Show I 1 I 1 I 1 is TO WAGE EARNERS labor day address delivered at fargo Is well received JOINT ACTION A NECESSITY trades unions union commended commanded but some of their acts act american federation planks ap proved by speaker fargo N D sept 15 the union labor fabor forces of fargo and thousands of other persons persona had bad a treat today I 1 when theodore roosevelt delivered the tha labor day address lie spoke apo ke with great seriousness and with frankness and hla his speech was well received by the big crowd that heard tt it colonel Roosevel ts address addreen was as follows today To dyon on labor rasy I 1 speak in one sense ense especially to those personally and vitally interested in the tha labor str struggle and yet I 1 speak of this primarily as on ons aspect of 0 the larger social struggle growing vv out of the attempts to readjust social iclal conditions ons and make tn them more equi equitable table the th nineteenth century was distinct distinctly Us one of economic triumphs triumphs ly in n the domain of production including transportation por tation and the mechanics of exchange the marvelous marve loUB ress afo made in these theme respects multiplied mans mana productive power to an almost inconceivable degree in the matter of the production of 0 wealth as an much pro progreso gresa sn was made during the nineteenth century am aa during all previous periods since history dawned that la Is the changes brought in it single century through machinery and steam athum have hava been greater than tile the rum mum total of the changes of the tha preceding thousands of years yearn anil and these very changes and title this material progress have thrust upon us social and political problems problem of the first magnI magnitude the triumph of the physical sciences in the he nineteenth century represented progress r e sa primarily in the material elements of 0 c lv illation atlon the most pressing problems that confront the present century are not concerned with the material malarial production of if wealth but with its ita distribution the tha demands of nt progress pio gresa now devil deal not so BO much with the material as with tho the moral and ethical factors actors of civilization our basic problem Is to see that the ve ly augmented powers of product production lon bequeathed to us ua by the nineteenth century shall in tile the twentieth be made to administer to the needs of tile the many rather than be exploited tor for the profit of tile the few the american wage wace earner faces this thin larger social nodal problem in a dual capacity first as a citizen of the republic charged with the full duty of citizenship and next as a wage earner as a wage worker who he together with his hl fellow worker Is wittily vitally concerned in the question of wages and ge denoral general noral conditions of employment u which bich affect not only his well being and that of his bin wife and nd children but the of all workers worker for a higher development mut must depend on our own efforts effort it Is true of wage workers an aa of nil all J ahr i citizens that most of their progress nt list depend upon their own initiative and kd the irown own efforts forta ef nevertheless there are three different factors in this ress ream there Is in first the hare which the mans own individual qualities must determine this Is in the most important of fill all fr for nothing emit can supply the place of individual capacity yet tet there are two other factors also of prime importance namely what can be ba done by the wage workers in operation cooperation co with one another arid a id what can be done dona by bl government mat I 1 bat Is by the instrument through which al a 1 the people work collectively wages id other most important conditions of 0 must remain largely outside government control must be left for boyers by free contract between ent em and wage earners nut but to attempt i leave this merely to individual fiction action ieans cans the absolute destruction of allam for where the individual Is in so ak weak ak that he perforce has to accept W whatever 1 1 bever a strongly itron gly organized body 1 ses to give him his individual liberty be becomes mam a mere sham and mockery it to Is indispensably necessary in order to preserve tr to the lari largest degree our system of individualism that th cherf r vili bob b edff effert efine lve and organized collective action acion tin waxe wage earners must act jointly through the he process of collective bargaining in great industrial enterprises enter primps only thus can they be put upon it plane plana of e economic equality with their corporate 4 employers m players pl only th thus u 4 Is in freedom of eon contrat contract inn made de a r real ral al thing find and not a arr legal notion there me ire oc occasional occupations pitt lons where this Is not necessary but speaking broadly it Is in necessary throughout the great world of organized zeil industry I 1 believe this hla practise of bargaining effective only through such ns the trades unions union to tn have been one of the most moat potent factors in tile the past centi irv in promoting the progress 4 of the wage earners and in se BC curler larger iclal progress sm for humanity I 1 believe in the prin principle of argan irp libor and in the of alvo tv not merely as an it a desirable thing for the wage carneri but ns am something chieh has b arm n demonstrated to 0 J bo biml in the long run to their p progress this d not mean that I 1 en cally ily ine n BC any or all practices practises s that lint labor organizations may mav happ happen n to adopt or any or all m that they may choose to entin clate labor organizations have ill alii cealene asem and detects rommon to nil fill other of human lions sometimes they act verwell aind times they act very badly anil and I 1 am for them when ben they art act wen well and I 1 am am m against afta tnt tham them whon who n chev art biilly I 1 bell vc that their exist existence enre Is a it I 1 believe that ir alms and spi 9 ar arp arf rood good and 7 that all of them th m have occasionally made ant and that some of th thorn m have b ben been en of wrongdoing wrong doing just in so far as ahry ar are i strong and effen lve they t rapt d 1 men who se sek seek k to control them for their own interests teresta In and the dalr a of ambitious leaders who may be clever crooked nien men or who may bob t honest hanest hut and foolish in other words word q in n treating fronting of lubor labor unions ns as in r of corporations or of humanity r 01 w we will 10 lo in well to r Abra abrahim hrim Lincol ns tuning saving that I 1 Is a deal of haman natum in mankind whether in a man nr r in nn an organized body of mn m n the ali power to rood means meano that such power may he be into evil and in prop proportion as the power grows so an it becomes s i v more important that it should be handled right aright just in proportion as in its proper function power Is important to social pr oTres so in its function it becomes fraught with social disaster dl wise course for original labor outside critics should appreciate the of organize or libor an anil dunder under stand and with what Is good int in insteps Instep Insa pl 1 of eil it IndI scrIm binately ln Ina ely tely on tho the oth mthr r hand those within its fill rinks al fearlessly fe feir leasly analyze the d erected against it and ruthless i 01 i 4 1 I 1 ly elaml n ate from the practises practices of its organization those thing 5 which ju justify ti f y uch such criticism und and attack this Is the he path not only of right but of wisdom and safety public opinion in the united states Is in dally daily becoming more alert and more intelligent and more forceful and no organization whether trades union or corporation whether industrial or non in du can endure or permanently amount to a social force if it does do not barmont ze with a wise alie and enlightened public 0 opinion t 1 mon hitherto w we 6 americans americana have be beon 0 n over occupied wa with ah material things and have hava neglected to watch the play of the bollal forces about us nut but foreest now we are awak wing from rom that indifference I 1 and evi ev i form of organization representing an important economic political or social curvo must undergo a closer scrutiny than ever before I 1 think that the next quarter of a century will be ba important politically in many ways ind and in none more no BO than in the labor movement not only are ar the bene tit of labor organizations more clearly understood than ever before but any or vice displayed illa played in connection therewith to I 1 also more clearly understood a and nd more quickly resented the public I 1 Is a growing more and more to un that in a content between employer and amplo employees employee aa a a corporation and a trades trade union not only tie the interests of the contri con t stants tants but the interests Inter ert of odthe the third party the must be considered d anything liko like levity in provoking a strike on an the one hand or on the titer other Is certain more and more mor to be resented reenter reen ted by ahm public strikes ar are a sometimes sometime ell necessary and proper they represent the only way in which after all other methods method have hao been exhausted it to ti possible tor for the laboring man to stand for his bin rights but it must be clearly understood that it a strike la is it a matter of last re sort ort our bociak organization Is in too complex for us to fall quickly to condemn thee who with levity or in a spirit of wanton brutality bring about tar far reach ing and disastrous interference with its it normal processes the th public sympathize sympathies a cordially with any movement for a good standard jandard tan dard of livin cund for moderate hours hour of employment en 1 I personally tor for in planes tance ii cordially believe inan in an eight hour day and in one day in seven for complete ret rest where men and women woman are worked under harsh and intolerable conditions dit ions and can secure no relief without a strike or indeed where the strike 1 in clearly undertaken for things which are ara vitally necessary rier essary and then only as a last resort the public sympathy will favor the wage workers but it will not favor them unless ouch nuell conditions us as these thene tire are fulfilled ft it la Is becoming more than ever important that the labor movement should combine steady far leadership with and control in its ita ranks ranka dishonest disbow st leadership la is a curse curbo anywhere in fit american life and nowhere in it it a greater curse cume than in tile the labor movement it if there Is one 1 lenson avion which abich I 1 would rather tearh to my fellow amerl ameri cans can felian any other it la Is to hound down the dishonest man no matter what hla his con condition ditton and to brush brugh asian avith impatient contempt the hn Prea creature who only denounces dishonesty when it Is found in some special social iclal stratum thern them are dishonest capitalists dishonest labor leaders dishonest lawhern and dishonest business men dishonest men of great wealth and dishonest poor men and the man who to li a genuine ills reformer will do da clinn to mingle out any one type for exclusive denunciation but will fearlessly attack attach the dishonest man as a uch such whenever and wherever he ha to la to be found worthy leaders available for many years I 1 have hav been more or less closely associated with representative leaders of labor unions bonin of men are among my close cloi friends whom I 1 respect and admire a as heartily aa a I 1 do any men in america there are some of them to whom I 1 go us as freely for assistance and guidance for aid and help in making up my mind how to deal with our problems us as I 1 go to the leaders of any business or profession I 1 cannot par too high a tribute to the worth and integrity of these mento their sincerity and rood good judgment as leaders hut no move leadership however earnest and honest can endure unless the rank and ilia live lire up to their duties and search for such much leadership and support it when they find it if the N iest st men in it a labor union leave its management anti and control to men of a poorer type the effect will be just as an disastrous as when good citizens in A city follow the sama earne course as regards city government the stay at home man in a union in just juat an aa much responsible for the sins bins of omission and commission sion of his hi organization as an the stay at nt home man in a city la in tor for the civic conditions under which he suffers and about which ho he complains all that can prop properly aly be donor doni should be done by nil all of us im to lo help upward the standard of living and to improve tile the ability of the average man to reach that standard there tire are still in the united states great masses of skilled and anor labor whose conditions of work and living are hermit harsh bild pitiable it Is in a shocking indictment of our industrial condition to t be told in a matter matta r of course way in a government report that thousands of workers in this country are com applied to toll foil everyday in the week without one day dav for a wage of S als 15 it a month such ruch it eon condition letl n Is vi bad for the them n arid and in the end bad for or nil all of us our comme refal development should be hear all but it 11 must not be ba allowed to our mornes it Is in not merely tb alin duty of the earner but it li Is also tile hie duty of th thi general public to nee bee that he ha has flax safe safa and healthy r which to carry on hla his work no worker should be com as an a condition condIt lon of earning his dally bread it to resle als Ms ills lafe ifa and limit or h b deprived of his health or have to work under danger dangerous oun and bad Bop tv owes the lift worker this because it owes ns an to itself ile should not be to mika make m ika this a matter of contract ho he ought wit nit to hp he if left ifft ft to flygt for decent in this thir respect ills protection in tile tho place where lie he works should bf be guaranty 3 by ahm law of the land in other words word he should b ho protected during efm working hours against grebil and mi on the part of unscrupulous bild thoughtless employ ers ars just ns its outside of thom dins working hours both he h and his employer employs r are ar protected in choir lives rind property against tho the murderer and thief far fa behind other nations this opens a vitally important field of ithe itha in national government and to the th state alike it Is in humiliating to think how far we ive if f thin country are behind arnst of uin other countr countries lm in such kiich practically nil all civilized countries anve for more than n decade decad prohibited bv tile the strictest text regulations regulation i th the poisonous mat matil match il industry yet we hd had not done don ony anything thIng nt at all until very reent antl to t th ill bihr 1 r this horrible dinger danger lin national government m nt made an a year mm nto into this industry which showed n condl condition of nf khints unan shocking and ri revolting to in prevent tho these ap a busei abuses wile in congress which ahli li was wa 9 not anes d since then the com in fault have oat fill an that they I lenva anve done away with the he objectionable conditions I 1 hope ao sot hut but whether they hive have or not aida a low should b be pissed in nt form to present nt ani possible backsliding back bru sliding S 80 it Is in in the matter of injuries In jurea to em cm plo 1 1 X in what Is called employers liability 11 t legislation other industrial countries have accepted the principle that the industry must b bear bar ar the monetary buren burden I 1 of iti fin human m and that the employer employee who if 19 Injure il t shall have a 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