The Coconino sun., 1916-10-27

WI saiAiAS Ai my Po"Sh ioI Shc WONh- ing man except what is wrong; but 1 will do wrong neither for him nor for any other man.
 Now, I wish it distinctly under stood that I am not in the least pre- pared to say that this demand is wrong. It may be absolutely right. My point is that, without full investi- gation we cannot say whether it is right or wrong. President Wilson yielded to the dictation of the heads of the Brotherhoods, and made no ef- fort to find out whether the demand was right or wrong. He made no ef- fort to find out whether it could be complied with without raising freight rates. He made no effort to find out all the equities in the case; those af- fecting the men, those affecting the stockholders, those affecting the ship pers. He took his orders from that one of the parties in interest which he most feared. He insisted that the law be passed without inquiry. And then he deferred the operation of the law until after election, which of course could only have been done for political reasons. We have not at this moment any power to determine which side of the controversy is right, and which wrong. We do not know whether it is right to increase the wages without increasing the freight rates; and whether in such event it is proper to the public that both the rates and wages shall be increased to the amount this bill requires; or whether any increase in rates ought to be made; or whether in the inter- est of the public neither wages nor rates should be increased. 1 believe, from the standpoint of the public in- terest, in the proper limitation by law of the hours of work on railroads; but 1t is essential that there shall be full knowledge and consideration of all the facts before determining exactly what the law shall be.
 The question as issue was not that of an eight-hour day at all. The ques- tion was whether the President ana Congress should enact law, without investigation and without knowledge
 to give increased wages to a certain portion of the body of wage earners
 The labor leaders on this issue, with
 out regard to the right or wrong oi the matter, first coerced the Presi
 dent, and then with his aid corcec
 Congress. The question at issue wa.
 not one of the hours of labor. It wa.
 one of wages. And it was settled by
 the President and Congress without
 investigation and without knowledge
 The settlement was due partly t
 fear, and partly to hope of politica
 profit. President Wilson in his speecl
 on the 23rd of this month sought t,
 explain and justify his action. H,
 stated his whole case with probabl,
 unconscious accuracy when he sai,
 that before he undertook to settle tn,
 controversy he had '1earned that tn,
 whole temper of the legislative bodie
 of the United States was in favor" O
 what one side announced to be it
 contention. In other words, he ha,
 made up his mind in advance; and h.
 had made it up because he belived tn
 majority of the Congressmen (for tn
 most part pure politicians) were ol what they deemed to be the popula
 side. In this speech he explicitly ad mitted that in this controversy eth main partner was left out of the reck
 oning," because the two parties de clined to consider "what rights ha, the hundred million people of tn United States ?" And President Will son eagerly joined with these men il refusing to consider the rights o these hundred millions of people President Wilson knows we'll that h has betrayed the rights of these peo pie. He admits that when in the sam speech, with his usual faculty fo using fine words about the futur when he desires to cover up, mea
 deeds in the present, he says: Tho, are we going to prevent any organi , zation from overriding the interest of society?... America has the pri vilege to say: You must not interrur , the national life without consultin us." Exactly! Fine wordsl Word i, such as MT. Wilson loves to use. An as is customary with MT. Wilso1 these fine words of his about abstrae 7 rights are flatly contradicted by hi unworthy deeds as soon as the cor crete case arises. Mir. Wilson use these lofty words about the future a 7 the very time when he has mad America submit to seeing "an organ ization overrule the interests of SC ciety," when by his action he has pel A.