The Yale expositor., 1908-12-11

its employees compares most unfavora-
bly, with that of every country in Eu-
rope-even the poorest.
| l renew my recommendation made in
a previous message that half-holidays
| be granted during summer TO all wage
| workers in government employ
/ also renew my accommodation 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 by 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.
| / 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. Be-
| ginning with the supreme court the
| judges should have their salaries dou-
| bled. II is not BETTING the dignity OF
the nation that its most honored public
| servants should be paid sums so small
compared to what they would earn In
! private life that the performance of
| public service by them implies an ex-
ceedingly heavy pecuniary sacrifice.
II 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 IL
| Is most desirable to punish. These
| long delays in the final decisions OF
cases make in the aggregate a crying
| evil; and remedy shout be devised.
| Much OF this intolerable delay Is due
TO improper regard paid to technicali-
ties which are a mere hinderance to
justice. In some noted recent cases this
| over-regard for technicalities has re-
suited in a striking denial OF justice.
and fragrant wrong TO the body polite.
Labor Leaders Criticised.
At the last election certain leaders OF
organized labor made a violent and
sweeping attack upon the entire judi
ciary 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 COM
mittee on judiciary, these same
labor leaders formulated their de-
mands, specifying the bill that
contained them, refusing all compro-
mise. stating they wished the principle
OF that bill or nothing. They insisted
on a provision that in labor dispute
no lnJunctOn SnOulO issue except TO
protect a property right, and specifical-
ly 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
pute any act or agreement by or be-
tween two or more persons that would
not have been unlawful IL done by a
single person. In other words. this bill
legalized blacklisting and boycotting
in every form, legalizing, for instance,
those forms of the secondary boycott
which the anthracite coal strike COM
mission so unreservedly 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
| impairing the authority OF the courts.
All this represented course of policy
which. If carried out, would mean the
enforcement of class privilege in its
| crudest and most brutal form, and the
| destruction OF one of the most essen
tial functions OF the judiciary in all civ
! ilized lands.
The violence OF the crusade for this
legislation, and its complete failure.
| illustrate two truths which II is essen
tial our people should learn. In the
| first place. they ought to teach the
workingman, the laborer. the wage
| worker that by demanding what is i'm
proper and impossible he plays into the
hands OF his foes. Such a crude and
vicious attack upon the courts, even IL
II 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
see the wheels OF justice stopped.
mt I'LL
the laboring men Of the country by the
way in which they repudiated the eff
| fort to get them TO cast their votes in
response to an appeal to class hatred.
have emphasized their sound patriotism
and Americanism. Such an attitude
is an object lesson in good citizenship to
the entire nation.
judicial System Sound.
Our judicial system is sound and
and must ever be maintained. as
the safeguard of those principles OF lib
| erty 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
the judicial body who have Jagged be-
| hind in their understanding of these
| great and vital changes in the body
| polite, whose minds have never been
| opened to the new applications of the old
| principles made necessary by the new
| conditions. Judges of this stamp do last
| ing harm by their decisions, because they
| convince poor men in need of protection
| that the courts of the land are pro-
foundly ignorant OF and out OF sympathy
with their needs. and profoundly ignorant
| or hostile to any proposed remedy. To
such men II seems cruel mockery to
have any court decide against them on
| the ground that II desires to preserve
liberty" in a purely technical form, by
Withholding liberty in any real and con-
structive sense.
There are certain decisions by various
courts which have been exceedingly det-
| rimental to the rights of wage-workers.
| This is true of all decisions that decide
that men are, by the constitution, guar
anteed their liberty to contract to enter
| a dangerous occupation, or to work an
undesirable or improper number of hours,
or to work in unhealthy surroundings;
and therefore cannot recover damages
when manned in that occupation. and
| cannot be forbidden to- work what the
| legislature decides IL excessive num-
| Der OF hours. or to carry on the work
| under conditions which the legislature
| decides to be unhealthy Decisions
| such "a those nullify the leRfslatfyA