Arizona republican., 1909-09-17
REFERS TO INJUNCT|ONs
Defends Rights of Labor to Organize and Believes in Unions, but Insists Also on the Protection of the Non-Union Man


 of labor's rights to organize in law ful manrcr was the feature of an ad- dress by Taft in Orchestra hall here | tonight. The. president also said he would recommend to the congress the | legislation on the injunction promised | by the republican platform. He in sisted that the rights of the non union laborer be fully protected, say | ing nobody should be allowed to force him into the unions.
 Taft's address was the principal event of his visit to Chicago. Before speaking he rode through the South ] Park system and reviewed l50,0OO school children assembled to do him honor. took luncheon with the com medrcial club and attended ball game in which the New York Na- tionals defeated Chicago. Taft's ad- dress follows in part:
 Tt is just a year ago tonight that I made Q speech in this hall to some 800 members of the railroad labor organizations, in which I attempted to convince them that there was nothing in my decisions as a circuit judge in labor injunction cases. which ought to make them vote against me for the presidency That was a critical time in the campaign. It was a critical question, and as 1 review that whole controversy there was hardly another speech in my campaign of greater i'm portance to me than that one; and in view of the result of the election, l look back upon it now with especial interest.
 In the discussions I asserted that I was as much interested as anyone in maintaining the cause of labor, when labor. organized or unOrganized, by proper methods sought to better, its condition by legislation or other wise. said l expected to recom- mend to congress, if I were elected. that interstate railroads be required to adopt any additional devices found useful for the purpose of saving from loss of life or limb. employees engaged in the dangerous business of rail- roading.
 'I also said I favored the adoption of legislation looking to a proper defi- milton of the cases in which pre- Iiminary injunctions might issue with out notice and defining procedure in such matters. l want to take this opportunity of saying that l have not forgotten my own promises or those of the platform and l propose in the next session of congress to recom- mend the legislation on the subject of the injunction which was promised in the republican platform and to see whether by such legislation it is not
 
 of abuses that can be cited against the federal courts in the exercise of their jurisdiction.
 'I do not think trade unionism was greatly aided by the attempt to drag all organized labor into politics and to induce it to vote one way, but that does not prevent my placing a proper estimate on the immense good for labor in general which its organiZa- tion and it's efforts to secure higher wages have accomplished. I know there is an element among employers and investors which is utterly opposed to the organization of labor. l can not sympathize with this element in the slightest degree.
 T think it is a wise course for laborers to unite to defend their in- terests. It is a wise course for them to provide a fund by which, should occasion arise and strikes or lockouts follow, those who lose their places may be supported pending an adjust ment of the difficulties. I think the employers who decline to deal with organized labor and to recognize it as a proper element in the settlement of wage controversies are behind the times. There is not the slightest doubt that if labor had remained un- organized wages would be very much lower It is true that in the end they probably would be fixed by the law of supply and demand, but generally be- fore this law manifests itself, there is a period in which labor, if organized and acting together, can compel the employer promptly to recognize a change of conditions and advance wages to meet the rising market, and an increase on the other hand can delay the too quick impulse of the employer facing a less prosperous fu ture to economiZe by reducing wages"
 Nothing I have said or shall say should be construed as an attitude of criticism against or unfriendly to working men who for any reason do not join the unions Their right to labor for such wages as they choose to accept is sound. and any lawless invasion of that right can not be too severely condemned. All the advan-