The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1916-10-06
der Alaska Coal Land act.

Industrial education.
Taylor ''~stop-watch" system pro-
hibited in United States ~arsenals,
navy yards, gun factories and torpe-
do stations.
Piecework prohibited in p~ostofice
department, Washington, d. C.
Public construction of warships
and other vessels in navy yards ex-
tended; repairs to be made in public
instead of private yards.
Protection of ships officers in re-
porting defects or violations of law.
Bureau of Mines act extended and
strengthened.
Investigation of labor dispute in
coal fields of West Virginia, result
ing in great improvement in miners
conditions.
Compensation for injuries extend
ed to p~ostoffice employees.
Letter carriers salaries restored.
Locomotive boiler inspection ex-
tended to include engines and ten
! ders.
Investigation of labor disputes in
Colorado coal fields and Michigan
copper regions.
Increase of wages of metal trades
mechanics at Washington navy yard.
Additional appropriation for chill
dren's bureau.
Additional appropriations for the
department of labor.
Every one of those measures means
much to large classes of the Ameri-
can people. Many of them affect vi
tally the welfare of the nation itself.
To describe these measures as ''la-
Dor laws" hardly conveys an ade-
quate impression of their significance.
They are in fact peoples laws, since
their influence is bound to affect for
good the people, not only of the SOC
called labor class, but of every other
class. They are in the truest and
broadcast sense democratic laws, since
they deal with the conditions hat
underlie the whole social structure,
and by improving these conditions
they make for the establishment of
equality upon an ascending plane of
social life.
1t is a truism that laws are good or
bad according as they are well or ill
administered. In this respect the
record of the present administration
parallels its record of legislation. AL
striking, but by no means exception
al instance is the administration of
the department of labor.
Secretary of Labor Wilson pos |
sesses in the highest degree, the
qualities of an ideal official. That
Mr.. Wilson was available for appoint. |
ment was a matter of good fortune,
let us say. Nevertheless, his ap
pointment was a stroke of genius
on the part of he President. More
correctly speaking, it was a stroke of
courage. Some of the qualities that
make Secretary Wilson an ideal man
at the head of the department of la
Dor might be considered as d~etract-
ing from his availability on ''practi-
al" grounds.
1t is characteristic of the Presi- |
dents whole conduct in such matters
that he did the right rather than the |
cXpedient thing. and that in choosing
the man who should be entrusted
with the formulation of policies in
the new field of governmental activ-
ity he selected one who combines all
the necessary qualifications, in pref
erence to n who although lacking
some of these qualities might for that
"ery reason be considered more
likely to ''hold the balance even"-
that is, to administer the affairs of
the new department with the least
possible disturbance of the existing
order of things.
In all other appointments Presi-
dent Wilson has been actuated by a
courageous and intelligent view of
the needs of labor and the purpose
of the newly-enacted labor laws. The
officials entrusted with the admins
t%ration of these laws may be depend
ed upon to discharge their duties in
accordance with the spirit as well as
the letter of the new order.
The American Federation of La
Dor, in a recent interview of it's leg
i~slative achievements, says:
Not all the members of organized
labor or its friends fully appreciate
the remarkable progress hat has at
tended labor's political activity.
Many critics and enemies of the po-
litical policy of the American Fede-
ration Of Labor have condemned that
policy and sought to minimize its eff
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