The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1916-11-02

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teiio are as much interested as an
other OF the people whom I have tn
/ honor In part to represent I am goin
TO discuss with you what is known a
the wage bill, or eight-hour law, whic
was passed In the closing days of thi
D session. AS you perhaps know, with
out my telling you. voted against tn
passage of that measure ! am no
mere simply to Justify my vote, becaus
am not candidate before the peopI
or the state, and do not know that
will ever be. but do want to discus
with you the merits and dement's o
tnat measure, and see, If possible
what 1t Is advertised to me, and VIVA
us consequence may be. not only t.
:. the country. but / want particularly
TO discuss 1t as to it's effect upon the
laDoring men whom 1t is supposed tc
have served.
Now, my friends, in the first place
II you Will permit a personal refer
ence, | had the honor to put through
the eight-hour bill for all public works
carried on or constructed by the Unit
ed states government, or for which the
! United States government contracted
| When | went into the Senate. / had
the honor to be appointed chairman
OF the committee on education and la
Dor, and urged the bill providing for
constitute a days work for all men
employed upon any work in which the
United States government was inter-
ested, whether it was public works,
such as putting up a building, or
whether 1t was contract work wherein
the government employed the United
States Steel Company we will say, or
any other construction company, to
construct certain piece of machinery
Under that hill working for
the government under contract could
only employ their labor for eight
hours. That bill was passed. as the
working men of the country know. and
became a law.
Now l refer to 1t for this reason,
that bill provided penalty or a pun
ishment for the individual who en-
ployed men or permitted men to work
over eight hours. If men actually
worked more than eight hours, the
man who had the contract was penal
lied for permitting them to do so, and
that is an eight-hour law. In other
words, it limits the actual hours work
to the number of eight, and you can
not work beyond that.
AS you know. this bill does not limit
the hours of work, and a man may
work ten hours or may work longer.
1t is simply a basis of estimating the
wages.
1t may be. my friends. that these
men-and there is no finer class of
men than those who handle our trains
were entitled to higher wages, but l
did not know so. There was not a
scintilla of evidence before me, offered |
Dr. suggested. as to what their wages
were, what they were in comparison
20 other wages, or what they were as
with other employees.
AS 1 say, investigation might have
the fact that they were en-
titled to that wage, and I want to take
his privilege of saying what 1 said
lpon the floor of the Senate when we
we're told that if we didn't pass that
aw by Saturday night that the men
Who run the trains of the country
would have stopped all transportation
nd left the country at the peril of
taryation. l took the liberty upon
he floor of the Senate in saying that
n my judgment it was absolutely I'M ,
rue, and 1 said if the Congress of the |
United States will today pass a resolu- I
ion promising an investigation and {
ull consideration of this question, and I
hearing from all parties, and con- {
Iteration of the facts. 1 will venture
D say that the men who run the trains I
'ill run them until we shall have had ]
n opportunity to know what the facts 3
re. (Applause.)
You need not tell me, 1 don't care a
hat any representative of labor says. G
on need not tell me that the men who :
re entrusted with these trains and 7
lillions of dollars of property. who '
in their neighborhood and G
with the best people of the 4
ountry, would not have given Con- /,
ress an opportunity to know the act f
al facts. And, therefore, L said, let Q
; investigate, and have a full hear n
Ig, and ascertain all the facts.
Now, my friends. if this is an
eight-hour day, it was a question
of principle. wasn't it? Tell me
how you can apply question of
principle to twenty per cent of
the men working in an industry?
If it is an act embodying prin-
ciple or act of humanity. it should
apply to the men in the machine
shop just the same as the men d
who operate the trains. CAP g
plause) o
And when you bring a bill into b
the Congress where 1 have the a
honor to sit. and say to me that n
this is an act of humanity; that 81
the men should not be permitted Il
to work over eight hours, the d
strain is too great, then l will say n
to you to include the other eighty m
per cent of the men. because hui n
llldilly 10 iiOt AAAilitC0 ~ q AN''s -
(Applause.) in
Was it a question of wage? If al
it was a question of wage. the OF
same rule applies. How can to
say without a single fact before
me that these men in the machine CO
shop are given enough wages I'll
while the men operating the a
trains are not. They are in the &C
same industry. connected with the &C
same transportation system. and |
it was an act of hu- 70
or an act of principle. or m
a question of wage. 1 take the po- pl
sition here tonight before the at
men of this community
as l took it in the Senate, that be
every man engaged in that indus tic
ry was entitled to a hearing as la.
% whether or not he was being CO
against. tie,
was passing through the State of tn
ine-You heard from Maine. Cap WI
use.) 1 was passing through the HI
tie of Maine a few weeks ago, and eis
IN the Kennebac River they throw He
train across the river with a ferry. no
yas walking on the deck when the vie
ee gentlemen who were running the the
" addressed me- 1 said to them: to
y friends, are you included in this eni
which we have just passed" They sta