River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1906-12-06

itself on trial The triumph OF the
mob Is just as evil a thing as the tri-
umph of the plutocracy, and to have
escaped one danger ayails nothing
whatever If we Sucuumb to the other.
In the end the honest man, whether rich
or poor, who earns his own living and
tries to deal justly by his fellows, has
as much to fear from the insincere
and unworthy demagog; promising
performing nothing but evil. who
would set on the mob to plumber the
rich, IS from the crafty scorruptionist,
who for his own ends, would permit
the common people to be exploited by
the very wealthy If we ever let this
government fall into the hands of men
Of either of these two classes, we shall
show ourselves false to Americas past.
Moreover, the demagog and corrup-
ZIONIST often work hand in hand There
are at this moment wealthy reaction
aries of such obtuse morality that they
regard the public servant who prose-
or who seeks to make them bear their
proper share of the public burdens, as
being even more Objectionable than
the mob To punder the rieh There G Is
nothing to choose between such a re-
dictionary and such an agitator; funda-
mentally they are alike in their selfish
disregard Of the rights of others; and
1t Is natural that they should join in
opposition to any movement of which
the aim is fearlessly to do exact and
even justice to ALL
Railroad Employees Hours.
tas fe Tor fn u passing pf the nl o Of
employment of railroad employees, and
classes the measure as very moderate
one. He says the aim of ali should be
to steadily reduce the number of hours
of labor, with as goal the general in
PRODUCTION of 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
absurd, and continues, Just about as alb
surd as it is, so far as the isthmus is
concerned, where white labor cannot be
employed to bother as to whether the
work is done by alien black men or alien
yellow men,"
investigation of Disputes.
He vrges the enactment OF drastic
! child labor law for the District of Co
lumbia and the territories, and a 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-
and employees when they arise After
referring to the fact that a bill has al
ready been introduced to this end he
MANY of these strikes and lockouts
would not have occurred had the parties
| to the dispute been required to appear
before an unprecedented 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 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 ju-
dicial spirit by g. disinterested BODY
representing the federal government,
such as would be provided by comn1s-
sion on Cancellation and arbitration
would tend to create an atmosphere or
friendliness and Cancellation 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 aeVelopplIig
| into serious strikes or lockouts, and IN
| other cases. would enable the commits
| sion to persuade the opposing parties TO
I'm this age Of great corporate and la
Dor combinations, 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 respective claims. The proposed
measure would be in the line of securing
| recognition of the fact that in. many
| which cannot wisely be disregarded; an
| interest not merely of general conven-
fence, for the question of just ana
| proper public policy must also be con,
| sidered In all legislation of this kind
| it 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 fashlon, ana
| Ion to exert its full force for the right.
Control Of Corporations.
A 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, ana
says that all of these have already JUST
| 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:
| "It cannot too often be repeated that ex-
| perience has conclusively shown the I'M
Of securing 6y the acon Hta t
chaos IN the a Way Of dealing with the
| exclusively within the limits of any one
| state. In some method, whether Dy a
! national license law or in other fashion,
we must exercise. and that at an early s,l
/ at present over these great corpora
| tions-a control that will among other
| things prevent the evils OF excessive
! capitalization, and that will compel
! the disclosures by each big corporation
| of its stockholders and of it's properties
| and business, whether owned directly OF
| thru subsidiary or affiliated corporations.
| This will tend to put stop to the secur-
| ing of inordinate profits by favored
| individuals at the expense whether OF
| the general public, the stockholders, or
| the wageworkerS. Our effort snould pc
/ not. SO. much to prevent consondaIlon, as a.
! such, but so to supervise and control II
i as to see that it results in no harm TO
| the people. The reactionary or ulrracon-
| sentative apologists for the misuse OF
wealth assail the effort to secure sucn
/ matter of fact it is these reacuonarles
| and ultraconservatives who are them
| selves most potent in increasing SOclaHS-
| tic feeling. One of the most ef1clenI
| methods of averting the consequences OF
| a dangerous agitation, which is 81 per
! cent wrong, is to remedy the 20 per cent:
| of evil as to which the agitation is Wen
| founded. The best way to avert the very
| undesirable move for the governmental
| ownership of railways IS to secure py
/ as a whole such adequate control ana
regulation of the great interstate COM
| mon carriers as will do away with the
| evils which give rise to the aglraIlon
| against them. So the proper an lIato.s
| to the dangerous and wicked agitation
/ against the men of wealth as such IS 70
/ secure by proper legislation and execu-
4 tive action the abolition of the grave
1 abuses which actually do obtain In con-
| nection with the business use OF wealth.
systen-of failure to exercise any ade-
/ quate control at all. Some persons SPEAK
! as if the exercise of such governmental
1 control would do away with the freedoM
! vidual effort. This Is not fact. II
would be a veritable calamity to fan TO
nut a premium upon individual initiative,
! individual capacity and effort; upon the