Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1920-01-02


should get together. quite agree
with him. think he knew it. 9TH
crwiSc would not be here. unless
invited under Il misrepresentation.
Were this Society imbucd with the
Socialistic and alien PHILOSOPHERS
running riot throughout the coun-
try ii would not have honorcd me
with an invitation to speak TO it.
III our government and its ideals
are TO be preserved; if our country
is TO continues to grow and pros
per and if it's people are to remain
secure in their lives. their liberties
and their property, il is indeed high
time "old-faShioncd folk" who be-
licvc i'll the Constitution and its
guarantees get together and stay to-
gether, regardless Of section, creed
or political affiliation.
The forces that are working for
the overflow of tho government;
that are striving for the substitution
of class rule for democracy. arc
being co-ordinatcd and are showing
symptoms Of unity which we can
I not safely disregard.
Ii is wholly unnecessary for me
to attempt to portray to you the
situation which ConfronS this coun-
try, generally today. You under
stand it.
1t is equally unnecessary that |
attempt to discuss the causes. |
have done that down in my own
State when | felt such discussion
might be helpful. Nothing could
be gained by going over them here
or now. You gentlemen, business
men as you are. have watched the
development Of present conditions
and the present tendencies and YOU
| fully understand them.
Ii may be worth while for us to
consider, for Il few minutes. the
possible remedies.
Some people were Skcptical, down
in West Virginia. when on the day
The steel strike began, | asserted
in public address that the radical
Labor leaders Of the country were
! deliberately planning to lessen pro-
ductiOn III all essential lines of in
duStry. II seemed to me then to be
I apparent that the men who were
planning the steel and coal strikes
were bent upon diSorGaniZing i'm
dustry and stopping production for
the purpose of discrcditing the
: wage system. trying to prove il
failure and to convince the people
of the necessity Of Matchmaking all
industries. Events which have since
TRANSFERRED. notably the demand of
the United Mine Workers for the
naturalization of coal mines and
the strike prccipitatcd on Novcm-
Der Isl, have certainly proven the
truth of my assertions.
II has been quite hard TO gel the
| average citizen to understand or 10
! bring him to appreciate the fact
that the struggle the radicals have
| prcclpitated is not an economic
one. II is not fight, in reality, for
fair wage return for an honest
| days work. Nor is it fight to re-
ducr the cost of living or for better
| ing living conditions. II is Il social
and political onslaught upon our
| form OF government and upon the
system of individual ownership of
private propcrty--private owner
ship.
| II matters moi to the men direct
! ing this struggle that all attempts at
common owncrship; that all efforts
. ana trials at Specialization and ma
tionaiization Of property have been
failures. 10 matter where, when. or
by what people they were tried.
. II matters moi to them that the
| right OF man To earn, acquire and
possess property, real and personal,
! as his own. his individual holdings,
was Il stimulus for The Pilgrim Faith
] crs and their descendants to battle
| Win savage men, to conquer The
! wilderness, do establish homes and
| To build cities and towns; that the
! same incentive buiIdcd This great
: CiiN-bN -thc-Sca. put the ships upon
! the ocean which sail from this har-
: Dor 10 ports i'll all parts Of the
world; that it built The great trans
continental railway systems over
! which arc carried 10 YOU fruits
from The Pacific coast and which
! lake back in return the products of
your mills and factories.
Despite the fact that il was the
! incentive Of private ownership
under which all those things were
done, under which. in conlpara-
lively brief time. this country has
( been transformed from vast wild
crncss into Il mighty republic Of one
hundred and ten millions of people;
into Il country where The inventive
genius Of man has been stimulated
to its highest point; where civilian
ton has reached its highest stand
|
in life depends upon himself and
his own efforts, these gentlemen
who are Scizing control Of many Of