Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-10-16

IN tho future. The only way we can
settle them right is by dellberation' Ill
ter all the facts have been put Deiore
a disinterested and competent pooy'
and the Judgment of that oooy ~
tained thereon. This is the course tha'
even now ought to be pursued as re-
cards the Adamson bill. Its operat'on
has been deferred until after Congress
assemblies. Congress should hoid IL up
until a proper commission shall IN
vestigate the entire subject; ana tiiei.
the Adamson bill should be enac'eu
either unchanged, or with "nateHe.
changes and additions the report oi
such dispassionate commission may
show to be desirable and necessary.
Labor leaders who are shortsighteo
NAV at the moment get from a man III
nublic office who is not actuateo py
iustice more than from man VINO Is
actuated by Justice. But the laborlns
neonle as a whole cannot afford to &C
cent such gains. If unjust legislation
is given them for improper reasons
then unjust legislation against them
NAV be enacted for improper reasons
More than any other people In tne
country the wageworkers should insist
on inst and fair action. There is grave
reason to believe that in the course
President Wilson has followed he did
violence to his own real CONVICTIONS.
Until he became candidate for office,
he was a bitter, ungenerous and often
unjust critic of labor unions. nave
before me speeches and letters OF ms
made and written in 1913, l9of anu
1909. in which Mr.. Wilson says among
other things that labor unions oras
the highest man down to the level OF
the lowest" and in speaking OF the
capitalistic class, he says that tnere Is
another equally formidable enemy ana
it is that class formed by the LABOR
leaders of this country, and again
am a fierce partisan of the open snop,
and again THE usual standard OF the
employee in our day is to give as little
as he can for his wages. LABOR IS
standardized by trade unions and this
| is the standard to which 1t is maze 10
| conform. l need not point out now
economically disastrous such regula-
ton of labor is. Our economic SUI
pre1nacv may be lost because the
country grows more and more full of
improbable servants" These were
| the utterances of Mr.. Wilson when he
was president of a university and mad
neither fear of nor desire to profit by
the labor vote. In Mr.. Wilson's His
tory of the American People" he eX-
plicitly stated that the Chinese ought
not to be excluded from this country
because it is better to have them here
than it is to have the immigrants we
now get from Europe. His words
were: THE Chinese are more to be de-
sired as workmen than most of the
, coarse crew that come croWdlng IN
everywhere at the Eastern ports Now
he turns round and says: Our gates
must be kept open" to those whom he
! thus denominated coarse crew..
Since he went into politics he has
again and again, necessarily and con-
tinuously, reversed himself on what
he had protested to be his deepest con-
victions prior to entering politics, and
in each case the announced change OF
conviction agreed with what at the
moment seemed to be his political in
tereSt.
If it is alleged that President Wilson
has been actuated only by principle in
connection with the AdamSon law
then l ask why he has failed to apply
the same principle to the railway pos
tai clerks, where he has full power
Estimating six days to the week, these
postal clerks, operating between New
York and Pittsburgh, are required to
run POS miles per day (for. the present
administration has reduced the num-
Der of crews from six to five), whereas
the present trainmen's agreement re-
quires only 155 miles per day, which is
to be reduced still further by the
Adamson law. The only possible ex-
PLANTATION of Mr.. Wilson's action in one
case and inaction in the other is that
only 400 men are affected in that case
where the government has full con-
troll of the hours of labor, whereas
100000 men are supposed to be at
fected by the Adamson bill.
Mr.. Gompers has recently established
himself as the especial champion of
Mr.. Wilson, and claims joint credit
with Mr.. Wilson for their joint con-
duct of our foreign affairs so far as
Mexico is concerned. He asks labor to
support Mr.. Wilson specifically on the
ground of Mr.. Wilson's attitude in
Mexico, which, he states, he has helped
to secure. He says. for example, that
he was largely instrumental IN secur-
ing the recognition of Carranza in
Mexico. because of CarranZa's Sympa-
thy with the labor movement there.
! For the details of what l speak. l refer
| you to Senator Falls recent speeches,
! where the exact quotations are given.
Mr.. Gompers states that when all 9TH
er agencies failed in the effort to Sc
cure the recognition of Carranza by
President Wilson, Gompers interviewed
on September 22d, 1915, and Mr.. Will
sons recognition of CarranZa i'm
mediately followed Mr.. Gompers con-
tinues by saying that Carranza was
recognized as the friend of the work.
ing people in Mexico. On September
I'd, 1916, Mr.. Gompcrs appealed for the
support of laboring men for Mr.. Will
son on the ground of Mr.. Wilson's
policy as regards Mexico. He thus tied
himself up with Messrs. Wilson and
Carranza as one of the triumvirate
which exercises supreme control in
Mexican matters. This makes it
worth while for the workers to whom
Mr.. Gompers especially appeals to
study what Carranza, the favored
friend and ally of Messrs. Gompers and
Wilson, has done to laboring men in
Mexico-not to speak of what he has
done to Americans in Mexico. Mr..
Gompers states that when Carranza
refused to surrender the American sol.