The Sauk Centre herald., 1908-12-10


months earnings. IN this respect the
generosity Of the United States towards
Its employees compares most unfav0ra-
bly, with that Of every country in Eu.
rope-even the poorest
renew my recomm endation made In
q previous message that half-ho1idays
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.
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 IL 30
inadequate compared to their work. Be-
ginning with the supreme court the
judges should have their salaries dou-
bled. It is not betting the dignity Of
the nation that its most honored 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 ex-
ceedingly 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 IL
IL 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 technicali-
ties which are a mere hinderance to
Justice. In some noted recent cases this
over-regard for technicalities has re-
suited in a striking denial Of Justice,
and fragrant wrong to ths body polite.
Labor Leaders Criticised.
At the last election certain leaders of
organized labor made q 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
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 q labor dispute
no Injunction should issue except to
protect property right. and specifcal-
ly provided that the right to carry on
business should not be construed as a
property right; and in q second provis-
ion their bill made legal in . labor dis
pute any act or agreement by or be-
tween two or more persons that would
not have been unlawful II done by q
single person. In other words, this biA
legalized black'isting and boycotting
in every form. legalizing, for instance,
those forms Of the secondary boycott
which the anthracite coal strike COM
mission 50 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 authority of the courts
All this represented a course Of policy
which. IL carried out would mean the
enforcement 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
ilized lands.
The violence of the crusade for this
legislation, and its complete failure,
illustrate two truths which it is essen
tial our people should learn. In the
first place. they ought to teach the
the laborer. the wage
worker, that by demanding what is i'm
proper and impossible he plays into the
hands of his foes. Such a crude and
vicious attack upon the courts. even III
1t were temporarily successful. would
Ii
reaction and would band the great
mass Of citizens together, forcing them
to stand by an the Judges. competent
and incompetent alike, rather than to
see the wheels Of justice stopped.
The wageworkers. the workingmen,
the laboring men of the country by the
way in which they repudiated the ef-
fort to get them to cast their votes in
response to an appeal to class hatred,
have emphasized their sound patriotism
and Americanism. Such an attitude
is an object lesson in good citizenship to
the entire nation. ...I
judicial System Sound.
Our judicial system is sound and
effective at core, and It remains,
and must ever be maintained. as
the safeguard Of those principles Of lib
erty and Justice which stand at the
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 ti,rse
great and vital changes in the body
polite. whose minds have never been
opened to the 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-
ignorant of and out of sympathy
with their needs. and profoundly ignorant
or hostile to any proposed remedy. To
such men It seems cruel mockery to
have any court decide against them on
the ground that it desires to preserve
liberty in q purely technical form, by
liberty in any real and con-
structive sense.
There are certain decisions by various
courts which have been exceedingly det-
rfmental 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
. dangerous occupation. or to work an
or improper number Of hours.
or to work in unhealthy surroundings:
and therefore cannot recover damages
when MANNED in that occupation. and
cannot be forbidden to work what the
legislature decides IL an excessive num-
ber Of hours. or to carry on the work
under conditions which the legislature
such as those nullify the legislative
effort to protect the wage workers who
most need protection from those employ
ers who take advantage Of their grind
ing need. They halt or hamper the move
nnent for securing better and more equi-