Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1908-04-02

WnSle inc combination or contract was
in fact unfair, unreasonable, and
against the public interest.
Labor Organizations.
II Is important that we should ell.
courage trade agreements between emf
ployer and employee where they are
just and fair A strike is clumsy
weapon for rlghtng wrongs done 60
labor, and we should extend. so far rs
possible, the process of Cancellation
and arbitration for strikes. Moreover,
violence, disorder and coercion. when
committed in connection with strikes,
should be as promptly and as sternly
repressed as when committed in any
other connection. But strikes them.
selves are. and should be, recognized
to be entirely legal Combinations of
workinemen have a peculiar reason
for their existence. The very wealthy
individual employer. and still more the
very wealthy corporation. stand at an
| enormous advantage when compared
to the individual workingman; and
while there are many cases where it
may not be necessary for laborers to
form union, in many other cases it
| Is Indispensable, for otherwise the
thousands of small units, the thou-
| sands of individual workingmen, will
be left helpless in their dealings with
the big one unit, the big individual or
] corporate employer.
Twenty-Five years ago, by the act of
June 20, 1886, trades unions were rec
| ognized by law, and the right OF la
| boring people to combine for all
| lawful purposes was formally recog-
nized, this right including combina.
| lions for mutual protection and bene-
| fits, the regulation of wages, hours
and conditions of labor, and the pro-
lection of the individual rights of the
| workmen in the prosecution OF their
trade or trades; and in the act of
| June |, 1898, strikes were recognized
as legal in the same provision that for
babe participation in or instigation of
| force or violence against persons or
property, or the attempt to prevent
others from working, by violence,
threat or intimidation. The business
man must be protected in person and
| property, and so must the farmer and
the wageworkcr; and as regards all
alike, the right of peaceful combna
tion for all lawful purposes should be
explicitly recognized
Objects to Boycott.
The right of employers to combine
and contract with one another and
with their employees should be eXplic-
lily recognized; and so should the
right of the employees to combine and
to contract with one another and with
the employers, and to seek peaceably
to persuade others to accept their
views, and TO strike for the purpose of
peaceably obtaining from employers
satisfactory terms for their labor,
Nothing should be done to legalize
either o. blacklist or a boycott that
would he illegal at common law, this
being the type of boycott defined and
condemned by the anthracite strike
commission.
The question of financial legislation
is now receiving such attention in
both houses that we have right to
expect action before the close OF the
session. 1t is urgently necessary that
there should be such action. Moreover,
action should he taken to establish
postal savings banks. These postal
savings banks are imperatively needed
for the benefit Of the wageworkers and
men of small means, and will he val
liable adjunct to our whole financial
system
Tariff Revision.
The time has come when we should
prepare for revision OF the tariff.
This should be, and indeed must be,
preceded by careful investigation. 1t
| is peculiarly the province of the con
gress and not of the president and in
deed peculiarly the province OF the
house of representatives, to originate
tariff bill and to determine upon its
terms; and this / fully realize. Yet it
seems to me that before the close of
this session provision should be made
for collecting full material which
will enable the congress elected next
! fall to act Immediately after it comes
into existence. This would necessitate
some action by the congress at its
present session, perhaps in the shape
Of directing the proper committee to
gather the necessary information, both
through the committee itself and
through government agents who
should report to the committee and
! should lay before it the facts which
would permit it to act with prompt
| and intelligent fairness These govern
ment agents, If it is not deemed wise
to appoint individuals from outside the
public service, might with advantage
be members of the executive depart
ments, designated by the president,
on his own motion or on the request of
the committee, to act with it.
| am of the opinion, however, that
one change in the tariff could with
advantage be made forthwith Our
forests need every protection, and one
method of protecting them would be