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Interests Of The Workers

Interests Of The Workers image
Parent Issue
Day
15
Month
August
Year
1902
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Attorney Wedmeyer Speaks of the Masses

HIS FAIRFIELD ADDRESS

Spoke to the Pioneers--Workingmen Kings of the Republic, He Said

At the pioneer picnic at Fairfield on Friday last, Attorney W. W. Wedemeyer, after graphically describing the journeys of the early pioneers through the wilderness, said among other things:

"When at last the destination was reached and the end of the journey had come. No old friends to greet them! No doors to swing open with hospitality! Nothing to bid them welcome but mighty forests, clear streams and rich and fertile soil.

"It is hard for us of the younger generation to realize that loss than a century ago this region was all a wilderness inhabited by the red man, who is now little more than a memory. To the old pioneers who are now in the winter of their days the springtime of their lives must seem like the dream of another world.

"These annual picnics are reminders of things both sad and pleasant. You miss many faces that had grown familiar to you in the dear old days gone by. Even with those who remain many a brow is just a little more wrinkled since last you met; many an eye has lost its cunning; many a foot no longer has its fleetness. Yet there is an inexpressible pleasure and tenderness in meeting old friends and acquaintances--the associates of years.

"Many of these older folks learned the lessons of their school days in the old log school house which is now but a memory. But the lessons taught amid these rude surroundings were such as trained vigorous men and noble minded women.

"Schools are not made up of brick and mortar and stone; they are made of finer material than these. The heart and conscience of the teacher, the earnest desire on the part of the scholar to learn the lessons of truth and of life--these are the things that make the real school, no matter whether its sessions be held in log cabin or massive hall.

"It is the working thousands who have made the republic what it is. It is their interests--and not the interests of the few--that should have our attention. Our hearts beat in sympathy with the men who toil. That is why we hope for the success of the coal miners who are fighting for wages and conditions that will enable them to live decently and to give their children the advantages of a good education. Of course, we do not approve of any violence. President Mitchell condemns this, and we agree with him. But our hearts, and hopes and prayers are with the working men and toiling women-- the real kings and queens of the republic. We do not recognize any ruling classes. We believe that the power comes of right from the people--from the consent of the governed. We must watch out carefully for the interests of the working masses, and if we do this there is no limit to the development of this republic, which is, as has been well said, 'in the forenoon of its best days.' "