Evening star., 1912-09-02
HITS THIRD PARTY
Gov. Wilson AnaIyzes Platform
of the Progressives.
ITS RELATION TO LABOR
Declares Roosevelt's Demand for So
cial Betterment Merely Sympathy"
REAL PROGRAM IS FOR TARIFF
Presidential Nominee Delivers Labor
Day Address at Buffalo,
N. z, Celebration.
ITS RELATION TO LABOR
REAL PROGRAM IS FOR TARIFF

BUFFALO, n. Y, September Gov.
Woodrow Wilson today analyzed the
third party platform in its relation to
the laboring man. The occasion OF his
speech was a Labor day celebration
under the auspices of the United Trades
and Labor Council. 1t was the first ex-
preston from the democratic candidate
on the merits OF the progressive plat
form. The governor said that while on
the one hand there was to be found
warm sympathy with practically every
project OF social betterment," that part
was merely "a proclamation Of SYM
pathy." while the real program lay
elsewhere, where the tariff and the
trusts are spoken off,
The governor assailed the minimum
wage idea, declaring that employers
would take occasion to bring their
wage scales as nearly as they could
down to the level of the minimum per-
mitted by the law.
"Regulation" of Monopoly.
With the idea of a federal commission
to regulate monopoly the governor took
emphatic issue. He declared that the
plan suggested not only would legalize
monopoly but give the chief employers of
the country tremendous authority be-
hind them"
What the employers do will have the
license of the federal government, IN
cluding the right to pay wages approved
by the government, declared Gov; Wnson.
Hes pointed out that 1t always had been
the policy of 1.-The masters OF consolidated
industries to undermine organized labor
in great many ways, and tnat plan OF
federal control as advocated by the new
parry systematically subordinates work
ingmen to monopolies," and looks
strangely like economic mastery over the
very lives and fortunes of those who do
the daily work Of the nation"
Discusses Promises to Labor.
Gov. Wilson said, in part:
Intelligent workingmen will ask the
men now seeking their votes what they
may be expected to do for them. I do
not mean for them separately, but what
they may be expected to do for the coun-
try which will entitle them to the con-
fdence Of those who perform the daily
labor which lies at the base OF all our
life.
Most Of the answers they get will turn
upon the question Of tariff duties. from
which our policies never seem able to get
away. On the one hand, they will be told
that If the democratic party gets into
power they may look to see industry Ian
guish and wages go down. and employ
ment become harder and harder to find.
They forget that democrats constitute
something like half the nation; that dem
ocrats are engaged in occupations Of
every kind. depend upon all sorts of busi-
ness for their livelihood, share In every
interest and enterprise Of the country.
1t may safely be taken for granted that
democrats are not going to destroy them
selves economically.
These uncomfortable predictions came
both from the old-line republicans and
from those republicans of the new de-
parture who are seeking to build up
licans of the old-line these forecasts of
disaster were to be expected. They have
long been their stock In trade. But they
were hardly to have been expected from
those who had cut themselves loose from
the older connections and who were bold
ly working to make new things out of old
And yet the predictions of the leaders Of
the new party are as alarming as the
predictions Of the veriest standpatter.
There is the stimulating breath of hope
party, except that which touches the tar
in and the trusts.
Not Alone for Women.
There is a plank in the program
which speaks Of establishing minimum
or living wages, for woman workers.
and suppose that we may assume that
the principle is not in the long run
meant to be confined in it's application
to women only Perhaps we are JUS
tilted in assuming that the third party
looks forward to the general estab-
lishment by law of a minimum wage
1t is very likely. I take it for grant
ed, that IL minimum wage were es-
tablished by law the great majority Of
employers would take occasion to
bring their wage scale as nearly as
might he down the level nf a tpi-
mum. and it would be very awkward
for the workingman to resist that
process successfully, because 1T would
be dangerous to strike against the au-
thority of the federal government.
Moreover, most of his employers
at any rate practically all of the most
powerful of his employers. would be
wards and proteges Of that very gov
ernment. which is the master of us ALL
The government is to set UP a COM
mission whose duty it will be, not to
check or defeat it, but merely to reg
ulate it under rules which it is itself
to frame and develop. So that the chief
employers will have this tremendous
authority behind them; what they do
they will have the license Of the fed
eral government to do, including the
right to pay the wages approved by
the government.
Consolidated Capital and Labor.
And 1t Is worth the while or the
~orkingmen of the country to recall
what the attitude toward organized
'abor has been of these masters OF
consolidated Industries, whom the fed
.eral government is to take under its
patronage as well as under it's control.
They have always been the stout op-
ponents of organized labor, and they
have tried to undermine 1t in a great
many ways. Some of the ways they
have adopted have worn the guise of
philanthropy ana good will, and have
no doubt been used. for all I know. in
perfect good faith. Some Of them have
set up systems of profit sharing, of
compensation for injuries and of bo-
muses. and even pensions. but every
one Of these plans has merely bound
their workingmen more tightly to
themselves.
Their rights under these various ar
rangements are not legal rights. They
are. merely privileges which they en-
joy so long as they remain In the en-
ployment and observe the rules Of the
great industries which employ them. II
they refuse to be weaned away from
their independence, they cannot con-
tinue to enjoy the benefits extended
them.
when you have thought the whole
thing out, therefore. you will find that the
program of the new party legalizes mo-.
nopolies and systematically subordinateS