The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1916-09-26
THE ApAmsoN ACT

Tx NDFNlWOO'N ~
Col. Rankins, the Plttsburg orator
who spoke here under the auspices o.
the Republican National committee
Saturday, has some peculiar IDEAS re-
garding the Adamson act In one
breath he told his audience In sub
stance that the eight.hour law would
be disastrous to the railroad employees
and In the next he declared that the
K companies would fight II and Il would
be iliyalidated by the courts One
\ might suppose from Col Rapkips'
cIew that the roads are opposed to the
law because II Is going to operate to
the disadvantage Of the workers.
The criticism advanced by the Pitts.
burg orator gives point to the follow
n ing comment on the subject from the
wichita eagle:
eOn this railroad settlement the Re
pnbllcans seem to have lnaugurated a
campaign OF deliberate mendacity. NO
statement, they seem to think. Is too
preposterous for the credulity of the
people. The worst of 1t all is-and
which proves that II IL, with them, not
N question OF principle, but only one OF
peanut politics they offer no alterna-
tive proposition.
III the eight hour settlement was
wrong. why did not the Republicans In
the senate block its enactment2 Why
do the Republicans now offer no alter
snatiye? And why did more than half
Nthe Republicans in the house vote for
Fthe eight hour bill?"
n In striking contrast with the parti-
faan campaign Of misrepresentation
relative to the means taken by the adj
emlnistration to avert the threatened
strike and the disastrous effects which.
must have attended it is the clear ex-
position Of the whole matter made by
president Wilson in his address last
Saturday. After reciting the events
heading up to the conferences between
#he railway managers and the chief
Executive, the president said:
II said to the railway executives,
'You are asking that the result of the
blight hour day be predicted and that
the prediction be arbitrated. You are
asking for an arbitration of a coniec
ture. OF an opinion, of a forecast Of
the figure of experts based upon an en-
.irely different experience.
"aThe reasonable thing to do Is to
grant the eight hour day, not because
ahe men demand it, but because i Is
tight, ana let me get authority from
congress to appoint a commission Of
as impartial nature as | can choose
10 observe the results and report upon
the results. in order that justice may
IN the event. be done the railroads in
respect to the cost of the experiment
"That was the proposal they reject
"a and which congress put into law, q
proposal which | made to them before
i conferred with il. which liirged up
on them at every conference and
which, when the one side rejected and
the other side accepted, | went to con
gress and asked congress to enact. l
did not ask either side whether II suit
ed them and requested my friends in
congress not to ask either side wheth.
er it suited them. learned before
the controversy began, so far as 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 I carried it to congress, some
very interesting things happened In
the house of representatives, the plan
as passed was sanctioned by vote