nt Roosevelt's philosophy of life, of its obligations and its
opportunities, is that each individual should develop as perfectly as is
possible whatever his native talent may be. To do that, in his view,
involves struggle, and struggle always entails leadership. And it has
seemed to him that in this process of high development of native gifts the
man who is obliged to work for wages, whether he be a skilled artisan or a
humble mechanic, must look to his fellows for help. Therefore, inevitably,
there have sprung up associations of those who are engaged in the
production of like articles.

Roosevelt and the Mine-Workers.

Of all the addresses and writings in which the President has expounded his
philosophy of labor, he probably best epitomized his opinions when he
delivered his speech to the miners at Wilkes-Barre, last October.

"I strongly believe," he said, "in trade-unions wisely and justly
handled, in which the rightful purpose to benefit those connected with
them is not accompanied by a desire to do injustice or wrong to others. I
believe in the duty of capitalists and wage-workers to try to seek one
another out, to understand one another's point of view, and to endeavor to
show broad and kindly human sympathy one with the other."

That philosophy is entirely consistent with the President's strong faith
in what may be called individualism. In his view, the labor-union serves
its chief purpose when it makes possible the highest development of the
gifts bestowed upon each individual by his Creator.

With this understanding it is easy to explain the personal interest
President Roosevelt has in all of those who are leaders in labor
organizations. The energy, the far-reaching understanding, the tact, and
the frequent use of somewhat imperious power, all of which were necessary
to bring the army of mine-workers into one compact organization, and all
of which have been exemplified by John Mitchell, were sure to appeal very
strongly to Theodore Roosevelt.

Twice since he became President he has had executive opportunity for
showing, not merely by word but in deed, exactly what is his understanding
of labor organizations and of their rights and limitations. To this day
the world does not accurately measure Roosevelt's action at the time of
the portentous struggle between the anthracite coal-miners and their
employers. At that crisis, when there was danger of something like civil
war, or at least of industrial anarchy