Page:Organized labor (gompers, 1920).djvu/10

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tion of property; on the other it involves slavery, and the enforcement of either or both would be the beginning of the end, the death knell of the industrial and commercial superiority of America.

No one pretends that our present industrial life is the ideal one, but that it is the best that has yet been evolved in the history of the world, no sane man will deny. The organized labor movement, the industrial and commercial advancement to which we have attained even by our crude methods ought to be a sufficient answer to those who, by a patent process, imagine they can cure all the ills of mankind in the twinkling of an eye, or by the enactment of a law.

The point of success and superiority which we have reached, together with the bungling which the politicians, misnamed statesmen, have made of any attempt to deal with industrial affairs, ought to be a sufficient warrant to all earnest, right-thinking Americans to insist that political jugglery ought to be kept free at least from the industrial affairs of our people.

Despite the progress made and the vantage position we occupy, the hearts of all sincere men yearn for the better day, when the industrial strife and bitter feeling engendered by our economic development may be assuaged. In hoping and striving for that time, it is a libel upon the efforts of all to disparage and discredit the success already achieved. Each effort made and thought given toward solving the problems which confront us day by day are all tending toward the goal for which the whole past of the human race has been but one continuous preparatory struggle. Encourage the organization of the workers; help to make the path of progress easier, and lift up the hands of those who are endeavoring to bring about economic and social progress upon the lines of least resistance, conforming to the very best expressed thoughts and efforts for practical amelioration and final emancipation.