Free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1888-1908, 1900-09-15

clllQren are employed without cOU-
templating the crime which is being
perpetrated upon posterity. If there
is any temporary economic advantage
in the employment Of children Of ten
der age, it is insignificant when meas
ured against the permanent injury
done to present and future genera
tions- To rob a child of its school
days is bad enough, but to bend its
back by a load for which only the
adult is fitted is even worse.
The labor organization has also con-
tributec toward the shortening of the
hours of toll, and it should not cease
its efforts until the eight-hour day is
secured. Approximately, one-third of
the tWepty-four hours must be given
to sleep; if another third of the day
is devoted to manual labor, only eight
hours are left for eating, for going to
and from the place of work, for the
reading of current news, for mental
Improvement. recreation, social inter
course and domestic life. Since the
hours occupied in eating and travel
cannot be encroached upon, every hour
added to the days labor must be TAX
en- from the time for available intellect
ua1 development, recreation and the
family.
The labor organization has been a
consistent and persistent advocate of
the doctrine of arbitration, although
it is oIIncult to see why he burden of
this reform should be thrown upon the
laboring man. Surely the employer,
if he would take a comprehensive view
OF his own interests, would be as much
benefited by arbitration as the en-
plCye, and because every prolonged
contest between labor and capital
brings interruption to business and
| pecuniary loss to those who are in no
way responsible for the disagreement,
| society in general is even more inter
| ested than employers or employees. The
| desire for justice is so universal that
the public can be depended upon to
support the finding of an impartial
| board of arbitration as certainly as it
| can to support the successful con-
| testant in q lawsuit. The court of
| arbitration is one of the certeinties of
| the future, and when it is secured and
| perfected, we shall wonder why its
| coming was delayed so long.
The black list, by means of which
employers combine to deprive the dis
| charged workman of unemployment,
| is one of the more recent menaces to
| the Iaboring man. The independence
| of the wage-earner decreases as the
| difficulty of obtaining employment in
| creaseS, and the skilled workman,
whose life has been spent in acquiring
| efficiency in a certain trade or occu-
! patton, becomes practically the chatte1
of the employer if every opportunity
| to make use of his experience is closed
| by agreement between employers.
The laboring man is also interested
| in legislation prohibiting oriental i'm
| migration. 1t is unfair to the Ameri-
| can workman, who is the foundation
of the nations wealth in time of peace
and its defense in time of war, to sub
| ject him to the danger of having his
occupation given to an oriental Ia
borer, often brought in by contract,
who has no permanent interest In
our government. If the Asiatics come
here, work for a few years, live on a
! lower scale, and then carry home the
net proceeds of their toll, the drain
| upon our money supply will be similar
to that caused by landlordiSm in other
| countries. The political objections to
oriental labor are scarcely less weighty
| than the economic ones. Race preju-
dice cannot be disregarded, and we
| have seen how, in every industrial de-
| preston, race aNimOsities result in
riot and bloodshed. We cannot afford
to bring into this country those who
cannot amalgamate with our people.
The attempt to use the Injunction Of
a court to deprive the laboring man
of trial by jury should alarm all our
people, for while the wage-earner is
the first to feel it's effects, the prin-
ciple which underlies government by
Injunction is SO far-reaching that no
one can hope to escape ultimately. The
thing forbidden by an injunction
would, without the injunction, be eth
er legal or illegal. II it would be le-
gal, the judge usurps the function Of
the legislature when he forbids 1t. II
it would be illegal the Injunction of
the court is unnecessary, for any one
who violates the law can, upon convic-
ton, be made to suffer the penalties
prescribed for such violation. The
meanest thief and the most brutal
murderer are entitled to trial by jury;
why should this right be denied the
laboring man. Those who oppose gov
eminent by injunction are not in favor
of lawlessness; they are, on the con-
trary, the best friends of law and or
der. They deny the right of any man
to violate the law in an effort to ad-
vance his own interest, but they in
sist that it is inconsistent with our
ideas of government and dangerous to
all classes to invest any judge with the
three-fold power; first. to make the
laws; second, to bring accusation
against those charged with the viola
ton OF the laws, and, third, to sit in
judgment upon the case. Government
by injunction is so indefensible that
the anti-injunctien bill, Endorsed by
the Chicago platform, passed the SEN
ate without a yea and nay vote being
demanded, and since that time no par
ty platform has specifically Endorsed
government by Injunction and nc
prominent member of any party has
entered upon a defense of the system
and yet corporate influence is SO strong
that it has thus far been impossible &c
secure any remedial legislation.
The fact that United States senators
are elected by legislatures, rather thar
by the people directly, lessons the
laboring mans influence in securing
favorable federal legislation. WheI
the action of a political convention
must be submit to the voters fol
ratification at the polls, the convention
is constrained to nominate a candi
date acceptable to the people; bu
when a senator is chosen by legisla
ture the individual voter is far les!
considered. Even when direct brib
cry is not employed, the indirect influ
ence which corporations can exert i!
resorted to, and more frequently still
money is secretly used TO aid Iegisla
tive candidates in close districts. Sucf
! obligations are usually repaid in thu
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