Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1908-09-30

find within the borders of the United
States. He will do everything in his pow
er for them except to do that which is
wrong. He will do wrong for no man
and therefore can be trusted by all men
During the ten years of my intimate &C
Quaintance with him. since 1 have myself
as governor and president been obliged to
deal practically with labor problems. he
has been one of the men upon whose judg-
ment and aid I could always rely in do
ing everything possible for the cause of
the wageworker. of the man who works
with his hands or with both hands and
head.
Mr.. Taft has been attacked because OF
the injunctions he delivered while on the
bench. l am content to rest his case on
these very injunctions I maintain that
they show why all our people should be
grateful to him and should feel it safe to
intrust their dearest interests to him. Most
assuredly he never has yielded and never
will yield to threat or pressure of any
sort, as little if it comes from labor as if
it comes from capital He will no more
tolerate the violence Of a mob than the
corruption and oppression and arrogance
Of corporation or of a wealthy man. He
will not consent to limit the power of the
courts to put stop to wrongdoing wher-
ever found. This very fact should make
the labor people feel a peculiar confidence
in him. He has incurred the bitter hostil-
ity of foolish and bigQted reactionaries by
his frank criticism of the abuse Of the
power of injunction in labor disputes, and
he is pledged to do all he can to put a
stop to the abuses in the exercise of the
power of injunction. He will never prom
Use anything that he will not do all in his
power to perform. He can always be
trusted to do a little better than his word
and the fact that before election he will
not promise the impossible is in itself a
guaranty that after election all that is
possible will be done
His record as a judge makes the whole
country his debtor. His actions and de-
cisions are part Of the great traditions Of
the bench. They guaranteed and set forth
| in striking fashion the rights of the gem
eral public as against the selfish interests
Of any class, whether of capitalists or of
| laborers. They set forth and stand by the
. rights Of the wageworkers to orgapize and
| to strike as unequivocally as thew set
forth and stand by the doctrine that no
conduct will be tolerated that would spell
destruction to the nation as a whole AS
for the attack upon his injunctions in la
Dor disputes made while he was on the
bench. ask that the injunctions be care
fully examined. I ask that every respon-
sible and fair minded labor leader, every
responsible and fair minded member Of a
labor organization, read these injunctions
| for himself. If he will do SO, instead of
condemning them he will heartily approve
OF them and will recognize this further
| astonishing fact that the principles laid
down by Judge Taft in these very injunc-
TONS which laboring people are asked to
condemn. are themselves the very princi-
pies which are now embodied in the laws
or practices of every responsible labor or
ganization. No responsible organization
would now hesitate to condemn the
abuses against which Judge Taft's injunc-
tons were aimed. The principles which
he therein SO wisely and fearlessly laid
| down serve as a charter of liberty for all
Of u.s. for wageworkers. for employers.
for the general public. for they rest on the
principles of fair dealing for all, Of even
handed justice for all. They mark the
Judge who rendered them as standing for
the rights Of the whole people. AS far as
daylight is from darkness so far is such
Judge from the time server the trucker
to the mob or the cringing tool of great
corrupt and corrupting corporations
Fudge Taft on the bench-as since. in the
Philippines, IL Panama, in Cuba, in the
war department-showed himself to be a
wise. fearless and an upright servant of
the whole people, whose services to the
whole people were beyond all price. More
over, let all good citizens remember that
he rendered these services not when it
was easy to do SO, but when lawless vio-
lence was threatened when malice, do
nestle and civic disturbance threatened
the whole fabric Of our government and
of civilization. His actions showed not
only the highest kind of moral coura ge
but of physical courage as well. for his
life was freely and violently threatened
Let all fair minded men. wageworlers
and capitalists alike, consider yet an
other fact. In one of his decisions upon
the bench Judge Taft upheld in the
strongest fashion and for the first time
gave full vitality to the principle of the
employers liability for injuries done
workmen. This was before any national
law on the. subject was enacted Judge
!. Taft's sense of right, his Indignation
against oppression in any form. against
any attitude that is not fair and just