The Forrest City times., 1908-12-11

| be supervised so as to mako if far safer | than at present for the man of small means to invest his money in stocks l There must be prohibition of child la | bor. L4minution of women lahor. short l ening of hours of all mechanical labor. stock watering should be prohibited and stock gambling so far as is possi- ble discouraged. There should be A progressive inheritance tax on large fortunes. Industrial education should be encouraged. As far as possible we should tighten the burden of taxation
 on the small man. There should no longer be any paltering with the question of taking care of the wageworkers who. under our pres
 ent industrial system. become killed.
 crippled or worn out as part of the regular incidents of given busi-
 ness. As far as concerns those
 who have been worn out. I call your attention to the fact that definite
 steps toward providing old-age pen slohs nave been taken in many of our private industries. These may be in- definitely extended through voluntary
 association and contributory schemes. or through the agency of savings
 banks. as under the Massachusetts plan.
 Urgent Need of Reform.
 Our present system. or rather no sys,
 tenn. works dreadful wrong and is of benefit to only one class of peopIe-the lawyers. When a workman is injured what he needs is not an expensive and doubtful lawsuit. but the certainty of
 relief through immediate administra- tive action. No academic theory about freedom of contract" or "consti-
 tutional liberty to contract" should be permitted to interfere with this and similar movements.
 renew my recommendation that
 the principle of the eight-hour day should rapidly and as far as practi-
 cable be extended to the entire work
 being carried on by the government: the present law should be amended to embrace contracts on those public
 works which the present wording of the act seems to exclude.
 I renew my recommendation made in previous message that half holidays be granted during summer to all wage workers in government employ
 Judges Too Poorly Paid.
 Coupled with a eulogy of the jul dietary of the nation the president urges that, beginning with the SUI preme court, the judges should have their salaries doubled
 As was to be expected, the attitude assumed by certain labor leaders dur ing the recent election comes in for
 bitter criticism The president as serts that demands made on congress for legislation were unjust and inn practical and could but work harm to the cause of labor. While declaring that our judicial system is sound and effective at core, the president says:
 There are certain decisions by various courts which have been exceedingly det- rimental to the rights of wage-workers This is true of all decisions that decide that men are, by the constitution, guar anteed their liberty" to contract to enter a dangerous occupation, or to work an undesirable or improper number of hours, or to work in unhealthy surroundings; and therefore cannot recover damages when maimed in that occupation, and cannot be forbidden to work what the legislature decides is an excessive num-
 Der of hours. or to carry on the work under conditions which the legislature
 decides to be unhealthy.
 There Is also, I think ground for the
 belief that substantial injustice Is often suffered by employees in consequence of
 the custom of courts issuing temporary injunctions without notice to them. and punishing them for contempt of court in
 instances where. a matter of fact
 they have no knowledge of any proceed
 ings. Organized labor is chafng
 under the unjust restraint which
 comes from repeated resort to this
 plan of procedure
 Injunction Must Remain.
 The power of injunction Is great equitable remedy. which should on no
 account be destroyed But safeguards should be erected against its abuse l In substance. provision should be made 1 that no injunction or temporary re- l straining order issue otherwise than on l notice, except where irreparable injury 1 would otherwise result; and in such case l a hearing on the merits of the order 1 should be had within a short fixed pc
 riod. and. if not then continued after hearing, it should forthwith lapse. De 1 cisions should be rendered immediately | and the chance of delay minimized in every way Moreover, I believe that the | procedure should be sharply defined. and l the judge required mnutely to state the l particulars both of his action and of his
 reasons therefor so that the congress | can if 1t desires examine and investigate | the same
 Harm Worked by Law. Discussing measures necessary for | the proper control of giant corpora
 tions operating in defiance of law, the
 president says:
 Real damage has been done by the | manifold and conflicting interpretations | ol the interstate commerce law. Con | trol over the great corporations doing l interstate business can be effective only l if it vested with full power In an l administrative department a branch of l the federal executive. carrying out a | federal law; it can never be effective if divided responsibility is left ia both | the stetcs and the nation; it can never | be effective if left in the hands of the | courts to be decided by lawsuits
 The courts hold place of pee liar and | deserved sanctity under our form of gov | ernment. Respect for the law is essen | ual to the permanence of our institu- l uons; and respect for the law is largely | conditioned upon respect for the courts. l It Is an offense against the republic to say anything which can weaken this re l spect, save for the gravest reason and in the most carefully guarded manner. Tn nc l other nation in the world do the courts | Wield such vast and far-reachIng mower as in the United States. All that Is nee ! essary is that the courts as whole 1 should exercise this power with the far | sighted wisdom already shown by those l judges who scan the future while they
 act in the present.
 Forest Preservation