Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-14

the bench is proof by deeds not by words,
of the far-sighted wisdom with which ne
serves the interests of the whole people
even when those of the most powerful cor
porations are hostile thereto.
Taft and Wage Farmers.
If there is one body of men more than
another whose support 1 feel l have
right to challenge on behalf of Secretary
Taft it is the body of wage workers of
the country A stancher friend. a fairer
and trurer representative. they cannot find
within the borders of the United States.
He will do everything in his power Tor
them. except to do that which is wrong;
he will do wrong for no man. and there
fore can be trusted by all men. During
the ten years of my intimate acquaintance
with him. since l have myself. as gov
ernor and President. been obliged to deal
practically with labor problems. he has
been one Of the men upon whose Judgment
and aid 1 could always rely in doing
everything possible for the cause of the
wage worker. of the man who works with
his hands. or with both hands and head.
Mr.. Taft has been attacked because OF
the injunctions he delivered while on the
bench. l am content to rest his case on
these very injunctions; l maintain that
they show why all our people should be
grateful to him and should feel it safe to
entrust their dearest interests to him.
Most asSuredly he never has yielded and
never will yield to threat pressure of
any sort, as little If itfcomes from labor
as If 1t comes from capital; he will no
more tolerate the violence of a mob than
the corruption and oppression and AFRO
gance of a corporation or Of wealthy
man. He will not consent to limit the
power of the courts to put a. stop to
wrongdoing wherever found. This very
fact should make the labor people feel
peculiar confidence in him. He has in
CURED the bitter hostility of foolish and
hgoted reactionaries by his frank criti-
cism of the abuse Of the power of in
junction in labor disputes, and he is
pledged to do all he can to put a stop to
the abuses in the exercise of the power of
Injunction. He will never promise any
thing that he will not do all in his power
to perform. He can always be trusted to
do little better than his word, and the
fact that before election he will not
promise the impossible Is in itself a guar
anty that after election all that is posi-
BILE will be done.
Taft on the Bench.
His record as a judge makes the whole
country his debtor. His actions and de-
cisions are part Of the great traditions of
the bench. They guaranteed and set forth
in striking fashion the rights of the gen.
eral public as against the selfish interests
of any class. whether of capitalists or of
Id DOI CT 1Hcy SCI lOItu anu StdLu ny tHc
rights of the wage workers to organize
and to strike, as unequivocally as they set
forth and stand by the doctrine that no
conduct will be tolerated that would spell
destruction to the nation as a whole.
AS for the attack upon his injunctions
in labor disputes, made while he was on
the bench, l ask that the injunctions be
carefully examined. l ask that every re-
sponsible and fair-minded labor leader.
every responsible and fair minded member
nf lob lott fy0cn ,i,,po
tions for himself. If he will do so, in
stead of condemning them he will heartily
approve of them. and will recognize this
further astonishing fact that the princi-
pies laid down by Judge Taft in these
very fnjunctionS, which labOring people
are asked to condemn, are themselves
the very principles which are now en-
bodied in the laws or practices of every
responsible labor organization.
Charter of Liberty.
No responsible organization would now
hesitate to condemn the abuses against
which Judge Taft's injunctions were aim
ed The principles which he therein so
wisely and fearlessly laid down serve as
charter Of liberty for all of us, for wage
workers, for employers, for the general
public: for they rest on the principles of
fair dealing for all, of even-handed JUS
llCc lOI oil. lHeS Lie JuuSc VIII
rendered them as standing for the rights
of the whole people; IS far as daylight
is from darkness, so far is such a judge
from the time-server. the trucker to the
mob or the cringing tool of great. cor
rupt and cOrrupting corporations. Judge
Taft on the bench-as since in the Phil
ippines, in Panama, in Cuba, in the War
Department-showed himself to be wise,
fearless and an upright servant of the
whole people. whose services to the whole
hau al
let all good citizens remember that he
rendered these services, not when it was
easy to do so, but when lawless violence
was threatened, when malice. domestic
and civic disturbance threatened the
whole fabric of our government and of
civilizations; his actions showed not only
the highest kind of moral courage. but of
physical courage as well. for his life was
freely and violently threatened.
Liability of Employers.
Let all fair-minded men. wage-workers
and capitalists alike, consider yet another
fact In one of his decisions upon the
bench Judge Taft upheld in the strong
est fashion, and for the first time gave
full vitality to, the principle of the en-
ployers' liability for injuries done work
men. This was before any national law
on the subject was enacted. Judge Taft's
sense of right his indignation against op-
preston in any form, against any attitude
that is not fair and just. drove him to
take a position which was violently con-
demned by Short-sighted capitalists and
employers of labor. which was so far in
advance of the time that it was not
generally upheld by the state courts but
which we are now embodying in the law
of the land.
Champion of Labor.
Judge Taft was leader, a pioneer,
while on the bench in the effort to get
justice for the wage-worker, in jealous
championship of his rights: and all up
right and farsighted laboring men should
hold it to his credit that at the same time
he fearlessly stood against the abuses of
labor, just as he fearlessly stood against
the abuses of capital. If elected, he has
shown by his deeds that he will be Presi-
dent of no class, but of the people as a
whole; he can be trusted to stand stoutly
against the two real enemies of our de-
mocracy-against the man who to please
one class would undermine the whole
foundation of orderly liberty and against
the man who in the interest of another
class would secure business prosperity by
sacrificing every right of the working peo-
pie.
have striven as President to champion
in every proper way the interests of the
wage-worker, for l regard the wage
worker, excepting only the farmer, the
tiller of the soil, as the man whose we'll
being is most essential to the healthy
growth of this great nation. l would for
to do what l thought was against his in
I Taft