Europe; and the citizens of Colombia itself are already perceiving that this was the best solution for them, and that they are now certain to have all the benefits of a canal on the most favored terms, without any of the dangers, costs, or responsibilities. With his characteristic foresight and intelligence, the President has already provided for the thorough sanitation of the canal zone, has appointed a splendidly qualified board of commissioners to construct the canal, and has arranged for the effective policing and government of the ten-mile strip. If reelected, he will astonish the world by the vigor, efficiency, and essential economy with which he will prosecute this greatest of all engineering tasks. Foreign Relations. In his proclamations enjoining neutrality in the war between Russia and Japan, President Roosevelt has shown great tact as well as a correct sense of our position under international law. His leadership in securing from all great powers, including the combatants themselves, the territorial restriction of the war, will go upon the record as one of the most beneficent services in the history of American diplomacy. His promptness in defending American rights, whether in Turkey, Morocco, Santo Domingo, or elsewhere, has promoted peace and good-will rather than animosity. Under his administration our relations with all nations, foreign governments, and peoples have been advanced to the highest point of friendliness and mutual respect ever attained since the beginning of our national life. Internal Administration. In In the work of internal administration President Roosevelt has shown himself, on the one hand, thorough in routine and a master of detail; on the other hand, strong and constructive in policy. His whole training had made him preeminently fit for the direction of the machinery of the immense executive business of government. Under him the departments have reached their highest pitch of efficiency. Never before has the work of skilled and competent men been so much in demand or so heartily appreciated. Never before have the unworthy and the incompetent been so unsparingly shut out from the governmental services. the Post-Office Department there had survived and developed in certain special parts of the vast organization some favoritism, some fraud, and some flagrant dishonesty as the bad fruitage of a spoils system for which both parties must share the blame. These evil conditions had escaped the vigilance of two or three Congressional investigations; but President Roosevelt has brought them to the light, sparing no culprit, however well connected or influentially surrounded. Thus the people know that in him they have an executive unequalled in the reduction of the public service to a basis of honesty, efficiency, and intelligent economy. It is a great thing to be able to grasp details as well as to formulate principles; and to know how to select men as well as to understand the tasks to which they are assigned. But President Roosevelt, who excels in acting as Uncle Sam's foreman in running every branch of his great business, has also shown a remarkable talent for domestic statesmanship and for the initiating of new and better methods. Thus he has thrown himself into the task of improving Uncle Sam's physical domain, and as a result we have the new irrigation policy which is to add to the Nation's wealth, population, and contentment more than any man can now well estimate. We have also the new forestry policy, and many other matters of note belonging in particular to the departments of Secretary Wilson and Secretary Hitchcock, having to do with the country's material welfare and progress. The New Department of Commerce and Labor. One of the greatest constructive achievements of President Roosevelt's administration has been the setting up of a new cabinet department, that of Commerce and Labor. This department groups together in a convenient way a number of public services already existing, and in addition it enables the Government to utilize more effectively its constitutional power to regulate commerce between the States for the well-being of the people and, further, to promote not only the country's prosperity in industry and commerce, but also its harmony in the relations between the different factors of production. Difficult Problems Well Solved. In everything let it be said that, wherein it has fallen to the President's lot to deal with problems affecting the relations of capital and labor, he has not failed to show the highest qualities of courage and the highest sense of justice, but he has at all times upheld the dignity and the supremacy of the national Government. The anthracite coal strike reached a point where it became a grave national emergency, and the President found a way to settle it which did not strain in the slightest degree his official prerogative, while it contributed greatly to the prestige of the Government, reassured the public, and fixed a noble precedent in favor of arbitration at a moment when the strain between labor and capital was the greatest ever known in this country. Enforcement of the Sherman Anti-Trust Law. The measures taken by the President through the AttorneyGeneral's office for the enforcement of the Sherman anti-trust law, however important they were as respects the particular matters in dispute, found their greatest importance, after all, in the assurance they gave that the law is still supreme in this land, that the President as Chief Magistrate will enforce the law against the greatest corporation as well as against the criminal who breaks open a letter-box, and that the highest courts, when entered under the President's instruction by an energetic Department of Justice, will interpret the laws without fear or favor. Unfailing in His Sense of Justice. President Roosevelt has been unfailing in his sense of public dignity and justice. He has reposed the fullest confidence in his associates in executive office, and has gloried in their effective devotion to their work, relying upon them and leaving them unhampered, while himself always in the fullest sense the President and the leader. His has been an administration without fads, without favorites, and without scandals. In army and navy promotions, as well as in all appointments, to civil office, he has performed his duty with sole regard to the country's welfare, and with a freedom from bias or mere personal leaning that has never been surpassed if ever before equalled in the administration of any American President. He Knows the Country and Its People. He knows the country and all its interests and resources from North to South and from East to West. He knows the plain people, in person and in type, as well as he knows their leaders in industry and education, in church and state. He has no quarrels ; he bears no grudges; he is willing and anxious to work with all men who will deal honorably and faithfully. He knows the history of labor, recognizes the services that have been rendered by associations of working men for mutual benefit, and is so confident in his sense of good faith in all his dealing with the problems of labor and capital, that he has no fear of being misunderstood when he speaks with perfect frankness upon questions as they arise. He knows the Indians and sees that they have justice. He knows the difficulties that beset the race problem in the South, but he also holds that in ethics, as under the Constitution and laws of the United States, a man is a man, no matter what the color of his skin. He Holds the Man Higher than the Dollar. While believing that the rights of property must be regarded and conserved, he holds the man higher than the dollar. He sees that in a country like ours, the radical and the conservative alike must demand of their chief executive that he maintain the law as first and supreme over rich and poor alike. An Example to the Young Men of the Country. To the young men of the country, President Roosevelt sets an example of the value of a sound mind in a sound body. His career helps them to see the practical worth of industry, of system, of temperate living; and helps them to perceive that faith in the highest public and private ideals still holds sway in our places of highest honor and power. IN BEHALF OF RAILWAY EMPLOYES-7 E SAFETY APPLIANCE LAW. President Roosevelt has been especially active in his efforts to preserve the integrity of laws passed for the protection of wage workers, and has insisted that such laws be impartially and effectively executed. His efforts in behalf of railway employes deserve special mention. In 1893 the Safety Appliance Law, Car Coupler Bill, as it is sometimes called, was passed by a Republican congress. This legislation was persistently opposed by Democrats at previous sessions of Congress, and Senator Gorman and other prominent Democrats worked and voted against the bill as finally passed. The main purpose of this law was protection for the lives and limbs of railway employees, and it has proved of great benefit to this class of wage-workers. As has been the case with almost all legislation of this character, experience disclosed certain defects in the law, and showed that it was impossible to obtain the full benefit contemplated by its framers without the enactment of certain amendments, which were proposed. President Roosevelt took a lively interest in this law, and interested himself actively in the passage of the proposed amendments, calling attention to the matter in his Message to Congress, under date of December 2, 1902, as follows: The safety appliance law for the better protection of the lives and limbs of railway employees, which was passed in 1893, went into full effect on August 1, 1901. It has resulted in averting thousands of casualties. Experience shows, however, the necessity of additional legislation to perfect this law. A bill to provide for this passed the Senate at the last session. It is to be hoped that some such measure may now be enacted into law. The friends of the law were much indebted to President Roosevelt for invaluable assistance in furthering the passage of these amendments, which finally passed both Houses of Congress, and received the President's approval on March 2, 1903. From the standpoint of a proper administration of the law the passage of these amendments had become a necessity, owing to a decision of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of W. O. Johnson vs. The Southern Pacific Company. This case was an action in which the plaintiff, Johnson, a freight brakeman in the employ of the railroad company, sought to recover for the loss of an arm. He was injured while attempting to couple a locomotive onto a dining car with an ordinary link and pin, contrary to the spirit and letter of the safety appliance law, and his case involved a construction of that law, particularly the second section of it, which makes it unlawful for any common carrier "to haul or permit to be hauled or used on its line any car used in moving interstate traffic not equipped with couplers coupling automatically by impact, and which can be uncoupled without the necessity of men going between the ends of the cars." In the trial court the case was taken from the jury and a verdict ordered for the defendant company, whereupon Johnson, relying on the justice of his cause and with confidence in the law that had been enacted for his protection, collected all of his scanty resources and took the case to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, on appeal from the action of the trial judge. In its disposition of the case the Circuit Court of Appeals sustained the action of the court below, and in an elaborately written opinion placed such a construction upon the law as to nullify it in important particulars and render it useless for the purpose intended by its framers, namely, protection for the lives and limbs of railway employees. Ordinarily this decision would have ended the case, as the decisions of the Circuit Court of Appeals are final in such cases, and Johnson, being penniless and without influence, seemed to have no alternative but submission. As a last resort, however, a petition for a writ of certiorari was submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States in his behalf. Because of the interest of the Government in the construction given by the Circuit Court of Appeals to the car coupler act, the Attorney-General, by direction of the President, intervened in the case before the Supreme Court and submitted reasons of a public nature why the case should be reviewed by that court. The Supreme Court granted the writ, and the case will be heard early in October next. It is believed that this is the first instance in the history of the country wherein a court has construed a public_statute in a private case in such a way as to nullify the statute, and in which the Government has intervened to protect the integrity of the law. The plaintiff in this case is a poor brakeman. He had used all his money in litigation, and was without means to carry the case further even had he been granted the right to do so; and had the Government not become interested in his case through the action of the President he must have submitted to the decision of the court and given up all hope of securing redress of his injury. But through the action of the President and his able AttorneyGeneral he is given an opportunity to have his case heard by the highest tribunal in the land, and it will be so ably and fully presented to the court by the officers of the Government that he will be assured of a proper disposition of his case. Another important case under this law in which the President has demonstrated his sympathy for wage-workers and his interest in the laws that have been passed for their protection, is that of Voelker vs. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co., recently decided by the Circuit Court of Appeals for the eighth circuit. Voelker was a switchman in the employ of the railroad company, and in the discharge of his duties he was crushed to death between the drawbars of two cars while endeavoring to adjust a defective coupler so that it would operate as the law directs. His widow brought suit against the railroad company to recover for his death, and a jury in the trial court rendered a verdict in her favor on which judgment was rendered. The railroad company carried the case to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals in an effort to set aside the judgment of the lower court, and as a construction of the law in vital particulars was involved it became important that the case should be properly presented to the court. For the protection of railway employees it was necessary that the integrity of the law should be sustained, and by direction of the President the Attorney-General asked leave to intervene and file a brief in the case, in order that the court should be fully informed concerning the scope and intent of the law. The opinion of the Circuit Court of Appeals sustains the law completely, and places such a construction upon its terms that railway employees may now feel that they have a sound and efficient law to protect their interests, and that a beneficent government is watchful to see that they are not exposed to unnecessary hazard in the pursuit of their dangerous calling. This has been accomplished by the watchful care of the President and his zeal in seeing that rich and poor alike are given the protection intended to be accorded them by the laws of their common country. The true solution of the questions arising between labor and capital lies in an awakened public conscience.-Hon. C. W. Fairbanks, at Kansas City, Mo., September 1, 1902. There are more than twenty-five thousand local labor unions in the United States, with a membership of more than two millions. What infinite good can be accomplished by this mighty army of peace and industry if held true to its opportunity.-Hon. C. W. Fairbanks, at Kansas City, Mo., September 1, 1902. We want no slave labor. Two million men, with their blood, wiped away slavery forever. We want no labor, either white or black, in a virtual state of serfdom. Labor must be free, with all the prerogatives which pertain to freedom.-Hon. C. W. Fairbanks, at Kansas City, Mo., September 1, 1902. LABOR RECORD OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT. "The most vital problem with which this country, and for that matter the whole civilized world, has to deal is the problem which has for one side the betterment of social conditions, moral and physical, in large cities and for another side the effort to deal with. that tangle of far-reaching questions which we group together when we speak of labor."-President Roosevelt's first message to Congress. Epitome of Theodore Roosevelt's Favorable Action on Labor Legislation. As member of assembly in New York he voted for bills— Abolishing tenement-house cigar making in New York City. Regulating the labor hours of minors and women in manufacturing establishments. Safeguarding the lives and limbs of factory operatives. Regulating wage rates of laborers employed by municipalities. Making employees preferred creditors. Providing for building mechanics' liens. Prescribing the lien rights of working women. Protecting mechanics and laborers engaged in sinking oil or gas wells. Abolishing contract child labor in reformatory institutions. Creating a commission to examine into the operation of the contract system of employing convicts. Establishing the bureau of labor statistics. To promote industrial peace. For a five-cent fare on the New York City elevated railroad. As governor of New York he approved these measures: law. Creating a tenement-house commission. Regulating sweat-shop labor. Empowering the factory inspector to enforce the scaffolding Directing the factory inspector to enforce the act regulating labor hours on railroads. Making the eight-hour and prevailing-rate-of-wages laws effective. Amending the factory act (1) Protecting employees at work on buildings. (2) Regulating the working time of female employees. (3) Providing that stairways shall be properly lighted. (4) Prohibiting the operation of dangerous machinery by children. (5) Prohibiting women and minors working on polishing or buffing wheels. (6)-Providing for seats for waitresses in hotels and res taurants. Shortening the working hours of drug clerks. Increasing the salaries of New York City school-teachers. Extending to other engineers the law licensing New York City engineers and making it a misdemeanor for violating the same. Licensing stationary engineers in Buffalo. Providing for the examination and registration of horseshoers in cities. Registration of laborers for municipal employment. Providing means for the issuance of quarterly bulletins by the bureau of labor statistics. In addition to the foregoing, while governor of New York he recommended legislation (which the legislature failed to pass) in regard to Employers' liability. State control of employment offices. |