The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1910-09-29
Episcopal Council of Diocese
Hears Report Urging More
Active Work BY Church
WOULD REPRESENT DIOCESE
Episcopalians of the Diocese Are Urg-
ed To Take a Deeper Interest in
the Making of the Laws of the State
At Annual Conference,

A movement to make the Protestant
Episcopal church in the diocese of Mil
waukee recognized factor in future
legislation on matters pertaining to civ
ic welfare, by constituting the new So
cial Service commission of the diocese
a permanent body, and authorizing it to
examine, in behalf of that church, any
bills prepared for presentation to the
Legislature, wherein matters pertaining
to the general welfare Of society are
involved, was inaugurated in the do
cesar council Tuesday by the presenta-
tion of resolutions, embodying these
points, by the Social Service commits
sion, at the end OF its annual report.
The resolutions further provide that
the commission be empowered to repre-
sent the church in the diocese of Mil
waukee corporately, in favor or against
any bills pending in the Legislature,
with the provision, however, that no en-
dorsement of any candidate for Office,
or of any political party or it's platform,
shall be given in the name of the
church. 1t is proposed that the com
mission be composed of nine persons,
all of whom shall be communicates of
the church, and some of whom shall
be clergymen, to be appointed by the
bishop.
The report sets forth that the first
essential Of the immediate future, from
an economic standpoint, is the restora-
tion of due balance between income
and the cost of living, and urges that
political partisanship be banished from
it's consideration.
It maintains that 1T is the duty Of
every stakeholder in corporation to
secure a proper treatment of employees
as to wages, personal safety, sanitary
and humane conditions under which to
work, reasonable compensation for in
juries; and a proper fulfllment of the
duties of the corporation to the pub
lie, in selling the necessities of life at
price that admits only of reason
able profit, and the production Of hon
est goods. Recognizing the difficulty
for individual minority stockholders to
fulfill this responsibility, the commits
sion urges the indirect but really more
efficient method of advancing legisla-
ton Of an advanced type.
The report states that this RESPONSE
bility rests primarily upon Christian
men, who are employers of labor, and
therefore earnestly asks that all Chris
tians will support measures to promote
safety in factories, to define and fix, on
an automatic and uniform basis the liza
bility OF employers for injuries to en-
ployes; to promote better and more
sanitary housing conditions; to provide
not only efficient schools, but ample
Fairgrounds, at public expense, for
children; to FIT school houses for use
as social centers; to protect women by
law from unreasonable hours and con-
ditions of labor; to prevent all forms
of child labor; to promote arbitration
between employer and employed; ITO es-
tablish purity of food products and pre-
vent adulteration; to compel corpora
lions to adopt increased publicity to-
ward their stockholders and to obtain
stricter laws governing capitalization.
Stating first that it would have the
| church always the friend of organized
labor, the commission points out what
it considers two real dangers of such
organization, first, that the power of
the organization may be used in an I'M
scrupulous manner, and second, that by
insistence upon the sole good of its
members it may fail to be co-ordinated
with the good of the public at large. To
organize men, it declares, does not CON
stitute them a. preferred class and con-
fers upon them no right to persecute OF
trample upon those who are unorgan-
lied.
The commission believes that the dis
erection reposed in the courts to issue in
functions has been sadly abused and
thai the responsibility for a process SO
| delicate and capable of such far-reach.
ing mischief is not sufficiently safe
guarded. The commission tenders its
good offices to intervene in any dispute
between employers and employed If re.
quested so to do by both parties to the
dispute.
The report speaks strongly upon the
subject of perjury in courts, and sub
mits the question whether it might not
be constitutional to enact that where a
| witness testifes that he does not know
or remember a fact which in the ordi-
nary course of human cerebration
ought to be remembered or known by
him, he shall be remanded for examina-
tion as to his sanity, and if pronounced
sane by experts, be committed for con
tempt at the discretion of the court
1t is suggested to the clergy that in
view of the prevalence of this form of
perjury, sermons on this subject would
be exceedingly timely.