New-York tribune., 1906-03-23
THE PRESIDENT on LABOR TOPICS.

THE PRESIDENT on LABOR TOPICS.
The Presidents address in reply to the me-
mortal Of the labor organizations on Wednesday
was marked throughout with an engaging frank
ness and a sturdy independence which must have
commanded the admiration even of those with
whom on some points the speaker most strongly
disagreed. The occasion was one on which
in the least demagogcally inclined might
have uttered only 'resounding and glittering
generalties," and might have, smiling, put the
question by" Instead, it was refreshing to
have the President speak his mind directly and
incisively concerning specific points and concrete
details, and we are inclined to think that some
of the things he said must have had, by both
their information and their suggestion an edu-
catiOnal effect upon his hearers.
He was certainly right in his assumption that
those who clamOred for an eight hour law for
Panama Canal labOrers simply did not know
what they were talking about 1t seems impos-
sibIe that any one familiar with labor conditions
the isthmus should favor such a law. AS he
said and we have hitherto argued, to apply
that law there would be to apply it to condi-
tonS radically different from those for which it
was intended. 1t would be as illogical as for
physician to prescribe for an@mia regimen in
tended for plethora 1t would be to impose an
American law upon aliens and to force upon
aliens a dubious favor which they did not want,
at the expense of American labor which did not
share in it. We are now paying Jamaica negroes
81 % a day for what is only onethird Of a days
work when measured by the American standard.
That means we are paying So - for an Amer
lean days work with pick and shovel. That
certainly seems enough. without further in
creasing the cost by further reducing the eff
cheney Of the labOrerS When we add that it is
the American people, and largely American
wOrkmen, who must pay these wages, and that
among the canal laborers themselves there is
absolutely no demand for an eight hour law, but
rather an aversion TO it, the President is evil
IDENTIFY quite right in saying that the request for
such a law there is indefensible.
Equally Illuminating were the Presidents OBJ
servations on the Chinese question. He was as
resOute as any trade unionist against an influx
of coolies, but he equally resoIute for the
courteous admission of Chinese Of the business
and professional classes, for reasons which he
did not deem it necessary to state in detail. but
which his hearers should readily have under
stood. Waving the higher considerations Of
treaty obligations, of diplomatic decency, Of in
ternational ethics, it should be evident TO every
intelligent American wOTkingman that the more
Chinese merchants and students visit this cOun-
try the greater will be the volume of our com
merce with China and the greater. therefore.
viii be the gain for American industry. It is as
truly to the interest of American labor to have
Chinese business and professional men welcomed
here as it is to have Chinese Iaborers excluded:
and so it is truly to that interest not to have
the eight hour law applied at Panama as it is
TO have 1t applied here. If the representatives
Of organized labor got these facts well impressed
upon their minds and will impart them in turn
10 their comrades their visit to the White House
will have been most profitable