54 8 Presidential Addresses 



deal, is the problem which has for one side the bet- 

 terment of social conditions, moral and physical, 

 in large cities, and for another side the effort to 

 deal with that tangle of far-reaching questions 

 which we group together when we speak of "labor." 

 The chief factor in the success of each man wage- 

 worker, farmer, and capitalist alike must ever be 

 the sum total of his own individual qualities and 

 abilities. Second only to this comes the power of 

 acting in combination or association with others. 

 Very great good has been and will be accomplished 

 by associations or unions of wage-workers, when 

 managed with forethought, and when they combine 

 insistence upon their own rights with law-abiding 

 respect for the rights of others. The display of 

 these qualities in such bodies is a duty to the nation 

 no less than to the associations themselves. Finally, 

 there must also in many cases be action by the gov- 

 ernment in order to safeguard the rights and inter- 

 ests of all. Under our Constitution there is much 

 more scope for such action by the State and the 

 municipality than by the nation. But on points such 

 as those touched on above the National Government 

 can act. 



When all is said and done, the rule of brotherhood 

 remains as the indispensable prerequisite to success 

 in the kind of national life for which we strive. 

 Each man must work for himself, and unless he 

 so works no outside help can avail him; but each 

 man must remember also that he is indeed his 

 brother's keeper, and that while no man who refuses 



