The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-09-08
BRYAN SPEAKS TO THE
CHICAGO LABOR UNIONS
Continued from PAGE I,

CONTINUED from rage u
different classes. but these distinctions
are Insignificant when compared with the
great similarities that unite us in a COM
mon destiny and impel us toward a COM
mon end.
No Aristocracy Here.
ION this day it is well to emphasize the
fact that we are linked together by bonds
which we could not break IL We would
and should not weaken IL We couid- 1t
ought 10 be easy to learn this lesson in
the United States for here. mora than
anywhere else, people feel their interde-
pendence. We have no law OF primogenl-
turc to separate the oldest son from his
brothers and sisters; and We nave no law
of entail tc prevent the alienation OF IN
estate There is no arlStOcracy resting
upon birth or kingly favor. ana If the
people leIform their civic duties, there
will he nc Tiutocracy ruling in the name
of the dollar. Here the road to advance
ment is a public highway, and II is within
our power TO keep IL open to all alike.
Here too. the government Is within the
control of the people, and no department
of the service is out OF the reach OF the
voter or beyond the influence OF public
opinion. Under our constitution, some
branches of the government are more re-
sponsive than others to the public will.
but our government can be controlled by
the people. from the organic law which
we call the constitution to the statute
and the courts decree.
"A long step toward the elevation of la
Dor to its proper position in the nations
deliberations Is TO be found in the estab-
lishment of a department of labor, with
a cabinet officer at its head. The wage
earners deserve this recognition, and the
executive is entitled TO the assistance
which such an official could render him.
| regard the Inauguration of this reform
as the opening of a new era in which
those. who toll will have voice in the de-
alterations of the presidents council
chamber.
The labor organization has been seri-
ously handicapped by the fact that it has
been-and l am not sure that IL has not
been done unwittingly-yoked up with the
Industrial combinations known as trusts
The proneness of trust defenders to use
the labor organization as an excuse for
combinations in restraint of trade has
aroused the suspicion that they have been
classed together for the purpose of shield
ing the combinations of capital. AS a re-
suit OF eighteen years OF antitrust leSis-
lation, only one man has been given a
penal sentence for violating the federal
law on this subject, and that man was a
member of a labor organization rather
than trust magnate. The laboring man
is justified in his demand that dis
tinctiOn shall be drawn between the Ia
Dor organization and the industrial mo-
nOpOly.
THE trust and the labor organization
cannot be described in the same language
The trust magnates have used their pow
er TO amass swollen fortunes, while no
one will say that the labor organization
has as yet secured for its members more
than their share of the profits arising
from their work. But there are funda-
mental differences. The trust is a COM
bination of dollars: the labor organization
Is an association Of human beings. In a
trust few men attempt to control the
product of others; in a labor organization.
the members unite for the protection of
that which is their own. namely. their
own labor which being necessary
them. The trust deals with dead mat
ter: the labor organization deals with life
and with intellectual and moral forces.
deny the right OF the laboring man to
exemption from the operation of the eX-
listing antitrust law.
IF the labor organization needs to be
regulated by law. let IL be regulated by
law which deals with man as man. and
not by law that was aimed TO prevent
the cornering of a commodity or the fore
stalling of the market.
II shall not speak of the eight-hour day.
or Of the employers liability act, because
both of the leading parties have endorsed
these reforms. the only question to be
considered is: which party can best be
trusted TO secure these reforms? l need
hardly assure you that 1 am heartily in
favor of both reforms.
Two Important Questions.
There are two question, however. init
mately connected with the labor problem
upon winch the democratic ana RepuD-
lican parties do not agree. and / not only
feel at liberty to discuss these, but I'M
der the circumstances. | have no right TO
ignore them. One relates TO the issue OF
injunctions, and the other to contempt
cases arising under injunctions. The Re-
publican convention did not deal candidly
with the laboring man on the subject of
the writ of injunction. Secretary Taft
has endeavored to amend his platform in
this respect and to make some promises.
which are not supported by his platform,
but his promises offer nothing substan-
tial in the way of reform. and are not
binding on Republican senators and men,
bers The Republican congress has al
ready made a record on labor questions,
and the Republican party cannot escape
from that record.
Mr. Tafts speech may be considered
as binding upon him, but the convention
which selected the Republican candidate
the Republican platform-not Mr..
Taft's personal views. The Republican
platform, while pretending 10 pledge some
of the law. contains an ex-
ceptiOn clause which reiterates the very
language of the law. Whether this ex-
ception clause was inserted by accident or
design. the effect is the same. 1t merely
provides, in substance, that restraining or
ders shall not issue without notice ex-
cept where such order can now issue with
out notice The platform was a triumph
for those who have been opposing the la
boring man. and they have been boasting
of their victory.
1.-THE Democratic platform on this sub
jet copies the language which the labor