The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-09-30

MT. Hughes.
 All in all, reader, don't you think Neighbor Bill Is mistaken? Am I not right in saying that MT: Hughes was sincerely, sure-enoupgh peeved at the outcome of the eight-hour agitation 1 I hope so We may think that MT. | Hughes has been misled by his envi- ronment, you and I; we. may think he is wrong in his predilectiens for the Emerged Tenth. But if these views are sincere, we can forgive the wrong headedness. Surely it is better to be ah honest partisan than a common scold, fit for nothing but the ducking- stool. And that was what Bill was trying to prove MT. Hughes to be-a common scold, hunting fer chance | to pick fault. | I ami not a Democrat. The present administration eompels my support by enacting laws seeking the general good of the common wealth-with the full cooperation of the PrOgressives in Congress and of many Republicans, be 1t gratefully said; record of sub stantial achievement. unmatched in my lifetime.
 | The executive department has ef- l and thereby gained many desirable enemies: the Steel Trust, ammunition makers and the like. Let us leave this sore subject and go back to the legislative record.
 l To repeat myself. am not a Democrat. I am just an American, and only reasonably firm at that. The Democrats command my support pre- cisely in proportion as they have de-
 parted from two venerable Demo- cratic doctrines: states rights and a weak central govefnment. Those are not principles. but doctrines; of late years they have been merely habits. They served the wise purpose during the early years of the republic, with out doubt. The hour of our need for | them is over now; they may safely be laid away, tools honorably blunted and worn out in faithful service. What we need now is a stronger gov | ernment; not a weaker one. When any fraction or faction of the American people becomes so obstrep- | erous that the whole American people including themselves-are unable to control them because the hands of the government are tied-then 1t is plainly time to unite the governments | hands. Else the part would be greater than the whole; which would tend to confusion.
 want our government to have power to meet any problem, so that if any unruly, fractions get too ob- streperous-shall we say, for exam pie, the six-tenths of one per cent. of our population who own the railways, or the four-tenths of one per cent. who runs the trains-theg overnment can take each one quietly by the neck. and say-with a gentle little shake, maybe: "Be good, kids. or I shall have to use a firm American switch on you. There now; pick up your teeth and run along to your play"
 Here is the pithiest thing I have seen about the strike criticisms. I quote from MT. Murrey W. Stand: Permit me to call attention of former Justice Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican party, and the railway presidents, to the following plank in the Republican platform of 1896: We favor the creation of a na-
 tional board of arbitration to set
 tie and adjust differences which
 may arise between employers and
 employees engaged in interstate
 commerce.
 "The Republican party remained in control of the government 16 years after that plank was written. Had it done it's duty and lived up to the party platform there could not have been any possibility of a railroad strike. MT. Hughes planes the Presi- dent for not doing in week some thing that the Republican party had promised to do and did not do in 16 years"
 And here is an item from the little local weekly, which came today, Sept. 15. It seemed to have some vaue, unexplained bearing on the justice of the controversy between railroad own CTS and railroad workers.
 Erie railroad engineer, Frank B. Bean, of Hornell. formerly of Nichols, had his right hand crushed off Sunday afternoon while at work in the Erie. railroad switch yards at lmira.
 MT. Bean was assisting trainman in making difficult coupling and his hand was caught and crushed in frightful manner. The injured man was rushed to the St. Joseph hospital, where Dr. D. P. Murphy, one of the Erie railroad surgeons, amputated the hand above the wrist. His condition is reported as good as can be expected under the conditions"
 On reflection, I see the bearing of this item. There are so few who have their hands crushed off cutting cou- pons. And I remember seeing seven of the boys brought in dead. I re- member howj railroaders do their work on stormy nights; in sleet and wind and snow. guess the boys earn all they get.
 Take it all in all-if MT. Wilson had to favor one side more than another to prevent the strike, I'm glad he fa- vored the trainmen.