Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1908-12-10

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| uon and action there IL certain icgt.-
lation which should be enacted NJ onc.
the law. passed at the last sesslo, a,
the congress granting compensation 10
| certain classes Of employees Of the gov.
ernment should be extended 10 lnrIna.
an employees OF the government and
| should be made more liberal IN a..
terms. There Is no good rround o.
the distinction made in the law no.
tween those engaged in hazardous oc-
| cupations and those not so en-
gagged. The terms OF the act pro-
Viding compensation should be made
more liberal than In the present
act a years compensation Is not ade-
| duate for wage-earner's family In IN.
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. Tn.
family would only receive as compen-
satton the equivalent OF one or two
months earnings In this respect the
| generosity Of the United States toward.
lts 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
snip In prohibiting payment in cases
where the accident Is in any way due
| 70 the negligence Of the employe. II is
Inevitable that daily familiarity with
4
that can be construed into negligence
80 well Is this recognized that in prac-
ucally 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 IL our legisla-
ton. both state and nauou.. ~ far be-
Wind practically the entire civilized
Id as In the matter Of ilabliit md
| compensation for accidents in industry.
| II ts humiliating that at Euro ana in
ternatonal congresses on accidents the
United States should be singled out as
the most belated among the nations in
| respect to employers liability legisia-
| tion. This government In itself a large
employer OF labor and In its dealings
| with its employees IL should set n stan
! dard In this country which would place
II on 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 n 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 recomms ndation made in
previous message that half-holidays
be granted during summer to all wage
4
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 20
embrace contracts on those public
works which the present wording OF
the act seems TO exclude.
Would Double Salaries Of judges.
4
gress the duty Of Increasing the totally
inadequate salaries now given 10 our
| judges On the whole there is no body
L of public servants who do as valuable
work. nor whose moneyed reward IL so
I Inadequate compared to their work. Be
ginning with the supreme court the
judges should have their salaries dou-
hled. II is not bentting the dignity Of
the nation that its most honored public
servants should be paid sums so small
compared to what they would earn in
I private life that the performance of
public service by them implies an ex-
ceedingly heavy pscuniary sacrifice.
II 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 IL
Is most desirable TO punish. These
long delays in the nnal decisions Of
cases make In the aggregate a crying
evil. and a remedy shoutl be devised
Much OF this intolerable delay Is due
TO improper regard paid TO technicali-
ties which are mere -hinderance to
! Justice. In some noted recent cases this
| ovcr-regard for fechnicaiities 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
organized labor made violent and
sweeping attack upon the entire judi
/ eiary 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
mind and more restricted outlook.
Last year. before the house COM
mittee on Judiciary these same
labor leaders formulated their de-
mands. specifying the bill that
mise. stating they wished the principle
of that bill or nothing. They insisted
on a provision that in n labor dispute
no Injunction should issue except to
| protect a property right. and specifcal-
| ly provided that the right to carry on
business should not be construed as
property right: and in a second provis-
ion their bill made legal in a labor dis
| pute any act or agreement by or be-
tween two or more persons that would
not have been unlawful IL done by a
single person. In other words. this bill
legalixed blackIisting and boycotting
| in every form legaiizing. for instance
| those forms of the secondary boycott
which the anthracite coal strike COM
mission so unreservedly condemned: /:
while the right to carry on n business
was explicitly taken out from under
| that protection which the law throws
over property. The demand was made
that there should be trial by jury in
contempt cases. thereby most seriously
| impairing the authority of the courts.
| All this represented a course Of policy
which. 10 carried out would mean the
enthronement OF class privilege in its
crudest and most brutal form. and the
destruction of one OF ;ha most essen
tiai functions of the judiciary in all civ
| ilixed lands.
The violence of the crusade for this
legislation. and its complete failure.
| illustrate two truths which IL Is essen
| tiaf our people should learn. In the
| first place. they ought to teach the
! workingman. the laborer. the wage
worker. that by demanding what is i'm
proper and impossible he plays into the
| hands of his foes. Such a crude and
| vicious attack upon the courts. even IL
| IL were temporarily successful. would
| Inevitably in the end cause violent
reaction and would band the great
mass OF citizens together. forcing them
| TO stand by all the judges. competent
and incompetent alike. rather than to
see the wheels of justice stopped,
The wageworkers. the workingmen
| the laboring men Of the country by the
way in which they repudiated the ef-
fort to get them to cast their votes in
response to an appeal to class hatred.
have emphasized their sound patriotism
and Americanism. Such an attitude
is an object lesson in good citizenship to
the entire nation.
Judicial System Sound.
Our judicial system Is sound and
effective at core. and 1t remains.
and must ever oe maintained. as
the safeguard os those principles of iio-
erty and justice which stand at the
foundation Of American institutions; for.
as Burke finely said. when liberty and
justice are separated. neither Is sAS-.
There are, however some m~7oers OF
the judicial body who have Jagged be-
hind in their understanding of these
great and vital changes in the body
polite, whose minds have never been
opened TO the new applications of the old
nrfncinieS made necessary by the new