The labor advocate. [volume] (Cincinnati, Ohio) 1912-1937, 1916-09-23

the Executive of the power to take con-
troll of railways required for military
use and to operate them by drafting
into the military service train crews and
administration officials should such ac-
ton become necessary AS true cham
pion of arbitration, President Wilson
recommended further that arbitration
judgments be made records of court
of law, in order that their interpreta-
tion and enforcement may not lie with
the parties to the dispute, but with an
impartial and authoritative tribunal
A Permanent Solution.
"These things said the President,
1 urge upon you, not in haste or merely
as means of meeting the present emer-
gency, but as permanent and necessary
additions to the law of the land 1t was
his purpose in this recommendation to
provide against future emergencies, to
prevent the recurrence of such dangers
as then confronted him and the country.
"Mr. Hughes and the Republicans,
having failed in the first two months of
the camDa'pn to discover anv issues to
which the country would pay attention,
have eagerly seized upon the issues of
the threatened railroad strike and they
are using it to the best of their knowl-
edge and ability. They are trying to
make the people believe that the Presi-
dent got the eight-hour standard day
measure through Congress, did nothing
else, proposed nothing else. The truth
is that it was his purpose not merely to
meet special emergency but to declare
a general policy. He did declare one,
policy of remedial legislation He earn
estly recommended it to Congress. In
fact, he did everything that Mr.. Hughes
says he would have done, save only re-
fusing to surrender to anybody in the
country by which Mr.. Hughes means,
if he means anything, refusing to sign
the strike bill Mr. Hughes, too, would
have signed it, we are convinced. So
what becomes of the issue? The candi-
date of the Republicans stands upon the
identical labor platform upon which the
President has already taken his place
with this sole exception, that Mr..
Hughes now would have us believe that
he would have vetoed the preventive
measure and let the brotherhoods do
their worst to the country.
Hughes a National Peril.
"1he people of the United States are
not going to be put off with misinfor-
nation as to what the President did to
avert strike and to prevent the threat
of future strikes. We have reason to
believe that the full revelation of what
he did, what he tried to do, and what
he nearly succeeded in doing in the
White House conference would put such
a phase upon the matter that Republican
efforts to make an issue of it would fall
entirely flat. But the people do know,
for it was put before them in the Presi-
dents address to Congress, that he pro-
posed not single emergency act, but
broad program of legislation to meet
public need and permanently remove a
public danger. 1t was program which
we are convinced the railroads would be
very wise to accept in its entirety. Ger
tainly it seems to us that they are i'll
advised to pray for the election of Mr..
Hughes, who, if they take him at his
word, would have brought on the strike,
with all its irreparable injuries to the
countrys business and peril for the
country's peace"