The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1908-12-08
PRES. R0OSEVELT'S MESSAGE
CONTINUED from page u

Whether one per cent or 10 per
cent of those following a given
occupation actually suffer injury or
death ought not be have any bear
ing on the question of their receiv-
ing compensation. 1t is a grim
I logic which saws to an injured en-
pl0ye or to the dependents of one
killed that he or they are entitled
to no compensation because very
few people other than he have been
injured or killed In that occupation.
"The terms of the act are also a
hardship In prohibiting payment in
eases where the accident is in any
way due to the negligence of the
employe. 1t is Inevitable that daily
familiarity with danger will lead
men to take chances that can be
construed into negligence. So we'll
is this recognized, that in practic-
ally all countries In the civilized
world, except the United States,
only a great degree of negligence
acts as bar to securing compensa-
ton. Probably in no other respect
lie our legislation, both state and
national, so far behind practically
the entire civilized world as in the
matter of liability and compensa-
fion for accidents in Industry.
~ renew my recommendation
that the principle of the eight hour
day should as rapidly and as far as
practicable be extended to the en-
tire work being carried on by the
government; the present law
should be amended to embrace con-
tracts on those public works when
the present wording of the act
seems to exclude.
= Labor and Courts.
III most earnestly urge upon the
congress the duty of increasing the
totally inadequate salaries now
given to our judges. On the whole
there is no body of public servants
who do as valuable work, nor
whose moneyed reward is so made
Auate compared to their work. Be
ginning with the supreme court. the
Judges should have their salaries
doubled. 1t is not betting the dig
ored public servants should be paid
sums so small compared to what
they would earn in private life that
the performance of public service
by them implies an exceedingly
heavy pecuniary sacrifice.
1t is earnestly to be desired that
some method should be devised for
no lAl.
which now obtain in the admins.
fration of justice, and which oper-
ate with peculiar severity against
persons of small means, and favor
only the very criminals whom 1t is
most desirable to punish. These
long delays in the final decisions of
cases make in the aggregate a cry
ing evil; and remedy should be
devised. Much of this intolerable
delay is due to improper regard
paid to technicalities which are
mere hindrance to justice. In some
noted recent cases this over regard
for technicalit:es has resulted in
striking denial of justice. and flag
rant wrong to the body polite.
AT the last election certain lead
ers of organized labor made a vic.
lent and sweeping attack upon the
entire judiciary of the country, an
attack couched in such terms as to
include the most upright, honest
and broad minded judges, or less
than those of narrower mind and
more restricted outlook. 1t was the
kind of attack admirably fitted to
prevent any Successful attempt to
reform abuses of the judiciary. be-
cause 1t gave he champions of the
unjust judge their eagerly desired
opportunity to shift their ground
into championship of just judges
who were unjustly assailed
Last year. before the house COM
mittee of the judiciary, these same
labor leaders formulated their de-
mands, specifying the bill that con-
tanned them, refusing all compro-
mise, stating they wished the prin-
ciple Of that bill or nothing. They
insisted on provision that In
labor dispute no injunction should
issue except to protect property
right. and specifically provided that
the right to carry on business
should not be construed as a prop
erty right: and In second pro-
vision their bill made legal in
labor dispute any act or agreement
by or between two or more persons
chat would not have been unlawful
II done by a single person. In other
words, this bill legalized blacklist
ing and boycotting in every form,
1egalizing, for instance. those forms
Of the secondary boycott which the
anthracite coal Strike commission
30 unreservedly condemned; while
the right to carry on a business
was explicitly taken out from under
that protection which the law
throws over property. The demand
was made that there should be trial
by jury In contempt cases, thereby
most seriously impairing the au-
thoritly of the courts. All this rep
resented course of policy which,
ii carried out, would mean the en-.
thronement of class privilege in it's
crudest and most brutal form, and
the destruction of one of the most
essential functions of the judiciary
in all civilized lands.
Lessons for Labor.
"The violence of the crusade for