Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1907-12-05
PRtS|DEDT TAKES
NO BACKWARD STEP

Continued from page 2.
try to break up not merely private
property, but what is far more inn
portant. the home, the chief prop up
ON which our whole civilization stands.
such theory, if ever adopted, would
mean the ruin of the entire country
ruin which would bear heaviest up
on the weakest. upon those least able
to shift for themselves. But proposals
for legislation such as this herein ad-
vocated are directly opposed to this
class of socialistic theories.
enforcement Of the Law.
A few years ago there was loud
complaint that the law could not be
invoked against wealthy offenders.
There is no such complaint now. The
course of the department of justice
during the last few years has been
such as to make it evident that no
man stands above the law, that no
corporation is so wealthy that it can
not be held to account. The depart
ment of justice has been as prompt
to proceed against the wealthiest NAL
efactor whose crime was one of greed
and cunning as to proceed against the
agitator who incites to brutal vio-
lence.
Injunctions.
Instances of abuse in the granting
of injunctions in labor disputes con-
tinue to occur, and the resentment in
the minds Of those who feel that their
rights are being invaded and their
liberty of action and of speech unwar-
rantly restrained continues. likewise to
grow. Much of the attack on the use
of the process of injunction is wholly
without warrant; but the president ex-
presses the belief that for some of it
there Is warrant. This question is be-
coming more and more one of prime
Importance, and unless the courts will
themselves deal with it in effective
manner, it is certain ultimately to de-
AHdnu SOIue form or legislative action.
Employers Liability.
The national government should be
model employer. 1t should demand
the highest quality of service from
each of its employees and it should
care for all of them properly in re-
turn. Congress should adopt legisla-
ton providing limited but definite
compensation for accidents to all
workmen within the scope of the fed
eral power, including employees of
navy yards and arsenals. In other
words, model employers liability
act. farreaching and thoroughgoing
should be enacted which should apply
to all positions, public and private,
over which the national government
has jurisdiction.
Congress should consider the extern
sion of the eight-hour law. The con-
stitutionality of the present law has
recently been called into question, and
the supreme court has decided that
the existing legislation is unquestion-
ably within the powers of the con-
gress. The principle of the eight-hour
day should as rapidly and as far as
practicable be extended to the entire
work carried on by the government
Industrial Disputes.
For the five years ending December
81, 1905, the number of strikes was
greater than those in any previous ten
years and was double the number in
the preceding five years. These fig
lures indicate the increasing need of
providing some machinery to deal
with this class of disturbances in the
interest alike of the employer, the
employee. and the general public. Con-
gress should consider the matter of
investigation of Industrial controver-
sizes.
A comprehensive measure should be
adopted at this session of the congress
relating to the employment of women
and children in the District of Column
bia and the territories. The national
government has an ultimate resort
for control of child labor the use of
interstate commerce clause to prevent
the products of child labor from enter
ing into interstate commerce. But be
fore using this it ought certainly to
enact model laws on the subject for
the territories under its own immedi-
ate control.
Farmers and Wage Workers.
Nothing is more needed than the
best type of industrial school, the
schoo for mechanical industries in the
city, the school for practically teaching
agriculture in the country. The call
ing of the skilled tiller of the soil, the
calling of the skilled mechanic. should
alike be recognized as professions,
just as emphatically as the calling of