The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1926-09-06


clares that il placed in power he will
repeal an economic law is on the
same intellectual level of some de
mented men who would promise that
Il placed in yower he would repeal
a law of physics that prevents a
man from lifting himself - his own
boot straps You might elect a com
munistic President of the United
States. and present him with a Con-
gress that would obey his slightest
wish. but even if the President thus
elected were Karl Marx himself, he
could not be able to provide every
one with meat. If there wasn't
enough meat To 80 around; nor could
he make every one in the country
rich If there was not enough wealth
ITO 20 around. He could not do the
impossible 1t is true that com
munism would not have the slightest
difficulty making the rich poorer.
But what would be the sense of
making men poor. If you did not
succeed at the same time in making
the great masses in the Nation amy
better off? It would impoYerish
those who are now rich. and i'm
prove the condition of no one. This
system, when tried out in Russia, !
made fvery Russian poorer ahan he
had ever been before. and the same
result would be true if it were tried
in America.
- Wage Is Power
N II what I
they will the workers OF America
have a great deal to he thankful for.
The wage paid to American labor
has already become a vital part of
the economic power of the nation,
and it is destined TO become in the
future an even more vital one. There
is no other worker in the world
who is 50 independent, or who en-
Joys so many Of the luxuries that
make life--worth living. In what
respect was "A European king of a
few centuries ago superior to an
American workman of today. apart
from thc-exercise OF his royal author
ity? You do not have TO so back
very far to find time when !
European kings. as rule, did not
even know how to read and write,
when the music they listened to was
inferior. and when they either had
to start a war against somebody. or
drink long and deep, to keep from
being bored To death.
American labor has not yet at
tanned all the gains that are destined
- 10 8 oh
to, the time of the signing of the
Declaration of Independence. or to
the time of the Civil War, or even
TO time in no WY remote, he will
find the comparison most heartening
But no nation or body Of men ever
stands still. 1t either advances or
retrogrades. American labor. l am
confident, is destined to continue the
advance movement. 1t is going to
earn more than it earns at present.
A larger amount Of the created /
wealth of the Nation is going TO re-
main in his hands The living wage /
has already been secured. but Amer
lean labor will not rest until it has
secured a saving wage. wage that
will enable the worker - know that !
though the future Storms may beat
against his door. that door is safely
barred against any flood Of misfor-
tune.
Profit Shaving Urged
While the equal wage for all of
which the social reformer~ dreams,
and demands as if it were a natural
right, is never likely to be realized
so long as human nature remains
what it is. there is reason for be-
liCving that share Of the profits
of industry must later come in the
form of wages to those who toll
through the long hours with their
hands, Such an economic consum-
nation is indeed most devoutly to
he wished IT would not usher in
the millennium but 1t would
strengthen the thought that we now
have that man must he placed above
the dollar.
We should take no interest in
wealth, if wealth fell invariablA or
usually into the hands of skinflints
and misers. The sole value Of wealth
is its power to endow civilization. So
long as it is employed for the pur
pose of increasing the Joy Of life, the
quickening of aesthetic consibilitieS.
and making potent the best thDt has
been thought and said in the world,