Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1923-05-02


To curb the forces in business which
would destroy equality of opportunity
and yet to maintain the initiative and
creative faculties of our people are the
twin objects we must attain. To pre-
serve the former we must regulate that
type of activity that would dominate.
To preserve the latter, the government
must keep out of production and distri-
button Of commodities and services.
This is the deadline between our syS-
TEN and socialism. Regulation to pre-
vent domination and unfair practices,
yet preserving rightful initiative, are
in keeping with our social foundations.
is their negation.
When we come to the practical prob
lens of government in relation to these
economic questions the test lies in two
directions: Does this act safeguard an
equality of opportunity? Does it main
tain the initiative of our people? For
in the first must lie the deadline
against domination, and in the second
the deadline in preservation of indi-
vidualiSm against socialism. Exclud-
ing the temporary measures Of the
war, the period of regulation has now
been long enough with us to begin to
take stock of its effect upon our social
system. 1t has been highly beneficial,
but it has also developed weaknesses
in the throttling of proper initiative
that require some revision. We have
already granted relief to labor organi-
cations and to agriculture some
forms Of regulation. There is, how
ever, a large field of cooperative pos
sibilities far outside agriculture that
are needlessly hampered.
The most important of considera-
lions in any attempt to pass judgment
upon social systems is whether we
maintain within them permanent and
continuous motivation toward prog
resS. These forces must be of two or
ders, one spiritual and the other eco
nomic
If we should survey the fundamen-
tails of our civilization from the point
of view of its progress by the test Of
and assurance. 1t is unnecessary to
recount the values of economic indi-
vidualism in stimulation to invention:
large constructive vision; intensity in
production with decreased physical
effort; our increased standards of living
and comfort. 1t is of course easy to
enumerate our great economic prog
ress, but the progress of the social
forces that will sustain economic prog
ress is infinitely more important-for
upon them depends the real future of
our people. Education in it's many
phases has made much advance. The
actual equipment, the character of in
structiOn, the numbers reached, period
OF instruction = show Improvement
with every decade. Public opinion has
become of steadily increasing potency
and reliability in it's reaction. The
great strides in development of
processes and equipment for produc-
ton and distribution are being fol-
lowed by increasing devotion to the
human factors in their execution.
Moral standards of business and com.
merce are improving; vicious city gov
ernments are less in number; invisible
government has greatly diminished:
public conscience is penetrating deep
er and deeper; the roofing up of
wrong grows more vigorous; the agen-
c1es for their exposure and remedy
grow more numerous, and above all
is the growing sense of service. MANY
people confuse the exposure of wrongs
which were below the surface with de-
generation; their very exposure is
progress. Some accredit the exposures
of failure in our government and busi-
mes as evidence of standards of a low
er order than in some other nations.
A considerable experience leads me
to the conviction that while we do
wash our dirty linen in public most
others never wash. it.
1t is easy to arraign any existing in
stltution. Men can rightly be critical
because things have happened that
never ought to happen. That our social
system contains faults no one disputes.
one can recite the faulty results of
our system at great length; the spirit
of lawlessness; the uncertainty of en-
ployment in some callings; the dead
ening effect of certain repetitive proc.
esses of manufacturer the twelve-hour
day in a few industries; UNEQUAL voice
in bargaining for wage in some en-
ployment; arrogant domination .by
some employers and some labor lead
ers; child labor in some states: made
quate instruction in some areas; I'M
fair competition In some industries:
some fortunes excessive far beyond
the needs of stimulation to initiative:
survivals of religious intolerance: DO
litical debauchery of some cities:
weaknesses in our governmental struc-
ture. Most of these occur locally in
certain regions and certain industries
and must cause every thinking person
to regret and to endeavor. But thew
are becoming steadily more local That
they are recognized and condemned IL
1Anp UQu on bo MOO n