The Labor Question 257 



manfully so far as in him lies to help bring about 

 that solution. It is not as yet possible to say what 

 shall be the exact limit of influence allowed the State, 

 or what limit shall be set to that right of individual 

 initiative so dear to the hearts of the American peo 

 ple. All we can "say is that the need has been shown 

 on the one hand for action by the people, in their 

 collective capacity through the State, in many mat 

 ters ; that in other matters much can be done by as 

 sociations of different groups of individuals, as in 

 trade-unions and similar organizations; and that in 

 other matters it remains now as true as ever that 

 final success will be for the man who trusts in the 

 struggle only to his cool head, his brave heart, and 

 his strong right arm. There are spheres in which the 

 State can properly act, and spheres in which a free 

 field must be given to individual initiative. 



Though .the conditions of life have grown so puz 

 zling in their complexity, though the changes have 

 been so vast, yet we may remain absolutely sure of 

 one thing, that now, as ever in the past, and as it ever 

 will be in the future, there can be no substitute for 

 the elemental virtues, for the elemental qualities to 

 which we allude when we speak of a man as not 

 only a good man but as emphatically a man. We can 

 build up the standard of individual citizenship and 

 individual well-being, we can raise the national 

 standard and make it what it can and shall be made, 



