The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-12-05

government employees lL IS dS uesudDl9
 for wage-workers who toll with thelr
 hands as for salared officials whose labor
 is mental that there should be reasona-
 ble amount of holiday.
 Labor of Women and Children.
 The Congress at It's last session wisely
 provided for a truant court for the Ds-
 trict of Columbia; marked step in ad- vance on the path of properly caring for the children. Let me again urge that tho | Congress provide for q thorough inyes.i-
 gation of the conditions of child labor and of the labor of women in the United States. More and more our people are growing to recognize the fact that the questions which are not merely of indus l trial but of social importance outweigh all others; and these two questions most emphatically come in the category of | those which affect in the most far-reach- | ing way the home life of the nation. The | horrors incident to the employment of l young children in factories or at worS 1 anywhere are a blot on our civilization. It is true that each state must ultimately settle the question in its own way but q thorough official investigation of tho matter, with the results published broad- cast would greatly help toward arousng the public conscience and securing unity of state action in the matter. There IS, |
 should be enacted immediately because
 there is no need for an investiga ton in 1 reference thereto and the failure to en- l act it Is dscreditable to the national gov
 ernment. A drastic and thoroughgong ! child labor law should be enacted for the
 District of Columbia and the territories.
 Employers Liability.
 l Among the excellent laws which the
 Congress passed at the last session was an l employers liability law. It was a
 marked step in advance to get the recog- l hilton of employers liability on tho l statute books; but the law did not go l far enough. In spite of all precautions ex- l ercised by employers there are unavoid- l able accidents and even deaths involved l in nearly every line of business connect 1 ed with the mechanic arts. This inevitable l sacrifice of life may be reduced to a l minimum. but it can not be completely l eliminated. It is a great social injustice to compel the employe, or rather the family l of the killed or disabled victim, to bear l the entire burden of such an inevitable | sacrifice In other words. society shirks l it's duty by laying the whole cost on the victim, whereas the injury comes from | what may be called the legitimate risks
 of the trade. Compensation for accidents
 or deaths due in any line of industry to the actual conditions under which that l industry is carried on, should be paid
 by that portion of the community for the benefit of which the industry is carried on-that is, by those who profit by tho l industry. If the entire trade risk is ! placed upon the employer he will prompts 1 ly and properly add 1t to the legitimate cost of production and assess it propor- l tionately upon the consumers of his com- <; modity. It is therefore clear to my mind l that the law should place this entire ] risk of q trade upon the employer. ! Q Ia fa r am informed the state laws dealing with
 the question of employers liability are
 sufficiently thoroughgong. The federal
 law should of course include employees
 in navy yards, arsenals and the like.
 Investigation of Disputes Between
 Capital and Labor.
 l The commission appointed by the Pres-
 dent October 16, 1902. at the request of i both the anthracite coal operators and l miners. to inquire into. consider and pass i upon the questions in controversy in con l nection with the strike in the anthracite 1 regions of Pennsylvania. and the causes
 out of which the controversy arose, in
 their report. findings and award expressed inc belief that the state and federal gov
 etnments should provide the machinery
 for what may be called the compulsory
 investigation of controversies between
 employers and employees when they
 arise" This expression of belief is de-
 serving of the favorable consideration of the Congress and the enactment of it's provisions Into law. A bill has already been introduced to this end.
 Records show that during the twenty years from January ], 1881, To December ! 3l, 1900. there were strikes affecting Ill., 509 establishments, and 6.105 69I employees
 were thrown out of employment During
 the same period these were 1905 lockouts, involving nearly 10000 establishments
 throwing over 100000 people out of em- ployment These strikes and lockouts in-
 volyed an estimated loss to employees
 of O1,GO,OO0 and to employers of S143.000,- i 0oo, total of S450Oo0,0oo The public suf-
 fered directly and indirectly probably as
 great additional loss. But the money loss, l great as if was did not measure the i anguish and suffering endured by tho ] wives and children of employees whose pay stopped when their work stopped, or tho
 disastrous effect of the strike or lock
 out upon the business of employers or the increase in the cost of products and the inconvenience and loss to the pub | lie.
 Many of these strikes and lockouts would not have occurred had the parties to the dispute been required to appear ! before an unprejudiced body representing the nation and. face to face. state the reasons for their contention. In most in-
 stances the dispute would doubtless be found to be due to a misunderstanding by
 the others rights, aggravated by an un-
 willingness of either party to accept as true the statements of the other as to
 the justice or injustice of the matters
 in dispute. The exercise of a iudciat
 spirit by disinterested body represents ing the federal government, such as
 would be provided by commission on
 conciliation and arbitration between con-
 tending parties. and the giving each side an equal opportunity to present fully it's
 case in the presence of the other would prevent many disputes from developing
 into serious strikes or lockouts, and, in
 other cases, would enable the commits
 sion to persuade the opposing parties to
 come to terms.
 In this age of great corporate and labor
 combinations. neither employers nor em-
 ployes should be left completely at the
 mercy of the stronger party to dispute.
 regardless of the righteousness of their
 respective claims. The proposed measure would be in the line of securing recegni-
 ton of the fact that in many strikes the public has itself an interest which can
 not wisely be disregarded; an interest not rserely of general convenience. for the 1 question of a just and proper public policy must also be considered. In all legisla- 1 ton of this kind it is well to advance i cautiously, testing each step by the aet- i ual results: the step proposed can surely he safely taken for the decisions of the l commission would not bind the parties ! in legal fashion. and vet would give a chance for public opinion to crystalize