Middletown transcript., 1916-10-21

the purpose Of receiving compensation.
In other words, it was primarily al
increase of wages and not a diminu
tion of hours that was aimed at.
believe in the eight-hour day. II il
the ideal toward which we should trend
But believe that there must be common
sense as well as common honesty in achiev
ing the ideal. Mr.. Wilson has laid down
the principle that there is something sa
cred about the eight-hour day which makes
( it improper even to discuss it. If this il
SO, if it is applied universally, then Mr.
Wilson is not to be excused for not apply
| ing it Immediately where he has complete
| power, and that is In his own household
If the principle of the eight-hour day is
sacred and not to be changed under any
circumstances, then the housemaid, who
in Mr.. Wilson's house arises at seven must
be left off at three in the afternoon; and
if Mr.. Wilson's butler is kept up after 9
State dinner until ten, he must not come
on until two of the following afternoon,
and no hired man on farm must get up
to milk the COWS in the morning unless he
quits work before milking time arrives
that same evening. Of course, the simple
truth is that under one set of conditions
an eight-hour law may be too long or at
least may represent the very maximum of
proper work; whereas there may be other
conditions under which a man working
more than eight hours one day gets one
or two days of complete leisure following,
or where the work is intermittent through
out the day, or is of so easy or varied
type that no exhaustion accompanies it, or
where a rush of work for few days will
be compensated by complete leisure on GER
tain other days. It is ridiculous to say
that an engineer of high-speed train un-
der especially difficult conditions, an en-
gineer of a low-speed train, under very
much easier conditions, a farm laborer in
harvest time, man engaged as a watch
man through the quiet work of the night,
or man engaged in the exhausting work
of a steel puddler in a continuous seven
days-a-week, night and day industry,
should be governed by precisely the same
rule, or by the same rigid application in
detail of a sound general principle.
heartily believe in a proper limitation
by law of hours of work in the railroad
service, and I recommended legislation to
that effect when l was President. l be-
lieve in the wages in any industry being
just as high as it is possible to make them
without injustice to the capital invested
and to the public which is served. But
it is a mere truism to say that it is i'm
possible to get this ideal achieved uRless
an honest and dispassionate effort is first
made by the proper commission to ascertain
the full facts in the particular case. As
regards the railroads, we have to consider
the wages paid to the different classes of
employees, the interest on the investment,
the earning power Of the road, and the
kind of service that must be rendered to
the public. It is impossible to secure a
proper solution of the problem unless all
these factors are considered. Mr.. Wilson
absolutely declined to consider any of
them. He declined even to ask what they
were. We have not at this moment one
particular of trustworthy information
which will enable us to decide whether
the demands of the men were just or not.
] wish it distinctly understood that am
not trying to pass judgment upon the JUS
tiee of the case. l regard the engineers,
fremen and enGnemen and trainmen gen
eEally as dOiRg peculiarly responsible and
arduous work, and entitled to particular
labor and pay. hope that they are fully
entitled as a matter of justice to what they
will receive under the Adamson bill and
if it SO appears l shall heartily support it.
But protest against the far-reachipg evil
of the precedent set in the method which
has been followed. We are denied knowl-
edge. We see Congress forced to act under
threats. | protest against any law passed !
under such dHress. protest against the
case being decided without giving each !
party it's day in court, and above all with
out giving the public its day in court. | |
hope the demands of the men were just,
and would have been proved so to be, if |
investigated before competent body. But |
] explicitly protest against any action.by !
the Government when no investigation has
been held to see whether the claims are
or are not just, and when they are
granted through fear and not as a matter
of right.
Remember it is the public that in the
end will pay. You do not have to take my
assertion for this. Take the assertion of
Mr. Wilson's master in this matter. The
Union leaders, through their Chairman,
Mr.. Garretson, announced that "they
would steadily refuse to arbitrate and that
N their action they were supported by
he President of the United States" They
stated their case in nutshell as follows:
In times like this, men go back to primal
the day of the caveman with
lis halfgnawed bone, Enarling at the over
,aveman who wanted to take his bone
lway. We leaders are fighting for our
men. The railroads are fighting for their
end the shippers for them
elves. And the public will pay" Mr..
1arretson is right-the public will pay.
And it will pay without having had the
hance to know whether it ought or ought
lot to pay. Mr.. Wilson betrayed the pub
ic when he refused to insist that the con-
est should be decided on principles of JUS
ice, and when he permitted it to be de-
ided in Difference to greed and fear. Mr..
wilson announced that it was futile" to
tand firmly against these improper de-
nands. 1t would not have been futile if
Democrat of the stamp of Andrew Jack
on or Grover Cleveland had been Presi-
ent. The futility inhered solely in Mr..
XilSon himself. II President Wilson had
TODD by the honor and the interests of
he United States in this matter; if he
ad insisted upon a full investigation be-
Ore action; if he had insisted upon arbi-
ration and had announced that if there
1as any attempt to tie up the traffic of
he United States he would use the entire
over Of the United States to keep the ar
cries of traffic open, I would have ap-
lauded him and supported him. But, to
IKE such action needed courage It need
disinterestedness. It was necessary that
he man taking it should put duty to
he nation first and political and personal
onsiderations last. What President Will
on did was to permit the overriding of
lstice by appeals to brute force