The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-03-09
Especial washington I.etter.1


stricting the hours Of labor for
railroad employees to sixteen out of
twenty-four. When the La Toilette bill
reached the house the Republican ma.
5ority on the committee on interstate
and foreign commerce cooked up II
substitute which was full of blow
holes. The house Republican machine
tried to force 1t through under whip
and spur, thinking the Democrats would
be afraid To fight their miserably weak
substitute because it seemed to be
good measure, having the appearance,
but not the substance. But the Dem
ocrats, to the utter disgust of the Re
publican sleight of hand performers.
lined up soldly against the humbug
and beat IL on roll call, thing always
dreaded by towards AS IL required
two-thirds to pass it, we knocked il
high as kite, taking the sensible po-
sition that no bill OH the subject was
better than this make believe bill.
Something happened suddenly In less
than week the Republican bigwigs
came down off their high perch and re-
ported to the house substantially every
thing the Democrats clamored for. and.
mirabile dictu, the bill containing what
the Democrats had contended for pass
ed on roll call without even one vote
against it, though two voted present"
Twas a famous victory, sure as you
live.
Stranger yet, the Republican machin-
lists became so alarmed by their effort
to knock out the La Toilette bill In the
first instance that they made haste TO
bring in a rule to pass what amounted
really to Democratic substitute for
the La Toilette bill. which substitute is
much stronger than the La Toilette bill,
because the substitute provides that
railroad telegraphers shall not be com
PEELED or permitted to work more than
nine hours out of twenty-four while
the La Toilette bill did not touch the
subject of telegraphers at all That
provision ought to save thousands of
lives annually. AS Messrs. John Sharp
Williams Of Mississippi and David Al
candidates for the minority leadership
and are now the Democratic members
of the committee on rules, / set forth
their remarks in full for the double
purpose of showing their styles OF
speaking and of demonstrating by their
remarks the fact that we did win q
superb victory for right and justice. If
the house Democrats had done no 9th
er thing in this congress, this ore vic
tory vindicates our right to be here.
Mr.. Williams said:
Mr.. Speaker. was glad to hear the
gentleman from Pennsylvania Justify the
action of those of us who voted against
the suspension of the rules and thus
passed this bill the other day without
giving the house any power of amend
inent The manner In which he justified
us was as broad as could be, though not
In express words. He showed how much
the bill has been improved from its then
condition In order to reach its present
condition. and that statement Is OF itself
n justification OF our conduct. Further
more Mr.. Speaker, that conduct was APP
plauded by the men who are chiefly con-
cerned and interested in the pending leg
islation. ] hold In my hand a telegram
addressed to the gentleman from New
York IMr. Ryan,. member OF the com.
mittee on the minority side, from A. p,
Garrettson, president of the order OF
Railway Conductors. saying that they
objected TO the bill as presented in the
house the other day hold another tele-
gram addressed to the same gentleman
chief of the Brotherhood OF Locomotive
Engineers to the same effect and still
another telegram addressed to the same
gentleman [Mr. Ryan, from the head OF
the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen
10 the same effect. shall insert them
a. part Of my remarks.
Shorter Hours For Railway Men.
So much for the past, Mr.. Speaker
Now let MS come TO the present and sec
what the bill Is as II now stands after
the notifications in accord with the de-
mands of the Democratic minority on
the committee and in the house Why
in the first part of the bill. as II was
the other day. in line g. page 4, and in
line of page 7, occurred the word
"knowingly" SO we were absolutely
about to pass legislation requiring a cor
poration TO permit things knowingly"
before II could be penalized-a corpora
tion without ears without eyes, without
Individuality and as II Is sometimes said,
without soul. that could not do anything
knowingly" except through it's author
ized agents. II they have knowledge
that Is the only sort of knowledge the
CORPORATION could have. We We're about
10 pass a law requiring a corporation, in
order to be visited with punishment tu
commit an offense knowingly" This
bill as now reported and amended strikes
out this word knowingly" on pages 4
and 5, 10 which we called attention
Then. In lines 10 to II, on page a. The
Modification strikes out this language:
.'Uniess Immediately prior to said
twenty-four hour period such employee
had al least eight consecutive hours OF
duty and during said period of twenty.
four hours following had at least six
consecutive hours off duty"
This language constituted an extension
of the period of empioyment and IL
seemed TO us that II was unjust and that
there was In II what is ordinarily called
a sstoker." We objected to that very sa-
riousIy. The modification strikes that
LANGUAGE ont of the bill and leaves sub
stantially the provisions OF the La Fol
lette bill as 1t left the senate with regard
70 tins subject matter
Then. Mr.. Speaker. there occurred In
the proviso as regards teegraphers the
following language: THAT they were not
~ be on duty for a longer period than
nine consecutive hours In a period OF
twenty four hours nor for longer pc
rtod than thirteen consecutive hours"
tapping over from one day TO another
We objected very naturally TO the ad-
1ective "consecutive" there, because i'll
would enable the railroad to work a man
-.