Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-09-24

United States. 1t was known as the
eighty-cent gas case, where. by legis-
lation in the state of New York. so
cents was established as the charge for
the unit Of the supply of gas. and the
law was contested upon the ground
that it was conf1scatory, and, therefore,
unconstitutional
And when the appeal reached the
Supreme Court of the United States, 1t
said: Nobody can tell until you try to
manufacture gas at so cents whether it
is confiscatory or not. Go ahead and
manufacture gas and sell it for 80
cents. and then, il it proves impossible
to conduct your business upon that
charge, come back and discuss with us
the conf1scatory character of this act.
And it may be remarked in passing
that the company never went back to
discuss it.
Arbitration of Conjecture.
Il 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 ask
ing for an arbitration of a conjecture,
of an opinion, of a forecast of the fig
ures of experts based upon an entirely
different experience, and If you were to
ask me personally to arbitrate such
question 1 would say 1 am not compe-
tent 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
Congress to appoint commission of as
impartial d nature as l can choose to
observe the results and report upon the
results, in order that justice may in
the event be done the railroads in re-
spect to the cost of the experiment.
Urged at Every Conference.
THAT was the proposal which they
rejected and which Congress put into
law, Il proposal which I made to them
before I conferred with it, which 1
urged upon them at every conference,
and which when the one side rejected
and the other side accepted 1 went to
Congress and asked Congress to enact.
| did not ask either side whether it
suited them, and l requested my friends
IN congress MOTTO ask either side
whether it suited them. 1 learned be-
fore the controversy began, 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.
when 1 carried it to Congress, some
very interesting things happened. In
the House of Representatives the plan
was passed, was sanctioned, by vote
which included, 1 am told, about
seventy republicans. as against fifty
four republicans; and in the Senate, l
am informed that the republican MEM
bers of the Senate held a conference
in which they determined to put no OBJ
stacie in the way of the passage of
the bill. Now this was because the pro-
posal was reasonable and was based
upon right.
"Not the End of the Story"
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 it was done, so as to
eight-hour day and a careful examina-
tion of the results of the eight-hour
day. But that does not finish the mat
ter. Let me call your attention to what
/ believe we ought all to be thinking
about, so to set the stage for this
and all similar cases.
There are some things in which So
ciety is so profoundly interested that
it's interests take precedence of the
interests of any group of men What-
ever. One of these things is the supply
of the absolute necessaries of life. 1t
would be intolerable 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.
"Main Partner Left Out
But these supplies are of no use
unless they can be distributed, and in
the matter of the distribution of goods,
particularly of the goods that sustain
life and industry, the interest of So