The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-03-03
In Solving Problems Of Re-
adjustment, He Told
Governors To-day
TAKE SUGGESTION
FROM CONFERENCE
President Spoke Only Brief
ly Because of Demands
on His Time


the White House conference of governors
and mayors on peace-ti time business and
labor problems to-day, President Wilson
promised that the federal government
would consider itself the servant of the
states, municipalities and counties in
solving readiustment problems, and
would perform its duty guided by sug-
gestions of the conference.
! The president said he hoped the confer
| ence discussion would assume a wide
range, including means of restoring la.
Dor conditions to a normal basis as soon
as possible "and the effecting such fresh
ALLEGATIONS of labor and industry as the
circumstances may make necessary"
Touching upon the peace conference he
said the eonferees at Paris regarded
| themselves only as servants of about
seven hundred million people of the
world and not as their masters
Consequently, said the president, the
/ conferees are anxious to keep in close
sympathy with the peoples whom they
| represent, "to find out how we can best
assist in making their lives what they
wish them to be by giving them the op.
portunity that they ought to have"
| The president spoke briefly, confining
himself largely to welcoming the visitors
and promising complete federal cooper
alton. He explained that the demands
upon his time during the day and half
he could remain in Washington made it
impossible for him to participate in the
conference.
Secretary of Labor Wilson, who pre-.
sided at the opening session, told the
conference that the recent strikes at
Seattle, Butte, Lawrence and other
places were not industrial economic dis
putes in their origin, but were results
of a deliberate, organized attempt at a
social and political movement to estab-
lish soviet governments in the United
States.
The president said'
| Il wish that | could promise myself
the pleasure and the profit Of taking
part in your deliberations. find that
nothing deliberate is permitted me since
my return. | have been trying under
| the guidance of my secretary, Mr.. Tu.
multy, to do a months work in a week,
and | am hoping that not all of it has
been done badly, but inasmuch as there
| is a necessary pressure upon my time,
/ know that you viii excuse me from
taking part in your conference, much as
! should be profited by doing so.
MY pleasant duty is to bid you a
! hearty welcome and to express my graft
| ication that so many executives Of cit
| les and of states have found the time
and the inclination to come together on
the very important matter we have to
! discuss.
"The primary duty of caring for our
| people in the intimate matters that we
want to discuss here, of course. falls sn
| the states and upon the municipalities
and the function Of the federal govern
ment is to do what it is trying to do
/ in conference of this sort-draw the
executive minds of the country together
so that they may profit by each others
! suggestions and plans, and so that we
may offer our services to coordinate
their efforts in any way that they may
deem it wise to coordinate. In other
words, it is the privilege of the federal
| government in matters of this sort to
| be the servants of the executives of the
states and municipalities and counties,
and we shall perform that duty with the
greatest pleasure if you will guide us
with your suggestions.
81 hope that the discussions of this
| conference will take as wide scope as
| you think necessary. We are not met 20
| discuss any single or narrow subject We
are met to discuss the proper method of
| restoring all the labor conditions of the
| country to a normal basis as soon as pos-
sible and to effect such fresh ALLEGATIONS
/ Of labor and industry as the circum-
! stances may make necessary. I think I
can testify from what | have seen on
| the other side of the water, that we are
more fortunate than other nations in re-
spect to these great problems. Our in,
! dustries have been disturbed and disOr-
ganized- disorganized as compared with
| peace basis, very seriously, indeed, by
| the war but not so seriously as the in
| dustries of other countries; and il seems
to me, therefore, that we should ap.
| proach these problems that VIC are about
| to discuss with good deal of confidence
confidence that if we have common
purpose we can realize that common pur-
pose without serious or insurmountablc
! difficulties.
"Ihe thing that has impressed me
most, gentlemen, not only in the recent
weeks when have been in conference
on the other side OF the water, but for
many months before went across the
water, was this: We are at last learning
that the business of government is to
take counsel for the average man. We
are at last learning that the whole mat
ter of the prosperity of peoples runs
down into the great body of the men and
women who do the work of the world,
and that the process of guidance is not
completed by the mere success of great
enterprises-it is completed only by the
standard of the benefit that ii confers
upon those who in the obscure ranks of
life contribute to the success of those
J enterprises.
"T6e hearts ofTtho men and women