Middletown transcript., 1907-05-04
WASHINGTON LETTER


to Ohio, the Secretary OF State and
most of the Cabinet officers have gone
] officially to jamestown. and come of them
have managed to get switched off in other
directions. And the lethargy of summer
/ is beginning to settle on the town. But
it will not be quiet summer. All eyes
are on Ohio, and will be till the fight
. there is over, and every move of the
President is being watched by both friends
and foes to see whether it has not some
hidden bearing on the general political
situation. The latest rumor that has
been pnt out in the Ohio campaign and
that has not even been noticed to be
ignored at the White House, is that the
Taft candidacy is all bluff and that he
is really being used as stalking horse
for the President who is after 'tsecond
elective term" This is new way OF
referring to the third tern, and was con-
cocted by some of the advocates of the
third term proposition who thought il
sounded better than the bald third term
statement. But it can be said that Secre-
tary Taft is not worrying. He has gone
into the Ohio fight with the idea OF win
ming, but he Will not be heart broken if
features of the situation against him now
is tie opposition that has been stirred up
Ivy the labor union element over the
Presidents alleged impolitic reference to
Meyer, Hayward and Dobs on the eve OF
the trial of the first two for the murder oi
Gov. Stemenberg of Idaho. The fight Of
Meyer and Hayward, who are among its
high officers, has been taken up by many
labor unions, and it looks as though Sec
retary Taft we're going to have ;iIe uppo-
sition of the whole organized labor ele-
ment in Ohio on the strength of it. Il
will be remembered that the President
in the course of the Hartman contro-
versy, brought forward letter in which
he had referred to Meyer, Hayward and
Dobs as undesirable citizens" All OF
the champions of Meyer and Hayward
were quick to take up the words and de-
clare that the President was trying to
influence the course of justice in pend |
ing case by his reference to the Idaho |
murder. Then the President came back |
with characteristic reply, in which he
denied any intention or ability to inhu- |
ence pending case by his reference, and |
added insult to injury by saying in effect |
that Meyer and Hayward were all that
he had called them originally and that he
had no regrets to express over anything |
he had said. But the result has been to
bring out lot of protests from profes-
sioual labor men all over the country, |
and the opposition will be quick to take
advantage of the occurrence to make it as
hard as possible for Taft i'll Ohio and else
where. 1t is reported that the President |
has asked John Mitchell, President of the
United MineM MWorkers of America, to
come to the White House for conference
with view to discounting any action
that may be taken by the more radical
labor unions. But MIR. Mitchell is just
recovering from Sc we're spell of illness,
and it is not known whether or how soon
he can come to Washington. The injec.
ton of labor union controversy into the
Ohio political fight may or may not have
serious effect. The one essay of the
labor element into practical politics last
fall was not as encouraging as it might
have been. President Gompers of the
American Federation of Labor had great
deal of opposition from his own organiza-
ton at that time in his attempt to organ
ize labor into a political force. And the
results in all the states where labor unions
have tried to WELD the balance of power
were far from encouraging. 1t is known
that John Mitchell has little sympathy
with the Western Federation leaders, and
if his influence is set against them in the
east it is bound to have considerable
effect. At the same time, all tue admin
istration advisors realize that the Western
Federation can WELD an immense force
west of the Mississippi, whatever may be
it's power in Ohio, SO it is force to be
reckoned with in the general campaign.
~
1t may be said too that while the rank
and file of the Western Federation are
hard citizens, still they may not all de-
serve to be classed as undesirable" The
officers of the Federation have much in
the way of agitation to answer for, but
tile President, who knows the West as
we'll as lie does the East. realizes that
many of the conditions that the western
miners have been fighting against are just
about as bad as the counter conditions
that the miners themselves have created.
The mine owners in the gold and silver
region of the west are themselves auto
Gratis Of the most pronounced and in some
cases the worst type. They have done as
much as the miners themselves to bring
abouttiie reign of w!essness that for the
past aCSduC hoS tOiHoAiAS0 shO hCstOih
states by sections from northern New
Mexico to the Canadian line. State
troops, martial law and suspension of
5he habeas corpus have all been invoked
when there was and when there was not
necessity for them. And the great mass
If tile western miners aud laboring men
rave come to feel that the government
vas against them and that they had no
standing in court, the only way to get
what they considered their rights was by
and dynamiting.