The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1916-10-26
RrssIasnt WlIson,. rImldItY.

trying TO gioss-over his tlmidityy' In the
present by assuming an attitude Of
frowning defiance as regards the neb-
ulous future. that the American peo-
pie must be made "a partner in the
settlement Of disputes that interrupt.
the life OF the nation" that 1t must
"enforce the partnership and see to II
that no organization Is stronger than
that organization to which we all be-
long, our own Government" and that
we the people must say to any outside
organization that 1t ''must not interrupt
the National life without consulting
U.S." These are fine words about the
future. They are intended to cover
ND. but as a matter of fact, they fur
nish the strongest condemnation OF Mr..
Wilson's deed In the present. In these
words Mr.. WilsAn exactly describes
what he ought to have done with the
Brotherhoods, and explicitly condemns
the action which he in fact took. If
the principles he laid down were good
for the future. they were good for the
present. Do it now. Mr.. Wilsonl Do
not use fine words about what some
body else ought to do in the future In
order to cover your own shameful
abandonment Of duty in the present.
Mr.. Wilson has adroitly maintained
that the question at issue was the eight
hour day. This is not all fact The
question at issue was the question of
wages. The law does not say that there
shall be an eight hour day. 1t says that
eight hours shall "be made the measure
of a days work for the purpose Of re-
ceiving compensation" In other words,
it was primarily an increase Of wages
and not dirninution Of hours that was
aimed at.
/ believe in the eight hour day. 1t is
the ideal toward which we should tend.
But believe that there must be COM
mon sense as well as common honesty
in achieving the ideal Mr.. Wilson has
laid down the principle that there is
something sacred about the eight hour
day which makes it improper even to
discuss 1t.
An Evil Precedent.
] heartily believe in a proper limita-
ton by law of hours Of work in the
railroad service, and recommended leg
islation to that effect when 1 was Pres
ident. l believe in the wages in any
Industry being just as high as 1t Is pos
sibe to make them without Injustice
to the capital invested and to the pub
lie which Is served. But II Is mere
truism to say that 1t Is impossible ia
get this ideal achieved unless an hon.
est and dispassionate effort is first
made by the proper commission to as
In bn f,,ll tn fha VffOVHloV >
case. AS regards the railroads, we
have to consider the wages paid to the
different classes of employees, the in-
terest on the investment, the earning
power Of the road, and the kind OF
service that must be rendered to the
public. 1t is impossible to secure q
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. l wish 1t dis
tinctly understood that am not trying
to pass judgment upon the justice OF
lIit CASE IC6dIO IA
men and enginemen and trainmen gen.
orally as doing peculiarly responsible
and arduous work, and entitled to par
ticular consideration as regards both
hours Of labor and pay. / hope that
they are fully entitled as matter Of
justice to what they will receive under
the Adamson bill and If it so appears
shall heartily support 1t. But protest
against the far-reaching evil Of thG
precedent set in the method which has
been followed. We are denied knoWl-
edge. We see Congress forced to act
under threats. I protest against any
law passed under such duress. I pro-
test against the case being decided
without giving each party its day in
court, and above all without giving the
public its day in court. hope the de-
mands of the men were Just, and would
have been proved so to be, If investi-
gated before a 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 wheI
they are granted through fear and moi
as a matter of right.
Remember it Is the public that ir
the end will pay. You do not have tc
take my assertion for this. Take the
assertion of Mr.. Wilson'S master ir
this matter. The Union leaders
through their Chairman, Mr.. Garrett
son, announced that "they would stead
lily refuse to arbitrate and that in theiI
action they were supported by the
President Of the United States" They
stated their case in a nutshell as fol-
lows: 'Tn times like this, men go bach
to primal instinct,-to the day Of the
caveman with his half-gnSved bone
snarling at the other caveman who
wanted to take his bone away. We
leaders are fighting for our men. ThC
railroads are fighting for their stock
holders; and the shippers for them
selves. And the public will pay" Mr.
Garretson Is right,-the public will pay
And it will pay without having had the
chance to know whether it ought ol
ought not to pay. Mr.. Wilson be-
trayed the public when he refused tt
insist that the contest should be de-
cided on principles Of Justice and wheI
he permitted 1t to be decided in defer
ence to greed and fear. Mr.. Wilson
announced that II was futile" to stand
firmly against these improper demands
1t would not have been futile II DEM
oerat of the stamp of Andrew JecksOE
or Grover Cleveland had been presi-
dent. The futility inhered solely in Mr.
Wilson himself. II President Wilson
had stood by the honor and the inter
ests of the United States In this mat
ter: II he had insisted upon a full in
vestigation before action; II he had in
sisted upon arbitration and had an
nOunced that If there was any attempt
to tie up the traffic Of the United
States he would use the entire power
Of the United States to keep the arte-
ries Of traffic open, would have Rp-
pIauded him and supported him. But
to take such action needed courage
1t needed disinterestedness. It wal
necessary that the man taking it should
put duty to the nation first and politi-
cal and nersonal considerations last