The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-12-03

avail, and for weeks the public stood
| by and suffered without recourse OF
| any kind Had the machinery existed
and had there been authority for com
pulsory investigation of the dispute,
the public would have been placed In
; troversy, and public opinion would
probably have brought about
prompt adjustment.
Each successive step creating ma
chinery for the adjustment OF labor
difficulties must be taken with eau
ton but we should endeavor to make
progress in this direction.
The provisions of the act or 1888
creating the chairman of the inter-
state commerce commission and the
commissioner of labor board OF
mediation in controversies between in
terstate railroads and their employees
has, for the first time, been subjected
to serious tests within the past year.
and the wisdom of the experiment has
been fully demonstrated. The creation
of a board for compulsory 1nvestlga-
ton in cases where mediation falls
and arbitration is rejected is the next
logical step in progressive program.
Capital and Labor.
It Is certain that for some time to
come there will be a constant increase
absolutely, and perhaps relatively, OF
those among our citizens who dwell in
cities or towns of some size and who
work for wages. This means that there
will be an ever-increasing need to con-
slider the problems inseparable from
great industrial civilization. Where
an immense and complex business,
especially in those branches relating to
manufacture and transportation, Is
transacted by a large number of cap
ita1sts who employ very much larger
number of wage-earners, the former
tend more and more to combine into
corporations and the latter into unions.
The relations of the capitalist and
wage-worker to one another, and of
each to the general public are not al
ways easy to adjust; and to put them
and keep them on a satisfactory basis
is one Of the most important and one
of the most delicate tasks before our
whole civilization. Much of the work
for the accomplishment of this end
must be done by the individuals con-
cerned themselves, whether singly or in
combination; and the one fundamental
fact that must never be lost track of
is that the character of the average
man, whether he be a man of means or
man who works with his hands, is
the most important factor in solving
the problem Alright. But it is almost
equally important to remember THAI
without good laws it is also impossible
to reach the proper solution. 1t is idle
to hold that without good laws evils
such as child labor, as the over-work-
ing of women as the failure to protect
employees from loss of life or limb, can
be effectively reached, any more than
the evils of rebates and stock-watering
can be reached without good laws. To
fail to stop these practices by legisIa-
ton means to force honest men into
them, because otherwise the dishonest
who surely will take advantage of them
will have everything their own way.
If the states will correct these evils.
well and good; but the nation must
stand ready to aid them.
No question growing out of our rapid
and complex Industrial DEVELOPMENT Is
mora irnnOrtant than that n
ployment of women and children. The
presence of women in industry reacts
with extreme directness upon the char
acter of the home and upon family life,
and the conditions surrounding the en-
p1oyment of children bear a vital rela-
ton to our future citizenship. Our leg.
islation in those areas under the con-
troll of the congress is very much be-
hind the legislation of our more pro-
gressives states. A thorough and COM
prehensive measure should be adopted
at this session of the congress relating
to the employment of women and chill
dren In the District of Columbia and
the territories. The investigation into
the condition of women and children
wage-earners recently authorized and
directed by the congress is now being
carried on in the various states, and I
recommend that the appropriation
made last year for beginning this work
be renewed, in order that we may have
the thorough and comprehensive inves-
The national government has as an ul-
innate resort for control of child labor
the use of the interstate commerce
clause to prevent the products of child
labor from entering into interstate
commerce. But before using this ii
ought certainly to enact model laws on
the subject for the territories under it's
own immediate control
There is one fundamental proposition
which can be laid down as regards all
these matters, namely: While honesty
by itself will not Solve the problem, yet
the insistence upon honesty-not mere
ly technical honesty. but honesty in
purpose and spirits an essential ele-
ment in arriving at a right conclusion.
Vice in it's cruder and more archaic
forms shocks everybody; but there is
very urgent need that public opinion
should be just as severe in condemna-
ton of the vice which hides itself be-
hind class or professional loyalty or
which denies that it is vice If it can
escape conviction in the courts. The
public and the representatives of the
public, the high officials, whether on
the bench or in executive or legislative
positions, need to remember that often
the most dangerous criminals so far as
the life of the nation is concerned, are
not those who commit the crimes known
to and condemned by the popular con-
science for centuries. but those who
commit crimes only rendered possible
by the complex conditions of our mod
ern Industrial life. 1t makes not a par
ticle of difference whether these crimes
are committed by a capitalist or by a
laborer, by a leading banker or manu-
facturer or railroad man, or by a lead
ing representative of labor union,
Swindling in stocks, corrupting legis-
latures, making fortunes by the infia-
ton of securities, by wrecking railroads,
by destroying competitors through re-
forms of wrongdoirg in
the capitalist, are far more infamous
than any ordinary form of embezzle-