The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09
ROOSEVELTS MESSAGE TO CONGRESS


 l Rress should be ahead and not behind ! the States of the Union in this respect. l A comprehensive employers liability
 law should be passed for the District renew my recommendation made | in a previous message that half holi-
 days De grSRtsd ;n Surang em also renew my recommendation
 that the principle of the eight hour
 prsoticsble be extended to the entire
 work being carried on by the govern
 ment;. the present law should be those public works which the present | wording of the acts seems to exclude. 1 The Courts.
 | I most earnestly urge upon the Con
 gress the duty of increasing the total | fy inadequate salaries now given to our judges. On the whole there Is no
 SSGy if pSollse Sor boss whG GS
 reward Is so inadequate compared to | their work. Beginning with the. Su-
 preme Court the judges should have
 fitting the dignity. of the nation that
 its most honored public servants
 should be paid sums so small com
 vate life that the performance of pub 1 lie service by them implies an exceed
 ingly heavy pecuniary. sacrifice.
 some. method should be devised for
 which now obtain in the admlnistra,
 Hn pe HsGs ipS aEss. wass of small means, and favor only the | very criminals whom it Is most desir-
 able to punish, These long delays nn1s in in
 remedy should be devised. Much of
 this intolerable delay Is due to inn | which are mere hindrance to justice.
 In some noted recent eases this oyer: regard for technicaiities has resulted I fragrant wrong to the body polite.
 | At the last election certain leaders
 of organized labor made a violent and sttssk snS SPSn the sntrss as,ssk J 1 couched in such terms as to include the most upright, honest and broad. minded judges, no less than tn2se os outlook. It was the kind of attack admirably fitted to prevent any sue: cessful attempt to reform abuses of champions of the unjust judge their | eagerly desired opportunity to shift their ground Into a championship of sailed. last year, before the House Committee on the Judiciary. these same labor leaders formulated their de- | mands, specifying the bill that con- tained them. refusing ali compromise
 stating they wished the principle of that bill or nothing. They insisted on
 proyti,son pnt,s that. that in , labor .a. dispute no lstect c property right, and specifically provided that the right to carry on
 business should not be construed as | vision their biil made legal in a labor | dispute any act or agreement by or
 between two or more persong that by single person. Tn other words, this bill legalixed bIacklisting and 1 boycotting in every. form, leEAlising, for instance those fSrws or the. thS sees .ses coal strike commission so unreservedly condemned; while the. right to carry on business was explicitly taken out | law throws over property. The de- mand was made that there should be | trial by jury In contempt eases, there tRority of the courts. Ali this repre-
 scented course of policy which. If carried out, would mean the enthrone-. ana sn' most 10 efIS Srstai form, form a and the dee l struction of one of the most essential functions of the judiciary In all civ
 The violence of the crusade for this l legislation, and it's complete failure. illustrate two truths which 1t is es- | sential our people should learn. n the workInsman. the la69rerc the wage-worker, that by demanding what Is improper and Impossible he Such a crude and vicious attack upon the courts. even if it were temporari- ly successful, would inevitably In the sRS %Uud band the VSsas Sreat msss of e
 zens together, forcing them to~gtand by all the judges. competent and in- sSHpstsSss ss, aitfe n ,stss rstssr sopped ssp see
 movement of this kind can ultimately result in nothing but damage to those in. whose behalf 1t Is nominally under
 which 1t Is wise for all our people to learn. Any movement based on that class hatred which at times assumes certain ultimately to fail .and if it temporarily succeeds. to do far-reach. ing damage. Glass consciousness" the odious vice of class seihshness, is equally nOxtous whether in an ein- pIoye's association or in a working mans association. The movement tn was made to all workingmen to vote primarily, not as American citizens. but as individuals of certain class in society. Such an appeal in the hrst place revolts the more high minded and far-sighted among the persons to whom 1t is addressed, and in the antagonism among all other classes of citizens. whom 1t therefore tends to unite against the very organization on whose behalf 1t Is issued. The re- every standpoint. This healthy truth. by the way. will be learned by the socialists If they ever succeed in es- tablishing in this country an impor-
 tant national party based on such class consciousness and selfish class
 The wage-workers, the working men, the Iaboring men of the coun- try by the way in which they repudi- ated the effort to get them to cast to class hatred, have emphasized their sound patriotism and Americanisnl. The whole country has cause to feel pride in this attitude of sturdy inde- sistence upon acting simply as good citizens, as good Americans. without regard to fancled-and improper class interests Such an attitude is an object-lesson in good citizenship to
 But the extreme reactionaries. the persons who blind themselves to the wrongs now and then committed by the courts on laboring men, should think seriously as to what such r 2 judges who have shown themselves able and willing effectively to check the dishonest activity of the very rich man who works iniquity by the have shown themselves alert to do justice to the wage-worker, and sym pathetic with the needs of the mass If our people so that the dweller in the tenement houses. the man who practices a dangerous trade. the man who ts crushed by excessive hours of labor. feel that their needs are un- derstood by the courts-these judges are the real bulwark of the courts the judges, the judges of the stamp nF "a haan