Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1877-08-08
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new planks in its platform as remedies
for the numerous wrongs with which
the country is afflicted. These politi
cal doctors are either fools or knaves
or both, or they suppose that then
constituencies are made up Of that
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ments Tor seventeen years, and forcing
public and private bankruptcy on the
people, the leaders OF this same party
propose at this late day certain reno
dies by which all the ills that aillici
us, morally, commercially, and in n po
liticial sense, shall be cured. From the
standpoint ut which We look at the
patient and the doctors we pronounce
the latter quacks and the former near.
ly doctored TO death. The remedies
proposed are worse than the disease
and ii the people are foolish enough to
take another dose OF this last Radical
mixture, gotten up by Dr. Hayes and
his stool-pigcons, the end of the Re-
public is at hand. A cotcmporary in
alluding to this subject, says:
"Mr. Hayes and his friends thought
il necessary to throw dainty bait to
labor Tho result is the adoption Of
a labor plank which aims at a radical
change in the nature of our constitu-
ton. 1t proposes--in order to catch
the striker vote-that Congress shall
establish national bureau ofindustry.
That may mean anything or nothing,
Really it means nothing; but what II
intends to convey to the laborers out
of work is that Congress shall furnish
them work in the national bureau OF
industry at fair prices, &C., &c. This
is impracticable, of course but still
the plank sets forth a doctrine in the
last degree dangerous. Ii admits the
fatal principle that government is
bound to provide for the unemployed,
and that premium is TO be put on
thriitlessness and idleness among the
laboring classes. Nothing is more dan.
gerous to Republican institutions than
this doctrine, however covered up with
smooth, fair-sounding phrases. 1t
promises next that Congress exert its
authority over all national highways
of trade by prescribing and enforcing
such reasonable regulations as will
tend to promote the safety OF travel,
secure fair returns for capital invested
and fair wages to employees, prevent
ing acknowledgement, improper discrim.
ination and the aggrandizement of Of
ficials at the expense of stockholders
and shippers and employees Let these
propositions be scrutnized, What
authority has Congress over railroads,
which are private property, existing
under State iranchisos2 By what con
stitutional provision can Congress pre-.
scribe regulations TO secure fair returns
for capital invested and fair wages for
employees, &C., &c.'2 What, in a legal
sense, are national highways ? There
can be no sufficient answer to these
questions. The labor plank is fraud
"a thing to be expected under the
circumstances, considering the i6flu-
ences that controlled the Convention.
Again the labor plank demands that
provision be made for statutory arbi.
trations between employers and en-
ployes to adjust controversies, recon.
cile interests and establish Justice and
equity between them Statutory ar
bitration, indeed Have we not courts
and laws2 What is there to arbitrate2 ?
A railway says it wishes to hire labor
at fifty cents day-if you please. A
number OF laborers are willing TO work
at that rate. A number Of others say
that they shall not work for less than
dollar. What is there TO arbitrate ?
And how is the statutory arbitration
to adjust controversies, reconcile in
terests and establish Justice and equi-
ty between them'2 The thing is bosh,
and TO be bosh. Garfield, who presid-
ed in this Convention, knew perfectly
well that the labor plank was all do.
lusion and q snare II is bosh, but
dangerous bosh. 1t can accomplish
nothing practical; il was not intended
that it should but it feeds the hopes
OF the idle laboring class that they are
to be fostered in their idleness, and il
tends to build up proletraiat which
shall be troublesome hereafter In
marked contrast with this labor plank
OF the Republican Convention is that
of the Democratic Convention of the
same State made a few days previous
ly. That is simple, direct and true.
Il is ss follows: The destruction of
the industry Of the country and pau
perizing Of labor are the inevitable
fruits of vicious laws enacted by the
Republican party That is all. 1t
proposes no quack remedies, nor un-
constitutional or impossible measures,
II places the blanc for tho present
Of affairs exactly where il
belongs, and looks for improvement
only in q return to tho old and safe
paths. The Republican party, which
caused the evils, now proposes RENE.
dies worse than the disease. Mr.
Hayes and Stanley Matthews and Gar.