The Nevada County picayune., 1906-12-07

troducton or an eight-hour day, but in- conditions are so different from what they are here that the introduction of an eight-hour day on the canal would be surd as 1t is, so far as the isthmus is concerned, where white labor cannot be employed to bother as to whether the work is done i-j allen black men or alien yellow men,"
 investigation of Disputes.
 child labor law for the District of Co- lumbia and the territories, and 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 that the state and federal governments should provide the machinery for what may be called the compulsory investiga- ton of controversies between employers referring to the fact that a bill has al ready been introduced to this end he says:
 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 instances the dispute would doubtless be found to be due to misunderstanding by each of the others rights, aggravated
 
 cept as true the statements of the other as to the justice or injustice of the mat ters in dispute. The exercise of 1u- dicial spirit by dislnterested body representing the federal government such as would be provided by a commis- sion on conciliation and arbitration friendliness and concilaton between con tending parties; and the giving each slde an equal opportunity to present fully US case in the presence of the other would fNrn ~nTf li lien fThn into serious strikes or lockouts, and Tn other cases, would enable the commls- sion to persuade the opposing parties to come to terms.
 'In this age of great corporate and la bor combinations. neither employers nor employees should be left completely at the mercy of the stronger party to dis pute, regardless of the righteousness Of their respective claims. The proposed measure would be in the line of securing recognition of the fact that in many strikes the public has itself an interest which cannot wisely be disregarded; an interest not merely of general conVen- fence, for the question of a just and proper public policy must also be con, sidered. In all legislation of thls Kind 1t is well to advance cautiously, testing each step by the actual results; the step the decisions of the commission would not bind the parties in legal fashion, and yet would give a chance for public opln- ion to exert its full force for the right
 Control of Corporations.
 considerable portion of the message is devoted to the subject of federal con trol 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 jusu- fled their enactment. but recommends the amendment of the meat inspection law so as to put dates on the labels oi meat products. and also to place the cost of inspection on the packers rather Al. fEarRtt tFqF n this subject of the control of corporations by the federal government he says:
 Tt cannot too often be repeated that eX- perlence has conclusively shown the im- possibility of securing by the actions of nearly half a hundred different state legislatures anything but ineffective chaos in the way of dealing wlth d9e exclusively within the limits of any one state. In some method, whether py national license law or in other iashoh, date, far more complete control than at present over these great corpora tons-a control that will among other things prevent the evils or excessive overcapitalzatlon, and that will compel the disclosures by each big corporation of its stockholders and of it's properties and business. whether owned directly or thru subsidiary or affiliated corporations. This will tend to put stop to the secut ing of inordinate profits by favored individuals at the expense whe.her oI the wageworkers. our effort should be not so much to prevent consolidation as such but so to supervise ana control It as to see that 1t results in no harm to the people. The reactionary or ultracon- servative apologists for the misuse ol wealth assail the effort to secure such control as q step toward socialism, AS matter of fact it is these reacuonarleS and ultraConservatives who are them selves most potent in increasing soolahs- tic feeling one of the most efficient nf dangerous agitation, which IS sO per cent. wrong. is to remedy the 70 per cent of evil as to which the agitation Is well founded. The best way to avert the very undesirable move for the governmental ownership of railways IS to secure ny the government on behalt or the pcopis as whole such adequate control and regulation of the great interstate com mon carriers as will do away Wlth the evils which give rise to the agltaioh against them. So the proper anudote to the dangerous and wicked agitation against the men of wealth as such IS 10 secure by proper legislation and execu- tive action the abolition of the grave abuses which actually do obtain Tn con nection with the business use of wealth under our present system-or rather no system--of failure to exercise any ade- ouate control at all Some persons speak as If the exercise of such governmental control would do away with the freedom of indi iyidual initiative and dwarf lndi- vidual effort This Is not fact. II would be a veritable calamity to tall 10 put a premium upon individual initiative, individual capacity and effort; upon the energy, character and foresight which 1t is so important to encourage In the individual But as a matter of fact the deadening and degrading effect of pure socialism. and especially of it's extreme form communism, and the destruction or individual character which they would bring about. are in part achieved by the wholly unregulated competition which results in a single individual or corpor- alton rising at the expense Of all others until his or it's rise effectually checks all competition and reduces former compeu- tors to a position of utter interiorlty and subordnation. ,. ,t. lation as this congress already has to its credit we are working on coherent plan, with the steady endeaHor 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 Nlo- lent extremists show symptoms of join ing hands against us. Both assert. for instance. that if logical, we should go to government ownership of railroads and the like, the reactionaries, because on such an issue they think the people