Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-09-20

was issued Dy the western ndUlOH-
al democratic headquarters today.
Accompanying the statement was
an assertion that Senator Stone
was representing the thought of
the administration on the subject.
The statement said in part:
''Messrs. Hughes, Roosevelt. Root,
Lodge, Penrose, Crane, Pierpont Nor
gan, George W. Perkins and that en-
tire genus, maintain that the presi-
dent and congress surrendered to
force and thereby discredited public
authority and weakened the founda-
tions of our governmental institution.
"One weakness about this charge is
that it is false No body threatened
the president or congress; nobody de-
manded anything of them. There was
no controversy between the govern
ment and the railroad employees, nor
between the government and the rail-
road managements- The controversy
was purely Industrial.
The trouble had reached a point so
acute that these hundreds of thou
sands of men were on the. verge Of a
strike; they were about tds quit work
and thus leave the entire railroad
transportation of the country tied up
for an indefinite period"
The statement then points out that
while the crisis existed, senators and
representatives and members Of the
administration were receiving COM
munications from all parts of the
country indicating that the public
sentiment almost universally favored
any reasonable means of ayerting this
catastrophe"
What President Averted.
The senator pointed out the possible
effects of a strike on the fruit growers
of the far west, on feeders of livestock
farmers shipping grain on contracts;
manufacturers of steel and textiles
under contract to be shipped; on the
fuel supply of the country and on the
mining and timber industries and their
allied interests and dependents.
These are the things the president
faced and such the calamity he brave
ly, patiently, periodically sought to
avert" Senator Stone continued. who
blames him? Mr. Hughes says he
should have investigated the questions
at issue before acting. They seem to
think that although the house was on
fire, the president should have in
quired into the cause of the fire before
putting it out. instead of first putting
it out and then investigating the cause.
Il can understand this argument
when made by men like J. Pierpont
Morgan, George w Perkins and others
of that type. but l am amazed that
Justice Hughes should adopt it. I am
amazed that he would ally himself
with Mr.. Morgan multimillionaire
prince of Wall street, maker and
wrecker of railroads, lord of the Brit
ish exchequer in America.
rs that really the issue Mr. Hughes
presents to the judgment of the Amer
lean people? For myself I proclaim
this achievement, considered in its i'm
mediate and patent blessings, as one
of the greatest in the history of the re-
public.
Hughes is Hard Driven.
Mr.. Hughes, hard driven, is appeal
ing to powerful special interests.
am sorry to behold this spectacle in
our public life.
Il would turn from Morgan. Per
kIns, Roosevelt, Root, Lodge, Penrose
and all such of these who preach these
strang doctrines, and ask the great
masses of the people whether the
president was right. Moreover, when
powerful, opulent, sinister, special in
terests assail the president because of
this fine act of Christian statesman
ship, | would ask the working men,
who with the president must bear the
brunt of these attacks, for they are
aimed at the great army of labor in
this country, what answer they will
make"