Denver labor bulletin., 1916-09-30

lege OF consulting with them
Issues Simple and Clear Cut.
Before | consulted with them, /, OF
course, made myself acquainted with the
points at controversy, and learned that
they were very simple indeed; that the
men demanded an eight.hour day, and
that in order to make the eight-hour day
work they demanded that the railroads
pay them one-half more for overtime
than they paid them for the time in the
regular day, the men alleging that that
was the only way they could obtain
genuine eight hour day, by making the
railroads pay more for the time beyond
the eight hours than they paid for the
time within the eight hours.
Il saw at once that there was one part
of this that WAS arbitrable but that in
nv opinion there was another part that
was not arbitrable. / do not regard the
question of the principle OF the eight
hour day as arbitrable-
Stood Pat For s-Hour Day.
'.The first thing l told both sides be
I fore l requested their opinion was that
stood for the eight-hour day. | received
] no suggestions of any kind from either
{ side as to what the basis OF settlement
/ was to be except that the railroad exc
cutiyes did suggest that congress give
] them some sort Of assurance that II tht
| eight hour day went into operation, they
would get increased rates for the car
/ riage Of their freight.
/ I pointed out to them that it was i'm
possible to tell whether they would need
/ increased rates for the carriage OF their
freights.
Reasonable Day Is Eight Hours.
| I'VE believe in the eight hour day be
. vpnrL- rHf+h sr
/ eight hours than he does within more
extended day. and the whole theory OF
/ il. theory which is sustained by
/ abundant experience. is that his eff
/ cheney is increased. his spirit in his work
4 is improved, and the whole moral and
physical vigor of the man Is added to.
This is no longer conjectural. Where
1t has been tried, it has been demon
strated. The JUDGMENT OF society. the
vote of every legislature in America that
has voted upon il, is verdict in fayoi
of the eight-hour day.
And. therefore. said to these gentle
men on both sides at the very begin
ming: 'rhe eisht-hour day ought to be
conceded But they said: 1T will cost
us an immense sum of money How do
Won know how much it will cost your ]
answered.
''You remember there was a case de
cided by the supreme court of the United
1 States. II was known as the so-cert gas
case. where. by legislation in the state
of New York, so cents was established
| rs the charge for the unit of the supply
| of gas and the law was contested upon
the ground that it was confiscatory and
therefore Unconstitutional And when
the appeal reached the supreme court, II
said: Nobody can tell until you try to
manufacture gas at so cents whether IL
ia confiscatory or not. Go ahead and
manufacture gas at so cents and then If
IL proves impossible TO conduct your bus
mess upon that charge. come back and
discuss with us the confiscatory char
acter of this act And it may be re
marked in passing that the company
never went back to discuss it.
Says Eight-Hour Day Is Right.
4 said to the railroad executives; You
are asking that the result of the eight
hour day be predicted and the prediction
be arbitrated. You are asking for an
arbitration of a conjecture. of an opin'
ion, of forecast of the figures OF eS
perts based upon an entirely different
experience. and If you were to ask me
personally to arbitrate such a question
/ would Jay l am not competent TO ar
bitrate Il.
The reasonable thing to do is to grant
the cight-hou day. not because the men
I demand il, but because it is right, and
| let me get authority from congress to
appoint a commission of as impartial s
nature as / can choose to observe the
results and report upon the results, in
order that justice may be done the rail
roads in respect to the cost of the eN'
pertinent.
"That wa. the proposal which they re-
iccted and which congress put into law,
n proposal which made to them before
I conferred with it, which I urged upon
them at every conference, and which,
when the one side rejected and the Other
side accepted. went to congress and
asked congress to enact.
81 did not ask either side whether il
suited them. and l requested my friends
in congress not to ask either side wheth'
cr il suited them. | learned before the
controversy began, 50 far as l was con.
| ccrncd in il, that tho whole temper of
| the legislative body of the United States
was in favor of the eight hour day.
when I carried it to congress. some
very interesting things happened. In the
house of representatives the plan wps
passed; was sanctioned by vote which
included, am told about seventy Dcmo.
Gratis as against fifty-four Republicans;
and in the senate, | am informed that
the Republican members of the senate
held a conference in which they deter
mined to put no obstacle in the way OF
the passage of the bill New. this was
because tho proposal was reasonable and
was based upon right.
Society Was Much Concerned.
"But, ladies and gentlemen. that is
not the end of the story. This thing
ought TO have been done. and it had to
be done at the time that it was done. so
as to bring about reasonable trial OF