Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1916-09-29
President Wilson Defends The
Eight-HOur Law.


of his settlement of the recently threat
ened railroad strike. With emphatic ges-
lures, before large crowd assembled at
Shadow Lawn. he defended the eight-hour
day and declared also that the nation must
be freed from the possibility of interfer-
ence with its commerce. Business men
often interrupted the President with hand
clappng and cheering
The Presidents speech was as follows:
mr.. Chairman. gentlemen Of the Bust
ness Mems League, ladies and gentlemen:
Il need not tell you what sense of
qualification it gives me that you should
come bearing this generous message which
have heard from your chairman. There
is sense in which the business men Of
America represent America. because
America has devoted herself time out of
mind to the arts and achievements of
peace. and business is the organization of
the energies of peace. No man who looks
about upon the field Of American business
at the present moment can fail TO realize
that new breath and spirit have come
into the business OF America.
There have been times when it looked
as il America were interested only in her
self, but in these recent years American
business men have lifted their eyes to
more distant horizons and have seen how
the markets Of the world were waiting for
their service, and as they have sought
and obtained entrance into these markets
a new vision has come to them, of what
the development of the resources of Amer
lea means; of what the organization Of
American efficiency MEANS of why ii was
that American merchants and American
manufactures and American miners and
all the multitude OF men who have devel-
Oped the peaceful industries of America.
were planted under this free policy in
order that they might look out upon the
service of mankind and perform il.
There never was time when the pulse
of energy and success beat so strongly in
the veins Of American business as il beats
today And yet hope that all business
men in America realize that we are only
at the beginning Of new era. America
has not played its proportionate part in
the development Of the trade of the world.
mean that ii has not played a part pro-
portionate to the Sift Of Americans and
the resources of America, and that in the
times to come, partly because of the I'M
happy circumstances Of recent years. but
chiefly because America is now about to
release her energies, the scope of American
business will be what men have hitherto
not dreamed Of. II American men know
how to take advantage Of the opportunity.
THE problems that are before Ameri-
can business are world problems rather
than American domestic problems. Amer
lea must understand the world in order to
subject il to its peaceful service. And yet
when we look upon the field of American
business there are some things that disturb
us. Some men seem to think that the way
to advance American business is to walk
backwards and to attempt again the pro-
vincial policies which have characterized
an age when we shut our doors against
the influences of the world.
but the chief cloud that is upon the
domestic horizon is the unsatisfactory re-
lations Of capital and labor. Thelei rs only
one way. gentlemen, in which the tslations
Of capital and labor can be renderl salts
factory. That is by, in the first pl !, re-
garding labor as human relation. , of
men with men; and, in the second GAGE.
TO regard labor as part of the general part
nership of energy which is going to make
for the success Of business men and bust
ness enterprises in this country. So long
as labor and capital stand antoginistic the
interest Of both are injured and the pros
perity Of America is held back from the
triumphs which are legitimately its own.
you know we have been legalistic peo-
pie. ! say with all due respect to some
men for whom have the highest esteem
that we have been too much under the
guidance Of the lawyers and that the law
yer has always regarded the relationship
between the employer and the employe as
merely contractural relationship, whereas
1t Is, while based upon contract, very much
more than contractural relationship. II is
a relationship between one set of men and
another set OF men with hearts under their
jackets and with interests that they ought
to serve in common with persons whom
they love and must support on the one side
and on the other
Labor is not commodity. 1t is a form
Of cooperation. and II can make man
believe in me. know that am just. know
that want to share the profits of success
with him. ] can get ten times as much out
Of him as il he thought were his antagon-
list And his labor is cheap at any price.
That is the human side Of it, and the hui
man side extends to this conception, that
that laborine man is a partner Of his EN-
ployer.
IF he is a mere tool Of his employer
he Is only as serviceable as the tool. His
enthusiasm does not 60 into it. He does
not plan how the work shall be better
done He does not look upon the aspect
Of the business Of enterprise as a whole
and wish to cooperate the advantage Of
his brains and his invention TO the sue
cess OF II as whole. Human relation
ships. my fellow-citizens ore governed by
the heart. and il the heart is not in il,
nothing is in Il.
II said TO the railroad executives You
are akine that the result Of the eieht-hour
day be predicted and the prediction be
arbiuated. You are asking for an arbi-
tration Of a conjecture, Of an opinion. Of