The Cordova daily times., 1916-10-12
WILSON PLAYED FUR ACTION IF
 CONGRESS

the publicity committee of the Nation al Republican congressional commit tee, in a statement here today flaved the action of President Wilson and the Democratic majority in tanning through congress the so-called eight hour" law.
 Now that congress has capitulated. the strike order been revoked. the threatened cessation of all transpor- toton with the possibilities of untold suffering by the innocent averted. the government temporarily abdicated and permanently humiliated, it is not out of place for the public, who must pay the bill, to calmly inquire of the is sue of the immediate future in the light of the recent past" said MT Fess.
 "To begin with the eight hour lay, so-called, is misnamed and it's title is totally misleading This law is not staute fixing the hours of labor, but is an increased wage grab On Fri day, September i, Speaker Clark, in a ruling in the house, said:
 "'Of course the chair, like every one else, has a great deal of respect for recommendations made by the president of the United States, but the chair is surely not expected to rule under such propositions laid down by the president in that message. It might take six bills. or it might take four, or it might take three In the bill before the house there are two of the recommendation that the pre- sidont made, and both of them affect the question of wages and do not af- feet anything else Critically consid- cred, the speaker might have cut that message mp and referred various parts of its to various committees. but he did not choose to do that It was a hurried proceeding all around
 This measure was born in fright, fathcrcd by fear. cradled in partizan politics and carried through the final action under duress. do not believe the history of legislation furnishes a duplicate of such action. This, in my judgment, was the high water mark l of national humiliation, if not degre- dation as one member put it. as we'll as the low water mark of national honor and dignity.
 "The increase of wages may be war i ranted. l do not know; neither did any of Us know. Information is neces- sary before intelligent action can be taken We did not have that infor- nation and while there was so little consideration given for the 99 per cent of our population, could not rorealose arbitration of the dispute 10 vote for the contention of less than one per cent in a panic
 "Thts congress is not different from the siEtE-third congress, which took the first step of a series of which this panicky act is but the third step. The first was when congress obeyed the demands of certain leaders to ex- empt labor unions from the operation of the sherman antitrust law Presi- dent Wilson, not yet obsessed with the second term germ, signed the sundry civil bill with the exemption Then came the second step. the Clay ton bill. which wrote into statute law the legal exemption of certain. classes of citizens - to be specific, labor un- ions - from the operation of anti trust laws Here by law we declare that certain classes are free to do acts which if done by others would be criminal That was sowing to the " iliNr anu T v di t HOW itdplII2 lllt lldI- vest In panic in the face of threat to stop all transportation unless cer- tain conditions are met by a certain time this congress, the legislative body of one hundred million American fTeemen. logislatcs upon a doubtful constitutional question, offers rem edy to avert a threatened danger that may prove worse than the disease
 The abandonment of arbitration when taken by the head of our govern meut in an official command to the congress sets a precedent against the best possible method of settling labor disputes. from which We will not re