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


I have always stood for the rights Of
labor. You miners before me know
that I stood by you, and incurred
the hostility of the greatest financial
powers of the land by so doing, and
have felt that hostility in public life
ever since. But did not care. because
knew that my course was right.
stood by you because l believed you
were right II I had been the type Of
man who was willing to stand by you
when you were wrong. would never
have dared to stand by you when you
were right, against such opposition as
at that time | encountered. | have
stood for shorter hours OF labor.
have stood for a better wage for the
laborer for better housing conditions;
for giving the laboring wageworkeT
better living conditions and better and
safer working conditions. | have stood
to give him and his wife and his chill
dren the chance TO make of themselves
all that American citizens should make
of themselves. l have stood, and al
ways shall stand, for everything in the
interest Of justice for the laboring
man. But have always stood. and al
ways shall stand. against yielding any
thing through fear or because OF
threats. believe in the great principle
of arbitration. ! believe in invoking
the action Of the government to help
labor; but / also believe that to invoke
such action will in the end be ruinous
to labor, as we'll as to the country, II
It IS not exercised with wisdom and
fearlessness and in the spirit of exact
Justice to all the parties concerned. If
these questions are not settled right,
then some time they will have to be
unsettled, and infinite trouble Is there
by laid up for US in the future. The
only way we can settle them right Is
by deliberat!on,. after all the facts have
been put before a disinterested and
competent body, and the judgment OF
that body obtained thereon. This Is
the course that even now ought to be
pursued as regards the AGamson bill
Its operation has been deferred until
after Congress ASSEMBLIES. Congress
should hold 1t up until a proper COM
mission shall investigate the entire
subject; and then the Adamson bill
should be enacted either unchanged, or
with whatever changes and additions
the report of such dispassionate COM
mission may show to be desirable and
necessary.
Wilson Bitter Critic Of Unions.
Labor leaders who are shortsighted
may at the moment get from man In
public Office who Is not actuated by
Justice, more than from a man who Is
actuated by justice. But the laboring
people as a whole cannot afford to ac-
cept such gains. If unjust legislation
is given them for improper reasons,
then unjust legislation against them
may be enacted for improper reasons.
More than any other people in the
country the wageworkers should insist
on Just and fair action. There Is
grave reason to believe that in the
course President Wilson has followed
he did violence to his own real convic-
tions. Until he becamea a candidate for
Office he was a bitter, ungenerous and
often unjust critic Of labor unions. /
have before me speeches and letters OF
his made and written in 1905, 1907 and
1909, in which Mr.. Wilson says among
other things that tabor unions drag
the highest man down to the level Of
the lowest" and in speaking Of the
capitalistic class, he says that there is
another equally formidable enemy and
it is that class formed by the labor
leaders Of this country" and again Il
am a fierce partisan Of the open shop"
and again "The usual standard of the
employee in our day Is to give as little
as he can for his wages. Labor is
standardized by trade unions and this
Is the standard to which it is made to
conform. need not point out how
| economically disastrous such regulation
| Of labor is. Our economic supremacy
may be lost because the country grows
more and more full of Improbable
servants" These were the utterances
| of Mr.. Wilson when he wa1 president
Of q university and had neither fear OF
nor desire to profit by the labor vote
In Mr.. Wilson's History of the Ameri-
can People" he explicitly stated that
the Chinese ought not to be excluded
| from this country because 1t is better
to have them here than 1t is to have
! the immigrants we now get from Eu-
rope. His words were: "The Chinese
| are more to be desired as workmen
| than most Of the coarse crew that
| come crowding in everywhere at the
| Eastern ports" Now he turns round
and says: "Our gates must be kept
open" to those whom he thus denomi-
mated coarse crew" Since he went
into politics ne has again and again,
tncessantly and continuously, reversed
| himself on what he had professed to
be his deepest convictions prior to
entering politics, and in each case the
| announced change Of conviction agreed
with what at the moment seemed to be
his political Interest
II 1t Is alleged that President Wilson
has been actuared only by principle In
| connection with the Adamson law, then
ask why he has failed to apply the
same principle to the railway postal
| clerks, where he has full power Esti-
mating six days to the week. these
| postal clerks, operating between New
| York and Pittsburgh, are required to
run 205 miles per day (for the present
administration has reduced the num-
Der of crews from six to five), whereas
the present trainmen's agreement re-
quires only l55 miles per day, which is
TO DC reuuceQ gun tuFlIleF ny tHp Au-
| amson law The only possible eXplana-
tion of Mr.. Wilson's action in one case
and inaction in the other is that only
400 men are affected in that case where
the government has full control of the
hours of labor. whereas 100000 men
are supposed to be affected by the Ad-
,amson bill.
"Gompera lnteryened,"
Nv. Gompers has recently established
himself as the especial champion OF
Mr.. Wilson, and claims joint credit
with Mr.. Wilson for their joint conduct
| Of our foreign affairs so far as Mexico
| is concerned. He asks labor to support
Mr.. Wilson specifically on the ground oi
Mr.. Wilson's attitude in Mexico, which
| he states. he has helped to secure. He
says, for example, that he was largely
Instrumental In securing the recogni-
tion Of Carranza in Mexico. because oi
Carranzas sympathy with the labor
movement there For the details oI