Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1912-09-02
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old And yet the predictions OF th
leaders of the new party are as alarm
ing as the predictions of the various
standpatter There is the stimulating
breath of hope in every part of tht
platform Of the new party eXcep
that which touches the tariff and tht
trusts.
''In fact, there is this very singular
feature about the platform of the new
party: 1t has two sides and two
tones. 1t speaks warm sympathy with
practically every project OF socia
betterment to which men and women
of broad sympathies are now turninl
with generous purposes and ON that
side it is refreshing to read. But
chat is not the part of the platform
that reads like a program. 1t is a
proclamation of sympathy rather, an
! indication of the direction in which
the leaders of the party would fain
some time move. The program lies
| elsewhere where the tariff if spoken
of and the trusts. In that portion of
the document there is an air of bust.
ness and very definite indication of
what is intended to be done and by
what means.
ut may be interpreted in the light
of some interesting things Mr.. Roose
welt has recently said.
I "fdi, t,.,u.,,folf g9aclRp sc ,,;y ,g.,f,a+ l,,,
adherence to the principle of protec-
ton. He declares that he is not
troubled by the fact that very large
amount of money is taken out of the
pockets Of the general tax payer and
put into the pocket OF particular
classes of protected manufacturers
but that his concern is that SO little
OF this money gets into the pockets
of the employees. | have searched his
program very thoroughly for an indi-
cation of what he expects to do in or
der to see to it that a larger proper
tion Of this prize" money gets into
the pay envelope and have found only
one suggestion. There is plank in
the program which speaks of estab-
fishing a minimum, or living wage
for women workers and | suppose
that we may assume that the princi-
pie is not in the long run meant to
be confined in it's application to wom-
en- only Perhaps we are justified in
assuming that the third party looks
forward to the general establishment
by law of minimum wage. 1t is
very likely, take it for granted, that
it minimum wage was established
by law the great majority of en-
ployers would take occasion to bring
their wage scale as nearly as might
be down to the level of that mini.
mum and it would be very awkward
for the working men to resist that
process successfully, because it would
be dangerous to strike against the
of the federal government.
Moreover, most of the employees,
at any rate, practically all of the
most powerful OF his employers would
be wards and proteges of that very
government which is the master of
us all. The government is to set up
a commission whose duty it will be,
not to check or defeat it, but merely
TO regulate it under rules which it is .
Itself to frame and develop. So that
chief employers will have this tre-
authority behind them;
when they do they will have the H.
,ense of the federal government to
Let, including the right to pay the
wages approved by the government
"And, it is worth the while of the
men of the country to recall
What the attitude toward organized
abor has been of these masters of
industries, whom the
ederal government is taking under
ts patronage as well as under it's
'atronage as we'll as under it's con-
rol. They have always been the
tout opponents of organized labor
nd they have tried to undermine it
n great many ways. Some of the
Ways they have adopted have worn
he grise of philanthropy and good
viii, and have said, for all | know,
4 perfecting the faith
Some of them have set up sys-
ems Of profit-sharing, of compensa-
ion for injuries and of bonuses and
ven pension, but every one of these
lans has merely bound their work
ngmen more tightly to themselves.
heir rights under these various ar
are not legal rights.
hey are merely privileges which