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Show I j NEW IDEAS The entire ce.niiry applauded Prcsidenl Villiam Green, of the American Am-erican Federation cC Labor, when hi " scathingly rejected the plea of Arthur Ar-thur A. Purcell, veiling p.ritish del- uHe to the Am.'ri .in Federation convention, that American labor establish es-tablish close fraternal relations with the labor of soviet Rustia. Mr. IV.rcell said that, it had oftei. struck him "that while Americans have been the most advanced and the most receptive in ideas concerning tiiiVi ii ,i ii'n 1 I ii viin t i nn nntl business or ganizatiou they have been most slow in accepting new social and political ideas." . Mr. Purcell was only half right. Our Industrial organization Is tfti-advanced tfti-advanced but we were also the flrsc and most successful political idea. In i fact we perfected It ourselves in 17- i 7S and are proud of itj That is way J all of us, regardless of whether we .. aro bankers, farmers, doctors or 'workers, keep aloof from communism. commun-ism. We are afraid that the effect of our original idea will be injured or destroyed. The American Constitution is tnu latest and best thing in social and political ideas. It was sprung on the world Just l.iS years ago and was do-cl--.red by many economists of Europe, to be i 'vn hi' Senary and unworkable. The r-w.ilu have surprised the civil-1 ! ize-d world and we are today, capital-! ' i-t am! worker alike, the envied na- i tion of th - "lobe. i The trouble with Mr. Purcell u ! t'at bis ii .-' social and political ideas ' ' are not new at all They have been tried out in some for or other by every ev-ery civilization since written history began, and doubtless before that. They have tested on a big scale and on a small scale and have always alw-ays failed, just as the latest and biggest big-gest experiment of Russia is failing. Many a so-called economist has prided himself on discovering something some-thing new. when in fact he has only rediscovered for himself, something that is older than t'ee Christian eia. and which has b -en discarded as unworkable un-workable many times in the past. It was not until the iramers of our Co--titution con pletert ij'ieir work at Philadelphia that the world who given something new in government. This was a real representative government, gov-ernment, a government of checks and balances, with the duties of the ox- ecutlve, the legislative and the judicial ju-dicial departments interlocking and dearly detined. And the most mar-' velous thing was that it worked ane has continued to work until this day. As trje people have followed it they1, have prospered, and it was' only, when the- strayed away from Ihv con- stitutlonal path that the nation has; suffered. We have advanced ideas in business busi-ness and advanced ileas about our, workers, Ideas which make them tn.: freest and the most prosperous workers work-ers in the world. And we have the farthest advanced government. If you don't believe it, look at the wag-' the savIngH banks deposits and the life insurance records. Watch John Doe :: he uhlzzeH back and fonh tu work with his dinner pail In the back scat of his automobile. Then compare com-pare this with the picture in Europe. After all It Is the results which count. |