I am particularly glad to speak to this audience of miners and their
wives and children, and especially to speak under the auspices of this
great temperance society. In our country the happiness of all the rest
of our people depends most of all upon the welfare of the wage-worker
and the welfare of the farmer. If we can secure the welfare of these
two classes we can be reasonably certain that the community as a
whole will prosper. And we must never forget that the chief factor
in securing the welfare alike of wage-worker and of farmer, as of
everybody else, must be the man himself.
The only effective way to help anybody is to help him help himself.
There are exceptional times when any one of us needs outside help, and
then it should be given freely; but normally each one of us must depend
upon his own exertions for his own success. Something can be done by
wise legislation and by wise and honest administration of the laws;
that is, something can be done by our action taken in our collective
capacity through the State and the Nation.
Something more can be done by combination and organization among
ourselves in our private capacities as citizens, so long as this
combination or organization is managed with wisdom and integrity, with
insistence upon the rights of those benefited and yet with just regard
for the rights of others.
But in the last analysis the factor most influential in determining any
man’s success must ever be the sum of that man’s own qualities, of his
knowledge, foresight, thrift, and courage. Whatever tends to increase
his self-respect, whatever tends to help him overcome the temptations
with which all of us are surrounded, is of benefit not only to him, but
to the whole community.
No one society can do more to help the wage-worker than such a
temperance society as that which I am now addressing. It is of
incalculable consequence to the man himself that he should be sober
and temperate, and it is of even more consequence to his wife and his
children; for it is a hard and cruel fact that in this life of ours the
sins of the man are often visited most heavily upon those whose welfare
should be his one especial care.
For the drunkard, for the man who loses his job because he can not
control or will not control his desire for liquor and for vicious
pleasure, we have a feeling of anger and contempt mixed with our pity;
but for his unfortunate wife and little ones we feel only pity, and
that of the deepest and tenderest kind.
Everything possible should be done to encourage the growth of that
spirit of self-respect, self-restraint, self-reliance, which if it only
grows enough is certain to make all those in whom it shows itself move
steadily upward toward the highest standard of American citizenship.
It is a proud and responsible privilege to be citizens of this great
self-governing Nation; and each of us needs to keep steadily before
his eyes the fact that he is wholly unfit to take part in the work of
governing others unless he can first govern himself. He must stand up
manfully for his own rights; he must respect the rights of others;
he must obey the law, and he must try to live up to those rules of
righteousness which are above and behind all laws.
This applies just as much to the man of great wealth as to the man
of small means; to the capitalist as to the wage-worker. And as one
practical point, let me urge that in the event of any difficulty,
especially if it is what is known as a labor trouble, both sides show
themselves willing to meet, willing to consult, and anxious each to
treat the other reasonably and fairly, each to look at the other’s side
of the case and to do the other justice. If only this course could
be generally followed, the chance of industrial disaster would be
minimized.
Now, my friends, I want to read you an extract from a letter I have
just received from a Catholic priest whom I know well and whom I know
to be as stanch a friend of the laboring man as there is to be found in
this country. Now and then—not too often—it is a good thing for all of
us to hear what is not perhaps altogether palatable, provided only that
the person who tells the truth is our genuine friend, knows what he is
talking about (even though he may not see all sides of the case), and
tells us what he has to say, not with a desire to hurt our feelings,
but with the transparent purpose to do us good. With this foreword,
here is a part of the letter:
“I would humbly recommend that you lend your entire weight to the cause
which the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America represents, and
especially so in its relation to the working classes of this country,
for whom it is doing so much good. You know that the temperance
movement is a potent auxiliary to the institutions of our country
in building up a better manhood and a truer Christianity among our
citizens. It played a very important part in the two coal strikes
of 1900 and 1902, respectively, by keeping the men sober, and thus
removing the danger of riotous and unbecoming conduct. There is one
discouraging feature connected with the upward tendency of the wage
scale among the workmen of this country. The higher the wages, the
more money they spend in saloons. The shorter the hours, the more they
are inclined to absent themselves from home. An apparent disregard for
family ties is growing among the poorer classes which will eventually
lead to a disregard for the blessings our country affords them. Hence,
with an increase of wages a corresponding movement for better manhood,
nobler citizenship, and truer Christianity should be set on foot.
The dignity of labor should be maintained, which can be done only
through the love that a man should have for his work, and through the
intelligence which he puts into it. A steady hand and sober mind are
necessary for this. Hence, the necessity of the temperance cause and of
the efforts which organized abstainers are putting into the movement.”
Now, in what is here written this priest does not mean that the
tendency is to grow worse; but he means that with shorter hours and
increased wages there is a tendency to go wrong which must be offset by
movements such as this great temperance movement and similar efforts
for social and civic betterment, or else the increase in leisure and
money will prove a curse instead of a blessing. I strive never to tell
any one what I do not thoroughly believe, and I shall not say to you
that to be honest, and temperate, and hardworking, and thrifty will
always bring success.
The hand of the Lord is sometimes heavy upon the just as well as upon
the unjust, and in the life of labor and effort which we must lead on
this earth it is not always possible either by work, by wisdom, or by
upright behavior to ward off disaster. But it is most emphatically true
that the chance for leading a happy and prosperous life is immensely
improved if only the man is decent, sober, industrious, and exercises
foresight and judgment. Let him remember above all that the performance
of duty is the first essential to right living, and that a good type
of average family life is the cornerstone of national happiness and
greatness. No man can be a good citizen, can deserve the respect of his
fellows, unless first of all he is a good man in his own family, unless
he does his duty faithfully by his wife and children.
I strongly believe in trades unions wisely and justly handled, in
which the rightful purpose to benefit those connected with them is not
accompanied by a desire to do injustice or wrong to others. I believe
it the duty of capitalist and wage-worker to try to seek one another
out, to understand each the other’s point of view, and to endeavor to
show broad and kindly human sympathy one with the other.
I believe in the work of these great temperance organizations, of all
kindred movements like the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Christian
Associations, in short in every movement which strives to help a man
by teaching him how to help himself. But most of all I believe in the
efficacy of the man himself striving continually to increase his own
self-respect by the way in which he does his duty to himself and to his
neighbor.