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

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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

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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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and enlarged Ins skill, he has been benefited by the past, and today we find him living in a comfort unequaled in mediaeval times, even by the luxury of princes. We arc apt to become blinded by our apparent “good times” and think that our high position in the industrial world is impregnable. Indeed, it is a pet hallucination of ours that “No harm can come to America.” The American public has always shown itself too ready to accept conditions as they are. In the course of our nation’s history we find our people marked by an easy good nature which has on many occasions shown itself to be exceedingly dangerous. It was this tendency, this good naturedness, that allowed slavery to grow and fasten its hold upon us until its eradication culminated in one of the greatest wars of history. It is this same weakness today that leaves us facing a problem which is constantly and with greater and greater vehemence forcing itself upon us. Appearing as but a cloud upon the horizon of industry, Trades-unionism has gathered and gathered until many times it has threatened in its cyclonic fury to demolish the peace and prosperity of our nation. The history of Trades-unionism up to a few years ago is not one of very great interest. It is enough to know that the purpose of its founders was a noble one. Their only thought was the bettering of the condition of the working man. We can not help admitting the theory of labor unions is an admirable one. History has proven conclusively that no matter what the institution may be, no matter how admirably it may be planned, no matter how worthy the purpose of its founders, if it is left to act as it chooses, without restraint, unregulated by law, it will sooner or later become arrogant, arbitrary, and a menace to the public. One of the greatest difficulties which lie in the way of the discussion of any labor problem is an age-old mistake of the humane and sympathetic mind. Many of our most eminent social philosophers, men of heart and impulsive speech, forget the law which orders and defends liberty; the law by means of which civilization with its diffusion of comfort has advanced; the law which promotes the general welfare, in their sentimentalism awakened by what they regard the wrongs of a class—meaning often the weakness of a class. In their feverish sentiment they would resort to the fallacious theory that justice itself can be superseded. Tbc only authority which may limit industrial or civil liberty is the state. Our law has placed upon the conduct of every citizen certain limitations which guard his liberty. This it docs both for the welfare of society and for the happiness of the individual. It gives to society peace and order, the security of respected precedents, the wisdom of long accepted tradition. It allows the individual the freest development of his powers and expects him in return to promote the interests of society. The law gives to all citizens engaged in industry the right to work. It protects the fruits of a man’s labor from the plundering intrusion of society. It grants to no one the right to interfere with his fellows when they are doing what to them seems best, so long as they keep within the law. To the working man it gives the right of free contract. He may choose his employment and his employer, and has the right to work for any wage he agrees to receive. The law docs not give to the working man the right to compel an employer to use or manage his property in accordance with the will of some one else, nor does it give him the right to deprive a fellow workman of the right to labor. In a word, the law gives us an ordered industrial liberty, in the same way that it gives us an ordered civil liberty, and whoever violates the liberty guarded by the state becomes an enemy both of the state and of society. GITCHE GUM EE PACE TWENTY-ONE