University of Wisconsin Superior - Gitche Gumee Yearbook (Superior, WI)

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influence of a money king; but such organizations, if under the management of benevolent, trustworthy men, could always be viewed with confidence and trust. Combination in production is not objectionable. In fact, it is highly desirable. As surely as water seeks its level, just so surely an intelligent self-interest finds the most economical means in production. But do the farmer, the wage-earner, and the professional man now receive a proportionate benefit from the combination? Do the railroads combine to lessen the cost of production to the general public? Is it the policy of the Standard Oil Company to charge the lowest price for oil consistent with a legitimate profit? What methods arc employed in large corporations, where men arc not greatly influenced in their conduct by the eye of the public? Too often, under the cover of the corporation, individuals devise every means within their power to further their own interests, regardless of the injury to the public good. The height of their ambition is to amass a fortune. Actuated by selfish motives, they dismiss any consideration that has not in view corporate power. They fear only the law, which, moreover, they undertake to evade. They flagrantly disregard public faith, public honor, public trust, and reveal a nature given over to self-aggrandizement. Nor arc men of our day satisfied to limit their nefarious practices to the industrial field alone; they shrewdly endeavor to obtain special privileges by combining their own private business with the interests of the corrupt politician. This combination, above all others, utterly defeats the sovereign will of the people.- The functions of government ordained “to promote the greatest good to the greatest number” are used, too often, to promote the greatest good to combinations of capital. Because of their powerful interests, corporations fill many official positions—legislative, executive, and judicial—with men of their own choice. Before the election, the boss and the machine artfully deceive the unintelligent classes of society by masquerading as custodians of their rights. After the ballots arc counted, corporation managers and their representatives frame measures, carry them to their subservient officials, and to them make known their selfish desires. Such arc the monstrous evils that exist in our high places of trust and honor while a majority of the American people accept the false standards of egoism as their code of ethics and morality. Happily for America’s future, this unbridled egoism has met with earnest opposition. Public spirited men have unsparingly denounced “successful dishonesty.” Cunning and deceitful encroachments upon the rights and privileges of free citizens have been fearlessly attacked in the pulpit and in the press. The present administration has put forth every effort to make the powerful few responsible to the people. Searching investigations have probed into combinations designed solely for private advancement. Those guilty of high-handed dishonesty have been compelled to feel the smart and the sting of public opinion for disloyalty to their fellow-men and to their God; while righteous conduct of the poor and rich alike has been met with the heartiest approval. This movement is salutary, for imperative is the demand for stringent and impartial enforcement of law; but fruitless is the attempt to suppress action that is inimical to society, merely by law. Man restrained wholly by the fear of law and by the application of force will never realize his highest possibilities. The salvation of mankind requires the awakening of a conscience and a moral judgment that will always rule supreme in the human heart. If the American nation is to march onward and upward, that movement must be characterized by sound morality. Mere denunciation and condemnation of wrong-doing can not lay the foundation for a future greatness. GITCHE GUMEE PACE NINETEEN

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GITCHE GUM EE this recognition, America could never have experienced her marvelous growth in material wealth, nor her unprecedented moral influence among the powers of the world for the betterment of mankind. A deviation from the spirit of fairness and honesty in our present industrial and political life is what threatens our democracy this very hour. Men in their scramble for material wealth have not properly observed the principles upon which this nation was founded. In the field of industry, competition has been relied upon solely to secure economic justice. That individualism has given to the American people a material wealth surpassing all precedent, there is no doubt; but it has also resulted in the widest inequality in the distribution of that wealth, and in the most undesirable and shameful practices. Our material prosperity has gone hand in hand with immorality and spiritual degeneration. Selfish considerations, too frequently, have sought to justify chicanery and deception. The present factory system amply illustrates an undue regard for private advantage. The avaricious employer is judicious in every calculation that concerns his own interests, but unmercifully thoughtless of the welfare of his employes. Private gain, from the standpoint of the greedy capitalist, justifies the subjugation of fellow-men. When adverse to the goal of his ambition, the life and welfare of the wage earner are shamefully ignored. When dangerous machinery can be operated with profit, the lives of the employed are put in jeopardy. When women and children can do the work of men, they arc employed. So, today, nearly two million children are deprived of the education essential to the development of real manhood and womanhood. The ranks of the unfortunate in our hospitals, insane asylums, and penitentiaries arc continually recruited by men and by women sacrificed for ill-gotten wealth. Is it surprising, then, that the laborer retaliates in order to ameliorate his condition? Is it to be wondered at that he is driven to revenge when unscrupulous employers use means more despotic in their nature than did Napoleon in his career of conquest? The centralization of wealth and power in the hands of such ruthless men is one of the gravest dangers in our republic. This avaricious spirit dominating the lives of not a few of our industrial leaders is responsible for the wretched condition of many of our citizens. This same spirit accounts for the hardships and the suffering throughout our land during the Pennsylvania coal strike, and the scenes of mob violence of common occurrence on the streets of our large cities. Unless passion gives way to reason and blind egoism is replaced by a sense of obligation to society, these conditions will continue to be a curse and a stain upon our national life. It is not, however, the ability to organize and manage business concerns that should alarm us. This very ability, legitimately used, is of the highest benefit to society. Every effort put forth in any service for the general good should be encouraged. The complete devotion of one’s honest effort to the work in which he is engaged is the highest duty that can be conceived. But when a man in any enterprise labors exclusively for self, and places the lives of others in jeopardy, and holds a considerable number of our future citizens in ignorance, right and justice must assert themselves. There must be aroused a public sentiment that will restore to the oppressed the sacred rights of free citizens. While, on the one hand, the large combinations of capital tend to enrich the few, on the other hand they contribute in no small measure to the prosperity of the many. It is well to scrutinize closely all industrial organizations under the selfish PACE EIGHTEEN

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GIT CHE GUM EE Increase in the functions of government that results in the suppression of liberty is not progress. The claims of posterity demand pure, unselfish manhood. Citizens in this twentieth century of American democracy, it devolves upon you to accept the responsibilities of freedom. Whether your station in life be high or low, whether your mental endowments be great or small, the strength and permanency of our free institutions bespeak your earnest, faithful, and cheerful allegiance. Individual enterprise in our industrial system must be encouraged; but the American commonalty— you and I—must create a public opinion that will demand rectitude from every citizen who fills a position of trust; we must emphatically require a sense of greater responsibility with the acceptance of greater power. When we have taken on the responsibilities of freedom as true citizens of this gifted nation, when we have adopted the higher standards of moral law in every vocation of American life, then will this nation be consecrated to the truth that all men arc sovereigns through being servants of God. Then will internal strife give way to mutual helpfulness, and the American flag will float unstained over the institutions founded by our fathers. Then can we hear the voice of the Master proclaim: If there is to be pride, it must be felt for honest, faithful service; if there is to be honor, it must come as a reward for action that is in harmony with the teachings of the Prince of Peace; if men are to be held in grateful remembrance, it must be for their sympathy and love for their fellow-men. 'RIVE'R FALLS THE RIGHTS OF MAN JOHN O'KEEFE ATERIALLY, the United States today has reached the pinnacle of prosperity. We have steadily and speedily advanced along economic lines and can now say without fear of boasting, “We arc leaders in the industrial progress of the world.” Never has our production been as large as in the last few years. Aided by the mighty forces, steam and electricity, we have increased the productive power of labor a thousand fold. As a result of this we have increased in wealth, nationally, until we have reached a point which is infinitely beyond the wildest dreams of our forefathers. We have also advanced along educational lines. There is not a citizen in the whole country who has not the best advantages for getting a thorough education. With our national wealth and our improvement in educational lines has come a bettering of conditions of the common people. Modern methods have elevated the wage-earner from the condition of the malicious servant” of the 14th century Statute of Laborers to the working man of today. Increase of production has increased his means; diversity of employment has improved PAGE TWENTY