The Mena weekly star., 1908-12-17


 should be made more liberal in it's terms There fs no good ground for the distinction made in the law be- tween those engaged in hazardous oc- equations and those not go en- ssarad The terms of the get pro- viaing compensation should be made more liberal than in the present act years compensation s not ade- anafe for a waEe-earner's family In the event of hfs death by accident in the course ot his employment And in the event of death occurring. say. ten or eleven months altar the accident the family would only receive as compen. netion the equivalent of one or tws months earnings Tn this respect the generosity Of the United states towards it's empioyes compares most unfavora- bly with that of every country in Eu- rope-even the poorest
 renew my recommendation made In previous message that halt-hoiidays be granted during summer to all wage workers in government employ
 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 hy the government; the present law should be amended to embrace contracts on those public works which the present wording of the act seems to exclude.
 Would Double Salaries of Judges.
 I most earnestly urge upon the con- eress the duty of increasing the totally inTsdeauate salaries now given to our judges On the whole there is no body af public servants who do as valuable work nor whose moneyed reward is so inadequate compared to their work. Be- ginning with the supreme court the judges should have their salaries dou- bled 1t IS not beitting the dignity Of the nation that It's most honored public servants should be paid sums so small compared to what they would earn n private life that the performance Of public service by them implies an ex- ceedingiy heavy pccuniary sacrifice
 It 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 it is most desirable to punish. These long delays in the final decisions of eases make in the aggregate a crying evil; and a remedy shouI1 be devised Much of this intolerable delay is due to improper regard paid to technicali- ties which are mere Intolerance to justice. In some noted recent cases this over-regard for technicalities has re- &tRltfU III ~ StFihkME Nttitdf Pl 1NTAANfaa 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 iudi- ciary of the country, an attack couched in such terms as to Include tlfe most upright, honest and broad minded judges. no less than those of narrower mind and more restricted outlook Last year. before the house coni- mittee on judiciary. these same mands, specifying the bill that contained them. refusing all compro- mise stating they wished the principle of that bin or nothing. They iusistt q on a provision that In labor dispute no injunction should issue except to protect a property right, and speeifical- lv 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- pmte any act or agreement by or be- tween two or more persons that would not have been unlawful if done by n single person In other words. this bill legalized blaeklisting and boycotting in every form legaiizing for instance, those forms of the secondary boycott which the anthracite coal strike com mission so unreseryedly 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 be trial by jury in contempt cases thereby most seriously impalring the authority of the courts All this represented a course Of policy which If carried out. would mean the enthropement of class privilege in it's crudest and most brutal form. and the
 
 tial functions of the judiicary in all civ ilized lands
 The violence Of the crusade for this legislation and it's complete failure Illustrate two truths which 1t is essen tial our people should learn. Tn the first place. they ought to teach the workiugman the laborer. the wage worker, that by demanding what is iM- proper and impossible he plays into the hands of his foes, Such a crude and vicious attack upon the courts, even If t 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 sec the wheels Of justice stopped.
 The wHEeworkers. the worlSingmen. the laboring men of the country by the way in which they repudiated the eff fort to get them to east their votes in response Co an appeal Co class hatred. have emphasized their sound patriotism and Anerlcanlsm. Such an attitude is an object lesson In good citizenship to the entire nation
 Judicial System Sound.
 Our judicial system is sound and eGeetive at core. and q remains. and must ever be maintained. as Che safeguard of those principles of lln- crty 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 jhe judicial body who have Jagged be- hind in their understanding of these great and vital changes in the body rNNte whose minds have never been opened Co The new applications Of the old principles made necessary by the new conditions. Judges of this stamp do laat- ing harm hy their declsic~s. because they convince poor men in need oi protection that tbe courts of the land are pro- foundly ignorant or and out of sympathy uath their needs, and profoundly ignorant 0r hostile Co any proposed remedy To such men it seems cruel mockery Co have any court decide against them on the ground that ii desires to preserve "uhcrtyr In a purely technical foraa by withholding liberty in any real and con atructlVe sense.
 There are certain decisions by various courts which have been exceedingly det- rlmentai Co fhe rights Of wage-wcrkers TLs Is true of au decisions that decide that men are. hv the constitgtlon- guar. anteed their lbertvf 70 contract to cntes dangerous occupation, CT to work on undesirable or improper number of hours or Co work in unhealthy sarroundings. and therefore cannot recover damages when maimed in that occupation, and cannot he forbidden Co work what the