Evening star., 1916-10-15


under very much easier conditions.
farm laborer in harvest time, man en- |
gagged as watchman through the |
quiet hours of the night, or man en- |
gagged in the eXhauSting work OF a \
steel puddler in continuous seven I
days-a-week, night -and-day industry |
should be governed by precisely the !
same rule. OF by the same rigid appii- |
cation in detail of sound general prin- |
ciple. |
Approves Limitation of Hours.
Il heartily believe in a proper linita- |
ton by law Of hours of work in the rail- !
road service. and I recommended legis- /
lation to that effect when l was President. |
l believe in the wages in any industry |
being just as high as it is possible TO
make them without injustice to the capital
invested and to the public which is served |
But 1t Is a mere truism to say that IL Is
impossible TO get this ideal achieved
unless an honest and dispaSsionate effort
is first made by the proper commission to
ascertain the full facts in the particular
case. As regards the railroads, we nave
to consider the wages paid to the diiter-
ent classes OF employees, the interest on
the investment. the earning power OF the
road and the kind of service that must
be rendered to the public. 1t is Impossible
to secure a proper solution of the problem
unless all these factors are considered
Mr.. Wilson absolutely declined to consider
any of them. He declined even to ask
what they were. We have not at this
moment one particular of trustworthy in
formation which will enable us to decide
whether the demands of the men were
| just not
Remember it is the public that in the
end will pay. You do not have to take
my assertion for this Take the assertion
of Mr. Wilson'S master in this matter.
| The union leaders, through their chair
| man. Mr.. Garretson. announced that they
would steadily refuse to arbitrate and that
| in their action they were supported by the
President of the United States They
[ stated their case In a nutshell as followst
4 In times like this men go back to primal
| instinct-to the day of the caveman with
| his half-gnawed bone. snaring at the
| other caveman who wanted to take his
bone away. We leaders are fighting for
our men. The railroads are fighting for
their stockholders. and the shippers for
! themselves And the public will pay. Mr.
Garretson Is right-the public will pay
And 1t will pay without having had the
| chance to know whether it ought or ought
not to pay. Mr.. Wilson BETRAYED The pub
| lie when he refused to insist that the
contest should be decided on principles OF
justice. and when he permitted it to be
| decided in Difference to greed and fear
Mr.. Wilson announced that 1t was futile
to stand firmly against these improper
demands. 1t would not have been futile
if democrat of the stamp of Andrew
Jackson or Grover Cleveland had been
President
1.-The futility inhered solely in Mr.. Will
son himself. If President Wilson had
stood by the honor and the interests of
the United States in this matter: if he
had insisted upon a full investigation
before action; if he had insisted upon ar
| bitratfon and had announced that if there
was any attempt to tie up the traffic of
the United States he would use the entire
power of the United States to keep the
arteries of traffic open. | would have ap-
plauded him and supported him. But.
to take such action needed courage. 1t
needed disinterestedness. 1t was neces-
sary that the man taking it should put
duty to the nation first and political and
personal considerations last. What Pres
ident Wilson did was to permit the over
riding of justice by appeals to brute force.
He says that it would have been
futile to show courage and stand up for
the right. From the standpoint of the
nation, the worst type of futility in a
President is to fail to stand up for the
right. President Wilson felt it was futile
TO oppose these men. exactly President
Buchanan, his spiritual forbear, felt in
! 1860, that it was futile. to oppose seces-
sion. That type of futility gives the real
measure of the man who practices it,
What Buchanan considered futile Lincoln
made heroic.
Why He Champions Hughes.
i Il champion :Afr. Hughes as against
Mr. Wilson because in every such crisis
Mr. Wilson, by his public acts, has
shown that he will yield to fear, that he
will not yield to Justice; whereas the pub
lie acts of Mr. Hughes have proved him to
be incapable of yielding in such crisis
to any threat. whether made by politi-
clans, corporations or la Dor leaders
If 1t is alleged that President Wilson
has been actuated only by principle IN
connection with the Adamson law then
1 ask why he has failed to apply the
same principle to the railway postal
clerks, where be has full power Es-
timating six days to the week these
postal clerks, operating between New
York and Pittsburgh, are required to
run 2o3 miles per day ffor the present
administration has reduced the num-
ber of crews from six to five) whereas
the present trainmen'S agreement re
Quires only 155 miles per day. which
to be reduced still further by the
Adamson law. The only possible eXpla-
nation 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 400. 900
men are supposed to be affected by the
Adamson bill.
| Mr.. Gompers has recently establish
ed himself as the especial champion of
Mr.. Wilson, and claims joint credit
with Mr.. Wilson for their joint conduct
of our foreign affairs far as Mexico
is concerned He asks abor to support
Mr. wilson specifically on the ground
| of Mr.. Wilson's attitude in Mexico
which, he states, he has helped to. Sc
cure. He says, for example, that he
was largely instrumental in securing
! the recognition of Carranza in Mexico,
because of Carranzas sympathy with
the labor movement there. For the
details of what I speak, l refer you to
| Senator Fails recent speeches, where
the exact quotations are given. Mr.
Gompers states that when all other
| agencies failed in the effort to secure
| the recognition of CarranZa by Presi-
dent Wilson Gompers interviewed on
| September %, 1915, and Mr.. Wilson's
recognition of Carranza Immediately
| saying that CarranZa WAS recognized
as the friend of the working people in
Mexico. On September ?, 1916, AIr.
Gompers appealed for the support of
laboring men for Mr.. Wilson on the
ground of Mr.. Wilson's policy as re-
CARDS Mexico.
'Tied Himself in Triumvirate.
| HE thus tied himself up with Messrs
| Wilson and Carranza as one of the
| triumvirate which exercises supreme
control in Mexican matters. This
makes it worth while for the workers
| to whom Mr.. Gompers especially ap-
peals to study what Carranza, the IA
vored friend and ally of Messrs Com
pers and Wilson, has done to laborinr