Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-04-18
THE RELATION OF GOV. STAMFORD TO
LABOR INTERESTS.

Ndt'ondt Paeu, OF Washington, ID. C., upon
the address of Senator Leland Stanford be-
fore the Senate Committee on Pacific Rail
roads upon the question of the settlement
of the issues between the Central Pacific
Railroad Company and the Federal Gov
eminent. The VieW is an exponent of in
dustrial interests and paper devoted to
advocacy of the claims of workingmen and
consideration of their relation to capital.
That il should take up and consider the
railroad question calmly and without the
bias that has been manifest in so many
other quarters in the past, speaks of the
respect the workingmen have for Senator
Stanford and the industrial enterprises he
represents, and of the vital interest labor
realizes it has in the question of the devel-
opment of the railroad system of Califor-
MIA, of which the Central Pacific was and
is the kernel.
The relation of Senator Stanford to the
workingmen of the country is one thor
oughly well understood. Labor has never
had a truer friend or wiser counselor.
Governor Stanford's own rise to wealth
and prominence has never made him blind
to the deserts and rights of the toiling
masses. His constant rule has been to en-
courage, elevate fully, and amply reward
labor, while demanding full and ample
service for the compensation paid. He
has, in all the years of his life, been the
advocate of good wages. The record of
the history of this employer of thousands
discloses no instance of any effort on his
part to screw down the earnings of labor
to the bare point of necessity. 1t is
well understood in California that his
idea is that our civilization is indi-
Gated by the condition of the work
ing classes; that in republic it is
essential that the toiling citizen shall be
independent and able to take and maintain
independent positions that the individu-
atty of the wage-earners of the nation
must not be absorbed by any influence {;
that the artisan and worker in America
must be enabled to live up to state truly
representative of the republic as pro-
gressive and elevating influence in the
scheme of the worlds advance.
Senator Stanford's company being the
largest employer upon the Pacific coast.
he has been enabled to exemplify his faith
in these matters. A strike has not only
never occurred among the men in the en-
ployment of the company, or in his indi-
vidual industries, but has never even been
threatened, or so much as dreamed of.
The great thought of his private life is
scheme of education that will develop CO.
temporaneously head and hand; intellect
and mechanical skill that shall mold the
mind and also train to cunning and self
helpfulness the willing hand To this
end he is now devoting his fortune his ex-
ecutive capacity and indomitable energy.
So much has he had at heart the cause of
the workingmen of America, who consti-
tute the elements of national strength and
American progress in the larger measure,
that he early conceived and projected into
the national Congress the only scheme for
the legalizing and fostering by legislation
of the cooperation of labor, by which
workingmen can capitalize their skill and
energy, and incorporate under laws that
will protect and advance their interests in
manner impossible under mere partner
ship or ordinary cooperative association.
1t is therefore not surprising that
journal especially expository of the inter-
ests and views of labor should comment
favorably and with intelligence upon the
question now at issue between the Govern
ment and the company of which Senator
Stanford is the official head, and demand
for his expressions the calm consideration
of unbiased judgment and justice flowing
men.
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