II am not saying these things to
them personally yet, because l haven't
had a chance, but they have to be
said, not in any spirit of criticism be-
cause | would like to see all the critics
exported. But in order to clean the
atmosphere and come down to business
everybody on both sides has got to
transact business and the settlement
is v impossible when both sides
want to do the the square and right
thing. Moreover, a settlement is al.
ways hard to avoid when the parties
can be brought face to face. l car
differ with a man much more radically
when he isn't in the room, because
when the awkward thing is that he car
come back at me and answer what
say. 1t is always dangerous for a mar
to have the floor entirely to himself
And therefore, we must insist in every
instance that the parties come init
each others presence and there discuss
the issues between them. =
Therefore my counsel to you i,
this: Let us show ourselves Americans
by showing that we do not want to q
J off in separate camps or groups BY
ourselves, but t hat we want to coop
, crate with all other classes and al
other groups il a common enterpUis.
/ which Is to release the spirits Of tn
world from bond&ge.
Il would be willing to set that Vi
as the final test of an American. Tha
: is the meaning of democracy. / hay
been very much distressed, my fellow
citizens, by some of the things tina
have happened recently. The mo
, spirit is displaying itself here an
there in this country. l have symps
!. thy with what some men are saying
but | have no sympathy with the me
that take their punishment in the
I own hands, and l want to say to el
cry man who does join such a mob ths
/ do not recognize him as worthy {
the free institutions of the Unite
States.
There are some organizations
this country whose object is anarch
!, and the destruction Of law; but | woul
; meet their efforts by making myse
a partner in destroying the law.
despise and hate their purpose as muc
! as any man, but l respect the ancier
: processes of justice. y
And so | want to utter my earnes
protest against any manifestation
0 the spirit of lawlessness. =
why, gentlemen, look what
e means: We claim to be the create.
democracy in the world, and democr;
: cy means, first of all, that we can go,
ern ourselves. If our men have M
n self control then they are not capab
e of that great thing which we call den
5 ocratic government. man who taxi
the law into his hands is not the rigl
man to cooperate in any form of {
development Of law and institution
And some of the processes by whiC
the struggle between capital and labC
d is carried on are processes that con
n very near to taking the law into you
/ own hands.
Il do not mean for a moment
compare them with what | have ju.
e been speaking of, but I want you
see that they are gradations of Il
y manifestations of the unwillingnei