Los Angeles herald., 1908-10-28
SAY PRESIDENT
MISREPRFSENTED
TAFT'S ATTITUDE
REPLY OF ORGANIZED LABOR
SCORES ROOSEVELT
REPUBLICANS SHOWN TO BE
ENEMIES OF UNIONS
Correspondence Revealed in Chicago
Shows. Clearly and convIncinsIy
How Party Leaders Seek
to Conceal Facts
Especial to The Herald. I
OHICAGo. oct. 27.--President Roos

Z Welt has been given vast amount
~ of information regarding Judge
Taft's labor record in letter from II.
r. Fuller, national legislative repre-
sentative of the Brotherhood of Loco
motive Engineers, Firemen, Enginemen
and Trainmen.
This letter is in reality organized
labors reply to President Roosevelt,
who found an excuse for addressing
and publishing a letter to Mr.. F. II.
Grace, the Binghamton, N. T., railway
empleye, in order to place Mr.. Taft
before labor in favorable light.
In his letter to the president Mr.
Fuller shows that Mr.. Roosevelt went
out Of his way to misrepresent Mr..
Taft.s labor record. Mr.. Fuller wrote
to the president in part as follows;
II have read with interest the re-
markable correspondence between p.
FL. Grace, financier of lodge No. 36,
Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen,
and yourself, which appeared in the
public press Monday, the same being
a letter from Mr. Grace to you in
which in behalf of himself and his as
sociate employees he seeks your advice
as to how they can best serve their
interests In this campaign and your
reply thereto.
Says II is Remarkable
'I say remarkable, because of the
remarkable and novel method and
source by and from which Mr.. Grace
seeks information and advice regard
ing the attitude of Mr. Taft toward
the railroad employees of the country.
II am at a loss to understand why
Mr.. Grace should seek information and
advice regarding Judge Taft's atti-
tude toward the railroad employees of
the country from the very one whose
influence and administration were used
to bring about his nomination, and is
now being used TO secure his election
when Mr.. Taft's labor decisions
have been discussed in the lodge room
and printed and commented upon in
the magazines of the various organ
izations of labor, including those of
Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, of
which Mr.. Grace and myself are MEM
bers. N
Ware All Accessibls
@These publications were all aeces-
sible and would have been furnished
Mr.. Grace by the proper officers of the
brotherhood had he applied for them as
do other members of the organization.
Had he done so. he would have been
given the complete labor record of Mr..
Taft, rather than a partial one, and
both he and his fellow employees
throughout the country who read your
reply would be in possession of the
facts rather than being in the position
of having been misled by the presi-
dent of the United States.
1.-THE most important part of Mr..
Taft's labor record is conspicuous by
its absence from your reply, and 1t is
to supply this deficiency that L write
this letter."
Mr. Fuller goes into Mr.. Taft's
record as federal judge, showing that
he cut the wages of railway employees
to 81 day in 1896. This was in the
case Of Thomas VS.. the Cincinnati,
New Orleans e. Texas Pacific railway.
After quoting Judge Taft's words
from the Federal Reporter in which
he said of the helpless railway men,
IF they are not content with the
wages they are not compelled to ac-
cept them" Mr.. Fuller thus addresses
President Roosevelt.
Mr.. Fuller's Reply
"Mr Taft's own words In this de-
cision show that at the beginning and
before the employees had their day in
court the court approved or at least did
not oppose the reduction.
"Why should he have taken the
Judgment of the receivers in preference
to that of the employees? Why should
the employees be compelled to make a
strong showing?
"What was SO sacred about the
finances of these two railroad COM
panies and the bonds of the city of
Cincinnati that they should be placed
above wages and humanity then. ac-
cording to Judge Taft's own decision,
other roads in that vicinity were pay
ing higher wages than was the re-
ceiver?
"Where is the justice in compelling
employees to work overtime without
compensation?
81 ask you to contrast Judge Taft's
opinion in this case with the decisions
of no less than five other federal judges
in similar cases during the same year,
some of them being judges of eminence
and some occupying higher positions on
the bench than did Mr.. Taft"
Still Keeps 1t Up
Judge Taft in his travels around the
country continues to tell the laboring
man that the Republican party is his
friend. In fact the Republican candi-
date for the presidency devotes most of
his speeches now to the labor question
explaining his record as a judge and
apologizing for the action of the Re-
publican national convention.
In this connection it Is well to re-
turn to the records of that convention.
Following the adoption of the Van
CleaVe labor plank, and the absolute
refusal of the convention to consider
the appeal of organized labor, as pre-
sented by Samuel Gompers and the
Federation of Labor, letter of protest
from the Railway Trainmen was read
by the spokesman for Senator La Fol-
lette on the convention floor.
This note of protest, coming from the
locomotive engineers, firemen, engineers
and railroad men, as 1t did, is of in
terest at this time. 1t reads:
Railway Mems Protest
brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and
Engineers.
brotherhood Of Railroad Trainmen.
II. r. FULLER,
National Legislative Representative.
CHICAGO, ILL.,, June is, 1905
Hon. w. l.. Houser,
Grand Pacific Hotel; Chicago.
Dear Sir:
By authority, and ON behalf of the
brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers,
brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen
and Engineers and Brotherhood of
Railroad Trainmen. having member