Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1908-02-21

offered for consideration. Probably,
too, Governor John A. Johnson will be
suggested to the delegates, and his
work In the cause of Democracy in
the northwest, where to be a Demo
GRAFT means to take long chances po-
litically, justifies respectful hearing
for the claims OF his friends. Possibly
Judge Gray Of Delaware viii have
his state delegation, and 1t is just
barely possible that Massachusetts
may present the name of former Gov
ernor w. L. Douglas of that state.
But a multitude Of candidates does
not necessarily mean number Of fac
tional fights. In the Democratic or
ganization today there is no such a bit
ter personal fractional fight as that
which is tearing the Republican party
to pieces in Ohio or in New York. In
the Democratic convention every man
will have his day in court So far as
know, and have been In q position
to watch the matter rather carefully,
no aspirant for the Democratic nomi-
nation has SO conducted his campaign
as to prevent either his receiving the
loyal support OF any other aspirant
should he be nominated or to estop
him from giving his own support to
whosoever may be the nominee OF the
convention.
The President and Labor.
Within a few days, possibly before
the publication of this letter, President
Roosevelt will send In another mes
sage which will probably make the
conservative element in his party
stand against. This one is going to be
chiefly ON labor questions. 1t is going
to urge amendments of the antitrust
law so that it can no longer be used,
as thus far it has been chiefly used,
against organized labor. The admins
tration has been alarmed by the three
decisions of the United States supreme
court bearing upon the labor question
within the last two or three months.
Every decision has been against the
interests of labor and the working peo-
pie in general. 1t is true that the adj
ministration is not responsible and
should not be held responsible for
what the United States supreme court
may do. But it so happens that every
law which the court has had occasion
to cOnstrue bearing upon the Labor
question has been a Republican law,
and two or three of these statutes were
enacted during the reign of Roosevelt.
The court has declared unconstitution-
al the act making employers liable for
damages for accidents occurring to
employees during the prosecution of
their duties, 1t has prohibited the boy
colt as a combination in restraint of
trade. 4 lesser United States court has
even declared that to publish the name
Of firm as unfair is illegal. These
decisions, coming one fast upon the
heels of the other, have naturally wor-
ried the president, who is very much
in politics today. His pet candidate for
the Republican nomination, Secretary
Taft, is somewhat unpopular in labor
circles because Of the eagernesS with
which when he was United States
judge he seized upon the device of gov
eminent by injunction and gave 1t the
widest use that it received anywhere
in the United States.
There was talk enough about Taft's
hostility TO labor before these deci-
sions were handed down. AS a result
the whole politics of the administra-
ton recently has been directed toward
correcting the feeling among the MEM
I1o,. of Lob -
the administration do not stand for its
interests. One illustration of this has
been the sudden removal from Office of
Public Printer Stillings. Mr.. Stillings
had been public printer for nearly two
years despite the bitter protests Of rep
resentatives of the Federation of La
Dor and of other organizations. On the
labor side Stillings was charged with
having Systematically violated the
Statut" fixing eight hours as the work
ing day in all United States Offices or
shops. More serious charges were
brought against him bearing upon his
personal relations with contracting
firms having supplies to sell to the
government printing office. The fight
upon him was really led by the labor
unions and has ended in complete vic
tory, although only six months ago
Mr.. Roosevelt wrote a letter to a repre-
sentative of one of the unions caustic-
ally rebuking him for having COM
planned about the method by which
Stillings was elbowing out union men
from the printing Office and replacing
them as rapidly as possible with non
union men. The president seems to
have seen a new light on this subject,
but his very belated action in removing
Stillings makes one wonder whether
the near approach of a nominating
convention and a presidential CAM
paign had not something to do with it.
Washington, D. c.