Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-12-11

L string OF freight cars flying across the
:, prairie, turning a wheel occasionally
f and sitting down on the wheel and
= folding his arms and whistling and
= thinking Of his sweetheart, or of his
/, sweethearts, IL paid 81 a day. with
= u high rate OF insurance on his life.
= That IL the best capital could do. Why?
Because that Is the measure of his
! productive power That Is the com
= pensaton for Drawn on the market
O "See this other man coming down
, the steps of that beautiful home and
I stepping into his car or his carriage
| at 10 o'clock In the morning and rid
. ing down the boulevard ana thru the
+ crowded ways ana into the side streets.
q stepping out ard into an elevator, an
! express. flying up into the fifteenth
| story. as near heaven perhaps as he
! will ever roach, and stepping into his
| office and sitting down In that com
fOrtably upholstered chair before that
: great mahogany desk. He pushes up
the oll-top looks over some telegraph
and some CORES pOndence. signs some
receipts and some checks makes some
, minutes looks over some orders and
some special dispatches. thinks and
dictates some letters. and thinks and
writes some orders. and thinks and
projects some plans, and thinks, and
thinks, and thinks and says nothing.
AT four o'clock in the afternoon he
comes out OF MS Olllct, OOWH Nn'
same elevator and steps into the same
car that Is waiting and goes to the
club or to his home and appears no
more during the day. Who IL he?
Who is he: that is the president OF
the entire system. lie receives $4,000
a year.
Socialism comes forward and says
IT IL too much; we must have equality
superior ability. But this is obnoxious
tc Socialism, with its Utppian doctrine
of equality, for the moment one horse
gets ahead OF the other Socialism calls
for 'committeoron IIamstringing and
HobbinG' The Socialist shouts,
Look: one is getting ahead of the
other. Flag him down; recall the de-
cision of the Judge The times are
strangely out of joint That is So
cialism and that is the way Socialism
would breed a racehorse and also
man.
"And it applies the same principle
to society. When one man gets little
iahcad Of the other through prudence.
frugality, honesty. sweat of brain and
Lrawn, when he lays by, little by little,
until he has amassed a competency
and invests in home. thus laying by
for a rainy day Socialism says. This
is all wrong. The period in which We
live Is stamped with great injustice
man is obliged to rent or unable even
to do that We must equalize the
possessions Of the people. We must
remedy these gigantic wrongs"
OF opportunity in this country And
so we must. Palsied be the hand that
would interfere with the right of
every citizen under the Flag to have
an equal right in the struggle of life.
That Is the meaning Of that Flag, and
that is the glory of that Flag, that
every man standing beneath its ample
folds has an equal opportunity.
But gentlemen, Socialism forgets
one proposition, thai equality OF op-
portunity necessta.es inequality of re-
suits. The constitution docs not guar
sntee equality of results; simply equal
rights.
"Those two race horses yonder on
the track have an equal opportunity
when they start under the wire. l am
not an authority on horseracing. hut
| am sure I am right as to this; They
have an equal opportunity at the start
And there Is not a man here tonight
with an ounce of gray matter who
would hypothecate the probability of
these two horses coming out neck and
| neck. one must distance the other;
That is what n race means. contest
for ascendancy, the manifestation OF
Unequal Tomorrow.
"But | submit to you gentlemen. to-
night, whether the poor can be made
rich by making the rich poorer Why,
! If il were possible to equally distribute
the wealth of the country today. 1t
would be unequal tomorrow Some OF
us are prudent and provident, while
others are extravagant and improvi-
dent. The problem cannot be solved
that way. Nor can 1t be solved by de-
stroying the institution of private
property The wise man Will not burn
| down his house in order to dispense
the rats IL the time ever should come
! in the history Of this country when no
man can say of anything he has pur-
chased or produced, This Is my own
then you have broken the handspring
OF ambition, reduced life to game of
grab and men to beasts of prey.
Mature and commerce are arrayed
upon the side of the thinker There
is vast abyss between that chap run
ming yonder along the top of train
OF freight cars and this seriously 3
minded soldly compactd-bundle of
gray matter sitting over here in the
presidents offics The brakeman
task is limited. When he has turned
a wheel and flashed signal his work
is finished He works upon the lower
plane, the physical, and he is paid for
| the expenditure of so much physical
energy But into the brain OF this
other man. this embodiment of intel |
lectual sagacity, whose responsibility
is measured by the sweep and intri- !
cacies Of the entire railway system.
crash all the engines and cars and car
goes. converges tho entire system, and
he attends to all the details and all the
requirements of the entire line, until
one day he does not go back to his
office. We pass before the door, and
crepe is thare is there, Grape every
where. fluttering all along the road.
What Is the matter? 1t is just this:
The president could not stand the
strain: he broke down. nervous eX
haustion, heart failure. brain-fag--
died prematurely, ten, twenty years
ahead OF his time. And he earned
every dollar he received.
''T tell YOU, Il is n question Of gray
matter and not of muscularity. This
whole problem of wages reduces itself
to the value of an idea, and the power
to create an idea. Nature is on the
side of the thinker: and so is business.
And yet, after all, how few of us
think For the most part, we sublet
the contract