New-York tribune., 1920-02-20
Root Assails Wilson Rule
As 'Autocracy by Consent

duty of justice resting upon them. If
the people by law prohibit organized
labor from holding them up to enforce
It's demands, the people are bound to
provide means to ascertain whether the
demands are just, and for enforcing
them if they be found just.
THAT duty calls for the establishment
of competent and impartial tribunal
i and for the enforcement of its decisions.
The present methods are as irrational
as private war among citizens who 60
armed with deadly weapons to compel
compliance with what they deem to be
their rights and privileges.
1T can be dealt with only as private
war has been dealt with, not by acquies-
cence, not by prohibition alone, but by
prohibition accompanied by adcquato
remedies in lieu of private compulson
The new relations of labor to th,
industries in which it is employed
point in the same direction. Every
where labor is acquiring rights in it:
employment, rights in the business
rights to share in the profits, in the
regulation and in the control Thes.
new rights carry with them new duties.
New Rights Impo.e
New Duties ON Labor
There is no such thing as a right
without correlative duty resting upon
the possessor of the right. All rights
are relative. All rights are limited by
the nature of the subject to which
they apply. The countryman who re-
moves to a great city finds his liberty
limited for the safety Of the commu-
nifty.
"The man who, whether as employer
or as laborer, engages in the great
mass enterprises upon which the life
of our communities now depend will
have sooner or later to recognize that
his liberty is limited for the safety Of
the community.
THE right of capital to combine and
organize carries the duty to submit the
/ new power thus acquired to limitations
for the safety of the community. The
right of labor to combine and organize
carries with it the duty to submit the
new power thus acquired to limitations
for the safety of the community.
"We are dealing with the subject now
propriate and Inadequate provisions Of
old wartime statutes, stretched out
upon technicalites to cover times Of
peace
"The subject should be- dealt with
as whole, frankly, considerably,
courageously, in the exercise of the
power Of this great Republic. to pro-
eSNC NANil oOSASly, anu Ill QcI1OTInanCS.
of the duty of this republic to do JUS
tice to every class of its citizens.
whoever approaches the task with
unselfish purpose will find that it
involves no denial of legal right or
social justice, but the just application
of the ancient rules of the common
law, and the essential principles of civil
liberty; and it is 8. fair prophecy that
when the voice Of the American democ-
racy has asserted through effective
action it's just power of government
no one will accept the decision more
loyalty than the liberty loving and pa
triotic men who make up the great
body Of organized labor in the United
States.
Republican Party
Loyal in the War
During all the years of the war the
Republican. party was loyal to it's ma
tional traditions While the strength
and service of the whole people we're
required to carry on the war. yet in
the United States, alone among the ma
tons, power and authority were re-
tained by a strictly partisan govern
ment.
The dignity and qualification of of
flee, the exercise of authority, the dis
posal of vast revenues, the incense of
popular applause, were cOnf1ned to the
members of the Democratic party. To
be consulted, to be trusted, to be re-
warded, was the part of the Demo-
Gratis. The part of the Republicans
was to stand outside the circle Of au-
thority, to give and to serve, under the
direction of their political opponents
Because they loved their country they
did give, and they did serve to the
limit of their means and their
strength.
"They put aside the natural impulses
of party opposition, and distrust, and
resentment, and devoted all their pow
ers to the support Of the Democratic
administration with an unselfsh patriot
ism worthy of all honor and full of
cheerful hope for the future of Amer
ica.
GAS we look back, we see already, do
we not, that theirs was the better part?
Not Office or emolument, nor praise, was
the reward of those who only served;
but spirit purified and a vision en-
larged by the habit of unseltish service
for America
"The defense of free government
against class domination demands
another service. Some will suffer, some
votes will be lost, some Offices will be
sacrificcd; but American democracy
will be saved. Shall Republicans not
answer? Will they temporize? Can
they refuse?