Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1916-10-19

law. because Nlkes'DalIe 10 '"e u"
quarters of the great industry in connec.
tiop with which ! myself rs president
was brought into close and intimate touch
with the labor movement in this country.
II what have to say is OF any value 1t
must be not only because it represents
what in the abstract is right, but also be-
cause in the concrete ! applied. in actual
D~ractice, when had power. the principles
which | criticize Mr.. Wilson for not ar.
Dlyina now. Therefore, l wish to recapi'
tulate to you just what occurred in ION
nection with the anthracite coal strike and
to contrast it with what MIR. Wilson has
done in connection with the law for the IN
crease Of wages Oh railroads.
At the outset, ! wish to express my
very hearty admiration for the Brother
hoods. an, proud, OF the fact that am
an honorary member Of one OF them. !
have usually been in entire sympathy with
them. While | held public Office found
myself in the vast majority, OF cases able
to support them in their demands. because
these demands were right. But now they
have demanded legislation raising their
wages to be taken without investigation
and without the exercise of that form Ut
Judgment shown by a competent arbltra'
ton commission; and such a demand Is
wrong, and stand against it because it
is wrong, exactly as ! have stood against
the demands of bankers and lawyers. and
mine owners and railroad presidents when
they were wrong. | believe in labor unions.
| am proud that am myself an honorary
member Of a labor union. But believe
first of all in the Union to- which all of Us
belong. the union Of all the people Of the
whole United States.
In the case of the settlement of the an.
thrucite coal strike. the action took was
Of precisely the kind which President WI
son now says the law should make obll
gatolv in all similar eases in the future.
hut Mr.. Wilson himself admits that his
own action was so bad that it onsi,t new
er to be repeated, for he has assured the
public that although Congress has ad,
journed without doing anything. it is his
intention when Congress meets TO see that
il does something to render II impossible
fer another President ever to repeat en-
actly what he has just done. In other
words, | stood and stand by my action as
the proper action, constituting the proper
precedent for future action. Mr.. Wilson
himself confesses that his action was
wrong aud that the precedent thereby set
is 50 evil that legislation must be en-
acted rendering it impossible for another
President ever to repeat, the action.
There is another point of difference and
a vital point. The action ] took was in
tended to meet the situation at oAcee- Ihe
action that Mr.. Wilson took has been de-
ferred so that it shall not take place until
considerably after election.
Fourteen years ago the great anthracite
coal strike had occurred in this region.
From the beginning | put the govern
mental ager1s in touch with the situation
and kept myself thoroughly informed SO
that should he able to act immediately
if it became necessary for me to act. !
hoped that it would not be- necessary. ana
that the parties themselves would come to
an agreement; for was very loath to IN
~terfere if it could be avoided. But cold
weather approached. a coal famine men
aced the entire eastern section OF the
United States, and there was not the
slightest symptom of an agreement hel's
reached by the contendine parties ! felt
that the time had conle for me to act. oh
the one side were the greatest aud veal
thiest mine owners Of the country, init
mately connected with the weaIthlest ana
most powerful industrial and railroad cor.
purations in the country. The hhahc'a'
strength of Wall Street was behind them.
These men absolutely refused to arbitrate.
They said there was nothing to arbItrate,
that had no power under the Const'tu.
ton to act. and that the public could not
interfere, nor the representatives OF the
public, with the way in which they man
AGED their business. The representatives
of the mine workers, of labor, on the COLI
trary, expressed their entire willingness to
arbitrate and demanded nothing except
that as one of the conditions of arbitration
there should lie some representative OF
organized labor to sit together with the
representatives of capital and of the public
at large. made every effort to get the
two sides to agree. When ] failed, de.
cided that would act myself. held
that where the public necessity was ma
tional and imperative it became The duty
of the Chief of the Nation to act. ! he'd
that in any such gigantic controversy be
tween labor and capital, containing such
q threat to the welfare Of the great BODY
. Of our people, there were three parties IN
interest: viz, the capitalist, the working,
men, and the people as a whole; and that
where the public need was vital that need
must control. .
| held, moreover, that in any case OF
such immortal nee and such interest we must
have full knowledge before final action on
any of the points ut issue was taken ana
that this knowledge must be obtained by
an unbiased body of arbitrators after a
thorough study of the situation. he'd
that the power of Government must be
used to make effective the findings OF
this body, and that pending the findings
the work of mining must go on because
the public need demanded it. Therefore,
decided that would use the entire power
of the nation to see that there was an arbl'
tration BY dispassionate experts. and that
the conclusions Of that arbitration were
accepted by both sides, and that until
their decision was rendered the work Of
mining should go on in the interests Of
the people as a whole. When the mihe
owners, backed by and representing 'h'
most powerful financial interests OF tn.
country. positively refused to arbitrate'
proceeded to appoint an arbitration com
mission without regard to them; securing
the cnnsaut Of a ~unliIical nnn0nent. eX