The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-09-13
Editor of Isridgaport Farmer:-

ed, Charles E. Hughes has come, out ejn the openlo on the eight-hour day re-
 cently paNsSd by Congressafor the ben ] eft of railway workers, and as usual
 he Nhas taken the side of capital. x While he still pussyfoots ton the hy-
 phen issue, and c0nfinest his argu-
 ments again st President Wilson 10 glittering geiaeralities and abuse, yet s on the big bor issue he could not be {. silApced but has come out Tor those s Infl1ences which he upheld in his
 Danbury hatters decision, whlchF are st {, tarrayed ,solfdly against organized la }4bor. By This latest stand. the Reipub-
 1icAn candidate, for president has em- phasized ths fact that he is the. man N of wall Sstre ct, and that he is true to <, his wall street. packers in the pres ent campaign Nothing could have 'Ytranspired to Ademonstrate this more i conclusively than the threatened
 strike itself flor this was the issue which compelled MT. Hughes to re- x veal his hand He declares that the
 hettlement>of the strike by MT. Will 3lSrn and theS combined houses of Con- lxress was not settlement of the
 nufnber of hours in whichs railroad v d1aeri should work, but was realty { settlement of aNwage raise. Ip other words, he placesJ himself upon record ss as being against W raise in wages for ' %Forkingrhen through the channels of {: 1eeislation. He claims that if wages " can be raised through act of Congress, 10 also can they be lowered bysact Aof Congress. v Now in. makingtthe above claimeMr < ffughes thinks tothoodwNik and ffool " the great ranks of American ,toHers. while he condemnsta raise inswnges
 Tor workingmen. brought about
 Through national legislation, he breathes not one word regarnng a ~ raise in wages for the great ratlroad ' Hsirsorporations, brought, about by acti of Congress in granting advances Tn Z sfreight rates for the railroads of'the country about onecyear ago. Io those 4 who look into public matters at all, and who think for sthenaselves. it is 4 EiGlaringy obvious thatNthe Republican v 1bresidential candidate is perfectly
 eatisfied and has nothing to say' when W wall v street wages are advanced N through legislation, but that he is 3 Bitterly antagonistic to that legisla- \ Zion which advances thetwages of the <33ordinary wprkingmalii
 Personally, it is beyond my com [i prehensiou to understand the audacity .A Of Mir. Hughes in going about the fitcountry and appealing to working {, men to repudiate a raise in wages for yAa class of workingmen other than the Ac1ass in which they may Ietppen to be. @ While do not believe that the train \ Hxmen's fight for an eight-hour day x 1Wss entirely fight for wage raise, W and while. am convinced that the c eight hour day for railway workers is < sure to bring about safer travelling 4 ccnditions for the millions upon mill q lions who patronize the railfoads for transportation, yet I am glad to see honest toilers in the channels \ of one of our most important indus
 tries receive an advance in wages, for x it is my sincere, conviction that they Sl are entitled to a wage advance just ,f as much as Wall street was entitled 'tf to the benefits of such an advance Y through the raising of freight rates. Mr. Hughes. consciously or uncon- N sciously, insults the intelligence of 7 wage earners when he goes about from place, to place urging them to VI cast their votes against the admins < fration which has stood for better
 wages Tn doing this he simply asks workingmen to vote against their owr
 slnterests, and he must think that they are not intelligent enough to know
 this. Especially in these times when A the cost of living is higher than ever before. does the Republican candidate ~ ssume an absurd position in advo- " eating that wage earners vote agafnsi their own direct interests.
 '@ As the great rank and file. of the
 Progressive party was composed p1 { workingmen and, as the Progressive w platform stood for better working con.
 ditions for workingmen and women x it is inconceivable that any great per
 centage of that party can stand for g
 candidate who openly opposes legis-
 lation which makes for an uplift oi
 workingmen, and a happier, condi.
 ton in life for their families Ir
 other words, candidate who stands z, for Wall street first. and the worker. s cH the land last In speaking of the eight hour law in his address at Lew.
 iston. Maine, on Saturday MT. Hughe.
 is quoted as having designated that v law as "a policy of despair" ''We
 might as well end the forms of gov
 ernment," said he, eff we are to en.
 ter on that path of disaster There has never been, as I recall it, "a more
 Important Issue presented to the Am
 erican people than that recently ore. sented-" In other worlds it is ''s z policy of despair to legislate in the
 interests of the lworkingmen, but it i. all right to legislate in the interest. of Wall street. It is safe to asser
 that never in the history of American
 politics has there been more, incon
 sistent candidate for the high offic, r of President of the United States thar V Charles E. Hughes, who condemn. Y favorable legislation for the America1
 working1nan while he remains apso VI 1utely silent on favorable Legislation # for Wall street.
 Tn regard to his published asser s ton that had he been President dur
 ing the past four years. he would hay x gone to war with one or more coun
 tries instead of settling our dfficul ties through the channels of diplom
 acy. MT. Hughes. as I have said be , fore, fails utterly to inform the pea
 pie where he would have secure,
 the arms and munitions necessary t. < carry on such war. According to al
 exhaustive report recently issued b.
 the United States Commerce Commis <. Gionl arms have been exported iron
 thiss country to the Europeah penf
 gefents to the value of $30,00O, ,OOO ' which means that not more than 1,
 100000 rifles have been exporte, ' since 1914. Now inasmuch as iron
 four to five rifles per man are re