The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-09-24

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the only way in which they could obtain
a genuine eight-hour day, by making the
| railroads pay more for the time beyond
| the eight hours than they paid for the
time within the eight hours. l saw at
once that there was one part of this that
was arbitrable, but that in my opinion
there was another part that was not
| arbitrable. I do not regard the question
Of the principle of the eight-hour day as
arbtrable.
THE first thing I told both sides be-
fore l requested their opinion was that
stood for the elght-hour day I re-
ceived no suggestion of any kind from
either side as to what the basis of set
| Element was to be, except that the rail-
road executives did suggest that Con-
gress give them some sort of assurance
that if the eight-hour day went into
| operation they would get increased rates
! for the carriage of their freight.
! pointed out to them that it was impossi-
| BILE to tell whether they would need in
creased rates for the carriage of their
| freights.
BELIEVES IN EIGHT-HOUR DAY
I'VE believe in the eight-hour day be-
cause a man does better work within
eight hours than he does within more
extended day, and the whole theory of
it, a theory which is sustained now by
ency is increased his spirit in his work
is improved and the whole moral and
| physical vigor of the man is added to.
This is no longer conjectural. Where
| it has been tried it has been demon
| strated. The judgment of society, the
vote of every legislature In America
that has voted upon it is a verdict in
favor of the eight-hour day.
And, therefore, l said to those gentle
m M hA hap
ming: The eight-hcrr day ought to 5x
conceded but they said: 1t, will cost
us an immense sum of money
How do you know how much it will
cost you?
you remember there was a case de-
cided by the supreme court of the United
States. 1t was known as the 80-cent gan
case. where. by legislation in the state
of New York, eight cents was established
as the charge for the unit of the suppl6
of gas and the law was contested upon
the ground that it was confiscatory and
therefore unconstitutional
And when the appeal reached the SUI
preme court of the United States it said:
Nobody can tell until you try to manu-
facture gas at so cents whether it is
conf1scatory or not. Go ahead and manu-
facture gas and sell it for so cents and
then, if 1t proves impossible to conduct
your business upon that charge, come
back and discuss with us the confiscatory
character of this act, and it may be re-
marked in passing that the company
never went back to discuss it,
NOT ARBITRABLE
ST said to the railroad executives: You
are asking that the result of the eight
hour day be predicted and the prediction
be arbitrated. You are asking for an
arbitration Of a conjecture, of an opinion,
of forecast of the figures of experts,
based upon an entirely different expert
ence, and IL you were to ask me personal
ly ITO arbitrate such question I would
say I am not competent to arbitrate It,
1.-The reasonable thing to do is to
grant the eight-hour day, not, because
the men demand it, but because it is
right, and let me get authority from Con-
gress to appoint commission of as near
an impartial nature as l can choose to
observe the results and report on the
results, in order that justice may in the
event be done the railroads in respect to
the cost of the experiment.
THAT was the proposal which they re-
jected and which Congress put into law,
a proposal which I made to them before
I conferred with it, which I urged upon
them at every conference and when the
one side rejected and the other accepted,
went to Congress and asked Congress
to enact it. I did not ask either side
whether~it suited them, and / requested
my friends in Congress not to ask either
side whether it suited them. / learned
before the controversy so far as l was
concerned in it, that the whole temper
OF the legislative body of the United
States was in favor of the eight-hour
day
INTERESTING THINGS
when I carried it to Congress some
very interesting things happened. In the
HOiISa q nj
passed, was sanctioned by vote which
included, l am told, about 70 republicans
as against 81 republicans, and in the
Senate, I am informed that the repub-
lican members of the Senate held con-
ference in which they determined to put
nc obstacle in the way of the passage
of the bill. Now this was because the
proposal was reasonable and was based
upon right.
but, ladies and gentlemen, that is not
the end of the story This thing ought
to have been DONE and it had to be done
at the time that it was done, so as to
bring about reasonable trial of the
eght-hour day and careful examination
of the results of the eight-hour day.
But that does not finish the matter. Let
me call your attention to what be-.
lieve we ought all to be thinking about
SO as to set the stage for this and all
similar cases.
mere are SOIlle liliISS III W men So
cety is so profoundly interested that its
interests take precedence of the interests
Of any group of men whatever. One of
these things is the supply of the abso-
Lutte necessaries of life. 1t would be in
tolerable if at any time any group of
men by any process should be suffered
to cut society off from the necessary
supplies which sustain life.
But these supplies are of no use I'M
less they can be distributed, ana IN the
matter of the distribution of goods, par
ticularly of the goods that sustain life
and industry, the. interest of society is
paramount to every other interest, and
the difficulty about all situations like
that which we have just passed through
Is this, that the main partner is left
out of the reckoning. These men were
dealing with one another as if the only
thing to settle was between themselves,
whereas. the real thing to settle was
what rights had the hundred million peo-
rle of the United States.
BUSINESS OF GOVERNMENT
"The business of government is to see
that no other organization is as strong
as itself, to see that no body or group
of men, no matter what their private
interest Is, may come into competition
with the authority of society, and the
problem with Congress. because of the
lateness of the session, has for a few
months postponed, is this problem.
BY what means are we going to oblige
persons who come to a controversy like
this to admit the public into the partner
ship by which the thing is discussed and
decided? That is not an easy problem
A great many different methods have
hAn Cad 1f