in history a government was founded on a
recognition of the sovereignty of the citizen which has irresistibly led
to a realization of the dignity of his occupation. It is with added
propriety that this day is observed this year. For the first time in
five years it comes at a time when the issue of world events makes it no
longer doubtful whether the American conception of work as the crowning
glory of men free and equal is to prevail over the age-old European
conception that work is the badge of the menial and the inferior. The
American ideal has prevailed on European battle-fields through the
loyalty, devotion, and sacrifice of American labor.

The duty of citizenship in this hour is to strive to maintain and
extend that ideal at home.

The past five years have been a time of rapid change and great progress
for the American people. Not only have the hours and conditions of labor
been greatly improved, but wages have increased about one hundred per
cent. There has been a great economic change for the better among all
wage-earners.

We have known that political power was with the people, because they
have the votes. We have generally supposed that economic power was not
with the people, because they did not own the property. This
supposition, probably never true, is growing more and more to be
contrary to the facts. The great outstanding fact in the economic life
of America is that the wealth of the Nation is owned by the people of
the Nation. The stockholders of the great corporations run into the
hundreds of thousands, the small tradesmen, the thrifty householders,
the tillers of the soil, the depositors in savings banks, and the now
owners of government bonds, make a number that includes nearly our
entire people. This would be illustrated by a few Massachusetts examples
from figures which were reported in 1918:

_Number of Stockholders_

Railroads 40,485
Street railways 17,527
Telephone 49,688
Western Union Telegraph 9,360
-------
117,060

_Number of Employees_

Railroads 20,604
Street railways 25,000
Telephone 11,471
Western Union Telegraph 2,065
------
59,140

Savings bank depositors 2,491,646

Railroad, street railway, and