Republican farmer., 1919-05-23

tons in this very field but 1t is na- tional action and the enlightened pol Icy Of individuals, corporations and socletleS within each nation that must bring about the actual reforms. The members of the committees on labor in the two Houses will hardly need suggestions from me as to what means they shall seek to make the federal government the agent of the whole nation in pointing out and, if need be, guiding the process of rec ognition and reform.
 'I am sure that it is not necessary for me to remind you that there is one immediate and very practical question of labor that we should meet in the most liberal spirit. We must see to 1t that our returning soldiers are assisted in every practicable way to find places for which they are fit ted in the daily work of the country. This can be done by developfns and maintaining upon an adequate scale the admirable organization created by the department of labor for placing men seeking work; and it can also be done, in at least one very great field by creating new opportunities for in div1dual enterprise. The Secretary of the Interior has pointed out the way Sy which returning soldiers may be helped to find and take up land in the hitherto undeveloped regions of the country which the federal govern ment has already prepared or can readily prepare. for cultivation and also on many of the cut-over or neglected areas which lie within the limits of the older states; and I once more take the liberty of recommend ing very urgently that his plans shall receive the immediate and substan- tial support of the Congress
 Peculiar and very stimulating con- | ditions await our commerce and in | dustrial enterprise in the imme q iafe future. Unusual opportunities will ' presently present themselves to our | merchants and producers in foreign markets and large fields for Profita-
 ble investment will be opened to our | free capital. But it is not only of
 that l am thinking; it is not chiefly
 of that. that I am thinking. Many great industries prostrated by the war
 wait to be rehabilitated, in many parts | of the world where what will be lack l ing is not brains or willing hands or ! organizing capacity. but machinery | and raw materials and capital. l be- | lieve that our business men, our mer- | chonts. our manufacturers and our | capitalists. will have the vision to see that prosperity in one part of the | world ministers to prosperity every 1 where; that there is in every true sense a solidarity of enterprise; that our dealings with the countries that
 have need of our products and our
 money will teach them to deem us
 more than ever friends whose necessi-
 ties we sock in the right way to serve. | 'Our new merchant ships which have in some quarters been feared as l destructive rivals. may prove helpful
 rivals, rather. and common servants
 very much needed and very welcome Our great shipyards, new and old, l will be coon opened to the use o1
 the world that they will prove i'm
 mensely ssrviceable to every mari
 time people in restoring. much more l rapidly than would otherwise have
 been possible. the tonnage wantonly
 destroyed in the war. I have only l to suggest that there are many points | at which we can facilitate America T l enterprise in foreign tyads by op- | perfume lesislation and make it easy for American merchants to go where
 they will be welcomed as friend.
 rather than as dreaded &ntagonists. America has great and honorable ST.