Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1916-05-06
MONSTER CROWDS GREET PROMINENT DEMOCRATIC SPEAKER

death arc provided a safe, certain and
uncontroyerted method for security
and compensation to themselves and
their families for disability injury or
death occasioned in those extra haz-
ardous employments.
That commission he declared
was formed that the temptation 20
the two political parties to elect a
governor in order to control that com
mission would be removed by com
posing the commission of four per
sons, two of whom were to belong
each to the great political parties, and
that commission was designed to be
judicial in character, and beyond the
political control of partisans, or of
the governor himself so that both po-
Utica parties would be deprived Of
the motive to take an undue interest
in trying to elect a governor in order
TO control that commission. But
when the succeeding Republican leg
islature modified the law they took
out this salutary provision in the sta
tute, and provided that the commits
sion should be partisan. composed of
three persons, all appointed by the
governor and all of one political par
ty II he chose to make them so, and
The fourth commissioner they made
4 w0rkmen's compensation commits
5ioner and left it so he could be
partisan appointed by the governor.
and be controlled by the governor
who is a partisan when in truth all
his work had been done by a clerk
skilled in that respect, serving I'M
der the commission as first created
me commission was thereby chang
ed III its character from a judicial
tribunal, free from political bias and
control, to partisan political ma
chime with all the danger attendant
upon such a situation to the unfortu.
nate men and their families whose
family interest depend upon this fund
which was designed for their beneff
alone, and the fund is depleted to
me detflment OF the laborers and the
employers OF the state for the benefit
OF lot of partisans and appointees
OF one political party who pay salar.
les and cOmpensa gons out of this
lund out of all proportions to the val
Ges and character of services Der-
formed. This is an evil which ought
TO be remedied by succeeding legisla.
lures. and will be remedied vhenev
2r the workman and mechanics eneag-
ed IN TIE hazardous employment and
me employers themselves realize how
the course OF that law and its salutarv
provisions Cor their mutual securi
des and safety have been pervert
ed"
Il congratulate the people unon this
most auspices May day" said the SEN
at1r," that ever blessed this or any
other people. Today increase in
wages go into effect, effecting over
100000 wage earners, giving them
over $5,000,000 in increase pay. and
this is to some of them the third
ralse III wages within the year. You
see your country with the largest
bank deposits ever enjoyed by this
or any other people Also the larg
est trade balance in its favor. Like
wise the largest postal receipts and
the greatest bank clearings.
Your railroads are earning beyond
what they ever did before Your com
merce is greater than you ever expect
ca 1t to be. and the farmer is getting
the best prices for his produce of all
kinds than he ever got in his history
Labor is being paid at the highest
wages and the shortest hours, and un
der the best conditions in the history
OF the country. and there are more
people at work under these condi-
tions than was ever known before
In the history of this government
While the rest of the world is at war.
and armies are retraeing steps to
Alexander the Great, Jarius and Xer-
Xes; while armed hosts are battling
for the ancient side of Troy, and are
struggling over the battlefields made
historical by Frederick the Great and
Napoleon, and while the Garden of
Eden is being desecrated and trenches
are being built in the Holy Land, and
this war is being fought in Europe
Asia, Africa and both the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans, and while we have
war to the north. south, east and west
of us, we are at peace.
The Tariff.
THE panic of 1907, under a pro
tective tariff. and the prosperous
times today. under a reasonable tariff
demonstrate that the tariff has moth.
ing to do with good times. This
statement cannot be answered by the
false theory that our present prosper.
ity is due to war orders. Our war
orders today amount to not exceeding
. or per cent of our whole business
We can deduct these war orders
after multiplying them by two and
still have left more prosperity than
was ever given Us under either the
Dingley Of Payne-Aldrich tariff The
present tariff is a competitive one. II
does no injury to any legitimate bust
ness and everything which was put
on the free list has scared in price
to such an extent that it makes one
smile TO remember the predictions
made in 1913 about free wool, free
wheat and free meat. The Democrat
ic party opposed meat, the wellknown
fact that the conditions change indus
tries ana applicanse change, by pro-
vidng a tariff commission, which can
from time to time report changes in
conditions to Congress and with these