The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-09-08


 ent; we have them because we are human beings. The government did not bestow them upon us-the government cannot rightfully withdraw them from US. We all come into the world without our vo- lition; the environment of youth largely determines the course of our lives and this environment is not of our choosing. We live under the same moral obliga- tions, and are responsible to the same Supreme Being We have our needs that must be supplied we require food, cloth ing, shelter companionship We have our domestic ties and the tenderness of these ties is not measured by wealth or position in society. Man has used petty distinctions to separate society into diff ferent 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 common end.
 On this day 1t is well to emphasize the fact that we are linked together by bonds which we could not break if we would and should not weaken if we could. It ought to be easy to learn this lesson in the United States. for here. more than anywhere else, people feel their interdependence. We have no law of primogeniture to separate the oldest son from his brothers and sisters; and
 
 alienation of an estate. There is no aristocracy resting upon birth or kngly favor; and if the people perform their civic duties there will be no plutocracy ruling in the name of the dollar. Here the road to advancement is a public highway, and it is within our power to keep it open to all alike. Here, too the government is within the control of the people, and no department of the serv- foa ic out oF fba of Ar beyond the influence of public opinion Under our constitution some branches of the government are more responsive than others to the public will but our gov ernment can be controlled by the people, from the organic law which we call the constitution to the statute and the court s decree.
 long step toward the elevation of labor to it's proper position in the na- tion's deliberations is to be found in the establishment of a department of labor with a cabinet officer at Its head The wage earners deserve this recognition, and the executive is entitued to the as- sistance which such an official could render him. I regard the inauguration of this reform as the opening of a new era in which those who toll will have a voice in the deliberations of the Presi- dents council chamber.
 Yoked With Trusts.
 The labor organization has been se- riously handicapped by the fact that 1t has been-and I am not sure that it 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 ex- cuse for combinations in restraint of trade has aroused the suspicion that they have been classed together for the pur, pose of shielding the combinations of capital. As the result of IS years of antitrust legislation, only one man has been given a penal sentence for violating the federal law on this subject and that man was a member of labor organiza- ton rather than a trust magnate. The laboring man is justified in his demand that a distinction shall be drawn be- tween the labor organization and the industrial monopoly.
 The trust and the labor organization cannot be described in the same language The trust magnates have used their power to amass swollen fortunes, while no one will say that the labor organization has as yet secured for it's members more than thelr share of the profits arising from their work But there are fundamental dliterences. The trust is d combination of dollars; the labor organization is an asso- citation of human beings. In a trust a few men attempt to control the product of others' in labor organization the mem- bers unite for the protection of that which Is their own, namely, their own labor. winch, being necessary to their existence, Is part of them. The trust deals with oead matter; the labor organization deals with life and with intellectual and moral forces. No impartial students of the sub Ject will deny the right of the laboring man to exemption from the operation of the existing antitrust law
 II the labor organization needs to be regulated by law let it be regulated by a law which deals with man as man, and not by law that was aimed to prevent the cornerlng of a commodity or the fore7 stalling of the market.
 l shall not speak of the eight-hour day. or of the employers liability act because both of the leading parties have indorsed these reforms; the only question to be considered is: which party can best be trusted to secure these reforms? I need hardly assure you that l am heartily in favor of both reforms
 There are two questions, however, in- timately connected with tho labor prcb. lem upon which the democratic and re- publican parties do not agree, an1 I not only Feel at liberty to discuss these, but. under the circumstances, have no right to ignore them One relates to the is- sue of injunctions, and the other to con tempt cases arising under injunctions The republican convention did not deal can uidly with the laboring man on the sub Ject of writ of injunction. Secretary Taft mas endeaVored to amend his platform in thls respect and to make some promises, which are not supported by his platform. but his promises offer nothing substan- tlal In the way of reform, and are not Dlndlng on republican senators and mem- bers The republican congress has al- ready made record on labor questions and the republican party cannot escape from that record
 MT. Tafts speech may be considered as binding upon him, but the convention which selected the republican candidates indorsed the republican platform-not MT. Tafts personal views The republican platform, while pretending to pledge some modification 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.. It mere- ly provides, in substance, that restraining orders 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.
 Taft's Charges.
 The democratic platform on this subject copies the language which the labor or 'ganizations submitted to the republican and democratic conventions. MT. Taft in his notification speech, objects to the lan- guage. He charges that the anti-injunc- ton plank was loosely drawn" and framed for ''the especial purpose of rem .