The City that Might Be
Uy Washington
Gladden, D. I).
tna wuriuy worn is uone
I under the inspiration of ideals.
the things that are seen, but at
thJ n KS that N m linMAon whnn Ia
calls the angel out of the murblo
clock. The musician is listening to voices
that were never hoard on land or
ea when he Indites the symphony.
The architect beholds the temple in
the air before he builds it upon the
earth. And we to whom tho larger, fairer,
divluer task is given of building tho city
not merely the street and parks, tho ware
houses and shops and halls und homes, but
the Institutions, customs, laws In which its
civic life is munifestod-inust needs lift our
thoughts to realms above ourselves that tho
pattern of the structure wa are to build
may be revealed to us.
The city that might bethe city that
ought to be-this is the object of our faith of
our devotion. What might this city of ours
-this New York, Philadelphia. Chicago,
Cleveland. ItufTalo, Columbus-what might
It be, what ought it to bo-how clean and
bright and safe and healthful; how free
from everything that could hurt or detllo or
destroy; how full of everything that could
minister to tho comfort and convenience
and culture and happiness of the citizens;
Us laws, how wisely and impartially ad
ministered; Its burdens, how equitably
adjusted; its curse, how swift and deudly
upon all who seek to make spoil of Its
revenues; its officers, how diligent, how
conscientious, how self-denying in the pub
lic service; its citizens, how prompt to re
spond to tho call of the community; its
property-holders, how ready each to bear
his portion of the public burden; its help
less wurds, how tenderly cared for; its
beggara and parasites, how sternly com
pelled to eat their own bread; its wh lo
life, how instinct with justice and truth
and righteousness, how vital with m rcy
und good will! This is the city which is
coming down out of heaven from Clod c ora
ing as fast as wc make room for It. It
comes very slowly, because there are so
few who believe in it, and look for It. and
make ready for it; according to our fuith
It must be unto us. For Just as soon as
the people begin to believe in a city like this
it will be here In all its glory. Nothing
hinders its coming nothing in the world
tout our want of faith. Is it not true that
tho one thing needful is a little more of
genuine civic relislonT
Never until some such Ideal as this takes
possession of tho thought of the people and
kindles their enthusiasm shall we have good
government in our cities. Men must have
ouiethlng to believe In, to love, to be loyal
Labor Day
I I Is being quietly pushed by the
I nn Kal.ln.l If I..
mm
quietly and unostentatiously ac
complishing a great good more
than Is generally appreciated. The wage
earners are beginning to better understand
the objects of the federation and to re
spect it.
It is wrong. In my opinion, to belittle the
efforts Of the Civic Federation it is quito
unfair to expect a solution of the labor
troubles all at oneo.
There are many who criticise; many un
believers and doubters as to the fruition
of this great question, but my reply to
them la that the men who at long range
criticise and doubt the future of a settle
ment of this great question only demon
strate their Ignorance. They do not know
the workings of it.
I hove had over thirty-five years' ex
perience in operating mines, and the last
five have been the most satisfactory ones.
During that period the miners have re
spected their agreement and have refused
to go out on sympathetic strikes.
Thirty years ago I was u witness of and
participated in one of the most serious
strikes that ever occurred in Ohio. It was
the miners' strike of the TuscarawHS val
ley. After It had been settled, after prop
erty had been destroyed and blood had
boon shed, there came a ttme to think it
over, und I made up my mind that there
was a better way to settle such disputes
than that.
I:i most instances the Civic Federation
lias settlod every labor difficulty that has
come to it, although the organization failed
to settle the anthracite coal strike.
I admit that the Civic Fedoraion failed
In its efforts there. It is hard to conciliate.
It is hard to arbitrate a question when only
one side will consider it.
When aptealing to the employers to con
sider some things In connection with the
situation that I did not think they fully
appreciated or understood, I told of the
experience of myself and associates re
cently in connection with tiie coal mining
of western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiuna and
Illinois.
After days and nights of negotiation, (lve
years ago we organized what was termed
"the Interstate association." composed of
tho operatives of tho coal mines of these
tales. We agreed upon a scale of wages
AexlUe enough to adapt Itself to different
to, to fight for, and it is always the Ideal
that inspires heroism and devotion. A na
tional idea we have; the prosiest American
has some conception of it. It was the na
tion that might be, the nation that ought
to bo, that kindled the ardors of revolutionary-
pnrtrlotlsm, that Sam Adams and
Patrick Henry jdead for and that Wash
ington and lYcscott and Stark and Greene
fought for; it was the nation that ought to
lie that Meade's army saved from death
uiwn the heights of Gettysburg and that
Lincoln crowned there with his immortal
words, it has not been the actual nation,
with Its broken promises nnd Its lnme
purposes and its piggish politics, that has
Inspired our ardor of patriotism; the nation
that we live for and are ready to die for, la
the one to whom we cry:
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee!
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our
tears,
Our faith, triumphant o'er our fears.
Are all with thee are all with thee.
It Is only because there Is an Ideal nation
to which our love and loyalty can be given
that patriotism exists. It Is to be feu red
that such a conception is scarcely enter
tained in relation to the life of many of
our cities. What we are constrained, for
want of a better term, to call municipal
patriotism hardly has a name to live. There
Is, Indeed, In some cases, not a little local
pride, but not much, though, of the city as
Invented with a character and llfo of its
own, as a kind of moral personality toward
which one might cherish a loyal love. What
Is a city? We are told that it is a corpora
tion. Well, I am afraid that that Is Just
about all there Is of It in the minds of
many of us. Such a soulless entity ran In
spire no love, can call forth no loyalty. It
Is something that the legislature had cre
ated, and wc are not generally moved to
worship the work of such hands. The city
is thus Invested with a kind of legal, for
mal, artificial character, and there Is noth
ing that appeals to our higher sentiments.
These frigid conceptions must be put away
from our minds. It may be useful, for some
purposes, to consider tho city as a corpora
tion, but unless it is vastly more than that
to the great body of its citizens Its history
will not be on Inspiring one. It seems to
me that there ought to be something In
the civic life of a great city which admits
of Idi nllzation, something that appeals to
the imagination of tho citizen, something
that inspires In him a genuine devotion.
Can we not think of the city In which we
live us becoming, more and more, a great
social organism, bound together by bonds
that are not wholly economic by human
sympathies and Interests, with a character
to develop and a destiny to fulfill; moving
Talk on Arbitration
physical conditions. The sonle once agreed
upon, all that bec.amo necessary was to fix
the basic rrice.
That was live years ago. The contract
was made. Tho operators went into the
markets and sold their coal and the coal
miners abided by their contracts nnd de
livered It. The next year it was renewed
by a horizontal advance and then lust year
it was renewed.
In using that argument with others It
was said to me: "Why, what is your con
tract worth with a labor organization? If
it don't want to keep It, it won t, and you
can't make it." That Is true, but when tho
remark carried with it the insinuation lhat
men of that class had no honor in carrying
out a contract, I want to say that I deny It,
and now I have the proof.
President Mitchell of the miners' associa
tion Is a good man. There ought to be
more like him. He is able and honest.
Such men at tho head of the labor organi
sations of the country would ussuro rea
sonable consideration of labor questions.
It Is not fair because overt acts have
been committed by irresponsible parties to
say to such an organization as this: "We
condemn you because there have been In
dividual cases perhaps too many of them
when those in tho interests of labor,
whether orgunlzcd or unorganized, have
pursued a policy antagonistic to social and
moral law."
It In not within our province to condemn
In a wholesale way this great movement
because of those conditions, but rather It
i:i a duty, a sacred duty, for us to use
all the efforts and Influence) In the circles
of labor and In the rank of capital to bring
about a condition of things which will pre
vent the occurrence and reoccurrence of
such differences. There is nothing in re
ligion that appeals more strongly to human
nature than a determination on the part of
every good man to do all In 111 j pwer to
benelit his fellow man and sjclety. And I
say, shame upon the man, or men. In the
face of the spirit of our Institutions; In the
face of our high educational opportunities;
In the face of the spirit of this government
and its people, to riso up ami my, "I urn
better than thou." and condemn tluxc who,
not having in their curly environments
those opportunities of education and n
llghtenment, may go astray in the pjr.ult
of their own Interests, to cosdemn all their
fellow men who ore honestly and earnestly
steadily forward, under the Influence of a
righteous purpose, in the ways of peaceful
progress, strengthening law, enlarging lib
erty, diffusing Intelligence, promoting hap
piness, becoming, through the co-operative
good will of Its people, a mighty and
benignant l'rovidenco to all who dwell
within Its walls? Are there not possibili
ties In the life of these cities of ours that
can make a man's heart glow with great
hopes nnd high enthusiasms? On what
forces do we rely for the reformation of our
municipal life? For the accomplishment of
this work there must bo motives. Whut are
they? To what can wo appeal?
Wo can appeal to the citizen's love of
comfort and cleanliness; we tan show him
the filthy streets and the cloggod sewcrj
and tell him that such things ought nit
to be; we can awaken his fears of cholera,
and such spirals have their place and
are not Ineffectual.
We can show him, no doubt, that under
such government as he is permitting there
Is a great lack of security for his person
and his property, and that, also, Is an In
fluential motive.
What wo do urge upon him most dili
gently is tho increase of tho tax rate and
the fact that unless he is adroit enough
to hide his gains from the assessor hi
prolits will be greatly reduced by the
growth of taxation. This Is the motive
on which we chiefly rely. Municipal re
form, in the conception of nine men out of
ten, Is the reduction of the tax r.ito.
Well, that Is not an insignificant mailer;
it ought to tie duly considered, and it will
be; there Is no danger that It will be over
looked. Hut can we draw from all theo con
siderations an ndequate motive power for
the work of thoroughly reforming the gov
ernments of our cities? Will the raving
for comfort and the fear of contagion,
coupled with tho with for a reduction of
taxes, call forth an energy and a unity of
popular feeling which will achieve the
glorious work? It seems to me that they
reckon ill who put their trust In such
forces. Down on this plane, pottering with
Biieh motives, wo shall find our structure
crumbling under our hands; any gains
that we make In one direction will bo
neutralized by losses in another. Uiles
wo can find something higher and nob'er
than this to work for our labor will bo as
the task of Sisyphus.
We sometimes hear It said that the one
thing needful Is the administration of the
municipality on business principles. In a
certain narrow sense this Baying may be
Justified. We ought to have a methodical
economical administration, of course; we
working for tho benefit of themselves and
their families, whether In organized labor
or outside of It.
The men who are at the head of organ
ized labor have seen service, Thoy know
tho conditions und environment of their
fellows, and ull that labor organizations are
called upon to do (and that is a very Im
portant factor) Is to choose men for these
high places of responslb'Iity who sro lookod
to for advice and leadership; of sucii a
character that they will leid, when they
d lead. In tho right direction.
Many of the great captains of industry
today, men who nro at tho head of very
many of our great industrial concerns,
worked at tho bench, worked at the pud
dling furnace, workoi at the loom, worked
In tho minus and worked la the factory.
They did not seize anybody's money.
Thoy earned it by their Intelligence and ex
perience. They earned It beau so they had
tho opportunities to acquire that practice
which enabled thorn to put It upon an equal
plune with capital, and in tho progres of
development it has had their share of the
products.
The worklngmcn of fifty years ago those
who are alive, many of them are the em
ployers of today. Is It In their nature to
oppress? Is It In their nature to cavil
becauso others who have started after
them, with less opportunity, are demanding
all the advantages that conditions will
afford them?
It is u narrow-minded view to take of a
broad question to undertake to prove that
because some men have acquired more of
this world's goods than others they have
come by It In an Illegitimate and unlawful
or nn unfair way.
Starling In the race of life along the
Industrial pursuits of this country, every
man has been successful in proportion to
his efforts and his energies and his oppor
tunities. There can be no custom or law
that will change these conditions. Nor do I
believe It is a fair rritlcism upon organized
labor to say that the poor workman under
the Fystem of organized labor receives Just
as great advantage us the good workman.
Ttore may be Isolated cases. It Is a mis
taken policy that permits It, lu my Judg
ment, Lut becauso we are in our infancy
in demonstrating these great principles,
with experience before us as our teacher,
we can find an adjustment for all such
dimcuJtloa.
Vrom what I know of bumaa nature.
ought to Insivt on getting money's worlll
for our taxes. Hut other than husii.ea
principles must control our people ami
their representatives In otllcv, else we
shall continue to have precisely what we
have had. Tho trouble with our citizens
our best citizens has always bo n that thy
have quite too much Inclined to base their
clvio action upon "business principles."
They havo always wanted to buy the bene
llts of good municipal government In the
cheapest market and to sell them In th.i
dearest. Their problem has been to get
Just as much as possible for themso'voa
out of the city on I to give Just a little a
possible In return for It of time, of money,
of sacrifice. Ho long us this is the pro
vailing purpoFO of the citizens It will be the
prevailing purpose of their representatives
in olllce; business principles lil control
their conduct; olllce will be to them an op
portunity of gain, nnd they will miko
what they can out of it. I think It Is tl no
that we began to see that goo.l government
calls for sumo higher principles on the part
of the citizens than what we doecrlb.i iu
business principles.
It calls for the recognition of rlvta UVils;
for a vision that can discern not merely
tho city that stands upon tho earth, bat
the fairer eily which Is coming down from
heaven to earth, nfter whoso pattern tho
earthly forms must bo continually re
shaped. There Is Ju-tt as much need In
the city as In the nation of cherlihlrg an
Ideal of liberty, of purity, of perfection, of
leaving the things that urn behind nnd
stretching forth unto tho things that are
lie fore, of cultivating a generous faith and
a high enthusiasm. 'I hero Is need of
thinking much of a kind of civic life that
Is pot o-s yet, but that might be, and that
ought to be, and that must be If there Is a
Ood In heaven; a city whocc ollUor shall
bo peace and whose exactors rlghteou ness;
a city vrho.se homes shall be sacred and
secure; whose traffic shall be wlioli sono
nnd beneficent; whose laborers shall go
forth to their cheerful toil unburdened by
tho heavy hand of legalized monopolies;
whose laws xhull foster no more, curses,
nor open the gate 4 to whatsoever worketh
abomination or maketh a He; whose street
shall be full of happy children," playing In
SHfety and learning the great iossons of
civic piety, und whose cltixens on any shore
shall find their thoughts turning homeward
with a great longing, while they cry:
If I forget thee. Oh city of my hoirt!
Let my ritrlit hand forgot her cuntitng;
ljot my tongue cleave to the roof of my
mouth.
If 1 remember thee not.
If I prefer thoe not
Above my chief Joy.
Columbus, O.
Senator Mark Ilanna in
Philadelphia North American
every man has an approachable spot, and
the best way to reach that spot Is by kind
nets. You can reach men by coming near
them and learning their conditions. To
say lhat labor leaders aro always In tho
wrong Is not true; to say that tho majority
of them do not intend to do right is a mis
take. My theory Is that If you bring men to
gether In a way to make them know each
other, and If you appeal to the head and
the heart, you establish a bond between
the two factions that cannot bo broken.
The Civic Federation Is trying to establish
a condition of absolute confidence between
employer and employe. We remember the
golden rule and try to live up to Its prin
ciple. This is the only way that I know
to settle the dispute between capital and
labor.
As long as labor was In a situation that
it must submit, it did so, but In the twen
tieth century, when thinking men began
to think seriously upon this question, they
made up their minds that they must give
consideration to the fact that the labor
ing man Is entitled to a greater share of
the products of Industry than he has en
joyed In the past.
We must give them a larger share of
the profits of industry which they helped,
to create. Put there are other grievances
than the matter of labor which demand at
tention. Therefore workmen banded them
Belvcs together Into organisations for their
own benefit organizations which through
proper means will enable them to reach
that source of power which will bring a
romedy.
These organizations, so far as I am fa
mlllnr with them, carry beneficial features
a mutual assistance to the members nnd
their families.
What better motive, what greater In
centive can be urged to Induce the amal
gamation of labor than this? How much
of that principle enters Into the organiza
tion of capital? None of it, so fur as I
know. As king as I live and have my
strength I shall do as I am doing today
appeal to my fellow countrymen and ull
classes of citizens who are Interested In
these great soclul questions to appreciate
these conditions.
It is a fact, then, that more than 50 per
cent of the strikes in this country have
been settled in favor irt the laborers. WfJ
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