Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-09-07

ment is a public highway, and it is
within our pow to keep 1t 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 responsive
than others to the public Will, but
our government can De 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
labor to its proper position in the ma
TONS deliberations is to be found in
the establishment of department of.
labor. with a cabinet officer at its
head. The wage Garner deserves this
recognition, and the executive is en-
titled to the assistance 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 VOICE in the delib-
Eerations of the presidents council
chamber
YOKED WITH TRUSTS.
The labor organization has been SER
iously handicapped by the fact that it
has been-and am not sure that 1t.
has not been done unwittingly-yoked
known as trusts. The proneness of
trust defenders to use the labor organ.
iaation as an excuse for combinations
in restraint of trade has aroused the
suspicion that they have been classed
together for the purpose OF shielding
the combinations of capital. AS the re-
suit of IS years of antitrust legisla-
ton, only one man has been given
penal sentence for violating the fed
geial law on this subject, and that man
was a member OF a labor organization
rather than trust magnate. The Ia
boring man is justified In his demand
that 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 anass swollen for
tunes, while no one will say that the
labor organization has as yet secured.
Ter it's members more than their share
of the profits arising from their WORK.
But there are fundaIne-ita Il rences:
The trust Is a combination of dollars;
the labor organization Is an assocla-s
ton of human beings. In a trust a
few men attempt to control the pro-
duct of others: in labor organization.
x the members unite for the protection OF.
that which Is their own. na1nely,,-t helf'
own labor which, being necessary to.
/, their existence. Is a part of them. Ihe
trust als with dead mats or the 4Iahpr
Organization deals with life and with;
intellectual and moral forces. No fn1-
partial student of the subject will de-.
nv the right of the laboring man. to ex-
emption from the operation Of the ex2
listing anti trust law.{ NIL ~.
LAW OF MAN AND MAN.
If the labor organization needs to be
regulated by law, let it be regulated
,s,,t, a
and not by law that was aimed to.
prevent the3cornering Of a commodity
or the forestalling of the market.
[ 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? 1 need hardly assure
you that am heartily in favor of both
reforms.
There are two questions, however,
Intimately connected with the labor
problem upon which the Democratic
and Republican parties do not agree,
and not only feel at liberty to discuss
these, but, under the circumstances. l
have no right to ignore them one re-
lates to the issue of injunctions, and
the other to contempt cases arising IN
der injunctions.. The Republican con
ventinn did not deal candidly with the
laboring man on the subject of the writ
of Injunction. secy Taft has endeaV-
ored to amend his platform in this re-
spect and to make some promises
Which are not supported by his plat
form. but his promises offer nothing
substantial in the way of reform. ana
are not binding on Republican senator's
and members. The Republican con-
gress has already made a record on
labor questions, and the Republican
,,o,.+ "a nnot escane from that record.
AS TO MR.. TAFT.
Mr.. Taft's speech may be consider
ed as binding upon him, but the con-
venton which selected the Republican
nlatfornl@-not Mr.. Taft's personal
views. The Republican platform. while
pretending to pledge some modihca-
ton of the law, contains an exception
clause which reiterates the very lang
uage Of the law Whether this excep-
ton clause was inserted, by accident OF
design, the effect is the same. 1t mere
ly provides, in substance, that restrain
ing orders shall not issue without
notice except where such order can
now issue without notice. The plat
form was a triumph for those VINO
have been opposing the laboring man.
and they have been boasting of their
victory.
The Democratic platform on this
subject copies the language which the
labor organizations submitted to the
Republican and Democratic conven-
tons Mr. Taft in his notification
speech, objects to the language. He
charges that the injunction plank
was closely drawn and framed for
the especial purpose of rendering it
susceptible to one Interpretation by one
set of men. and Numerically oppo-
site Interpretation by another AS Mr..
Taft has had long experience on the
bench, and is therefore skilled in the
Interpretation of Language. ask him TO
give US, il he can, two opposite in
terpretations! OF the language. That
plank demands that "all parties to all
Judicial proceedings shall be treated
with rigid impartiality.H Surely he can
not find two interpretations to the
phrase rigid impartiality."
THE INJUNCTION PLANK.
Speaking of industrial disputes, the
platform declares that .'injunctions
shall not be issued in any cases in
which injunctions would not issue II
no Industrial dispute We're involved
How can that language be miscon-
strued or misinterpreted? If words
mean anything, that plank means that
an industrial dispute shall not, in it's
elf, be regarded as a sufficient cause
for an injunction. II an injunction is
sues in an industrial dispute, it must
be based upon acts which would
Justify an Injunction If there We're no
Industrial dispute involved. There is
nothing ambiguous about 1t; there is
nothing that can be misconstrued or
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