The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1916-10-26

Spaulding Of Illinois, whose Interest
in the welfare Of the workngmen was
genuine and sympathetic, and who also
understood with entire clearness that
in the long run justice to the working
men could be permanently secured,
only if it was made part of scheme
to secure justice for everybody con-
cerned.
The arbitration was successful l
understand that with slight modifica-
tions, you have continued to operate
the mines under its terms up to the
present day. More important still, 1t
set the precedent for the course that
ought to be followed in all disputes of
this nature hereafter Mr.. Wilson, on
the contrary, has set precedent which
he himself admits must never here
after be followed If justice is to be
done. This is a vital point of differ
ence between the conduct of the Chief
Executive in one case and in the other
When fourteen years ago. acted, there
was no precedent for me to follow, and
no established instrumentalities through
which to work. I had to establish the
precedent in order to meet a great crt-
sis. I had to create my own instru-
ment, the arbitration commission. Mr..
Wilson had before him the precedent I
had created, and he had as instruments
ready to hand the Arbitration Board,
and the Interstate Commerce Commis-
sion, with it's enlarged powers. But he
failed to follow the precedent, or to use
the instruments which were ready to
his hand l, although lacking the agen-
cies Of law for the application of the
principle, nevertheless applied it, and
established arbitration in the settle
mcnt on their merits of industrial dis
pites. Mr.. Wilson, with all the agen-
c!7s Of law subject to his command,
ignored them, destroyed the principle
Of arbitration in the settlement Of in
dustrial disputes. and put a premium
on securing this settlement by threat
and duress.
Wrong Method Adopted.
President Wilson in his speeches Of
Agust 29th and September 23d has
furnished his own condemnation out Of
his own mouth. In them he explicitly
condemns exactly what he has done
and actually demands legislation which
will make impossible the repetition Of
such a proceeding! This is so extraor-
dinary an attitude that l quote his own
words. He said he wished "to pro-
vide" against the recurrence of such
unhappy situations in the future" by
securing "the calm and fair arbitration
of all Industrial disputes in the days to
come" This is an explicit assertion
that arbitration of all Industrial dis
putes is the right method Of action;
and therefore that he had adopted
the wrong method of action-although
in the case of the anthracite coal
strike he had an exact precedent in
point, by following which he would
have enforced the right method.
President Wilson further says, "This
is assuredly the best way Of vindicating
principle, namely, having failed to
make certain of its observance in the
present to make certain Of its observ-
ance in the future" On the contrary,
this is the very worst way Of vindi-
eating a principle Indeed it Is impos-
sible to devise worse way Of vindicat-
ing principle, than to finch ignomi-
niously from enforcing 1t in the case at
issue and at the same time to seek to
cover the ignominy by vociferous pro-
testations about applying it in the
nebulous future. The same paper, the
New York Times, from which / quote
the above sentences, contained state
ments from the leaders Of the Brother
hoods whom he was befriending, in
which they said that they would never
consent to the legislation providing for
future arbitration for which President
Wilson asked; and President Wilson
kept a weak and nervous silence about
this defiance. He did not get the legis-
lation which he declared was essential
to "vindicate the principle" in the fl-
ture. All that he accomplished was the
violation of the principle in the pres
ent, in the concrete case at issue. The
only law he secured established the
precedent Of violation of the principle.
All that he did was to establish the
most evil Of all precedents for a de-
mocracy, the precedent of violating q
! principle under the duress of threat
md menace. 1t is a precedent which
lill return to plague us throughout all
Hture time whenever we have in the
White House a President who is tirnld
in the face Of threat of physical vio-
lence or who subordlnates duty to the
hope Of personal political profit
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