The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1869-06-03
Grant and the Eight Hour Law.


General, Mr.. Hoar, had given q written
opinion to the Secretary of the Navy, con-
STRUNG the eight hour law passed by Con-
gross, to mean a corresponding reduction of
wages. The meaning of the law having
been thus interpreted by the law officer of
the government, one of whose duties it is to
construe acts Of Congress and define their
legal effect for the information and guidance
of the President and other officers of the
government, it was to be expected that
President Grant would consider himself
bound by the opinion Of his own Attorney
General. Such has heretofore been the re-
spect that has uniformly been accorded by
all Presidents to carefully prepared legal
dent than Grant would have followed their
example. But We live in an age Of pro-
gress, and it is one of the incomprehensible
things of this administration, that Grant
has issued a proclamation in which he de-
clares that, notwithstanding the act of Con-
gress, there shall be no reduction in the
navy yards and government work shops
of the wages heretofore paid for ten hours
work. In other words, he proclaims to the
country that when Congress passed the
eight heur law it did not understand what
it was doing, and that when his own Attor-
ney General construes it to mean reduc-
tion of wages, he does not comprehend the
question. The first Of these propositions ia
fa1l bN,F ha
by the President on Mr.. Hoar is undessrved
lie is a gentleman of acknowledged ability
in his profession and is perfectly competent
to construe the meaning of an act of Con-
gress.
From what source does President Grant
derive his authority to suspend the legal eff
feet of an act Of Congress by proclamation
No other President ever assumed tho exer-
else of such a sweeping and dangerous pow
er. If Andrew johnson had done 80, the
hounds Of impeachment would have been
speedily on his track. If the law is defective
the evil can only be remedied by Congress
itself That Congress intended oy the act to
pay government workmen the same wages
for eight hours labor that it had been accus-
toned to pay for ten, is perhaps true, but
it is equally as plain that it had not the
ability to say so in language that either Mr.
Borie or Mr.. HOar could comp ehend.
The issuing of this proclamation is fear
full assumption of power, and yet it has
been applauded by the radical press and wa
presume it will be quietly submitted to. 1t
is the beginning of the end. An imperial
ukase issued by the Emperor Of Russia has
all the force and effect of positive law,
but no President in this country can oxer-
else any such absolute power. The mo-
msnt he could do go we would cease to be a
republic and would become a despotism.-
This proclamation, therefore, is simply nall
ani void, and is not worth the paper on
which it was written. That it ever should
have been issued at all is another Of the
ever increasing wonders Of this bungIing
administration
1t is singular coincidence, that on the
very day on which the President published
this remarkable document, William D. Kel-
ly. radical member of Congress from Phil
adelphia, addressed letter to the workmen
employed by the government in his district,
in which he refers to the total want Of pow
er in the President over the subject, in the
following language:
al believe that public officers are bound to
obey the law. l compelled to sustain the
order of the Secretary or the Navy. The law
of 1862 provides that the hours Of labor and
the rate of wages of the employees in the navy
yards shall conform nearly is consistent
with the public nterests with those of private
establishments in the immediate vicinity of the
respective yards This is still in force,
and the solicitor of the navy and Attorney Gen
eral, to whom the question has been referred,
have advised the Secretary and President Grant
that, under its provisions, they cannot legally
pay for eight hours work the same wages that
are paid for ten hours by private establishments
IN the immediate vicinity of the yards respect
lively. If, therefore, men who work in navy
yards are to receive tw enty- five per cent. mere
than thoy would get for the same work in pri-
Vate establishments, the act of 1862 must be
repealed. That can only be done by Congress.
Neither the Secretary of the Navy nor the
President has the power to rer cal law, or the
right to disregard one."