The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1906-12-08


surd as il is, so far the isthmus is
concerned. where white labor cannot be
employed, to bother to whether the
work is done by allen black men or alien
yellow men.
Investigation Of Disputes.
He urges the enactment OF a drastic
child labor law for the District of Co.
lumhia and the territories, and IA federal
Investigation Of the subject of child and
female labor throughout the country
| He reviews the work of the commission
appointed to investigate labor conditions
IN the coal fields OF Pennsylvania in 1902.
and refers to the wish of the commission
should provide the machinery for what
| may be called the compulsory investiga-
'lpii OF CplitrpNtrsies p"tWeeu eihftog gcis
! and employees when they arise. After
| referring TO the fact that a bill has al
ready been introduced to this end he
saws;
Many OF these strikes and lockouts
| would not have occurred had the parties
TO the dispute been required to appear
| before an unpre JUDGED body representing
| the nation and, face to face, state the
| reasons tor their contention. In most
Instances the dispute wol!ld doubtless be
| found to be due TO a misunderstanding
| by each of the others rights. aggravated
! by an unwillingness of either party to ac-
| cept as true the statements OF the other
| as To the justice or injustice of the mat
| ters in dispute. The exercise OF a iu-
| dicial spirit by disinterested Nody
| representing the federal government.
| such would be provided by commits
| sion on conciliation and arbitration
| would tend to create an atmosphere of
| friendliness and consultation between con-
/ tending parties, and the giving each side
! an equal opportunity to present fully its
| ease in the presence of the other would
/ prevent many disputes from developing
! into serious strik k>s or lockouts. and in
| other eases. woCld enable the commits
| sion to persuade the opposing parties to
/ come to terms.
In this age reat corporate and la
/ Dor combina tious, neither employers nor
| employees should be left completely at
| the mercy of the stronger party TO a dis
| pute. regardless of the Righteousness of
| their respecti1e claims. The proposed
/ measure would be in the line OF securing
recognition of the fact that in many
| strikes the public has itself interest
| which cannot wisely be disregarded. an
fence, for. the question of ? just and
proper, public policy must also be con,
IL Is well to advance cautiously, testing
each step by the actual results; the step
proposed can surely be safely taken for
| the decisions of the commission would
not bind the parties in legal fashion, and
yet would give a chance for public opin-
ion to exert its full force for the right"
contro, Of Corporations.
| considerable portion of the message
| Is devoted To the subject of federal con-
| troll of corporations in what he refers to
| the passage at the last session of the
! rate, meat inspection and food laws: and
| says that all of these have already justi-
| fed their enactment. but recommends
! the amendment of the meat inspection
/ law so as to put dates on the labels OF
! meat products. and also to place the
| cost of inspection on the packers rather
| than on the government, Continuing on
| this subject of the control of corporations
! by the federal government he says:
! 1T cannot too often be repeated that eN-
| perience has conclusively ly shown the i'm,
| possibility of securing by the actions OF
| nearly half hundred different state
legislatures anything but Ineffective I've
great corporations which do not operate
| exclusively within the limits of any one
state. In some method. whether by n
] NO ttNVN oil Ia -
must exercise and that at an early
date. a far more complete control than
| at present over these great corpora
tions--a control that viii among other
things prevente'the evils of excessive
overcapitaiization. and that will compel
| the disclosures by each big corporation
Of its stockholders and OF its properties
and business, whether owned directly or
! thru subsidiary affiliated corporations
| This will tend to put stop to the secur,
| ing of inordinate profits by favored
individuals at the expense whether whether OF OF
the wagework kers. Our effort should be
not so much to prevent consolidation as
| as to that 1t results in no harm TO
| the people The reactionary or ultracon,
sentative ap9i9Fsts for IL the m'sqse SUCH I1
control step toward socialism AS
matter of fact it is these reactionaries
selves most potent in increasing sociahs.
| tic feeling. One of the most efhclent
| methods of averting the consequences of
| dangerous agitation, which Is ~ per
| cent. wrong. Is to remedy the 20 per cent
of evil as to which the agitation is well
undesirable move for the governmental
ownership of railways Is to secure by
the government on behalf of the people,
as a whole such adequate control and
regulation Of the great interstate com
mon carriers as will do away Wiz with ,th,, the
against them. So the proper antidote
| to the dangerous and wicked agitation
| against the men of wealth as such is TO
! Iu 1apfElltinn
| tive action the abolition of the grave
abuses which actually do obtain. in con
| system-of failure to exercise any ade-
| auate control at all. Some persons speak
as If the exercise of such governmentai
control would do away with the freedom don
Of individual initiative and dwarf art, md,
would would be veritabIe calamity to fail to
put premium upon Individual inltiatiVe
individual capacity and effort; upon ,tft ths
| it is SO important to encourage In the
| individual. But as matter of fact the
soaais sociaIisms and and especially Of its extreme
| form communism, and the destruction OF
Individual character +, which they Nv wonld wa
wholly unregulated competition which
results in a single individual or corpor-
Until his or its rise effectually checks all
| competition and reduces former competi-
tors to position of utter inferiority and
|
| 'In enactng and enforcing such legis-
| lation as this congress already has to its
| credit we are working a coherent
| plan, with the steady endeavor to secure
| the needed reform by the joint action of
the moderate men, the plain men who
| do not wish anything hysterical or
| dangerous, but who do intend to deal
in resolute commonsense fashion with
| the real and great evils of the present
| system The reactionaries and the vio-
| lent extremists show symptoms of join
ing hands against us. Both assert, for
| instance, that IL logical, we should go
| to government ownership of railroads
| and the like; the reactionaries, because
on such an issue they think the people
| would stand with them, while the ex-
| tremsts care rather to preach discomfort
| and agitation than to achieve solid re-
| suits. AS a matter of fact. our position
| is as remote from that of the bourbon
reactionary as from that Of the imprac-
ticable or sinister visionary We hold
tEaf ha me shpLill conduct