The Spanish Fork press. [volume] (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-current, 1908-12-10

months earnings In this respect the
generosity OF the United States towards
its employees compares most unfavora-
bly, with that Of every country in Eu-
rope-eVeu the poorest
J renew my recommendation made in
a previous message that half-holidays
De granted during summer to all wage
workers in government employ
also renew my recommendation that
the principle Of the cight-h hour day
should as rapidly ana as far ns practi-
cable be extended 10 the entire work
being carried on by the government;
the present law should he amended to
embrace contracts on those public
works which the present wording OF
the act seems TO exclude
Would Double Salaries Of judges.
most earnestly urge upon the con-
Eress the duty Of increasing the totally
Inadequate salaries now given To our
| Judges. On the whole there Is no body
or public servants who do as valuable
work nor whose moueyed reward is so
inadequate compared To their work Be
ginning with the supreme court the
Judges should have their salaries dou-
bled II Is not bentting the dignity of
the nation that its most honorcd public
servants should be paid sums SO small
compared to what they would earn in
private life that the performance of
public service by them implies an ex-
ccedingiy heavy pccuniary sacrifice
1t 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.
ana which operate with peculiar sever
'ity against persons of small means, and
favor only the very criminals whom ii
is most desirable 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 intolcrable delay is due
to improper regard paid to tcchnicali.
ties which are "A mere hindcrance to
Justice. In some noted recent cases this
| over-rcgard for technicalites 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 a 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 minded
| Judges. no less than those of narrower
mind and more restricted outlook
| Last year. before the house com
mttee on judiciary, these same
labor leaders formulated their de-
mands, specifying the bill that
contained them, refusing all compro-
| mise, stating they wished the principle
| of that bin or nothing. They insisted
on a provision that in a labor dispute
no injunction should issue except to
| protect property right. and specifcal-
ly provided that the right to carry on
business should not be construed as a
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 if done by a
cir OLE In 4 ard. I,fu lf
legalized blacklisting and boycotting
in every form. legalizing, for instance,
those forms of the secondary boycott
which the anthracite coal strike COM
mission so unreservedly condemned;
while the right to carry on a business
was explicitly taken out from under
| that protection which the law throws
| over property The demand was made
| that there should he trial by jury in
| contempt cases. thereby most seriously
| impairing the authority of the courts.
! All this represented a course of policy
| which. IL carried out. would mean the
! enthronement of class privilege in it's
| crudest and most brutal form. and the
| destruction of one of the most essen
| tial functions of the judiciary in all civ
| iliZed lands
The violence of the crusade for this
| legislation, and it's complete failure.
! illustrate two truths which it is essen
| tial 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 crude and
| vicious attack upon the courts. even If
1t were temporarily successful. would
| inevitably in the end cause "A violent
reaction and would band the great
mass of citizens together, forcing them
to stand by all the judges competent
I'D fV,aN nj f1NnN 40
see the wheels of justice stopped.
The wageworkers. the workingmen,
! the laboring men of the country by the
way in which they repudiated the eff
| fort to get them to cast their votes in
response to an appeal to class hatred,
have emphasized their sound patriotism
| and Amcricanism 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 be maintained. as
the safeguard of those principles OF lib
erty and justice which stand at the
foundation of American institutions; for,
as Burke finely said. when liberty and
Justice are separated, neither is safe.
| There are, however, some members 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
| principles made necessary by the new
conditions. Judges of this stamp do last
ing harm by their decisions, because they
| convince poor men in need of protection
that the courts of the land are pro-
foundly ignorant of and out of sympathy
with their needs, and profoundly ignorant
or hostile to any proposed remedy. To
such men IL seems a cruel mockery to
have any court decide against them on
the ground that 1t desires to preserve
liberty" in a purely technical form, by
withholding liberty in any real and con
structive sense.
There are certain decisions by various
courts which have been exceedingly det-
rimenta to the rights of wage-workers
This is true of all decisions that decide
that men are. by the constitution, guar
. anteed their liberty" to contract to ente,
a dangerous occupation, or to work al
undesirable or improper number Of hours
or to work in unhealthy surroundings
and therefore cannot recover damages
when manned in that occupation, anC
cannot be forbidden to work what thu
| Legislature decides is an excessive mum