The Ordway new era., 1916-10-27
ruIs, q " III same rigid application 10
detail Of q sound general principle.

1 by ikW OF houra OF work IN the raiiroau
service, and recommended legislation "a
that effect when ! was President. be
lieve in the wages in any industry being
just as high az il is possible to make them
without injustice to the capital invested
and to the public which is served. But
it is a mere truism to say that il is i'm
possible to get this ideal achieved unless
an honest and dispassionate effort is first
| made by the proper commission to ascertain
| the full facts in the particular case. As
regards the railroads, we have to consider
the wages paid to the different classes OF
| employees, the interest on the investment,
the earning power Of the road. and the
kind of service that must be rendered to
the public. 1t is impossible to secure a
proper solution of the problem unless all
these factors are considered, Mr. Wilson
absolutely declined to consider any OF
them. He declined even to ask what they
we're We have not at this moment one
particular of trustworthy information
which will enable us to decide whether
| the demands Of the men were Just or not
| ! wish it distinctly understood that am
| not trying to pass Judgment upon the jus
| ticc of the case | regard the engineers.
| tiremen and enginemen and tranmen gen
erally as doing peculiarly responsible and
arduous work. and entitled to particular
considerat tion as regards both hours OF
labor and pay. | hope that they are fully
entitled as n matter of justice to what they
will receive under the Adnmson bill and
If it so appears I shall heartily support it.
But protest against the farreaching evil
of the precedent set in the method which
has been followed We are denied knowl
edge We see Congress forced to act under
threats | protest against any law passed
under such durcss | protest against the
case being decided without giving each
party its day in court, and above all with
out giving the public its day in court.
hope the demands OF the men were just,
and would have been proved so to be, If
investigated before competent body. But
explicitly protest against sny action by
the Government when no investigation has
been held to see whether the claims are
or are not Just, and when they are
granted through fear and not as matter
of right
Remember it is the public that in the
end will pay You do no; have to take my
assertion for this Take the assertion Of
Mr. Wilson's master in this matter. The
Onion leaders, through their Chairman,
Mr. Garretson. announced thz, they
would steadily refuse TO srbitrzte and fhA;
in their action they were supported By
the Presiden, of the United S;ates-- They
stated their rsse in 4 nutshell follows
In times like this. men 80 back 10 primal
instinct-to the iay of the ozve1an Eith
bis half -gnawed bone. sns-ling a; the o-eT
cayemau who wanted TO take b,s t,.pe
away We leaders are fshrIls for t-cr
men The railroads are fighting for tbezr
and the shippers Tor then
selyes And the pulls will par NJ
Garretson /. rizht-the pGblic win paw
And 1t will pay without having had the
chance to know whether u oaEht or oaghi
not to pay MF Wilson betrayed tae pub
lie when he refused to Inslst that the -on-
tes, should be decided OF principles Of Jus
iice. and when be permitted It 20 be de-
,lded in deference TO greed and fear. Mr
Wilson announced that II Eas futile TO
stand firmly against these improper de
mAnis. 1t wonld not have been futile il
= Democrat Of the stamp Of Andrew Jack
son or Grover Cleveland bad ue~n Presl
dent. The futility iuheTed solely IN Mr
Wilson himself II President Wilson had
stood by the honor and the interests OF
the United States IN TINS matter. II be
had insisted upon a full investigation be
fore action, if he had insisted upon arbi-
tration and had announced tha; If there
was any attempt to tie up the traffic of
the United States he would use the entire
power of the United States TO keep the ar
teries of traffic open. | would have ap-
piauded him and supported him. But to
take such action needed courage It need
ed disinterestedness. Il was necessary that
the man taking it should put duty to
the nation first and political and personal
considerations last What President VII
son did was 10 permit the overriding of
justice by appeals to brute force
He says that it would have been "fu-
tile to show courage and stand up for
the right From the standpoint of the ma
ton, the worst type OF futility in a Presi
dent Is to fail to stand up for the night
President Wilson felt II was futile to OBJ
pose these men. exactly as President Bu-
chanan. his spiritual forbear. felt in ls6D.
that 1t was futile, to oppose secession. That
type OF futilIty gives the real measure Of
the man who practices it. What Bu-
chsnan considered futile Lincoln made
heroic
! champion Mr. Hughes as against Mr.
Wilson because in every such crisis Mr.
Wilson. by his public acts, has shown that
he will yield to fear. that he will not yield
to justice; whereas the public acts of
Mr.. Hughes have proved him to be in.
capable of yielding in such crisis to any
threat, whether made by politicians. cor
porations or labor leaders.
have always stood for the rights of
labor. You miners before me know that
! stood for you. and | incurred the hostil-
ity of the greatest financial powers of the
land by SO doing, and ! have felt that hos
tility in public life ever since But did
not care, because ] knew that my course
was right. ! stood by you because | be
ieved you were right. If | had been the
type of man who was willing to stand by
you when you were wrong, | would n.vcr
have dared to stand by you when you were
right. against such opposition as at that
time encountered | have stood for short