The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1908-12-10
to interfere with this and

/
similar movements.
Pending a thoroughgoing investiEa-
tion and action there is certain leBis-
lation which should be enacted at once.
The law. passed at the last session of
the congress granting compensation to
certain classes of employees of the gov
ernment should be extended to include
all employees of the government and
should be made more liberal in its
terms There Is no good ground for
the distinction made in the law be-
tween those engaged in hazardous oc-
cupations and those not 80 en-
gagged. The terms of the act pro-
viding compensation should be made
more liberal than in the present
act. years compensation is not ade-
quate for a wage-earner's family in the |
event of his death by accident in the
course of his employment And in the
event of death occurring, say, ten or |
eleven months after the accident the
family would only receive as cOmpen-
sation the equivalent of one or two |
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.
The terms of the act are also a hard |
ship in prohibiting payment in cases |
| where the accident is in any way due |
| to the negligence of the employe. 1t is |
| inevitable that daily familiarity with
| danger will lead men to take chances |
that can be construed into negligence.
| So well is this recognized that in prac-
| tically all countries in the civilized |
| world except the United States, only a
| great degree of negligence acts as a
| bar to securing compensation. Proba-
| bly, in no other respect is our legisla-
tion. both state and nallonal. so far be-
hind practically the entire civilized
| world as in the matter of liability and
| compensation for accidents in industry
| 1t is humiliating that at European in
| ternational congresses on accidents the
| United States should be singled out as
| the most belated among the nations in
| respect to employers liability legisla-
| tiOn. This government Is itself large
| employer of labor and in its dealings
| with its employees it should set stan
! dard in this country which would place
it on a par with the most progressive
| countries in Europe. The laws of the
| United States in this respect and the
| laws of European countries have been
| summarized In a recent bulletin of the
| bureau of labor, and no American who
reads this summary can fail to be
struck by the great contrast between
our practices and theirs-a contrast not
in any sense to our credit.
renew my recommendation made in
| a previous message that half-holdays
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.
| l 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 betittinE the dignity of
the nation that it's 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
ceedlngly 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 it
is most desirable to punish These
long delays in the final decisions of
cases make in the aggregate crying
evil; and a remedy shout be devised
, Much of this intUlera BILE delay is due
to improper regard paid to technicali-
: ties which are mere hinderance to
Justice In some noted recent cases this
| regard for techniCaHties has re-
: suited in a striking denial of justice,
,, and fragrant wrong to the body polite.
Labor Leaders Criticised.
= At the last election certain leaders of
I organized labor made a violent and
t sweeping attack upon the entire judi
Y 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
l mind and more restricted outlook.
| Last year, before the house COM
= mittee on judiciary, these SAM
3 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
9 on provision that in labor dispute
s no injunction should issue except to
n protect a property right. and specifcal-
ly provided that the right to carry on
business should not be construed as a
property right; and in a second provis-
r ion their bill made legal in labor dis
0 pute any act or agreement by or be-
: tween two or more persons that would
g not have been unlawful If done by a
: single person. In other words, this bill
: legalized blacklsting and boycotting
e in every FORM legalizing, for instance
8 those forms of the secondary boycott
z which the anthracite coal strike COM
mission so unreservedly condemned;
khov trryNk lNi1Gt GtFnaE
], was explicitly taken out from under
9 that protection which the law throws
s over property. The demand was made
9 that there should be trial by jury In
i contempt cases. thereby most seriously
e impairing the authority of the courts
k All this represented a course of policy
g which, If carried out. would mean the
l. enthronement of class privilege in its
= crudest and most brutal form, and the
d destruction of one of the most essen.
o tial functions of the judiciary in all civ
l. ilized lands.
The violence of the crusade for this
t legislation, and it's complete failure
= illustrate two truths which it is essen
n | tial our people should learn. In the
h first place, they ought to teach thu
h workingman, the laborer. the wage
IT worker, that by demanding what Is i'm
r. proper and impossible he plays into th'
II hands of his foes. Such crude anC
S. vicious attack upon the courts. even i
i it were temporarily successful, woulC
l. inevitably in the end cause a violen
?: reaction and would band the grea
Il mass of citizens together, forcing then
i to stand by all the judges. competen
a and incompetent alike, rather than t.
re see the wheels of justice stopped.
d The wageworkers, the workingmen
re the laboring men of the country by th
N way, in which they repudiated the eff
a fort to get them to cast their votes il
ID response to an appeal to class hatred
IS have emphasized their sound patriotism
l. and Americanism. Such an attitud
1t is an object lesson in good citizenship t
Ia the entire nation.