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CHAPTER 59
"OKAY, SO CONTINUE FROM WHERE YOU STOPPED!"
" Yea,During the last five years business confidence has been restored, and the nation is to be congratulated because of its present abounding prosperity. Such prosperity can never be created by law alone, although it is easy enough to destroy it by mischievous laws. If the hand of the Lord is heavy upon any country, if flood or drought comes, human wisdom is powerless to avert the calamity. Moreover, no law can guard us against the consequences of our own folly. The men who are idle or credulous, the men who seek gains not by genuine work with head or hand but by gambling in any form, are always a source of menace not only to themselves but to others. If the business world loses its head, it loses what legislation cannot supply. Fundamentally the welfare of each citizen, and therefore the welfare of the aggregate of citizens which makes the nation, must rest upon individual thrift and energy, resolution, and intelligence. Nothing c
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CLOWNY MISFORTUNES CHAPTER 60
"PLEASE KICK OFF MR RALPH," Mrs AY said, urging him to continue."The second object of a proper immigration law ought to be to secure by a careful and not merely perfunctory educational test some intelligent capacity to appreciate American institutions and act sanely as American citizens. This would not keep out all anarchists, for many of them belong to the intelligent criminal class. But it would do what is also in point, that is, tend to decrease the sum of ignorance, so potent in producing the envy, suspicion, malignant passion, and hatred of order, out of which anarchistic sentiment inevitably springs. Finally, all persons should be excluded who are below a certain standard of economic fitness to enter our industrial field as competitors with American labor. There should be proper proof of personal capacity to earn an American living and enough money to insure a decent start under American conditions. This would stop the influx of cheap labor, and the resulting competiti
CLOWNY MISFORTUNES CHAPTER 61
"SO IS THAT ALL MR RALPH?" SHE ASKED."American wage-workers work with their heads as well as their hands. Moreover, they take a keen pride in what they are doing; so that, independent of the reward, they wish to turn out a perfect job. This is the great secret of our success in competition with the labor of foreign countries.The most vital problem with which this country, and for that matter the whole civilized world, has to deal, is the problem which has for one side the betterment of social conditions, moral and physical, in large cities, and for another side the effort to deal with that tangle of far-reaching questions which we group together when we speak of "labor." The chief factor in the success of each man--wage-worker, farmer, and capitalist alike--must ever be the sum total of his own individual qualities and abilities. Second only to this comes the power of acting in combination or association with others. Very great good has been and will be
CLOWNY MISFORTUNES CHAPTER 62
And so, the endless speech of Mr. Ralph continued. the panel was eager to hear every sylable that procedded from his mouth.Public opinion throughout the United States has moved steadily toward a just appreciation of the value of forests, whether planted or of natural growth. The great part played by them in the creation and maintenance of the national wealth is now more fully realized than ever before.Wise forest protection does not mean the withdrawal of forest resources, whether of wood, water, or grass, from contributing their full share to the welfare of the people, but, on the contrary, gives the assurance of larger and more certain supplies. The fundamental idea of forestry is the perpetuation of forests by use. Forest protection is not an end of itself; it is a means to increase and sustain the resources of our country and the industries which depend upon them. The preservation of our forests is an imperative business necessity. We have come to s
CLOWNY MISFORTUNES CHAPTER 63
“There’s danger in the hour” she coughed as she began her’s.“Exactly... Exactly why you should begin quick and not waste time.”“For one hundred and fourteen years we have seenour country gradually advancing in recognition of broader freedom, fewer restrictions upon personal liberty, and the peoples of all nations looking towards us as the great exemplar of political and religious freedom. But of late a rapidly increasing tendency has been shown towards the destruction of our civil liberties. The work has been stealthily carried on for a number of years under names and purposes which have prevented a real recognition of the design in view. So strong has this movement now become that we are confronted by the fact that our form of government is undergoing a radical change, with a well organized body greedy for power pressing to that end so that centralization instead of diffused power has overcome the aim and int
CLOWNY MISFORTUNES CHAPTER 64
She paused a little, drank some water and continued.“There’s danger in the hour” she coughed as she began her’s.“Exactly... Exactly why you should begin quick and not waste time.”“"We hear," remarks the Rev. Dr. Channing, "of the horrors of the Revolution; but in this, as in other things, we recollect the effect, without thinking of the guiltier cause. The Revolution was, indeed, a scene of horror. But when I look back on the reigns which preceded it, and which made Paris almost one great play and gambling-house, and when I see altar and throne desecrated by a licentiousness unsurpassed in any former age, I look on scenes as shocking to the calm and searching eye of reason and virtue as the 10th of August and the massacre of September. Bloodshed is indeed a terrible spectacle, but there are other things almost as fearful as blood."There are crimes which do not make us shout and turn pale like the guillotine, b
CLOWNY MISFORTUNES CHAPTER 65
She was unending, she flipped every page like a jack, never tired."Every law of this character is dangerous because of the fact that law and right soon grow to be synonymous in the minds of men. Hon. Sheldon Amos, former Professor of Jurisprudence in Oxford University, speaking in regard to certain evil legislation in England, said: "Whatever law recognizes and provides for is regarded as morally right, comes to be so regarded by the hereditary instincts of the human mind."It has been clearly proven that the enforcement of rest at any time, is the enforcement of idleness, and not only tends to the destruction of self-reliance but to the increase of crime. In some branches of business enforced Sunday rest means overwork the remaining six days, or as Chauncey Depew says of railroading "somebody must work harder during the rest of the week than has hitherto been the case."While France, Mexico, Brazil and other countries are getting ri
CLOWNY MISFORTUNES CHAPTER 67
Comrades, friends and fellow-workers,for this very cordial greeting, this very hearty reception, I thank you all with the fullest appreciation of your interest in and your devotion to the cause for which I am to speak to you this afternoon.To speak for labor; to plead the cause of the men and women and children who toil; to serve the working class, has always been to me a high privilege; a duty of love.I have just returned from a visit over yonder, where three of our most loyal comrades are paying the penalty for their devotion to the cause of the working class. They have come to realize, as many of us have, that it is extremely dangerous to exercise the constitutional right of free speech in a country fighting to make democracy safe in the world.I realize that, in speaking to you this afternoon, there are certain limitations placed upon the right of free speech. I must be exceedingly careful
CLOWNY MISFORTUNES CHAPTER 68
RALPH sipped from a mug."Let us review another bit of history. You remember Francis J. Heney, special investigator of the state of California, who was shot down in cold blood in the courtroom in San Francisco. You remember that dastardly crime, do you not? The United Railways, consisting of a lot of plutocrats and highbinders represented by the Chamber of Commerce, absolutely control the city of San Francisco. The city was and is their private reservation. Their will is the supreme law. Take your stand against them and question their authority, and you are doomed. They do not hesitate a moment to plot murder or any other crime to perpetuate their corrupt and enslaving regime. Tom Mooney was the chief representative of the working class they could not control. They own the railways; they control the great industries; they are the industrial masters and the political rulers of the people. From their decision there is no appeal. They are the autocrats of the Pacific coast&mdash
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