The Monticellonian., 1919-05-30
SENDS SHORT MESSAGE
 FROM EUROPE
Address to Congress Is Read by
 Regular Reading Clerk.
EXPLAINS HIS STAY ABROAD
Imperative Duty Makes Absence of Chief Executive Necessary-sub- ject of Labor Unrest Dealt With Exhaustively-Suq
 tiors for Domestic
 Legislation.

Washington, May 20--For the first time in history q message from the president of the United States, cabled from Europe. was read to the congress today. 1t was as follows:
 Gentlemen of the Congress: I deeply regret my inability to be pres cnt at the opening of the extra0rdi- nary session of the congress- It still seems to be my duty to take part In the counsel of the peace conference and contribute what l can to the solu. tien of the innumerable questions 10 whose settlement it has had to ad- dress itself: for they are questions which affect the peace of the whole world and from them, therefore. the United States cannot stand apart deemed il my duty to call the con eress together at this time because it was not wise Is postpone longer the provisions which must be made for the support of the government. Many of tfie appropriations which are abso- luteiy necessary for the maintenance of the government and the fulfllment of it's varied obligations for the fiscal year I919-l920 have net yet been made; the end of the present fiscal year is at hand and action upon these appropriations can no longer be pru denty delayed. II is necessary. there fore. that | should immediately cali .I. IL is hardly necessary for me to urge that it may receive your prompt at tention.
 'I shall take the liberty of address ing you on my return on the subjects which have most engrossed our at tention and the attention of the world during those anxious months, since the arnistice of last November was signed, the international settlements which must form the subject matter of the present treaties of peace and of our national action in the immedi- ate future 1t would be premature to discuss them or to express juds- ment about them before they are brought to their complete formulation by the agreements which are now be- ing sought al the table of the confer ence. shall hope to lay them before you in their many aspects so soon as arrangements have been reached.
 Rights of the Worker.
 'tThe question which stands at tie front of ali others in every country amidst the present great awakening is the question of labor; and perhaps l can speak of 1t with as great adVan- tage while engrossed in the eonsdera- ton of interests which affect all coun- tries alike as I could at home and amidst the interests which naturally most affect my thought, because they are the interests of our own people.
 By the question of labor l do not mean the question of efficient indus trial production, the question of how labor Is 10 be obtained and made eff fective in the great process of sustain ing populations and winning success amidst commercial and industrial rivalries. l mean that much greater and More vital question, how are the men and women who do the daily la- bor of the world to obtain progressive improvement in the conditions of their labor. to be made happier, and to be served better by the communities and the industries which their labor sus- tains and advances? How are they to be given their right advantage as citi- zens and human beings?
 I've cannot go any further in our present direction. We have already gone too far. We cannot live our right life as a nation or achieve our proper success as an industrial community if capital and labor are to continue to be antagonistie instead of being part ners. If they are to continue to dis trust one another and cOntrive how they can get the better of one another. or what perhaps amounts to the same thing, calculate by what form and de gree of coercion they can manage to extort on the one hand work enough to make enterprise profitable. on the other justice and fair treatment enough to make life tolerabe. That bad road
 
 has turned ont blind alley. IL is no thoroughfare to real prosperity. We must find another, leading in another direction and to very different deSti- nation Ii must lead not merely to ac- commodation. but also to q genuine cooperation and partnership based upon real community of interest and poYffcipafion in control
 There is now in fact a real com munity of interest between capital and labor but it has never been made evi- dent in action. It can be made oper- ative and manifest only on new or ganzation of industry. The genius of our business men and the sound, prac- tical sense of our workers can certainly work such partnership out when once they realize exactly what it is that they seek, and sincerely adopt com mon purpose with regard to it.
 Labor legislation lies, of course,