Weekly Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1908-1909, 1908-12-11

istraJors is impalpable, is unseen. is ire
sponsfble, can not be reached, can not be
held to account Dem ocracy is in peril
wherever the administration of political
power is scattered among a variety of men
who work in secret whose very names are
unknown TO the common people. 1t is not
IN peril from any man who derives author
sight of the people. and who is from time
70 time compelled TO give account of its
exercise to the people.
Labor
There are many matters affecting labor
and the status of the wageworker to which
L should like to draw your attention, but
an exhaustive discussion of the problem i'll
all It's aspects is not now necessary. This
administration is nearing its end: and,
moreover, under our form of government
the solution of the problem depends upon
the action of the states as much as upon
the action of the nation. Nevertheless,
there are certain considerations which |
wish to set before you, because ] hope that
our people will more and more keep them
in mind. 4 blind and ignorant resistance
to every effort for the reform of abuses
and for the readjustment of society to mod
crn industrial conditions represents not
true conservatism but an Indictment TO the
widest radicalism for wise radicalism and
wise conservatism go hand in hand, one
bent on progress. the other bent on seeing
that no change Is made unless in the right
direction. | believe in a steady effort or
perhaps it would be more accurate to say
in steady efforts in many different direc-
TONS to bring about q condition of affairs
under which the men who york with hand
or with brain, the laborerS, the Superin-
tendents, the men who produce for the
market and the men who find Il market for
the articles produced, shall own a far
greater share than at present of the wealth
they produce, and be enabled to invest it
in the tools and Instruments by which all
work Is carried As far as possible |
hope to see a frank recognition of the ad-
vantages conferred by machinery, organiZa-
ton, and division of labor, accompanied by
an effort to bring about a larger share in
the ownership of wageworker of railway,
mill, and factory In farming this simply
means that we wish to see the farmer own
his own land; we do not wish to see the
farms large that they become the prop-
erty of absentee landlords who farm them
by tenants, nor yet so small that the farm
becomes like a European peasant. A gain
the dep0sitors in savings banks now
number over one-tenth of our entire popu-
lation. These are all capitalists, who
through the savings banks loan their mon
ey to the workers-that is, in many cases
to themselves-tO carry on their various in
duStries. The more we increase their num-
Der, the more we introduce the principles of
cooperation into our industry. Every in
crease in the number of small stockholders
In corporations is 2 good thing, for the
same reasons; and where the employees are
the stockholders the result is particularly
good. Very much of this movement must
be outside of anything that can be accom-
plished by legislation; but legislation can
do a good deal. Postal savings banks Will
make it easy for the poorest to keep their
savings in absolute safety. The regulation
of the national highways must be such
that they shall serve all people with equal
justice. Corporate finances must be super
vised as to make It far safer than at
present for the man of small means to in
vest his money in stocks. There must be
prohibition of child labor elimination OF
woman labor, shortening of hours of all
mechanical labor; stock watering should
be prohibited. and stock gambling so far az
is possible discouraged There should be a
progressive inheritance tax on large for
tunes. Industrial education should be en-
tighten the burden Of taxation on the small
man. We should put a premium upon
thrift, hard work. and business energy;
but these qualities cease to be the main
factors in accommodating fortune long be-
fore that fortune reaches a point where 4,
would be seriously affected by any Inherit
nently right that the nation should fix the
terms upon which the great fortunes are
inherited. They rarely do good and they
often do harm to those who inherit them
in their entirety.
Protection for Wageworkers.
The above is the merest sketch hardly
even a sketch in outline, of the reforms for
which we should work. But there is one
matter wi. With which tn the Congress should
er be any paltering with the question OE
taking care of the wageworkers who
der our present Industrial system, becoms
regular incidents of a given business. The
majority of wageworkerS must have their
rights secured for them by state action;
but the national government should legis-
late in thorOughgoing and far-reaching fash
ion not only for all employees of the ma
tional government, but for all persons en-
gagged in interstate commerce. The object
sought for could be achieved to a measur-
able degree. as far as those killed or Grip
pied are concerned, by proper employers
liability laws. AS far as concerns those
who have been out. | call YOUR at
tention to the fact that definite steps to-
ward providing old-age pensions have been
taken in many of private industries.
These may be Indefinitely extended through
voluntary association and contributory
schemes, or through the agency of savings
banks, under the recent Massachusetts
plan. To strengthen these practical meas
ureS should be our immediate duty; it is
not at present necessary to consider the
larger and more general governmental
schemes that most European governments
have found themselves obliged to adopt.
Our present system, or rather no sys-
TEN, works dreadful wrong, and is of bene-
fit to only one class of people-the lawyers.
When a workman is injured what he needs
is not an expensive and doubtful lawsuit,
but the certainty Of relief through imme-
date administrative action. The number
of accidents which result in the death or
crippling of wageworkers, in the Union at
large, is simply appalling; in a very few
the aggregate of the dead and wounded In
any modern war. No academic theory
about freedom of contract or ''conStitu-
tional liberty to contract should be per-
mitted to interfere with this and similar
movements. Progress In civilization has
everywhere meant limitation and regula-
ton of contract. [ call your especial atten-
ton to the bulletin of the bureau of labor
which gives q statement of the methods of
treating the unemployed in European coun-
tries, this is q subject which in Ger
many, for instance, is treated in connec-
ton with making provision for worn out
and crippled workmen.
Pending a thoroughgoing investigation
and action there is certain legislation
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 government, should be ex-
tended to include all employees of the gov.
in its terms. There is no good ground for
the distinction made in the law between
those engaged in hazardous occupations
and those not so engaged. If a man Is
injured or killed in any line of work, it
was hazardous in his case. Whether 1 per
cent or 10 per cent. of those following a
given occupation actually suffer injury or
the question of their receiving compensa-
ton. 1t is a grim logic which says to an
injured employee or to the dependents of
one killed that he or they are entitled to
no compensation because very few people
other than he have been injured or killed in
that occupation. Perhaps one Of the most
striking omissions in the law is that it
does not embrace peace officers and others
whose lives may be sacrificed in enforcing
the laws of the United States The terms
OF the act providing compensation should
be made more liberal than In the present
act. years compensation is not adequate
for wage-earner's family in the event Of
&c II y ,, It.,