Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1920-01-02
False Premises

I1o&..s Z Pos. ass-slan- sec.-i1FH
Of labcr. aas II article Il -f.a lI-le-
t-@n6ent 1,ser rhe p-etentaous CAP
zsoz: : Message frora the United
!~.z.es Government 20 Zhe -American
g,eotse-Nhat Ne ExpecI Of Capital
zad Lapo-~ As i 20 3=Dd weight 70
The article II question photograph
% ne national csE3to. i framed IN
iae csS-on-
n Post t.s-Ins RG1z tE% ASSERTION
ira. thl. IS { IlUas tDg ali 70 think
seriously T-z1e. and ws wish ne had
tex,- soo-e-. Ee then makes anoth-
-. IN exce.lent premise, tha. The
rhnss re want We must groE-
s;ooo. We Can have the frui, only
after We have planted The seed and
cared fer the tree St4l good He
assumes the ground Il ready ano
ssss- What sor. Of se-d shall we
psen.. >"
Well. it's easy 10 see what Kid Of
seed he is planting. see j, II the very
mex. paragraph which IS: Last year
we made many mistakes-scme OF
hem ,rzgicaily serious mistakes that
must rot be repeated If we are 10
haye progress hereafter. On the
question OF labor. for instance. We
were told - was the DUTY Ok Inc
workers TO serve and sacrifice IN the
uublic interest And we believed u.
nd We acted upon it-and il was q
mistake"
A mistake to serve and sacrifice IN
the public interest? Really Mr.. Post,
II that lie vhe kind Of seed you are
sowing, this is no country In which
To SOW it, this country where SO many
millions of people served and sacr-
iced % gioriously. not only last year
nut years before. And because there
were many others who cid not serve
and sacrifice does it follow that those
who did made a mistake?
Again: The worker OF today is
me historical descendant OF the Eerf
Of yesterday. and tIe slave OF the DAY
before" Is that true? Are there
not self respecting. honorable men
working today whose fathers or
srandfa,hers were capitalists: Does
not this country. alone of all. have its
being in the creed that TO every man
shall be given opportunity no matter
what the conditions Of his birth?
What if. like all creeds. il is not
strictly lived up TO, is there not
enough Of fact, OF recognition OF it,
- that we approach its fulfllment
and derive from it some OF the
noblest inspirations of our patriot
ism? And where there Is oppor-
tunity to go up there also must De
opportunity 10 come down, and even
the coming down may be graceful
recognition of circumstances over
which we have not control.
II is not necessarily disgrace that
in some families it is only three or
four generations from shirtsleeves
10 sbir;sleeves Sometimes that sort
OF performance is creditable. We
would scarcely care to say that OF
Mir. Posts expected passing from the
distinguished position he now occu-
pies and is so misusing to the place
whittier his article shows he is 60
ing
Another premise. as false as it is
frequent in the mouths of agitators.
is: The life of our people depends,
at bottom. on two things: natural re-
sources and industry"
Sounds well. does it? Well, there
were natural resources in copious
abundance in the days of Noah. like
wise indus y. else the ark wouldn't
have been constructed: but the idea,
the initiative. the energy and the
sagacity for applying industry to ark
building. why. Noah himself seems to
have had a monopoly Of that; SO they
had monopoly in those days. And
electricity was natural resource at
that very time. also industry, but,
so far as may be learned from tradi-
ton, it doesn't appear that industry
and resource got together and lighted
that ark with arc or other method of
electrical lighting. Was that because
labor was then downtrodden and
didn't apply to government to take
over the whole project so that every
serf might have an electric toaster on
his breakfast table? Most assured
}y If we are to believe Mr. Post, but
We don't believe him.
We are reminded Of the warning of
a wise man to beware the false
premise" for once accept that, the
conclusions being usually logical. the
reader is lost" Having seen Mr..
Posts premises and their absolute
falsity there seems to be no need to
waste further time in following him
for surely he will lead us to no good.
He may be innocent, in his opinions.
If so he is to be pitied along with
those who accept his faIlacies. Ru,
~~and this is very significant--,he
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