The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1910-10-18
WILL OPPOSE
WILSON.
Mercer County Democrats Join
Labor Leaders.
Sharp Criticism Of College Mans
Attitude on Labor Unions.

Trenton, Oct. 10.-The vacillating DO
sition of DR.. Woodrow Wilson, Demo-
cratic candidate for governor. on the
attitude of the labor unions in their
relationship to employers is costing
that candidate thousands of votes each
day as the campaign progresses. Mar
tin T. Devlin, one of the most forceful
of the Democratic leaders in Mercer
county, in a letter to the Trenton
Times quotes from DR.. Wilson's bac-
calaureate sermon delivered at Prince
| ton June 10, 1908, as follows:
You know what the usual standard
of the employee is in our day. 1t is to
give as little as he may for his wages
Labor is standardized by the trade
unions, and this is the standard by
which it is made to conform. No one
Is suffered to do more than the aver
age workman can do. In some trades
and handicrafts no one is suffered to
do more than the least skillful of his
fellows can do within the hours allot-
ted to days labor and no one may
work out of hours at all or volunteer
anything beyond the minimum. |
need not point out how economically
disastrous such regulation of labor is
| 1t is so Improbable to the employer
that in some trades it will presently
not be worth while to attempt any
/ thing at all. He had better stop alto
| gether than operate at an inevitable
| and invariable loss. The labor Of
America is rapidly becoming unprofit-
able under its present regulation by
those who have determined to reduce
it to minimum. Our economic SUI
premacy may be lost because the coun-
try grows more, and more full of I'M
| profitable servants"
Counselor Deylin is recognized as
one of the most active Democrats in
south Jersey. In his letter to the
Times, besides attacking DR.. Wilson'S
structures of the labor unions, he takes
occasion to call attention to the fact
that the voters of New Jersey want
| governor and not teacher.
Men of DIR. Wilson's stamp" says
Counselor Devlin, ''are prone to admin
/
is right, regardless of what the people
want In a republic the best executive
is the man who gives the people not
what he thinks is right, but what he
knows the people want 1t does not
require man half as well Informed as
DR.. Wilson is to tell us how to make
an almost perfect government. If we
had all thoughtful men we would come
near attaining that result. Govern
ment cannot be better than the moral
ity and intelligence of its citizens. 1t
is not necessary to have an expert in
political ethics. What we want is an
executive who knows plain robbery
practiced under the protection and
form Of law and is willing to strike it
down. don't want any one to think
that we" Che is speaking for the Demo
cratic partly "are opposed to superior
man or an educated man, but these
are the only reasons advanced to sup
port DIR. Wilson"
| Henry f. Hilfers, secretary Of the
New Jersey State Federation of Labor,
in very able letter addressed to the
same newspaper, dated Aug. 20, 1910,
says of DR.. Wilson:
"Dr. Wilson, candidate for the NOM
nation of the Democratic party for
governor, delivered a speech before
the Peoples Forum of New Rochelle,
N. Y, on Feb. &c, 1905. The New York
Sun of that date quoted him as saying
that the labor unions reward the shift
less and incompetent at the expense of
the able and INDUSTRIOUS 1t seems to
me that Dr. Wilson is wrong on the
labor question. 1t must be understood
that the 'shiftless and incompetent
workmen' are here and must live and
that the competent and able workmen'
must protect themselves and every
body else from the weaknesses of what
DIR. Wilson pleases to call 'shiftless
and Incompetent workmen.'
Labor is like sugar or any other
commodity. Without unions 1t is sub
ject to the law of supply and demand
If the workmen are plentiful and the
Jobs are scarce labor is cheap; If the
| jobs are plentiful and workmen are
scarce, labor is dear Under the eco
nomic conditions in this country, with
free labor market in which there are
'shiftless,' incompetent, able and in
dustrious' workmen, we must treat this
question knowing that those four
classes of workmen are here and must
| live. Employers who buy labor are
anxious to buy it as cheap as possible.
1t often happens that there are five
men looking for three Jobs, with an
employer seeking to employ three of
the five at the cheapest price. Sup
Epose he employs three competent men,
leaving the two 'shiftless' and tincom-
petent' men out Of employment. The
.shiftless' and Incompetent remain
out as long as their stomachs will per-
NIT Then they offer their labor at a
cheaper rate than the industrious and
the able. The employer or his com
lpetitor accepts the offer, and the able
and the industrious are compelled to
accept the price Of labor which has
been set by the 'shiftless and 'incom-
lpeteift' or quit Under this condition
1t Is evident that the able and indus
| trtous' would soon be reduced to q rate
OF wages and conditions Of living
which the 'shiftless' and incompetent
are willing to accept, This is because
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