The Washington herald., 1916-09-21
The Paramount Issue.

|
Tuesday night with address at Springfield,
| ILL.,
These announcements indicate that the. ma
tional campaign is running into the final lap, that
the nominees now have entered upon the speech
making grind that may be expected to continue
with only brief intermissions until that day in
November when the voters will speak.
Mr.. Hughes in opening his second Western
tour, devoted the bulk of his first speech to an
attack on the Adamson eight-hour law for train
men. Mr.. Wilson, at Shadow Lawn allowed
It to be known that he is preparing to make
his first extended and detailed defense OF the
Adamson law. AS a sort of preliminary to the
Presidents speech Senator Stone, of Missouri,
ISSUED statement in Chicago said to represent
the thought of the administration" on the
Adamson law.
Coming as the campaign warns up for the
finish, these events bear a notable significance
viz, the Adamson eight-hour law, for the time
being at least, has been developed into the para
mount issue in the great political fight. The bold
ness with which Mr.. Hughes has injected the
issue seems convincing that he intends to treat it
with increasing importance the campaign pro-
crosses.
Mr.. Hughes sArew the issue into the ring in
the fag end of the campaign in Maine and his
severe arraignment yet made of Mr.. Wilson's ac-
tion in the railroad crisis was delivered by Mr.
Hughes in Springfield.
The statement issued by Senator Stone in
defense OF the Adamson law, cannot, of course
be accepted as the Administrations full reply to
the Republican attack. The voters must wait
until Mr.. Wilson himself speaks before passing
final judgment on this issue. Senator Stones
speech may be regarded as a sort of "feeler"
Its reception by the public may serve as guide
to President Wilson in framing his full reply
Analyses of the attack by Mr. Hughes and
the reply by Senator Stone indicate, however
that MI Wilson will have a very difficult task
Mr. Hughes, in his Springfield address, said in
part:
The Adamson bill is force bill 1t was legis-
laton without inquiry, without knowledge. The
demand by the administration for such legisla-
uon as the price OF peace was humiliatng
moral authority.
The excuses presented are futile. The Adam
son bill IS not a bill providing for an eight
hour workday. 1t does not fix hours at all 1t
regulates wages. Its provisions do not require
any employer to employ any set of men for only
eight hours day. Eight-hour day laws are
to AVOID fatigue and overstrain by prohib biting
employment in excess Of 1.-The requirement. There
IS nothing Of that sort in this bill.
We are, therefore, not concerned with any
thing that IS said Of the judgment OF society with
Isspect p to an eight-hour workday. There is
plainly no judgment Of society upon the increase
OF wages this bill requires.
What, was the manifest duty Of the Execu-
tive Plainly to insist that investigation should
P5ecede action and that nothing should be yield
ed 70 force. 1t was stated by the Executive
in his address to Congress that the matter"
had been agitated for more than year. Why,
administration command all necessary machinery
for fair and thorough inquiry? Not only did the
administration tail to take, proper action its
country appealed in vain to the administration
able action
Time was allowed to run, and then came the
surrender that shocked the people throughout
the land. Was the "crisis" Unforeseen? Why
was it permitted to arise, when the administration
was forewarned?
Senator Stone, in his reply said in part:
Nobody threatened the President or Con-
gress; nobody demanded anything OF them
There was no controversy between the govern
ment and the railroad employees, nor between
the government and the railroad arrangements.
Tie controversy was purely industrial, waged
between several hundred thousand men who actu-
ally operate trains on the one hand and the
managers OF the railroads the other.
The trouble had reached point so acute that
these hundreds of thousands Of were on
the verge, OF a strike; they were about to quit
work, and thus leave the entire railroad trans
portation of the country tied up for an indefinite
period.
The very threat Of this nationwide lookup
all the necessares of life and industry and it is
worthy of note that when the danger passed
prices went back to normal
These the things the President faced.
and suchl, the calamity he bravely. patiently,
Patrloucaily sought to avert Who blames him?
Mr.. Hughes says he should have investigated
the questions at issue before acting They seem
to think that although the house was on fire.
the President should have inquired into the
cause of the fire before putting it out instead
OF first putting it out and then investigating the
cause
The substance of Senator Stones defense
seems to be that even if the President did COM
NIT an error he should be excused because he
acted to save the nation from the disasters
of strike. But Mr.. Hughes believes that the
President had ample time in which to prepare for
the crisis. Senator Stone does not attempt to
answer Mr.. Hughes statement that the eight
hour law does not provide for eight hours work
a day but serves only to increase wages AsI
President Wilson sought to justify the passage
of the Adamson bill on the ground that society