Mower County transcript., 1908-12-09

II
It's employees compares most nnf favora-
bly, with that OF every country in Eu-.
/ rope-eVena the poorest. E83 sSgS
I renew my Recommendation made IA
9 previous message that half holidays
be granted during summer to all wage
workers In government employ
Iss I also renew my recommends Il ON that
the principle OF the eight hour Fl (lay
should as rapidly and as far las acti-
cable be extended to the entire work
being carried on by the government:
the present law should be amended to
embrace contractsH on those public
works which the present wording A 81
the act seems to exclude ss# 81
Would Double Salaries Of JUDGES. ssa
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 publtc servants who do as af1,a able
work, nor whose moneyed reward Els 50
| inadequate compared to their work. Be
I ginning with the ,ssupfeme court the
| judges should have their salaries doil-. !.
bled. tits not bentting the dignity Fof
the nationhthatTits most honoredi 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 sacrince.
{ SOme q
method should be devised FOR doing
I sway 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 whomSiit
| is most desirable: to- punish. These
long delays In the final decisions OF
cases make in the aggregate a crying
evil; and "a remedy shoull 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-
and fragrant wrong to the body. politic.
Labor Leaders Criticised. .S
At the last election certain leaders of
sweeping attack upon the entire judi
ciary Of the country, an attack couched
An such terms as to include the most
upright, honest and broad-minded
Judges, no less than those Of narrower
[:mind land Z I more restricted outlook
Last year, before the house com
labor leader. Id % formulated 18th their sa%e de-
smands, specifying the bill that
contained them. refusing all compro-
mise, 8 ting they: wished sthe. principle
{of that bill or nothing. !; They. Insisted
Eaon q provision that In q labor dispute
mo Injunction should issue .s except to
protect property right and specifical-
Ely provided that. the right to- carry on
business shout not be construed as Z
property right; and In q second provis-
Fion their bill made legal in aslabor dis
putet any act Or agreement Thy or be-
tween two or more persons that would
not have been. unlawful IL done by q
\ single person. In other words. this bill
* ~
in every form. legaIfxinEs: Tor Instance;
those forms of the secondary; boycott
which the anthracite coal strike com.
mission so unr reservediy Il condemned:
while the right to carry or!a business
was explicitly taken tout 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 a course of policy
which, it carried out, would mean the
enthronement 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. : - >::2, a1:'@: - : T:
s. The violence Of the crusade: for this
legislation. and its complete failure
illustrate two truths which it is essen
tfal our people should learn. In the
first place, they ought to teach the
workingman, the laborer. the wage
worker, that by demanding what is inn
proper and impossible he plays into the
hands of his foes Such a crude and
vicious attack upon the courts, even if
it 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. =
+. The wageworkers, the workingmen
the laboring men of the country by the
way in which they repudiated the ef-
fort to get them to. case 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 ,.>@,;.. <#+ss..
Judicial System Sound. "
Our judicial system is sound and
effective at core. and it remains,
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 e5are,s however some members of
the judicial body who have tagged be-
'IIIu III lnelT unOerSIdnQ1n8 OF tlSSe
great and vital changes in Il 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 it seems cruel mockery to
have any court decide against them OF,
the ground that it desires to preserve
"liberty" in a purely technical form, by
withholding liberty in any real and con-,
structive sense. Es ,ss.l s. a. 4? s Ss %.}.5
There are certain decisions by various
courts which have been exceedingly det-
rimental to the rights Of wage-Workers.j
This is true of all decisions that decide
that men are. by the constitution, guar
anteed their liberty to contract to enter
dangerous occupation, or to work an
undesirable or improper number OF hours
or to work in unhealthy surroundinRs:.
and therefore cannot recover damages
when MANNED in that occupation. III and
cannot be forbidden to work what the
legislature decides IL an excessive num-
Der OF hours, or to carry on the work: