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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 1907)
fi ST XM rvTfpii"" w vgr "ip? 'j wjywiyf rM"r7''(:-i!r.jrw OCTOBER 111907 The Commoner, "TO.yir,'.TrHjq In other lands enjoy, they have a Just claim .to still better conditions. They are now endeavoring to secure the eight-hour day and they are entitled to It; they have not secured their share of the benefits which the improved machine has brought to the e world. The productive power of man has been vastly increased, and it is only fair that Uiobo who operate the machine should have more leis ure to prepare themselves for the responsibilities of their more advanced position. The home has claims upon the breadwinner; society needs him and the government has ... right to expect his Intelligent co-operation. He can not fill the position to which ho is entitled, or discharge the duties which devolve upon him, if his entlro time is occupied by labor, sleep, eating and trav eling to and from his work. It is not a sufilcient answer to his demand to say that some of the leisure hours will bo misused. Those who are so exercised by the ' fear that the wage earner may not wisely employ the time given him by shorter hours are not, as a rule, disturbed by the fact that the leisure classes waste a good deal of time! Until shorter v working hours are secured there is ho way of determining what use will be made of them; m when they are secured, the same influences that have already improved the ideals and the' condi tion of those who toll may be counted upon to put the extra hours to a use which will be elevating. , A second need of the laboring man today is protection from the writ bf Injunction under which he is denied the right of trial by jury. "While this is not resorted to in many cases and while comparatively few "have personally felt the harshness of the wrijf, it, is a menace to .all. The jury is so sacred an institution that its protection can not bo denied to any thief, no matter how often he has been convicted; it is. surprising that it can be denied to a laboring man. without arousing instant and universal , protest. But the greatest need of the laboring man in this country at this time is arbitration, for this would enable him to secure the shorter hours for which he contends and would prevent the 'strikes which-Jhave brought the writ, of In-, junction into use.; There is no mora reason why th.e laboring man should be left to enforce his contentions, by an idleness that throws the bur den upon .himself and his family than there wpuld be for a return to the1 wager of battle as a means of settling lawsuits. While improved machinery has increased, the number of workers and raised the grade of' their employment it has also brought about conditions under which the superintendent is so far removed from tho in dividual worker that the personal relationship is greatly weakened.- f Justice must, therefore, be secured by a resort to some impartial court. It is not necessary that the finding of the board shall be binding upon the parties to the dispute. If there is compulsory investigation at the re quest of either party public .opinion may be relied upon to enforce the conclusion reached by the arbitrators. The president has recently called attention to the Importance of this sub ject, and, as the democratic party has in three national platforms urged the importance of arbi tration, there is reason to hope that it is near at hand. But the needs before mentioned, viz.," a shorter day, arbitration and protection from gov- ernment by injunction, are but means to an end, and the end sought is the more equitable dls- . trlbution of the wealth produced. There has been a wonderful increase in the production in - eyerjr department of labor; the strength of the human arm has been multiplied many times in some occupations, many hundred times by the introduction of machinery, but the man at .the machine does not secure his share of the pro duct. The economic problem of today is the re-adjustment of rewards. Prince Bismarck, in addressing an agricultural audience, qnce said that it was necessary for tho farmers to stand together and protect themselves from the "drones of society who produce nothing but laws." The same may be said of the wage earn ers of the cities. The wealth producers of America, on the farm and in the factory, create the nation's wealth in time of peace and defend the nation's flag in time of war, and yet they do not enjoy the same degree of prosperity as tho non-producing class. The laws have per mitted the creation of an exploiting element, and this element has grown rich at the expense of the general public. Tho settlement ;of labor questions should not be left to the laboring men alone, -for the whole: .society -is interested, in every - question - whiccomjexns?thcmei:wh?ure4enggdin7inanr ual labor. There-are na-fixed classes" and' castes in this country; thdro is constant passage from ono occupation to anothor and from ono grade of labor to a higher or 16wor grade. Tho son of the wage earner of today may bo a lawyer of position or minister of tho gospel; the son of tho professional inan or merchant may become an artisan or a farmer, and any ono in any of tho occupations or professions may aspire to the highest position in tho state. Some one has said that there are not usually more than three generations between 'shirt sleeves and shirt sleeves tho first generation making tho money, tho second generation spending it and tho third generation roturning to manual labor. In such a country, and under such con<lons, each person has a family interest in obliterating dis tinctions of rank and qlass and In establishing intimate and friendly relations between all. oooo "ALREADY HERB?' In his St. Louis Bpeech Mr. Roosovolt said: "My plea Is not to BRING ABOUT a condition of centralization; It is that the government shall recognize a condition of centralization In a field whore It ALREADY EXISTS." Mr. Roosevelt Is mistaken. Whatever practical relief tho people have obtained, has come either directly through the state or through tho state's initiative. Mr. Roosevelt tells tho people that they have already sur rendered tho power over these great corpora tions, but Mr. Roosovolt and his party are yet to hear from the people on this question and the American democracy will cheerfully moot them upon that line of battle in the great con test of 1908. OOOO A HINT TO CLEVELAND 'ihe Chicago Record-Herald says: "We can not afford to lose an inch of the ground we have wrested from irrelevant partisanship and spoils in tho strenuous fight for good municipal government." And that is about the view the people of Cleveland, Ohio, will take when they are asked to replace Tom L. Johnson, a faithful and capable mayor, with a gentleman who has not manifested any particular concern in municipal reform, but whb is a candidate for mayor in order that the interests of a particular political macJiine may bo advanced. OOOO CORPORATIONS MAY CHOOSE '? " ft At St. Louis Mr. Roosevelt said: "The chief economic question of the day in this coun try is to provide a sovereign for tho great cor porations engaged in Interstate business; that is for the railroads and tho interstate industrial corporations." And whether the president means it or not he declares in favor of permitting these great corporations to choose the king under whom they shall serve. Mr. Roosevelt's strongest supporters in tho effort to take all power from the state and cen tralize It at Washington will be the railroad and trust magnates who have for so many years im posed upon tho people. OOOO DID NOT BUY IMMUNITY Commenting upon the fact that Mr. Ilarrl man and others raised a campaign fund of $2G0, 000 for New York during the 1904 campaign, the Wall Street Journal says: "Perhaps the contributors to that fund believed they wore buy ing something. It is quite evident, however, that they did not get anything. They certainly secured no immunity against government prose cution." But is that fact a compliment to the ad ministration which profited by their contribu tions? Why, then, did they give up their money? OOOO THE NEBRASKA PLATFORM The New York Evening Post The Nebras ka democratic platform, which Mr.' Bryan him self is supposed to have drafted, expresses tho " issue most felicitously: "While we favor the exercise by tho general government of all its constitutional authority for the prevention of monopoly and for tho regulation of interstate commerce, we insist that federal remedies shall be added to, and not substituted for, tate rem edies." Neither parties nor individuals have taken side on this question consistently, yet the question of.sUte. and federal functions has really bea fundamental .to most of the political-actiYit-CJBfv.the. preetipresidential term. - That, it .wiU be. Ike issue-of (Chief- popular--Interest in' -the -canvass -of-next year we- are not prepared to say, but If It does, thoro is already ah Ira-" menso amount of material on hand for 'its dis cussion. , ' '?' St. Louis Republic Tho Nebraska domd cratlc platform Is good enough to win on. Ha declarations against centralization, monopolies undrobbor tariff woro expected of a convention which indorsed Nebraska's foromost citizen, Democrat-Chronicle, Dos Moines, la. Thdre ifl : nothing wild-eyed about any of this platforin (tho Nebraska platform). Republicans will havb hard work convincing themselves that thoro Is a single plank in it that Is not good. Wo 6h dorso unequivocally ovory word of It and will do all that lies In our power to shapo it int6 tho national platform and then into legislation. OOOO HERE IS A PLAN If Mr. Roosovoft should concludo to submit his centralization proposition to tho American people rather than trust it to what ho calls "tho spirit of broad interpretation" which means that tho courts would Interpret tho very life out of our system of government ho will find tho issuo well stated so far as his oppo nents aro concerned In tho memorial address ' to congress by tho attorneys general in session at St. Louis. That memorial follows: ' ' Whoroas, Tho efficient administration as well as tho preservation of our dual .; system of government requires that each . sovereignty bo pormittod to oxcrclso its 'function as defined by the federal constl-yi tutlon unhampored by tho other; thoroforom oo it i ,', v, Resolved, By tho convention of nttor---noys general of tho several states horc as sembled, that wo earnestly recommend to Hho favorable consideration of tho presi dent and tho congress of the United States,'? tho enactment of a fedoral law providing that no 'circuit court of tho United States . or any Judgo exorcising powers of such. . circuit courts shall have Jurisdiction in any . cane brought to 'restrain any officers .of a state or any administrative board or a state from instituting in a state court any suit or other appropriate proceeding to en-"' forco tho laws of such state or to enforce , any order, made by such administrative- board, but allowing any person or corpora tion asserting In any such action In a state court any right arising under tho consti tution or any laws of tho United States tO'--have the decision for tho highest court of such state rovlowed by tho supromo court of tho United States as now provided by law. Wo also recommond that suits In fed eral circuit courts by-persons Interested In ,, corporations to restrain such corporations . from obeying tho laws of states In which, k, , they aro doing business bo prohibited. ',", 1-f Tho position taken by Mr. Roosovolt and the railroad trust magnates who, bn this prop osition, aro his ardent supportors might. the. stated in paraphrase as follows: To tho American People: ., . .,, Whereas there aro "Insuperable difficulties, arising from our dual form of government" and' "resort must be had to tho power of amengV; ment," and , - ,.,,, (jj Whereas, "the chief economic question of the day in this country is to provide a sovereign for tho great corporations engaged In interstate business; that ic for the railroads and tho inter-, ntatp' industrial corporations," u, , A Resolved, That wo earnestly recommend to, the '.American people ajx amendment to the con stitution whereby the various states of the nnlonf surrender control over the railroads and Inter state Industrial corporations such control to. bo vested exclusively In the federal government, and Resolved, That no judge of any state -court shall have jurisdiction in any case brought against' any railroad or interstate Industrial cor poration or officer thereof, and ' " ' t Resolved, That the legislature of each' 6f the states be and It Is hereby debarred trotni making any laws to which tho railroad or ihte?? sjate industrial corporation must conform, in, UWiUJi U lAOH-OfJ AM lU(v Die !? ' OOOO DEATH CALLS AGAIN j'Jii j) This time it is Judgo James P. Tarvin, of Covington, Ky., who Is summoned to test thef realities of the unknown world. Among all of Mr. Bryan's, friends none were more loyal. He' was tho samo in' victory or defeat constant-,'' courageous, true. Democracy can ill afford "to. loea.t champion -so able) so-earnest-aadVeo'iin- swerving: Peco'to- hig. - ashes; sympathytd those to. whom his death brings bereavement. 1 4 :4 o tAoMUJ. A-jifcM . -Hi rfiV.tl.t-n, ,wuj&i. 7fc O&Xhf W y.lJMjjt. A rl . i Si j ar