Evening star., 1921-12-06
1ent of Presidents Message Delivered Before qSng1es Today,
In Which He Asks for Party Harmony Against Sechonahsm

steadily on. Perhaps only grim
necessity will correct 1t, but ws
ought to find a less drastic remedy.
Discusses Rail Situation.
The existing scheme Of adjusting
freight rates has been favoring
the basing points. until industries.
are attracted to some centers and
repelled from others. A great
volume Of uneconomic and waste
full transportation has attended
and the cost increased Accord
ingly. The grain milling ana
meat-packing industries afford am
pie illustration. and the attending
concentration Is readily apparent.
The menaces in concentration are
not limited to the retarding influ- =
ences on agriculture. Manifestly
the conditions and terms of raii-
way transportation ought not DO
permitted to increase this undesir-
able tendency. We have q just
pride in our great cities. but We
shall find q greater pride In the
nation. which has a larger distri-
button Of its population into the
country, where comparatively self
sufficient smaller communities may
blend agricultural and manufac-
turing interests in harmonious
helpfulness and enhanced good for
tune. Such a movement contem-
plates no destruction Of things
wrought, Of investments made or
wealth involved. 1t only looks to
a general policy Of transportation.
of distributed industry. and OF
highway construction. to encour-
age the spread Of our population
and restore the proper balance be-
tween city and country. The prob
lem may well have your earnest
attention. -r-s d.
1t has been perhaps the proudest
claim of our American civilization
that In dealing with human rela-
tionships II has constantly moved
toward such justice In distributing
the product Of human energy that
It has improved continuously the
economic status Of the mass OF
people. Ours has been a highly pro-
ductive social Organization. On
the way up from the elemental
stages Of society we have elm
mated slavery and serfdom and
are now far on the way to the elimi-
nation Of poverty.
aCapital and Labor.s
Through. the eradication Of lliteracy
and the diffusion OF education, man.
kind has reached stage where we
may fairly say that In the United
States equality Of opportunity has
been attained, though all are not
prepared to embrace it. There is. In
deed, a too great divergence between
the economic conditions Of the most
and the least favored classes In the
community. But oven that divergence
has now come to the point wnere We
bracket the very poor and the very
rich together as the least fortunate
classes. Our efforts may well be
directed to improving the status OF
both. .....
While this set of problems is COM
monty comprehended under the gen.
erai< <phrasea-capital and laboE" is
really vastly broader. It ID . question
of social and economic orgahit ltion-
Labor has become a largt fcohefibu-
tor, through its savings. to the stock
Of capital; while the people who own
the largest individual aggregates OF
capital are themselves often hard
and earnest laborers. Very often it is
extremely difficult to draw the line
of demarcation between the two
groups to determine whether . par
ticular Individual is entitled to be set
down as laborer or as capitalist. In
a very large proportion Of cases he Is
both, and when no is both he is the
most useful citizen.
The right of labor to organize is
Just as fundamental and necessary
as Is the right Of capital to or
ganize. The right of labor to nego-
tiate. to deal with and solve. its
particular problems In an or
ganized way. through its chosen
agents, Is just as essential as is
the right Of capital to organize,
to maintain corporations, to limit
the liabilities Of stockholders. In
deed, we have come to recognize
that the limited liability Of the
citizen as q member of a labor Or
ganization closely parallels tho
limitation Of liability of the citi-
zen as q stockholder in a corpora
ton for profit. Along this line Of
reasoning we shall make the great
est progress toward solution. of
our problem Of capital and laber.
Public Must BE Protectea.
In the case Of the corporation
which enjoys the privilege Of linn
tied liability Of stockholders, par
ticularly when engaged in the pub
lie service, it is recognized. that
the outside public has q large con-
Germ which must be protected; and
SO we provide regulations. restri-
tions, and in some cases detailed
supervision. Likewise in the case
Of labor organizations, we might
well apply similar and, equally
well defined principles Of regu-
lation and supervision in order to
conserve the public's interest as
affected by their operations,
Just as 1t Is net desirable that
corporation shall be allowed to I'm
pose undue exactions upon the
public, SO 1t is not desirable that a
labor organization shall be per-
mitted to exact unfair terms Of