TEXT
"America Safe!"
If any man is afraid of bolshevism in America, I know how to
cure him. Let him visit a few schools. Then let him talk to a few
farmers. He will quickly discover that good old-fashioned
Americanism is not dead. The farmer, in spite of the fact that he
does not get a fair return on the product of his labor, is faithful
to the principles on which this country was founded. School
children are still taught the fundamentals of constitutional
democracy. As long as this is so, we are far from danger of
revolution.
Our national life is disturbed because of the high cost of
living, industrial unrest, and political conflict. These are
temporary problems if they are handled intelligently. Anybody has
the right to advocate anything whatever, except a forcible change
in our government by violent means. I know of no greater safety
valve than to let a man talk. The dangerous ones are the ones who
don't do any talking, at least in public.
The unrest in this country today is psychic as well as
industrial. We are in a fair way to cure the latter problem by
creating a practical partnership between capital and labor. Both
sides realize that there is greater profit in working together,
than in fighting. Labor will always get more than it has in the
past, and that is as it should be. Labor unions are here to stay.
The right of collective bargaining and the right to strike to
enforce demands must in the future be taken for granted.
Practically everything which labor has won in the last half century
has been secured through unions, which have not been conciliatory,
but have fought for what they got. You cannot make men work by
threatening them with jail. You cannot govern the country
industrially by injunction.
The high cost of living is due to our wasteful system of
distribution. Food products pass through too many hands between
the farmer and the consumer. Every unnecessary middle-man should
be eliminated. No one should be allowed to take a profit, and
thereby increase the cost of a product, unless he performs a
legitimate service to the consumer.
Another cause for the high cost of living is our present
taxation system. The excess profit tax places every businessman
under an artificial and illogical restraint. If you have a piece
of property which has increased in value and sell it, you are taxed
on the profit, with a result that no businessman closes any sale
nowadays if he can avoid it. Business ought to be as easy to
transact as possible, but the present condition is just the
reverse. Why should a man embark on a new enterprise today? If he
does so and loses, he loses. If he wins, the government takes
nearly all of it away from him, and so he loses anyhow.
In the coming conflict with the Bolsheviki, the Allies need
the aid of Germany, who is in a position geographically and
otherwise to be a strong bulwark against the Russian hordes. It
would be a great mistake to destroy Germany. That she should be
punished for inaugurating the war goes without saying, but
punishment should not mean annihilation.
The Democratic party in office has been a party of
achievement. Victory will be ours in the coming election, if we
will firmly uphold our ideals. Let us restore goodwill among the
nations of the earth, and advocate freedom for subject people
everywhere. Let us stand for freedom of business and for the
freedom and happiness of American homes.
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