The morning journal-courier., 1908-10-26


 ------------------------ --------------------- and control of Mr. Taft as secretary of war He has taken a peculiar in- terest In the men who are digging that canal He has made q special study of all that confronts them. He has made 1t his business to see that their interests are in every way amply pro- tected, that they have ample reward; that they are well housed, well fed, and, so far as in his power lies, that they receive compensation for injuries incurred in the line of their duty. A special committee which l have ap- pointed to look into the conditions of labor on the isthmus, which included upon 1t Mir. Samuel B. Donnelly la bor representative, formerly the presi- dent of the International Typographi- cal union, has reported to mo In effsct that Uncle Sam has shown himself to be a model employer on the isthmus, so that, thanks to Mir. Taft and the care and supervision which he has exercised, the men who work for the government on the isthmus are, on the whole, better paid, better protect ed better cared for, than In any pri- vate industrial enterprise in the United States. MT. T. J. Dolan, the secretary-treasurer of the Internation- al Brotherhood of Steam Shovel and Dredge Men, who has most carefully Investigated this subject because of the large number of the men of his organ i2ation employed on the isthmus, has come to the same conclusion, and largely because of this fact he is ar dently supporting MT Taft
 Bryan Vague; Taft Explicit.
 As opposed to the entire vagueness of MT. Bryans proposals. MT. Taft stands pledged to continue the definite and con 'tructive program of social re- organization outlined and already en- tered upon by the present adminlstra- ton, which has never hesitated in spe- cific cases of sufficient importance to interfere for the purpose of securing all adjustment of labor troubles, at the same time conserving the rights of the wage-earner. A conspicuous in stance was the settlement of the an- thracite coal strike. In April 1907, when strike was imminent on the western railroads which would have tied up forty-four lines with half a million employees and put half the country in state of siege negotia- tors were sent by the administration uFh hA lat, 1nl t,, tI, name of the people a settlement of the difficulty by arbitration; and last spring the administration, by its wig orous action, prevented a general re- duction of wages on the railroads of the country which would have caused great suffering and far-reaching dis turbance; but if Mir. Bryan were elect ei I have little doubt that the en- suing industrial chaos, necessitating great reduction of wages and wide- spread employment, would be be- yond the reach of such action as that which averted the threatened disas- ter last spring.
 When the public coal lands were falling under monopolistic control the administration withdrew millions of acres from entry, insisting to the ex- tent of its power that the coal and oil under these lands shall remain a federal possession. For the first time in our history the administration has secured the enforcement of the eight hour law in the government depart ments and is trying to secure it's ex- tension by legislation In the District of Columbia It has enacted a federal child labor law which stands as a model law for state governments and their department of legislation.
 Administrations Aid to Labor.
 Beyond these remedial enactments and arbitrations achieved by this ad- ministration stands a constructive and organic program of Federal activity in the way of social and industrial re- form. Toward this end through the years I have been in office I have con- suited with all classes and conditions of men. We have been able on the whole to arrive at a remarkably close agreement among ourselves so long as all parties, representatives of labor and capital alike, kept in view their obligations to the commonwealth as joint workers toward this social re- form. We are all agreed that free play should be permitted only so long as 1t means fair play We are en- deavoring steadily to secure more ! tta T t,e .f
 ard the ideal of distribution of the several costs of government in ra- | tio to the benefits derived There is nothing in this of class or caste from our program doctrlnaires, individual ist and socialist alike, are barred. Sociology comes not to breed new class warfare; 1t knows man only as man. This administration has bent a | large part of it's efforts toward social | advancement. The question has been asked, Why has not the national gov- ernment, through it's Bureau of La- bor, done for the wage earner what, through the Department of Agrlcul- | ture, it has done for the farmer, by placing at his disposal through Fed eral research the latest results of scientific discovery
 My answer Is, the time had not yet come when this was possible; we have advanced in each case just as fast and as far as was possible with the knowl- edge and means at our command Be- tween pure science or speculative the ory and its practical application in the hands of a government lies of neces- sity a gap of years, years of patient | Investigation and experiment after truth. Ten years ago organic evou- ton in agriculture was still q specua- tive science. Today the farmer has only to specify that his wheat must