The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-01-24
Governor Defends Position on
Consolidation.
Making of Three Labor Boards
Into One.
LETTER TO MINE WORKERS
Plain, Frank Statement of the
Case.
Goes Deeply into Labor Mat.
tiers and States His Attitude.

Governor Hodges has made a de-
Tense of his recommendation to the
| legislature to consolidate the offices
of bureau of labor, of mining industry
and of free employment under one
head, appointive this year and elective
in 1914. The mineworkers and some
! other labor organizations have OBJ
| jected to this plan. Hodges makes a
| clear and frank statement of the case
| and goes right deeply into the labor
proposition in the state and his atti-
! tude towards organized labor. His
reply is directed to j. r. Whern, Full
| Ter, Kan, secretary of the mine work
ers' union, and is as follows:
Your telegram transmitting protest
of United Mine Workers, received.
notwithstanding your protest, and
| numerous others which have been re-
| ceiVed / am still convinced of the
soundness and propriety of my re-
communication to the legislature. Some
! of the labor unions proceed upon the
theory that their interest is a peculiar
and special one, which should be COM
mitted entirely to their control. L
think this is a mistake. The interests
of labor are general and the act1Vltles
of the department of labor, including
that of mine and mining, affect not
only the wage Garner but the interests
of citizens and business men generally:
If am correctly Informed, and
get it from the records of the auditor
office, only SO delegates outside OF 10
peka attended the meeting of the So
ciety of Labor last year. This repre-
sentation is certainly very small IN
comparison with the number OF LABOR
organizations in this state, and SHOWS
a wOeful lack of interest and how easy
| it would be for designing persons 10
get control of the labor activities IN
this state and perpetuate themselves
| in power. / think that the insurance
he IA
utilities and the lawyers might, WIN
as much propriety. demand tnat they
be permitted to name the insurance
commissioner, the bank commissioner,
the public utilities comm 1SSlon ana the
Judges of the courts of the state The
more I study the matter, the more
feel that the head of a department so
all imDortant as that of labor and IN
dustrv. should be either appointed by
the administration of its laws, or ne
should be elected by the whole people.
Not only that; but considering the
importance of the labor interests L
| have felt that it should be raised to
the rank of a department or state
equal to that of the secretary OF state,
which would give 1t a dignity WORM
| of it's importance, and Tor Whlch Tue
federal government mas set tiie
ample.
Labor Well Protected.
want to call your attention also 10
tho fact that the bill now before the
legislature provides that the commits
sioner of labor must have been a bona
fde resident of this state for at least
five wears before his appointment or
election. and must have been for the
same length of time, identlhed with
organized labor in this state. so tnat
really the only controversy that can
POSSIBLY be raised is as to the method
of selecting the man who presideS over
that department, and as 1 stated in the
beginning, I am still of the opinion
that he should be appointed by the
governor Or elected by the people, and
not by a few representatives from
the labor organizations. AS long as
the labor commissioner and the heads
of other labor activities are selected
by few representatives from labor
organizations, those departments will
be looked upon as merely organized
antagonisms to other interests when
thew affect and with which they
should be in complete harmony, which
it should be the purpose of a bureau
of labor and industry to promote.
want to emphatically resent the
innuendo which is contained in some
of the protests received that I am
hostile to organized labor. I am the
friend of the laboring man and of or
ganized labor and / have reason to
be- for 1 have performed as much hard
labor with my hands as the average
wage Garner of my age. and 1 believe
that in urging the measure which /
recommended in my message, / am be-
friending organized labor in this state.
1 have just appointed the utilities
commission. a distinguished mem Der OF
organized labor who has fought its bat
ties in this state for many years If L
had seen fit, need not have done SO. or,
I could have appointed some man whose
loyalty to organized labor was I'M
known quantity. L have given you in
stead. man of unquestioned ability, 10y
atty and integrity. If the appointment of
1oI ir7frI foil
to me for the next two years. I will APP
point representative of organized labor,
not only in letter but in spirit and will
satisfy every fair minded man.
1 need not remind you that organized IA
Dor has sometimes made mistakes in the
selection of its leaders, to its incalculable
injury. There seems to be no more dan
ger OF the department of labor and i'll
dustry falling into the hands of the pol
ticians'' under the measure 1 am urging
| tnan under the present system The poi
ticians are not all outside the ranks OF
organized labor and have in my possess
sion goodly bunch of documentary evil
dence on that subject am Informed
Topeka urging unions to protest against
the change urged in nay message. E,vl-
IDENTIFY the alarm comes from Topeka,
for although my message has been before
/ the public for ten days have until now
| only received ten or twelve of these pro
/ tests, and the unions which have pro-
| tested cannot have even seen the pro
visions of the bill now before the legIs-
lature.
| I want to say to you that I shall al
ways be glad to meet the representatives
, of organized labor and discuss with them
any matter of public concern, and when
organized labor has right and justice On
i its side I will stand by it unflinchingly
| with all my power as governor. but I
not going to play politician with you, OF
| any other organization, bid for your
| favor by any course of action which my
| judgment does not approve.
: am convinced that the plan recon-
mend will put organized labor on a high
err plane and give the department better