The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-12-09
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT SENDS
HIS MESSAGE TO THE CONGRESS

or man, who by issuance of wrong or
ders or by disobedience of orders causes
disaster. The law Of 1901, requiring in
ter-state railroads to make monthly
reports of all accidents to passengers
and employees on duty, should also be
amended so as to empower the Govern
ment to make a personal investigation,
through proper officers. Of all accidents
involving loss of life which seem to re-
Guire investigation, with a requirement
that the results of UGH investigation
be made public.
The safety-appliance law, as amend
ed by the act Of March 2, 1903, a prov
ed beneficial to railway employees, n
In order that its provisions may be
properly carried out, the force of in
spectors provided for by appropriation
should be largely increased. This ser
vice is analogous 70 the Steamboat
Inspection Service, and deals with even
more important interests. 1t has pass
ed the experimental stage and demon
started its utility, and should receive
generous recognition by the Congress.
Union Government Employees.
There is no objection to employees
OF the Government forming or belong
ing to unions; but the Government can
neither discriminate for nor diScrimi-
nate against ~non-union men who are
in it's employment, or who seek to be
employed under it. Moreover, it is a
very grave improperly for Government
employees to band themselves together
for the purpose Of extorting improperly
, high salaries from the Government.
Especially is this true of those within
the Classified service. The letter car
riers. both municipal and rural, are as
a whole an excellent body of public SER
wants. They should be amply paid.
But their payment must be obtained by
arguing their claims fairly and honora-
bly, before the Congress, and not by
banding together for the defeat of those
Congressman who refuse to give prom
jses which they can not in conscience
give. The Administration has already
taken steps to prevent and punish
abuses of this nature; but it will be
wise for the Congress to supplement
this action by legislation.
Bureau of Labor.
Much can be done by the Government
IN labor matters merely by giving pub
licity to certain conditions. The Bu-
reau of Labor has done excellent work
OF this kind in many different direc-
lions I shall shortly lay before you
in a special message the full report of
the investigation of the Bureau of La
Dor 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 in~dustrialism, became start
lingly prominent. 1t is greatly to be
: wished that the Department Of Com
merce and Labor, through the Labor
Bureau, should compile and arrange
Cor the Congress a list Of the labor laws
/ Of the various States. and should be
given the means to investigate and re-
port to the Congress upon the labor
conditions in the manufacturing and
mining regions throughout the country
10Th as to wages, as to of labor,
as to the labor Of women and children,
and as to the effect in the various labor
! centers nf immigration from abroad.
IN this investigation especial attention
should be paid to the conditions Of child
labor legislation in the several States.
Such an investigation must necessarily
take into account many of the problems
with which this question of child labor
IS connected. These problems can be
actually met, in most cases, only by the
States themselves; but the lack of
proper legislation in one State in such
q matter as child labor often renders
It excessively difficult to establish pro-
tective restriction upon the work in
another State having the same indus
tries, so that the worst tends to DRAG
down the better. For his reason, il
would be we'll for the Nation at beast
to endeavor to secure comprehensive
information as to the conditions of Ia
Dor of children in the different States
Such investigation and publication by
the National Government would tend
toward the securing of approximately
uniform legislation of the proper char
acter among the several States.
Corporations.
When we come to deal with great cor
porations the need for the Government
TO act directly is far greater than in
the case of labor, because great cor.
porations can become such only by en-
gaging in Interstate commerce, and IN
ter-state m is peculiarly the
field of the General Government. II
is an a~bsurdity to expect to eliminate
the abuses in great corporations BY
, State action. It is difficult TO be pattern
with an argument that suc matters
should be left to the States, because
more than one state pursues the policy
or creating on easy terms corporations
which are never operated within thai
State at all, but in other States whose
laws they ignore. The National Gov.
eminent alone can deal adequately with
these great corporations. To try K
deal with them in an incorporate. de
structive, or demagogic spirit would
IT. all probability, mean that nothing
whatever would be accomplished, and
with absolute certainty, that if any
thing were accomplished it woul be o.
a harmful nature. The American peo-
pie need to continue to show the very