The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-07
UNIONS OF GOVERNMENT
 EMPLOYES

1 They should be amply paid. But their payment must be obtained by arguing ] their claims fairly and honorably before | the congress and not by banding togeth-
 CT for the defeat of those congressman
 who refuse to give promises which they | can not in conscience give. The admin
 istration has already taken steps to pre-
 vent and punish abuses of this nature; | but 1t will be wise for the congress to 1 supplement this action by legislation
 BUREAU OF LABOR.
 1 Much can be done by the government
 in labor matters merely by giving pub licity to certain conditions. The bureau of labor has done excellent work of this
 kind in many different directions. l shall
 shortly lay before you In a special mes
 sage the full report of the investigation
 of the bureau of labor into the Colorado mining strike, as this is a strike in which certain very evil forces, which are more or less at work everywhere under the conditions of modern industrialism, be- came startlingly prominent. It is great ly to be wished that the department of commerce and labor. through the labor bureau, should compile and arrange for the congress a list of the labor laws of the various states, and should be given the means to investigate and report to the congress upon the labor conditions in the manufacturing and mining regions throughout the country, both as to wages. as to hourS of labor, as to the la bor of women and children. and as to the effect in the various labor centers of immigration from abroad. Tn this inves- tigation especial attention should be paid to the conditions of child labor and child labor legislation In the several states. Such an investigation must necessarily take into account many of tho problems with which this question of child labor is connected. These problems can be act ually met in most cases. only by the states themselves; but the lack of prop CT Legislation in one state in such a mat ter as child labor often renders it ex- cessiveiy difficult to establish protective restriction upon the work In another state having the same industries, so that the worst tends to drag down the better. Tor this reason, 1t would be well for the nation at least to endeavor to secure comprehensive information as to the con ditions of labor of children in the differ ent states. Such investigation and publ- cation by the national government would tend toward the securing of approximate " uniform legislation of the proper char
 acter among the several states.
 CORPORATIONS.
 When we como to deal wi.n great cor porotions tho need for the government to act directly is far greater than in the case or labor because great corporations can become such only by engaging in in- terstate commerce, and interstate com merce Is peculiarly the field of the gem eral government. It Is an absurdity to expect to eliminate the abuses in great corporations by state action 1t Is dif- | fcult to be patient with an argument that such matters should be left to the states, because more than one state pur- sues the policy of creating easy terms corporations which are never operated within that state at all, but in other states whose laws they ignore. The na- tional government alone can deal ade- quately with these great corporations. To try to deal with them in an intemper- ate, destructive, or demagogic spirit would, in all probabilit mean that noth- ing whatever would be accomplished. and, with absolute certainty, that if any thing were accomplished it would be of a harmful nature. The American people need to continue to show the very quail ites that they have shown-that Is, mod eration good sense, the earnest desire to avoid doing any damage, and yet the quiet determination to proceed, step by step. without halt and without hurry. in eliminating or at least in minimizing whatever of mischief or of evil there Is to interstate commerce in the conduct of great corporations. They arc acting in no spirit of hostility to wealth. either n- 1 dividual or corporate. They are not | against the rich man any more than | against the poor man. On the contrary, | they the friendly alike toward rich man | and toward poor man. provided only that | each act in a spirit of justice and decen- | cy toward his fellows. Great corpora- | tions are necessary, and only men of | great and singular mental power can | manage such corporations successfully, | and such men must have great rewards. | But these corporations should be man. | aged with due regard to the interest of |