The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1908-04-03

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against the public interest.
| Labor Organizations.
| It is important that we should Ell.
courage trade agreements between en-
ployer and employee where they are
just and fair. A strike is clumsy
weapon for righting wrongs done to
labor, and we should extend so far as
possible, the process of conciliatiou
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
workingmen have a peculiar reason
for their existence. The very wealthy
individual employer, and still more tho
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 lahorers 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-
tons 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 1, 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 wageworker; and as regards all
alike, the right of peaceful comblna-
ton 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
| lilly 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 blacklist or boycott that
would be illegal at common law, this
being the type of boycott defined and
condemned by the anthracits strike
commission.
The question of financial legislation
is now receiving such attention In
both houses that we have a right to
expect action before the close Of the
session 1t is urgently necessary that
there should be such action. Moreover,
action should be 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 be 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 1t
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
shoG.5 lsy 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 Il.
I am of the opinion, however, that
one change in the tariff could with
advantage be made forthwith. Our
forests need every protection, and the
method of protecting them would be
to put upon the free list wood pulp,
with a corresponding reduction upon
paper made from wood pulp, when
they come from, any country that
does not nut an export duty upon