The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1908-12-11


other bent on seeing that no change
is made unless in the right direction.
l believe in steady effort, or per-
haps it would be more accurate to say
in steady efforts in many different
directions, to bring about a condition
of affairs under which the men who
work with hand or brain, the labor
ers, the superintendent, the men
who produce for the market and the
men who find a market for the arti-
cles produced, shall own far great
er share than at present of the wealth
they produce, and be enabled to in
vest it in the tools and instruments
by which all work is carried on. AS
far as possible hope to see frank
recognition of the advantages con-
ferred by machinery, organization,
and division of labor, accompanied
by an effort to brig about larger
share in the ownership by wage-work-
er 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
so large that they become the prop
erty of absentee landlords who farm
them by tenants, nor yet so small
that the farmer becomes like Flu
ropean peasant. Again, the deposit
ors in our savings banks now number
over one-tenth of our entire popula-
ton. These are all capitalists, who
through the savings banks loan their
money to the workers-that Is, in
many cases to themselves-to carry
on their various industries. The more
we increase their number, the more
we introduce the principles of coop
Grafton into our industry. Every in
crease in the number of small stock
holders in corporations is good
thing. for the same reasons; and
where the employees are the stockhol-
ders the result is particularly good.
Very much of this movement must
be outside of anything that can be
accomplished by legislation; but leg
islation can do 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 supervised so as to make it
far safer than at present for the man
of small means to invest his money in
stocks. There must be prohibition of
child labor, diminution of woman
labor, shortening of hours of all me-
chanical labor; stock watering should
be prohibited, and stock gambling so
far as possible discouraged. There
should be progressive inheritance
tax on large fortunes. Industrial ed
ucation should be encouraged. AS
far as possible we should tighten the
burden of taxation on the small man.
We should put premium upon thrift,
hard work and business energy, but
these qualities cease to be the main
factors in accommodating a fortune
long before that fortune reaches
point where it would be seriously af-
fected by any inheritance tax such as
l propose. 1t is eminently right that
the Nation should fix the terms upon
which the great fortunes are inherit
ed. They rarely do good and they Of
ten do harm to those who inherit
them in their entirety.
The President then devotes a chap
ter to protection for wagework-
ers." He says there should be no pal
tering with the question of taking
care of those who become crippled or
worn out in our industrial system.
He urges proper employers liability
laws. He also calls attention to the
steps toward providing old-age pen
sions that have been taken by many
private industries. He urges Con-
gress to pass a comprehensive en-
ployers' liability law for the District
of Columbia.
The President devotes much space
to the subject of the courts. First he
urges increased pay for our judges
and then says:
1t is earnestly to be desired that
some method should be devised for
doing away with the long delays
which now obtain in the administra-
ton Of justice, and which operate
with peculiar severity against persons.
of small means, and favor only the
very criminals whom it is most desir-
able to punish. These long delays in
the final decisions of cases make in
the aggregate a crying evil. and a
remedy should be devised. Much of
this intolerable delay is due to i'm
proper regard paid to technicalities
which are mere hindrance to JUS
tice. In some noted recent cases this
over-regard for technicalities has re-
suited in a striking denial of justice.
and fragrant wrong to the body poll
tic.
At the last election certain leaders
of organized labor made violent and
sweeping attack upon the entire judi
ciary of the country, an attack
couched in such terms as to include
the most upright, honest and broad
judges. no less than those of
narrower mind and more restricted
outlook. 1t was the kind of attack
fitted to prevent any sue.
cessful attempt to reform abuses of
the judiciary, because it gave the
champions of the unjust Judge their
eagerly desired opportunity to shift
their ground into a championship of
just judges who were unjustly as
sailed. Last year, before the House
Committee on the Judiciary, these
same labor leaders formulated their
specifying the bill that con-
tanned them. refusing all compromise,
stating they wished the principle CT
that bill or nothing. They insisted
on provision that in labor dispute
10 injunction should issue except 10
protect a property right. and specif-
cally provided that the right to carry
on business should not be construed
as property right. and in second
provision their bill made legal in la
Dor dispute any act or agreement by
or between two or more persons that
would not have been unlawful If done
by single person. In other words.
this bill legalized blacklisting and