The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-09-30
Neighbor Bill and have fallen out. No hard feelings; a difference of

Neighbor Bill and have fallen out. No hard feelings; a difference of opinion.
 We were threatened with a nation wide railroad strike. You may have heard of it., reader; if you do not realize what disaster such a strike would bring. you shall not be told here.
 That strike did not come off. One man stopped it-a MT. Wilson.
 By the law of the land. the railroad workers had the right to strike. The people had delegated no power to President. Congress or courts to for bid it.
 MT. Wilson tried to bring about a peaceful agreement. The parties didn't want peace-they wanted trou- ble. MT. Ripley, president of the Santa Fe, and Banker Schiff are still grieved that the strike did not come off. They wanted to fight.
 You know how the strike was avert ed, reader-else you would not be reading this. You followed MT. Will son, step by step; you know what emergency legislation he recommend ed to give to government the power which it now lacks, to protect the public interest.
 The strike did not come off-and you. reader, were jolly well pleased that it didn't.
 Then arose MT. Hughes, in the atti- .tude of perfect thirty-six, and de- nounced everything that had been done. He does not say that the eight hour day is wrong; he does not say theseight-hour day is right; he says the cowardly Democrats and the cow ardly Republicans yielded to force. They should, have been ruled by req son, he says. They should have let the; strike go on while they reasoned A few months.
 To some of us, the Hughes attitude for it is an attitude-seems as wit, less as that of the two gentlemen who argued as to whether the house was burning up or burning down-and, arguing, let it burn. We want the fire put out; we can discuss gram ,matical points afterward. We want this railroad fight stopped, and we want the dispute settled according to its merits; that weWere forced to stop the fight by the little circumstance that the fighters began fighting does not seem discreditable to us; we are always doing little things like that.
 That is what MT. Hughes is trying to say, think; that being forced by the fighting of the fighters to stop a light is shame and a disgrace to the man who makes the fighters stop fighting. If do not translate him correctly, beg his pardon; I began the study of his tongue quite recently.
 Mr. Hughes does not say that what was done was right. He does not say that what was done was wrong. He says what was done was done under force-that to prevent an overwhelm- ing calamity, this nation passed an emergency measure. It was undtgn1- fled. MT. Hughes would never yield to force, not he.. He could not be forced to do wrong; still less could be be forced to do right. Chorus of orators, patriots and editors: /"We cannot be forced to do wrong, we cannot be forced to do right, we can- not be forced to do-anything; we will rule by reason" a
 In the time of danger, MT. Hughes ,(and chorus) had not one word to say. During the crisis. MT. Hughes .(and chorus). made no suggestion of any kind. MT. Hughes (and chorus) gave no aid to the plan which ayerted the strike; MT. Hughes offered no other plan-Is that not true, reader? But after the strike is turned aside, MT. Hughes finds fault grand1y, in .Eroles' vein.
 Right here is where Neighbor Bill and I clash. Bill says this talk which MT. Hughes emits is the cheapest kind of campaign clap-trap: am going to sum up Bills ideas for you. Please that they are Bills ideas. not, mine; and that I do not share them. Here is the way Bill puts it:
 If MT. Wilson had failed to prevent the strike. MT. Hughes would have denounced him as a do-nothing, in competent, indifferent to the public welfare. If, at any stage of the ne- gotiations MT. Wilson's action had been the reverse of the action he ac- tually took, MT. Hughes would have scolded, just the same. Had MT. Will son not tried .conciliation, he would have failed in duty; had he not urged prompt action on Congress, he would have been unfit for leadership, and bold MT. Hughes would have told us so; had MT. Wilson refused to sign the emergency measure, because they did not embody all of his recommen- 'dations, Mr.h Hughes would have termed him a stubborn self-willed donkey, blinded by self-conceit, will ing to paralyze all business to prove the stiffness of his neck. ' Had the strike taken place, MT. Hughes would have blamed MT. Wilson; the strike did not take place, and MT. Hughes has no word of praise.
 If MT. Wilson had said to the rail- road men, employeN and employed: i"Gentlemen, you want to fght-go to it! The public misery be damned you can't force ME to do anything; nhen (Neighbor RfD MT. Hughes would have said Mir. Wilson was, plain fool.
 If Wilson had given order to line the railroad presidents up before wall and shoot them Mr. Hughes would have objected-Neighbor Bill says. If Wilson had ordered the brotherhood chiefs shot, MT. Hughes might have objected to that
 think Neighbor Bill is doing Mr. Hughes a great injustice. MT. Wilson granted the railroad workers part of what they asked for. and left it to Congress to allow the railroad owners the compensation of higher rates, if investigation showed the justice of such course. So think Mir. Hughes indignation is quite sincere. I think,