The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1916-10-19
PAGE SEVEN
yes and Not a DinnfnutiOn on

all the facts have been put before disinterested
and competent body, and the judgment of that
body obtained thereon. This is the course that
even now ought to be pursued as regards the
Adamson bill. It's operation has been deferred
until after Congress assemblies. Congress should
hold it up until proper commission shall invesf-
gate the entire subject and then the AdamsQn
Dill should be enacted either unchanged or win
Whatever changes and additions the report Of such
dlspasSionate commission may show to be desirable
and necessary.
Labor leaders who are shortsighted may at the
moment get from man in public office who is
not actuated by JUSTICE more than from man
who is actuated by justice. But the laboring
people a whole cannot afford to accent sucn
gains. If unjust Legislation is given them fer
improper reasons, then unjust legislation against
them may be enacted for improper reasons
More than any other people in the country tba
wage workers should insist on just and fair ao-
ton. There is grave to believe that in
the course President Wilson has followed he did
violence to his own real convictions Until he
became candidate for office he was a bitter
ungenerous and often unjust critic of labor
unions. [ have before me speeches and letters OF
his made and written in 1905, 1907 and 1909. in
which Mr.. Wilson says among other things that
labor unions drag the highest man down to the
level OF the lowest and in speaking Of the can
1talistlc class, he says that there is another
equally formidable enemy and it is that class
formed by the labor leaders Of this country" and
again Il am fierce partisan of the open Shop
and again The usual standard of the emplOye in
our day is to give as little as he can for his
wages. Labor is standardized by trade unions
and this is the standard to which it is made to
conform l need not point out how economically
disastrous such regulation of labor is Our
economic supremacy may be lost because the
country grows more and more full of unprofitable
servants. These were the utterances of Mr.
Wilson when he was president of university and
had neither tear Of nor desire to profit by the
labor vote. In Mr. Wilson's "HistOrv of the
American People" he explicitly stated that the
Chlhese ought not to be excluded from this
country because it is better to have them here
than it is to have the immigrants we now get
from EruOpe. His words were: "The Chinese
are more to be desired workmen than most Of
the coarse, crew that come crowdng in every
where at the Eastern ports.' Now he turns
round and says; "Our gates must be kept open"
to those whom he thus denominated coarse
crew. Since he went into politics he has again
and again necessarily and continuously, re-
Versed himself on what he had protested to be
his deepest convictions prior to entering politics.
and in each case the announced change of convic-
ton agreed with what at the moment seemed to
be his political interest.
If it is alleged that President Wilson has heou
actuated only by principle in connection with the
Adamson law, then 7 ask WHY he has failed to
apply the same principle to the railway postal
clerks, whore he has full power. Estimating six
days to the week. these postal clerks operating
between New York and Pittsburgh are REQUIRED
to run 2O5 miles per day (for the present adj
ministration has reduced the number of crews
from six to fve), whereas the present trainmen's
agreement requires only 155 miles per day
which is to be reduced still further by the Adam
son law. The only possible explanation OF Mr..
Wilson'S action in one and inaction in the
other is that only 400 are affected in that
case where the government has full control of the
hours of labor. whereas 100000 men are sup
posed to be affected by the Adamson bill
The welfare of the laboring man and the well
fare Of the farmer taken together represent the
foundation of the national welfare I have al
ways CCnscientOusly cndeavOred to do every
thing in my power for the wageworker who
worked with his hands and for the farmer.
will do everything that in lies for their per-
manent good, except anything that is wrong. and
that will do for no man. I speak out Of my
deepest convictions and as. conscientiously as it