The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1908-12-11
THE. FINAL MESSAGE
CONTINUED From Page One1


for the poorest to keep their savings
in absolute safety. The regulation Of
the national highways must be such
that they shall serve all people with
equal justice. Corporate finances must
be supervised SO as to make 1t far
safer than at present for the man Of
small means to invest his money in
stocks. There must be prohibition Of
child labor, diminution of woman Ia
Dor, shortening of hours Of all me-
chanical labor. Stock watering should
be prohibited, and stock gambling, SO
far as is possible, discouraged. There
should be progressive Inheritance
fax on large fortunes. Industrial edu-
cation should be encouraged.
Protection For Wsseworkers.
There Is one matter with which the
congress should deal at this session
There should no longer be any palter-
ing with the question Of taking care
Of the wagewOrkers who, under our
present Industrial system, become kill
ed, crippled or worn out as part Of the
regular incidents Of q given business
The object sought for could be aehiev-
ed to measurable degree, as far as
those killed or crippled are concerned,
by proper employers liability laws.
AS far as concerns those who have
been worn out, l call your attention to
the fact that definite steps toward pro-
viding old age pensions have been
taken in many of our private indus
tries.
Pending thoroughgoing investiga-
ton and action there is certain legis-
lation which should be enacted at
once. The law passed at the last ses-
sion of the congress granting COM
pensatfon to certain classes Of en-
ployees Of the government should be
extended to include all employees Of
the governments and should be made
more liberal in its terms. In this re-
spect the generosity Of the United
States toward its employees compares
most unfavorably with that Of every
country in Europe-even the poorest.
The terms Of the act are also a
hardship in prohibiting payment in
cases where the accident is in any
way due to the negligence of the EN-
ployee 1t is inevitable that daily ia
lnfliarity with danger will lead men to
take chances that can be construed
into negligence.
1 renew my recommendation made
in previous message that half holt
days be granted during the summer to
all wageworkers In government en-
ploy.
l also renew my recommendation
that the principle of the eight hour
day should as rapidly and as far as
practicable be extended to the entire
work being carried on by the govern
ment.
The Courts.
/ most earnestly urge upon the con-
gress the duty of increasing the totally
inadequate salaries now given to our
judges. On the whole. there Is no
body of public servants who do as
valuable work nor whose moneyed
reward is so inadequate compared to
their work. Beginning with the su-
preme court, the judges should have
their salaries doubled.
1t is earnestly to be desired that
some method should be devised for do
ing away with the long delays which
now obtain in the administration of
justice and which operate with pecul-
lar severity against persons Of small
means and favor only the very crimi-
nails whom it is most desirab BILE to pun
ish.
At the last election certain leaders
of organized labor made violent and
sweeping attack upon the entire ju-
dietary 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
committee on the judiciary these same
labor leaders formulated their de-
mands, specifying the bill that con-
tanned them, refusing all compromise,
stating they wished the principle of
that bill or nothing They insisted on
provision that in labor dispute no
Injunction should issue except to pro-
tect property right and specifically
which he is in any way amenable are
public opinion and the action of his
fellow judges. 1t is the last which is
most Immediately effective and to
which we should look for the reform
of abuses.
Forests.
If there is any one duty which more
than another we owe it to our children
and our children's children to perform
at once it is to save the forests of
this country, for they constitute the
first and most important element in
the conservation of the natural re-
sources of the country.
Shortsighted persons, or persons
blinded to the future by desire to
make money in every way out of the
present, sometimes speak as If no
great damage would be done by the
reckless destruction of our forests. 1t
is difficult to have patience with the
arguments Of these persons. Thanks
to our own recklessness in the use of
our splendid forests, we have already
crossed the verge of timber famine
in this country, and no measures that
we now take ran of Iaoct for r,opv