Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, December 3, 1907, Page 3

~ ' other # business standpoint, both the time and of their ecapital in notes of a given kind, the issue to be taxed at so high arate as to drive the notes back when not wanted in legitimate trade. This plan would not permit the i 3 currency to give Dbanks add profits, but to meet the cmergency pre- sented by tlmes of stringencey. “I do not say t system. 1 only advance it to empha size my belief that there is need for the adoption of some system which shall be automatic and open to all sound ba , 80 as to avoid all p; - bility of (¢ rimination and favorit- | ism. Sueh a plan would tend to pre- high money and obtain In the | vent the spasms of speculation which now New York market, for at present thore | is too much curreney at certain the ye Yok tempts i for Sols ol at New it at low po: \ the specu s at other times when being moved the ol for a > but ter eney sup forg 1 that tll tion concer Dbusiness men g quite a1s much as bankers. Especi is this true of stoekmen, business men in the west, for - rtain seasons of the year the terest vates between the | m G to 10 per cent, la the correspond per cent. Any wd the intere: m east wheves differ must o restern ot and ago bankers and must B!l trom the standpoints of the and the me! wnt no less than | drawn farmer from the standpoi tiwll_\ in our cur urse, that we r 1er need of a s There must We need Tency, prov ognize lhe ever and wayt fully pr Such em would pe: ssued \\]lL‘ll 1]10 dmm\mH whether ofiicers and directors ul na tional bar hould ever be allowed to loan to themselves. Trust companie: should be subject to the same supervi- sion as banl Legislation to this effect should be enacted for the Distriet of Columbia and the territori also reweniber that A\mn on the sub- Yet we must even the wises ject can on amount. 1 possibility guarantee the business com- munity against the results of specula- tive folly any more than it can guar- Aantee an individual against the results of his extravagance. When an indi- vidual mortgages his house to buy an automobile he invites disaster, and when wealthy men or men who pose as such or are unscrupulously or foolish- Iy eager to become such indulge in reckless speculation, especially if it is accompanied by dishonesty, they jeop- ardize not only their own future, but the future of all their innocent fellow citizens, for they expose the whole business community to panic and dis- tress. Rovenue. The income account of the nation is in a most satisfactory condition. For the six fiscal years ending with the 1st of July last the total expenditures and revenues of the national govern- ment, exclusive of the postal revenues and expenditures, were, in round num- bers, revenues $3,465,000,000 and ex- penditures $3,275,000,000. The net ex- cess of Income over expenditures, in- cluding in the latter the $50,000,000 ex- pended for the Panama canal, was $190,000,000 for the six years, an aver- age of about $31,000,000 a year. This represents an approximation between income and outgo which it would be hard to improve. The satisfactory workirg of the present tariff law has been chiefly respousible for this ex- t Nevertheless there is stantly growing feel- r people that the time Is approaching when our system of revenue legislation must be revised. THE 1 Shouid Not Be S .nuc‘wd Until After Presideniial Election. This country is definitely committed to the protective system, and any ef- fort to uproot it could not but cause widespread industrial disaster. In s, the principle of the pres- law could not with w nged., But in a country of such I growth as ours it is prob- ent ta be chs pheno ably well that every dozen years the tarift laws should be carefully tinized, =0 as to see that no exc or improp benefits are conferred that proper revenue is pro- that our foreign trade is en- | There must always be as nimum a tariff which will not only lallow for the collection of an ample revenue, but which wiil at least make good the difference in cost of produc- tlon here and abroad--that is, the dif- ference In the labor cost here and abroad, for the well belng of the wage- worker must ever be a cardinal point of Amerlean polley. The question should be approached purely from a the maunner of the change being such as to arouse the minimum of agitation and disturbance in the business world and to give the least play for selfish and factional motives. The sole con- slderation should be to see that the | man, | come tax of the proper type would be | fortunes of | quest or devise from another, | tion of | upon the national statute books and as | | the cour the progres i less are practically exempt from death | | value and passes to a distant kinsman priva sum total of changes represents the public good. This weans that the sub- ject cannot with wisdom be dealt with in the year preceding a presidential election, because, as a matter of fact, experience has conclusively shown that at such a time it is impossible to get men to treat it from the standpoint of the public good. In my judgment, the wise time to deal with the matter Is immediately after such election, Income Tax and Inheritance Tax. When our tax laws are revised the question of an income tax and an in- heritance tax should receive the care- | ful attention of our legislator in my judgment, both of these taxes should be part of our s em of federal taxa- | tion. I speak diilidently about the in-| come tax because one scheme for an in- come tax w declared unconstitution- | al by the supreme court, while in addi- tion it is a diflicult tax to administer | in its practical working, and great care would have to be exercised to see | that it was not evaded by the very men whom it was most desirable to have taxed. for if so evaded it would | of course be yworse than no tax at all, as the least desirable of all taxes is the tax which bears heavily upon the honest as compared with the dishonest Nevertheless a graduated in- a desirable feature of federal taxation, and it is to be hoped that one may be devised which the supreme court will declare constitutional, The inheritance tax, however, is both a far better method of taxation and far more im- portant for the purpose of having the | the country bear in pro- portion to their spondir md burden of t: .\liuu, The government has the abso- | lute right to decide as to the terms | upon which a man shall receive a be- and t]uq in the devolution of property Hy appropriate for the imp tax. Laws imposing such | have repeatedly been placed point espe taxes repeatedly declared constitutiongl by nd these laws con e principle—that is, after mount is reached the be- in lite or death, is in-| gly burdened and the rate of ced in proportion to| the remoteness of blood of the man re- | ceiving the bequest. These principles | are recognized already in.the lc:uling} civilized nations of the world. In Great | Britain all the estates worth $5,000 or a certain duties, while the increase is such that when an estate exceeds $3,000.000 in | or stranger in Dblood the government receives all told an amount equivalent to nearly a fifth of the whole estate. In France so much of an inheritance as exceeds $10,000,000 pays over a ! fifth to the state if it passes to a dis- tant relative. The German law is es- | pecially interesting to us because it ! makes the inheritance tax an impe- rial measure, while allotting to the individual states of the ctipire a por- tion of the proceeds and permitting them to impose taxes in additiott to those imposed by the imperial govern- ment. Small inheritances are exempt, but the tax iIs so sharply progressive that when the inberitance s still not very large, provided it is not an agri- cultural or a forest land, it is taxed at the rate of 25 per cent if it goes to dis- tant relatives. There is no reason why in the Unit- ed States the national government should not impose inheritance taxes in addition to those Imposed by the states, and when we last had an inher- itance tax about one-half of the states levied such taxes concurrently with the national government, making u combined maximum rate it soie cases as high as 25 per cent. The rench law has ore feature which is to he heartily commended. The progressive principle is so applied that each high- | er rate is jmposed only on the excess above the amount subject to the next lower rate, so that each increase of rate will apply only to a certain amount above a certaln maximum. The tax should if possible Le made to bear more heavily upon those residing without the country than within it. A heavy progressive tax upon a very large fortune is in no way such a tax upon thrift or industry as a like tax would be on a small fortune. No ad- vantage comes either to the country as a whole or to the individuals inheriting the money by permitting the transmis- sion in their entirety of the enormous fortunes which would be affected by such a tax, and as an incident to its function of revenue raising such a tax | would belp to preserve a measurable equality of opportuni of the generations wing to m hood. We have not the sli pathy with that s would try tn put ness and ine: dustry, th and ef! would strive to break up not wmerely !i.:'ium:). which te property, .but. what is far more fmportant, the home, the chief prop upon ~ which our whole c¢i stands. Such a theory, I ever adopt- ed, would 1 the ruin of the entire country—a uin - which would bear heaviest upon the weakest, upon those least able to shift for themselves. But proposals for legislation such as this herein advocated are directly opposed to this class of soclalistic theories. Our alm is to recognize what Lincoln point- ed out—the fact that there are .some respects in which men are’ obviously not equal, but also to insist that there rhould be an equality of self respect and of mutual respect, an equality of rights before the law and at least an approximate equality in the conditions nnder which each -man obtains the thance to show the stuff that is in him ‘when compared to his fellows. A few years ago there'was loud com- tlaint that the law could not be in- roked against wealthy offenders. There S no guch complaint now. The course for the people | of the department of justice during the past few years has been such as to make it evident that no man stands above the law; that no corporation is s$o wealthy that it cannot be held to account. The department of justice has been as prompt to proceed against the wealthlest malefactor whose crime was one of greed and cunning as to proceed against the agitator who in- cites to brutal violence. Everything that can be done under the existing law and with the existing state of pub- lic opinion, which so profoundly influ- ences both the courts and juries. has bDeen done, but the laws themselves need strengthening in more than one important point. They should be made { more definite, so that no honest man can be led unwittingly to break them and so that the real wrongdoer can be readily punished. Moreover, there must be the publie opinion back of the laws or the laws themselves will be of no avail. At present, while the average jury nun- doubtedly wishes to see trusts broken up and is quite ready to fine the cor- poraticn itself, he Is very reluctant to find the facts proven beyond a reasen- able doubt when it comes to sending to jail a mewmber of the business com- munity for indulging In practices which are profoundly unhealthy, but which unfortunately the business com- munity has grown to recognize as well nigh normal. DBoth the present condition of the law and the present temper of juries render it a task of ex- treme difliculty to get at the real wrongdoer in any such case, especially by i ] aent, yet it is from every standpoint far preferable to punish the prime offender by imprisonment rather than fo fine the corporation, with the attendant damage to stockholders. The two great evils in the execution of our criminai laws today are senti- ud technicality. For the nust come from the atures, the courts | and the lawyers. The other must de- pend for its cure upon the gradual growth of a sound public opinion which shall insist that regard for the law and the demands of reason shall contrel all other influences and emo- tions in the jury box. Both of these evils must be removed or public dis- content with the criminal law will con- INJUNCIIONS. | Abuses of This Judicial Shenld Be Stopped. Instances of abuse in the granting of injunciions in labor disputes continue to occur, and the resentment in the minds of those who feel that their rights are being invaded and their lib- erty of action and of speech unwar- rantly restrained continues likewise to grow. Much of the attack on the use of the process of injuunction is wholly without warrant, but I am constrained to express the belief that for some of it there is warrant. This question is becoming more and more one of prime importance, and unless the courts will themselves deal with it in effective hands Institution | manner it is certain ultimately to de- and some form of leglglative action. It would be most unfortunate for our social: ‘welfare if we should permit many honest and law abiding citizens to feel that they had just cause for re- garding our courts with hostility. I | earnestly commend to the gttention of the congress this mattey, §6 that some way may be devised whick Wil Hmit the abuse of injunctions and protect those rights which from time to #ime it unwarrantably invades.: Moreovet, discontent is often expressed with the use of the process of injunction by the courts, not only in labor disputes, but where state laws are concerned. I re- frain from discussion of this question. as I am informed that it will soon re- ceive thie consideration of the supreme court. The federal courts raust of course decide ultimately what are the respec- tive spheres of state and nation in con. nection with any law, state or national, and they must decide definitely and finally in matters affecting individual citizens, not only as to the rights and wrongs of labor, but as to the rights and wrongs of capital, and the na- tional government must always see that the decision of the court is put into effect. The process of injunction is an essential adjunct of the court’s doing its work well, and as preventive measures are always hetter than reme- dial the wise use of this process is from every standpoint commendable. But where it 'is recklessly or unneces- sarily used the abuse should be cen- nred, above all by the very men who ‘e properly anxious to prevent any ef- fort to shear the courts of this neces- sary power. The court’s decision must be final. The protest is only against the conduct of individual judges in need- lessly anticipating such final decision or in the tyrannical use of what is nominally a temporary injunction to accomplish what is in fact a permanent decision, Accidents. The loss of life and limb from rail- road accidents in this country has be- | come appalling. It is a subject of which the national government should take supervision. It might be well to begin by providing for a federal in- spection of interstate railroads some- what along the lines of federal inspec- tion of steanwoats, although not going so far. Perhaps at first all that it would be necessary to have would be some officer whose duty would be to investigate all accidents on interstate railroads and report in detall the causes thereof. Such an officer should make it his business to get into close touch with railroad operating men, so as to become thoroughly familiar with every side of the question, the idea being to work along the lines of the present steamboat Inspection law. The national government should be a model employer. It shouid demana the highest quality of service from each of its employees, and it should care for all of them properly in re. turn. Congress should adopt legisla- tion providing limited but definite compensation for accidents to all workmen within the scope of ‘the fed- eral power, including employees of navy yards and aysenals.* In other words, a moel employers’ liability act, far reaching and thoroughgoing, should be enacted which should apply, to all positions, public and private, over which the national government has Jjurisdiction, The number of accidents to wageworkers, including those that are preventable and those that are not, has become appalling in the me- cLanical, manufacturing and transpor- tation operations of the day. It works grim hardship to the ordinary wage- worker and his family to have the ef- feet of such an accident fall solely up- on him, and, on the other hand, there are whole classes of attorneys who ex- ist only by inciting men who may or may not have been wronged to under- take suits for negligence. As a matter of fact, u suit for negligence is gen- erally an inadequate remedy for the person injured, while' it often causes altogether disproportionate annoyance to the employer. The law should be made such that the payment for acci- dents by the employer would be auto- matie instead of being a matter for lawsuits. Workmen should receive certain and definite compensation for all accidents In industry irrespective of negligence. The employer is the agent of tbe public, and on his own responsibility and for his own profit he serves the public. When he starts in motion agencies which create risks for others he should take all the ordinary and extraordinary risks involved, and the risk he thus at the moment as- sumes will ultimately be assumed, as it ought to Dbe, by the general public. Only in this way can the shock of the accident bLe diffused, upon the n or woman least able to bear it, 2 now the case. The com- munity at ge should share the bur- dens as well as the benefits of indus- try. Dy the proposed law employers would gain a desirable certainty of { obligation and get rid of litigatlon to | determine it, while the workman and | his family would be relieved from a crushing load. With such a policy would come increased care, and acci- dents would be reduced in number. The national laws providing for employers’ liability on railroads engaged in inter- state comicerce and for safety appli- ances, as well as for diminishing the hours any employee of a railroad should be permitted to work, should all be strenzthened wherever in actual practice tliay have shown weakness. They should be kept on the statute books in thoroughgoing form. The constitutionality of the employ- ers’ liability act passed by the preced- ing congress has been carried before the courts. In two jurisdictions the law has bzen declared unconstitution- al, and in three jurisdictions its con- stitutionality has been affirined. The question has been carried to the su- , the case hds been heard by that tr‘bunal, and a decision {s exs pected at an early date. In the event that the court should affirm the consti- tutionality of the act I urge further legislation along the lines advocated in tmy message to the preceding con- gress. The practice of putting the en- tire burden of loss to life or limb upon the victim or the victim’s family is a form of social injustice In which the | United States stands in unenviable | prominence. 1it both our federal and | our state legisiation we hdave, with few | exceptions, scarecely gone further than the repeal of the fellow servant prin- ciple of the old law of Mability, and in some of our states even this slight modification of a comipletely outgrown principle has not yet been secured. The legislation of the rest of the fndus- trial world stands out in striking con- trast to our backwardness in this re- spect. Since 1895 practically every country of Europe, together with Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Brit- ish Columbia and the Cape of Good Hope, has enacted legislation embody- ing in one form or another the com- plete recognition of the principle which places upon the employer the entire trade risk in the various lines of in- dustry. I urge upon the congress the enactivent of a law which will at the same time bring federal legislation up to the standard already established by all the BEuropean countries and which will serve as a stimulus to the various states to perfect thelr legislation In this regard. : Eight Hour Law. The congy should consider the ex- tension of the eight hour law. The con- stitutionality of the present law has recently been called into question, and the supreme court has decided that the existing legislation is unquestionably within the powers of the congress. The principle of the eight hour day should as rapidly and as far as prac- ticable be extended to the entire work carried on by the government, and the present law should be amended to em- brace contracts on those public works which the present wording of the act has been construed to exclude. The general introduction of the eight hour day should be the goal toward which we should steadily tend, and the gov- ernment should set the example in thig respect. Strikes and lockouts, with their at- tendant loss and suffering, continue to fncrease. For the five years ending Dec. 31, 1905, the number of strikes was greater than those in any previous. ten years and was double the number in the preceding five years. These fig- ures indicate the increasing need of providing some machinery to deal with this class of disturbances in the inter- est allke of the employer, the em- ployee and the general public. I renew my previous recommendation that the congress favorably consliler the mat- instead of falling | ter of creating the machinery for com- pulsory investigation of such industrial controversies as are of sufficient mag- nitude and of sufficient concern to the people of the country as a whole to warrant the federal government in taking action. The need for some provision for such Investigation was forcibly illustrated during the past summer. A strike of telegraph operators seriously interfered with telegraphic communication, caus- ing great damage to business interests and serious inconvenience to the gen- eral public. Appeals were made to me from many parts of the country, from city councils, from boards of trade, from chambers of commerce and from labor organizations, urging that steps be taken to terminate the strike. BEv- erything that could with any propriety be done by a representative of the gov- ernment was done without avail, and for weeks the public stood by and suf- fered without recourse of any kind. Had the machinery existed and had there been authority for compulsory investigation of the dispuie the public| would have been placed in possession of the merits of the controversy, and public opinion would probably have brought about a prompt adjustment. Each successive step creating ma- -chinery for the adjustment of labor difficulties must be taken with caution, but we should endeavor to make prog- ress in this direction. The provisions of the act of 1898 creating the chairman of the interstate commerce commission and the commis- sioner of labor a board of mediation in controversies between interstate rail- roads and their employees has for the first time been subjected to serious tests within the past year, and the wis- dom of the experiment has been fully demonstrated. The creation of a board for compulsory investigation in cases where mediation fails and arbitration is rejected is the next logical step in a progressive programme. Capital and Labor. It is certain that for.some time to come there will be a constant increase absolutely and perhaps relatively of those among our citizens who dwell in cities or towns of some size and who work for wages. This means that there will be an ever increasing need to consider the problems inseparable from a great industrial ecivilization. Where an immense and complex busi- ness, especially in those branches re- lating to manufacture and transporta- tion, is transacted by a large number of capitalists who employ a very much larger, number of wage earners the former tend more and more to | combine into corporations and the lat- ter into unions. The relations of the capitalist and. wageworker to one an- other and of each to the general public are not always easy to adjust, and to put them and keep them on a satisfac- tory basis is one of the most important and one of the most delicate tasks be- fore our whole civilization, Much of the work for the accomplishment of this end must be done by the individ- uals concerned themselves, whether singly or in combination, and the one fundamental fact that must never be lost track of {3 that the character of the average man, whether he be a man of means or d tiair who tworks with his hands, is the fiost fmportant fac- tor in solving the problem aright, But it 1s almost equally important to re- member that without good laws it is also impossible to reach the proper so- lution. It is idle to hold that without good laws evils such as child labor, as the overworking of women, as the fait ure to protect employees from loss 6f life or imb can be effectively reached any more than the evils of rebates and stock watering can be reached without good laws. To fail to stop these prac- tices by legislation means to force hon- est men into them, because otherwise the dfshonest who surely will take ad- vantage of them will have everything their own way. If the states will cor- rect these evils, well and good, but the nation must stand ready to aid them. CHILD AND WOMAN LABOR. No Industrial Question of More lLupor- tance Than This. No question growing out of our rapid and complex industrial developmient is ‘more important than that of the em- ployment of women and children, The presence of women in industry reacts with extreme directness upon the char- acter of the home and upon famwiiy life, and the conditions surrounding the employment: of children bear a vital re- lation to our future citizenship. = Cur legislation in those areas under the control of the congress is very: much behind the legislation of our more pro- gressive states. A thorough and com- prehensive measure should be adopted at this session of the congress relating to the employment of women and chil- dren in the District of Columbia and the territories. The investigatio the condition of women and wage earners recently authorized and directed by the congress is now being carried on in the various states, and I ‘recommend that the appropriation made last year for beginning this work be renewed in order that we may have the thorough and comprehensive inves- tigation which the subject demands. The national government has as an ul- timate resort for control of child labor the use of the interstate commerce clause to prevent the products of child Iabor from entering into interstate com- merce, but before using this it ought certainly to enact model laws on the subject for the territories under its own immediate ‘control. There is one fundamental proposition which can be laid down as regards all these matters—namely, while honesty by itself will not solve the problem, yet the insistence upon honesty—not mere- ly. technical honesty, but honesty in purpose and spirit—{s an essential ele- ment in arriving at a right conclusion. Vice in its cruder and more archaic forms shocks everybody, but there is very urgent need that public opinion should be just as severe in condemna- tion of the vice which hides itself be- hind class or professional loyalty ot which denies that it is vice if it can es- cape conviction in the courts. The pub- lic and the representatives of the pub- lie, the high officials, whether on the bench or in executive or legislative po- sitions, need to remember that often the most dangerous criminals, so far as the life of the nation is concerned, are not those who commit the crimes known to and condemned by the popu- lar conscience for centuries, but those who commit crimes only rendered pos- sible by the complex conditions of our modern industrial life. It makes nota particle of difference whether these crimes are committed by a capitalist or by a laborer, by a leading banker o1 manufacturer or railroad man or by a leading representative of a labor union. Swindling in stocks, corrupting legis- latures, making fortunes by the infla- tion of securities, by wrecking railroads by destroying competitors through re. bates—these forms of wrongdoing in the capitalist are far more infamous than any other form of emhezzlement ot forgery, yet it is a matter of extreme difficulty to secure the punishment of the men most guilty of them, most re- sponsible for them. The business man who condones such conduct stands on a level with the labor man who de- liberately supports a corrupt dema- gogue and agitator, whether head of a unjon or head of some municipality, because he is said to have “stood by the union.” The members of the busi- ness community, the "educators ot clergymen who condone and encourage the first kind of wrongdoing are no more dangerous to the community, but are morally even worse, than the labot men who are guilty of the second type of wrongdoing, because less is to be pardoned those who have no such ex- cuse as is furnished either by igno- rance or by dire need. Farmers and Wageworkers. When the department of agricul- ture was founded there was much sneering as to its'usefulness. No de- partment of the government, however, has more emphatically vindicated its usefulness, and none save the post- office department comes so continually and-intimately into touch with the peo- ple. The two citizens whose welfare is in the aggregate most vital to the welfare of the natlon and therefore to the welfare of all other citizens are the wageworker who does manual la- bor and the tiller of the soil, the farm- er. There are of course kinds of labor where the work must be purely men- tal, and there are other kinds of labor, where under existing conditions verv little demand indeed is made upon th& mind, though I am glad to say that the proportion of men engaged in this kind of work is diminishing. But in any community with the solid, healthj qualities which make up a really great nation the bulk of the people should do work which calls for the exercise of both body and mind. Progress cannot permanently exist in the abandonment of physical labor, but in the develop= ment of physical labor, so that it shall represent more and more the work of the trained mind in the trained body. Our school system is gravely defective in so far as it puts a premium upon mere literary training and tends, there- fore, to train the boy away from the farm and the workshop. Nothing is more needed than the best type of in- dustrial school, the school for mechan- fcal industries in the city, the school for practically teaching agriculture in the country. The calling of the skilled tiller of the soil, the calling of the skilled mechanic, should alike be recog- nized as professions just as emphatic- ally as the calling of lawyer, doctor, merchant or clerk. The schools should recognize this fact, and it should equally be recognized in popular opin- fon. The young man who has the far- sightedness and courage to recognize it and to get over the idea that it makes a difference whether what he . earns is called salary or wages and who refuses to enter the crowded field of the so called professions and takes to constructive industries instead is reasonably sure of an ample reward in earnings, in health, in opportunity to marry early and to establish a home with a fair amount of freedom from worry. It should be one of our prime objects to put both the farmer and the mechanic on a higher plane of effi- ciency and reward, so as to increase ‘their effectiveness in the economie world and, therefore the dignity. the remuneration and the power of their positions-in the social world. No growth of cities, no growth of wealth, can make up for any loss in { either the number or the character of the farming population. We of the United States should realize this above almost all other peoples. We began our existence as a nation of farmers, and in every great crisis of the past a peculiar dependence has had to be placed upon the farming population, and this dependence has hitherto been justified. But it cannot be justl- fied in the future if agriculture is per- mitted to sink in the scale as com- pared with other employments. We cannot afford to lose that pre-eminent- Iy typical American, the farmer who owns his own medium sized farm. ' To have his place taken by either a class of small peasant proprietors or by a class of great landlords with tenant farmed estates would be a veritable calamity. The growth of our cities is a good thing, but only in so far as it does not mean a growth at the ex- pense of the country farmer, We must welcome the rise of physical sciences in their application to ‘agricultural practices, .and we must do all we can to render country conditions more easy and pleasant. There are forces which now tend to bring about both these re- sults, but they are as yet in their in- fancy. The national government