Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-09-06
To Wilson ALL the "Glory"

leaders are claiming all the glory Of
the accomplishment for President Will
son. Very well, we shall not dispute
the claim; he is welcome to 1t.
Let US proceed from that angle:
the President is responsible for rails
/ ing (out Of the peoples pockets. for
| railroad rates are fixed by the govern
ment) the wages Of the highest paid
laborers in the world. 25 per cent. The
100000 employees affected must feel
very grateful to him-but what OF the
feelings Of millions Of other laborers,
organized and unorganized, who are
not as well paid as these railroad men.
who have no political grip on the
throat Of Congress by which they can
get a raise of pay, and who must pay
for that increase in higher rates on
everything they buy?
The railway brotherhoods could not
wait for public investigation OF their
claim before 1t was paid and President
Wilson agreed with them. He demand
ed it of Congress- AT ONCE, ito save
the country from disaster"
The brotherhoods couldn't wait, the
President couldn't wait, Congress
couldn't wait, for an inquiry into the
merits of the case.
The people who must pay the bills
in Increased cost Of living because OF
increased railway rates, had no right
to ask WHY, no right to know-the
highest paid labor in the world Sc
llected the close Of a campaign IN
which the administration head is the
Presidential candidate fighting for his
political life, to force its demands. 1t
would not listen to arbitration. 1t in
vited this candidate to win their vote
by using his influence as chief execu-
| tive of the nation. This organiza-
ton had a strangle hold and 1t would
not release an ounce Of pressure until
|! it had secured a promise of its de-
mand: ii cared not for its unjust po-
sit;on, or the awful suffering to in
noceats it's threat carried out would
cost.
For the effect on Woodrow Wilson
of having used his high position to
blackjack the nation, we care not one
pin; but we believe the cause Of lab
or, uuionism must suffer for a brutal
method that is on par with Ger
manys Zeppelin raids and her sub
marine policy-slaughter of innocents
| to reacn an opponent
| Some of these laborers would have
| turned up their noses at the wages re-
| ceived by the laborers making up other
labor organizations in this country.
vet Congress at the Presidents behest
has jumped their wages 25 per
cent. Now what about the $4,000
iron miners of the Mesaba Range,
who are on strike demanding scale Of
SO a day? Will Congress give 1t to
them? They have suffered hardship
as a result of their strike and their
! families are enduring great privation.
With the precedent established for the
settlement of strikes by Congress, at
the direction Of the President. enact
ing legislation compelling employers
| to pay the wages demanded by their
employees, the iron workers should
rush Bill Haywood, Elizabeth Gurley
Flynn and Arturo Giovannitti to the
White House, before Congress ad-
journs, that they should explain to the
President the demands of the men
and the number Of voters in the or
ganization known as the Industrial
Workers of theWorld, remind him Of
the close approach Of the presidential
election and, with the added force of
a graphic description of the privations
Of the miners families, they would ex-
perience no difficulty in inducing Mr..
Wilson to order Congress to enact
legislation directing the mine owners
to pay SO for an s-hour day. Mr.. Will
son could not now logically refuse.
The New York Times, the ablest
Democratic paper in New York, is not
satisfied with Mr.. Wilson's settlement
Of the railway strike. Under the
heading Where it Leads, the Times
says, "In this Republic laws express
the peoples will, but in the making of
this law to increase the pay Of one
quarter Of the railway employees the
people have not had the slightest
chance to make known their desire.
Their Congress was coerced by the
threat of an Unreasonable injury to
themselves. What Lynch law is to
orderly judicial process the method
adopted by the brotherhoods. and we
The World War a Year Ago