The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-09-13
W. H. AVIS, PROGRESSIVE,
 ATTACKS HUGHES STAND ON NEW EIGHT HOUR LAW
Member of State Centra Committee Says He Seeks "o Hood wink and Fool the Great Ranks of American Toilers"- Charges That Republican Candidate Is Again Adopting Plssyfoot MethodssIn Dealing With Capital and Labor.

warfare, and through the further fact that our government has not over 1,0OO,00O rifles in its arsenals today, it is plainly obvious that had we gone to war and the whole 100000 rifles been requisitioned by the government, we could not have placed more than 250,000 efficient troops in the field up to the present time. It is needless to say that in the great European onflagration 25O,OOO men would have been but a, drop in the bucket among the millions and millions of men who are fighting there. While this re- port shows that hundreds of millions of dollars worth of other munitions have been exported during the past two years, yet it must be remembered that cartridges and ammunition can- not be of value in warfare unless guns and rifles are at hand to use them In.
 Not only has MT. Hughes not told us where he would have secured the necessary arms to carry on a big war with, in the event we had gone to war had he been President. but both he and Colonel Roosevelt have re- mained mum on informing the pub lie where the expert gun makers would have come from whom it would have been necessary t. have enlisted in the manufacture of all lines of muni- tions, and especially in the making of rifles. For so thoroughly has the United States been combed for such experts since the outbreak of the Eu- ropean war, and so limited is the Fsupply, that it is nothing unusual to find artizans in the manufacture of rifles at the present making as. high as $100 per week in the pursuance of their particular lines of vocation. And first class men, such as rifle barrel straighteners, are mighty scarce even at that price. Where would MT. Hughes or Colonel Roose- welt hayes ecured workmen of this class? Being in the business of mak- ing rifles at the present time, and having followed that vocation for d living for all my life, I absolutely know that they could not find the men. All of the important rifle man. ufacturers today are hungry for ex- perts in this line of manufacture, and lack of them has already caused the cancellation of several important con- tracts for small arms, involving heavy financial losses to the contractors.
 The fact of the matter is that had MT. Hughes been in MT. Wilson's place during the past four years, he would have found it a physical impos- sibility to have gone to war on any issue, without plunging the country into military cataclysm where the losses in human life would have been stupendously frightful and where the result had such wal resulted, even, in our favor. could not have paid the price of such victory. And I firmly believe that MT. Hughes himself ab- solutely knows this to be fact.
 | And now that the Republican can didate has not made the headway which he expected to make on the eight hour and war issues, he has re- verted to the old, and threadworn is- sue of the tariff. Just how he ex- poets to pull the wool over the eyes of the people on this issue it is hard to understand. For never in the his- tory of our country have times been so good as they are at the present time. Never, have wages been so high | andk never before has been such a tremendous demand for skilled and unskilled labor. Factories are run hing night and day. to their full ca pacity. Money is flowing like water | throughout theN land, and it is easy to get The sayings banks are burst ing with the savings of working men and women. While greater prepara- Il tions for defense, in case of sudder war, are being made today than ever
 before in our history, still we are al lpeace with all the world The child
 labor bill has become law, and the
 parents of the children of the lant are in better conditions to keep thei, I little ones out of the sweatshops and
 mills today than they lever were be. fore. Instead of spending their young lives in heavy toll, these little
 ones are crowding our schoolhouses to the doors. Banking conditions are better for the masses under the Stars
 and Stripes than they have been ir
 the history of man. These, and many
 more blessings are with the people
 at the present hour. And yet mer
 are walking up and down the country
 advocating change of adminfstra
 ton. What for? Simply because
 they are hungry and starving for pub. l lie office, that's all If the people are
 wise the answer will be: Four more
 years of Wilson. And I firmly be.
 lieve that that will be the answer.
 WILLIAM Fl. AVIS.
 Of, the Progressive State Centra
 Committee of Connecticut. Whitney. vile. Conn Sent II 1q16