Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-12-04
or MERE DIscoN-
 TENT"

| IElNls
 l In dealing with both labor and cap
 ital, with the questions. affecting both
 corporations and trades unions, there
 is one matter morc important to re- member than aught else. and that is
 the infinite harm done by preachers of
 mere discontent. These are the men
 who seek to excite violent class ha-
 tired against all men of wealth. They
 seek to turn wise and proper move
 ments for the better control of corpora 1 tions and for doing away with the i abuses connected with wealth into a
 campaign of hysterical excitement and falsehood in which the aim Is to in
 flame to madness the brutal passions l of mankind. The sinister demagoKues i and foolish vlslonaries who are always l eager to undertake such campaign of destruction sometimes seek to as-
 sociate themselves with those working for genuine reform in governmental
 and social methods and sometimes mas querade as such reformers. In reality
 they are the worst enemies of the
 cause they profess to advocate, just as the purveyors of sensational islander in
 newspaper or magazine are the worst enemies of all men who are engaged in
 an honest effort to better what is bad
 in our social and governmental condi-
 tions.
 Corruption Is never so rife as in com
 munities where the demagogue and the agitator bear full sway, because in such communities all moral bands be-
 come loosened, and hysteria and sensa- tionalism replace the spirit of sound judgment and fair dealing as between
 man and man. In sheer revolt against the squalld anarchy thus produced men
 are sure in the end to turn toward any
 leader who can restore order, and then
 their relief at being free from the in-
 tolerable burdens of class hatred, vio-
 lence and demagogy Is such that they
 cannot for some time be aroused to in
 dignation against misdeeds by men of
 wealth, so that they permit new
 growth of the very abuses which were
 in part responsible for the original out
 break. The one hope for success for our people lies in resolute and fear less but sane and cool headed advance along the path marked out last year by this very congress. There must be stern refusal to be misled into fol lowing either that base creature who appeals and panders to the lowest in- stlncts and passions in order to arouse one set of Americans against their fel- lows or that other creature, equally base. but no baser, who in spirit. of greed or to accumulate or add to an already huge fortune seeks to exploit his fellow Americans with callous dis regard to their welfare of soul and body. The man who debauches others in order to obtain high office stands on an evil equality of corruption with the man who debauches others for financial profit, and when hatred is sown the crop which springs up can only be evil.
 The plain people who think-the me chanlcs, farmers, merchants, workers with head or hand, the men to whom American traditions are dear, who love their country and try to act decently by their neighbors-owe 1t to them selves to remember that the most dam aging blow that can be given popular government Is to elect an unworthy and sinister agitator on platform of violence and hypocrisy.
 RAILROAD EMPLOYEES HOURS.
 call your attention to the need of passing the bill limiting the number of hours of employment of railroad em- ployees. The measure is very moder- ate one. and I can conceive of no. seri- ous objection to it. Indeed. so far as 1t is in our power. 1t should be our aim steadily to reduce the number of hours of labor, with as a goal the general in- troduction of an eight hour day. There are industries in which 1t Is not pos sible that the hours of labor should be reduced. just as there are communi- ties not far enough advanced for such movement to be for their good, or. if in the tropics, so situated that there Is no analogy between their needs and ours in this matter. On the isthmus of Panama. for instance, the condI- tions are in every way so different from what they are here that an eight hour day would be absurd. just as 1t is absurd. so far as the isthmus Is con ] cerncd, where white labor cannot he employed, to bother as to whether the necessary work Is done by alien black men or by alien yellow men. Bnt the wageworkers of the United States are of 90 high a grade that alike from the merely industrial standpoint and from the civic standpoint it should be our 1 object to do what we can In the dIrec- ! tion of securing the general observance of an eight hour day. [
 Let me again urge that the congress provide for thorough investigation of the conditions of child labor and of the labor of women in the United States. The horrors incident to the of young children ID fac tories or at work anywhere are . blot on our civilization.
 In spite of all precautions exercised by employers there are unavoidable ac- ridents and even deaths involved In nearly every line of business connect f ed with the mechanic arts. It is a -reat social injustice to compel the em-