Rocky Ford enterprise., 1908-12-11

months earnings. In this respect the ,
generosity of the United States towards |
its employees compares most unfavora-
bly, with that OF every country in Eu-
rope-even the poorest.
renew my recommendation made in
a previous message that half-holidays
be granted during summer to all wage
workers In government employ
also renew my recommendation that
the principle of the eight-hour- day
should as 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.
Would Double Salaries Of Judges.
I most earnestly urge upon the con-
gress 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
inadequate compared to their work. Be-
ginning with the supreme court the
Judges should have their salaries dou-
bled. 1t is not befitting the dignity of
the nation that Its most honored public
| servants should be paid sums small
| compared to what they would earn in
| private life that the performance of
| public service by them implies an ex-
| ceedingIy heavy pecuniary sacrifice.
1t is earnestly to be desired that some
method should be devised for doing
| away with the long delays which now
obtain in the administration of justice.
| and which operate with peculiar sever
| ity 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 crying
| evil; and a remedy Shout be devised.
Much of this intolerable delay is due
| to improper regard paid to technicall-
ties which are a mere hlndcrancc to
| justice. In some noted recent cases this
over-regard for technicalities has re-
| suited in striking denial OF justice,
| and lagrant wrong to the body polite.
Labor Leaders Criticised.
At the last election certain leaders of
| organized labor made n violent and
| sweeping attack upon the entire judi
| ciary of the country, an attack couched
| IN such terms as to include the most
| upright. honest and broad-minded
| judges no less than those of narrower
mind and more restricted outlook.
| Last year, before the house COM
| mittee on judiciary. these same
labor leaders formulated their de-
| mands. specifying the bill that
contained them. refusing all compro-
| mise. stating they wished the principle
| of that bill or nothing. They insisted
on a provision that in a labor dispute
no injunction should issue except to
protect property right, and specifcal-
| ly provided that the right to carry on
/ u
property right: and in II second provls-
| ion their bill made legal in "a labor dis
| pute any act or agreement by or be-
| tween two or more persons that would
| not have been unlawful n done by
! single person. In other words. this bill
| lcEalized bIncklistinE and boycottinS
| in every form. ieguiizinE. for instance.
those forms of the secondary boycott
| which the anthracite coal strike COM
\ mission so unrescrvcdly condemned:
| while the right to carry on n business
| was explicitly taken out from under
! that protection which the law throws
| over property. The demand was made
| that there should he triad by Jury In
| contempt cases, thereby most seriously
| ImpalrinS the authority Of the courts.
! All this represented n course OF policy
| which II carried out, would mean the
| enthronement Of class privilege In Its
| crudest and most brutal form. and the
] destruction Of one of the most essen
tial functions OF the judiciary In all CIV
| iiized lands.
Tho violence OF the crusade for this
| legislation. and its complete failure,
! illustrate two truths which II Is essen
tIal our people should learn. In the
| FIRST pinCe they ought TO teach the
! workinEman. the iaborcr. the wage
| worker. that by demanding what Is i'm
| proper and Impossible he plays into the
| hands OF his foes. Such crude and
| vicious attack upon the courts. even II
II were temporarily successful. would
| inevitably In III" end cause violent
| reaction and would band the great
| mass of citizens together. forcing them
to stand by all the Judges. competent
| and incompetent alike. rather than TO
gee the wheels OF Justice stopped
The waseworkers. the workingmen.
| the laboring men Of the country by the
| way in which they repudlated tho ef-
| fort to get them to cast their votes IN
response to an appeal to class hatred.
| have emphasized their sound patriotism
| and Amcricanism. Such attitude
| q n n object lesson In good fgItlyansliD
| the entire nation.
judicial System Sound.
Our judicial system is sound and
| effective at core. and IL remains
and must ever be maintained. as
the safeguard Of those principles of lib
| erty and justice which stand at the
foundation of American institutions: for.
| as Burke finely said. when liberty and
Justice are separated. neither is safe.
| There are. however. some members OF
| the judicial body who have Jagged be-
/ hind In their understanding OF these
| great and vital changes in the body
| polite. whose minds have never been
| opened TO tho new applications of the old
| principles made necessary by the new
| conditions. Judges Of this stamp do last
| ing harm by their decisions. because they
| convince poor men in need of protection
| that the courts of the land are pro-
foundiy ignorant Of and out Of sympathy
| with their needs. and profoundly ignorant
| or hostile to any proposed remedy. To
| suCu men u srtiiis n IL
| have any court decide against them on
| the ground that II desires to preserve
| liberty in a purely technical form, by
| Withholding liberty In any real and con-
| structive sense.
There are certain decisions by various
| courts which have been exceedingly det-
! rimentaI to the rights Of wase-workers.
| This is true Of all decisions that decide
! that men are, by the constitution. guar
| ante~d their liberty to contract to enter
| a dangerous occupation. to work
undesirable or improper number of hours.
to work In unhealthy surrounding;