The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1907-12-05
4

SANS ~ AN AN AAO
take supervision. 1t might be well to-
begin by providing for a federal in
spector of interstate railroads some
where along the lines of federal inspec-
ton of steamboats,, although not going
so far; perhaps at first all that it
| would be necessary to have would be.
some officers whose duty it would be
to investigate all accidents on interstate
railroads and report in detail the
causes thereof.
Employers Liability.
Congress should adopt legislation pro-
| viding limited but definite compensa-
ton for accidents to all workmen with
In the scope of the federal power, in
Guiding employes Of navy yards and,
arsenals. In other words. a model en-
ployers' liability act, far reaching and,
tho~roughgoing, should be enacted
which should apply to all positions,
public and private, over which the ma
tional government has jurisdiction,
The law should be made such that
the payment for accidents by the en-
ployer would be automatic instead of
being a matter for lawsuits. Workmen
pensation for all accidents in Industry
irrespective of negligence.
By the proposed law, employers.
would gain a desirable certainty of OBJ
legation and get rid of litigation to.
his family would be relieved from a
crushing load.
The constitutionality of the employ
ers' liability act passed by the proceed
the courts. In the event that the
court should affirm the constitutional
ity of the act, I urge further legislation
along the lines advocated in my mes
1895 practically every country OF Eu-
rope, together with Great Britain. New
Zealand, Australia, British Columbia,
and the Cape of Good Hope has enacted"
legislation embodying in one form or
another the complete recognition of the
principle which places upon the en-
ployer the entire trade risk in the
various lines of industry.
Eight Hour law.
The principle of the eight-hour day
should as rapidly and as far as prac-
ticable be extended 70 the entire work
the present law should be amended to
embrace contracts on those public
:. works which the present wording of the
! aG. has been construed to exclude.
investigation of Industrial Disputes.
Strikes and l%ockouts, with their at
tendant loss and suffering, continue to
Increase. 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
ures indicate the increasing need or
providing some machinery to deal with
this class of disturbances in the inter
est alike of the employer, the employee.
and the general public. I renew my
previous recommendation that the con-
SresS faVor2hly consider the matter of
creating the machinery for compulsory
investigation Of such Industrial contro-
versies as are of sufficient magnitude
and of sufficient concern to the people
OF the country as a whole to warrant
the federal government in taking ac-
ton.
Employment of Women and Children.
A thorough and comprehensive meas
ure should be adopted at this session
of the congress relating to the employ
ment Of women and children in the
District Of Columbia and the terri
tories. The investigation into the
condition Of women and children
wage-earners recently authorized and
carried on in the various states, and !
recommend that the appropriation
made last year for the beginning of this
work be renewed, in order tina we may
lave the thorough and comprehensive
investigation which the subject de-
mands. The national government has
as an ultimate resort for control OF
child labor the use of the Interstate
commerce clause to prevent the PROD
ucts of child labor from entering into
interstate commerce. But before using
this it ought certainly to enact model
laws on the subject for the territories;
unCeC It's own immediate COlllTOi.
The Really Dangerous Criminals.
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 con
domination of the vice which hides itself
behind class or professional loyalty, OF
which denies hat it is vice if it CAM
escape conviction in the courts.
Swindling in stocks, cOrrupting
!: legislatures, making fortunes by /;
the imitation OF securities, by wreck
ing railroads., by destroying com
petitors through rebates-these !:
forms of wrongdoing in the cap:
!: italist, are for more infamous than
any ordinary form of embezzlement
or forgery; yet it is a matter of ex-
/: IRENE difficulty TO secure the pun
ishment of the man most guilty OF {:
/: them, most for them.
The business man who oondones
{: such conduct stands on a lever Win
the labor man who deliberately sup
/: ports a corrupt demagogue ana asl-
:: tator. whether head OF a union or
/: head Of some municipality because
!: he is said to have stood by the
!: union.' The members of the busl-
:: ness community, the educators, or
:: clergymen, who ana en-
courage the first kind Of
ing, are no more dangerous to the !:
community, but are morally even
L : worse. Cilil lllS law
guilty OF the second type of wrong !:
doing. because less is to be par
/: doned those who have no such eX- ::
cuse as is furnished either by ignor- F:
ance or by dire need.
Farmers and Wage Workers.
The national government, through
the department of agriculture, should
5 do all it can b. joining with the state
8 governments and with independent as
5 sociations of farmers to the
} growth in the open farming country
Of such institutional n social move
3 ments as will meet the demand of the
l best type Of farmers, both for the Inn
provement of their farms and for the
, betterment of the life itself. This
! farmer must not lose his Independence
mis- initiative, his rugged self reliance
yet he must learn to work in the
/: heartiest cooperation with his fel
: lows, exactly as the business mar has
/: learned to work; and he must prepare
T: to use to constantly better advantage
/: the knowledge that can be obtained
II 49, H.