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Show I Tt EflllSE 'President Outlines Ilis Policy and Stand on Impending Legislation. H FAVORS 8-HOUR MY, BUT NOT ON THE CANAL WORK fl Also Stands for Rigid Chinese Exclusion of the Coolie Classes. WASHINGTON', March 22. President Jtooscvcll received a Iutec body of ropre-contattves ropre-contattves of organized labor Wednesday at tho While House and talked to H them about their urgent request for th H craclment of labor measures now pend-Ing- beforo Congress. Snmuel Gomperp, President, and Frank lorrioon, Secretary, of tho American Fed-rratlon Fed-rratlon of Labor. headed the delegation which constated of about a hundred mcm-bcrs mcm-bcrs of the executive council of the Amer-lean Amer-lean Federation of Labor and officials of tho organizations which comprise tho Federation. , , Practlcallv all of the important labor orpanlzations of tho country wero rcpre-.tnted. rcpre-.tnted. Secretary Morrison read to the Prosl-dent Prosl-dent a memorial of tho executive council j of the American Federation, urging ac-j ac-j tJon on tho various demands for lutrisla-tlon lutrisla-tlon being made by tho organized labor Interest of ihe country. Tho memorial dwelt nartlcularly on tho eight-hour law and Its' enforcement on government works, li eluding the Panama Canal and the lm-migration lm-migration laws, especially tho Chinese Hj exclusion laws. IGompers Delivers Address. Presldont Gompcrs and James Duncan of Qulncy, Mass., First Vlce-Presldont of the Federation and President of tho Granite Gran-ite Cutters' union, followed with brief ad-dmwes ad-dmwes on tho lines of the memorial. President Roosevelt after listening to the statements replied in an extended "address. On tho subjects of general Immigration Im-migration and the exclusion of Chinese labor the President indicated that ho was In practical accord with them, but on come other matters ho differed with thera radically. Tho text of the President's remarks given out at tho Whlto Houso this evening even-ing as follows: "Mr. Gompors: If your body objects to the passago of the proposed antl-lnjunc-tlon bill I have no question that you can stop it, for there Is not a capitalist concerned con-cerned who simply as capitalist Is not against It; though I believe that a goodly r.umbcr both of capitalists and wage workers who are concerned primarily as citizens favor It. "The law was worked over and substantially sub-stantially whipped into Its present shape at a number of conferences between representatives of the rallrond organizations organiza-tions and tho dopartmcnt of Justice and the bureau of corporations with me. It gees as far as I personally think It should go, In limiting tho rights of Injunction, In-junction, at any rate no arguments have hitherto been advanced which make me think it should go farther. I do not believe be-lieve It has any chanco of passing, because be-cause there haa been great criticism In both houses of Congress against tho attitude at-titude of tho administration In going so far as we havo gone; and If you think It Is not far enough, why, you-will have no earthly dlOlculty in killing the bill. "Personally, I think the proposed law a most admirable one, and I very slncorely wish It would be put through. Believes Injunction Necessary. I "As for tho right of Injunction, It Is absolutely ab-solutely necessary to havo this power lodged In the courts, though of course any abuse of the power Is strongly to be reprobated. During tho four and a half years that I have been Presldont I do not remember an Instance where the government govern-ment has Invoked tho right of Injunction against combinations of laborers. Wo have Invoked it certainly a score of times against combinations of capital, I think possibly oftenor Thus though we havti secured the Issuance of Injunctions In a number of cases against capitalistic combinations com-binations It has happened that we have never tried to secure an Injunction against a combination of labor. But understand me, gontlemcn', if I ever thought It necessary; nec-essary; If I thought a combination of laborers la-borers wero doing wrong, I would apply for an Injunction against them Just a3 quick as against so many capitalists. The 8-Hour Question. "Now I come to the general subject of your petition. I wish In the first place to state my regret that you did not dl-vorco dl-vorco 80 much of the potltlon as rofera to tho action of the executive from so much as refers to the action of the legislative legis-lative branch, b'ecause I cannot consider any petition that you make that reflects . upon the co-ordinate branch of the government, gov-ernment, or that makes any charges whatever against it. I would not. even rccelvo It save for tho fact that In part it affects tho oxocutlvo. Therefore In what I havo to say 1 shall limit myself solely to what you assert In reference to the acts of the executive. "You speak of the S-hour law. Your criticism, ho far as It relates to the executive, ex-ecutive, bears upon the signature of thn appropriation bill containing the money for expenditure on the Panama canal, with the proviso that tho S-hour law shall not there apply. If your statement Is intended in-tended to mean that no opportunity was given for a hearing, then the statement Is not In accordanco with tho facts, Thero was ample opportunity that any ono could be heard, but not a einglo request for such a hearing came to me. Asked Him to Veto tho Bill. "I received, however, some hundreds of telegrams and letters requesting the veto of the entire appropriation bill becauso it contained that proviso. Frankly, I found It difficult to believe that you wore writing writ-ing and telegraphing with ony kind of knowledge of the conditions In tho case. "I bellove emphatically In tho S-hour law for our own people In our own country. coun-try. But tho conditions of labor such as wo havo to work with In the tropics aro so absolutely different that there Is no possible analogy between them and an S-hour law for the Panama canal is an absurdity. "Every ono of you know that we cannot can-not get white labor; cannot get labor of the United States to go down to Panama to work. We arc driven to extremities in the effort to got any kind of labor at all. Just at tho moment wo are working chlolly with negro labor from tho West Indies. The usual result In the employment employ-ment of these men la that Monday and Tucsdav they work fairly well, Wednesday Wednes-day and Thursday there Iri a mnrked falling fall-ing off, and by Friday and Saturday not more than a balf. sometimes less than a fourth of the laborers will be at work "The conditions that make the eight-hour eight-hour law proper here have no possible reference to the conditions that make the eight-hour law entirely Improper there. Tho conditions lire so utterly different on tho Isthmus as compared to hero that It Is Impossible to draw conclusions affecting affect-ing tho one from what Is truo about tho other. You hamper me in tho effort to get for you what I think you ought to havo In connection with the eight-hour law when you make a request that Is Indefensible, In-defensible, and to grant which would mean Indefinite delay and Injury to the work on the Isthmus. "As to tho violations of the eight-hour law, Mr. Morrison, you give mo no specifications. specifi-cations. At your earliest convenience, plea.su lay boforo me In detail any com plaints you have of violations of tho eight-hour law. Where I have power I will see that the law Is obeyed. All I ask Is that you give mo the cases. I will tako them up, and If they prove to be sustained ,by the facts I shall see that the law Is enforced. "Now, about the Chinese exclusion. The number of Chinese now In this country is. If I remember aright, some 60.CO0 or 70,000. So far from then being a great Influx In-flux of the Chinese, the iact Is that the number has steadily decreased. There are fower Chinese than thero were ten years ngo; fewer than there were twenty years ago; fower than thero wure thirty years ago. "Unquestionably some scores of' cases occur each year where Chinese laborers get In, either by being smuggled over tho Mexican and Canadian borders, or by coming In under false certificates, but tho steps that wo havo taken, the changes in tho Consuls that have been made within the last few years in the Orient and tho effort to conduct examinations In China before the Immigrants are allowed to come here, aro materially reducing even the small number of cases that do occur. "But oven ns it Is, the number of these cases is Insignificant There Is no appreciable ap-preciable Influx of Chinese laborers, and there Is not tho slightest nor tho remotest danger of any; tho whole scare that has been worked up on tho subject Is a pure chimera. Must Keep Out the Coolies. "It Is my deep conviction that we must keep out of this country every Chinese laborer, skilled or unskilled every Chinaman China-man of the coolie class. This Is what the proposed law will do; It will be dono as effectively as under the present law, and tho present law is being handled with the utmost eniclcncy. But I will do everything In my power to make it easier and desirable for the Chinese of the business busi-ness and professional class, tho Chinese travelers and students to come here, and I will do all I can to securo their good treatment when they como; and no laboring labor-ing man has anything whatever to fear from that policy "I have a right to challenge you, ns good American citizens, to support that policy, and In any avent I shall stand unflinchingly un-flinchingly for it; and no man can say with sincerity that on this or. Indeed, on any other point, ho has any excuse for misunderstanding my policy. "You have spoken of the Immigration laws. I believe merely that not only all proper steps should be taken to preVent the Importantion of laborers under any form, but that this country ought to make a resolute effort from now on to prevent the coming to this country of men with a standard of living so low that they tend, by entering Into unfair competition com-petition with, to reduce tho standard of living of our own people. Will Go the Limit., "Not one of you can go further than I will go In tho effort steadily to raise tho status of the American wage-worker so long a3 while doing It I can retain a clear conscience and the certainty that I am doing what la right. I will do all In my power .for the laboring man except to do what Is wrong; and 1 will not do that for him or for any ono else. "Wo muHt not lot our natural sentiment for succoring tho opprescd and unfortunate unfor-tunate of other lands lead us into that warped moral and mental attitude or trying to succor them at tho expense of our own people. "Laws should be enacted to keep out all immigrants who do not show that they havo the right stuff in them to enter Into our Ufa on terms of decent cqunlltv with our own citizens. This Is needed first In the interests of the laboring man. but furthermore in tho Interests of alj of us as American citizens, for, gentlemen, the bonds thnt unite all good American citizens citi-zens are stronger by far than the difference differ-ence which I think you accentuate altogether alto-gether too much between the men who do one kind of labor and the men who do another Don't Want Wrong Kind. "As for Immigrants, we cannot have too many of tho right kind, and we should havo none at all of the wrong kind; and they are of the right kind If we can be fairly sure that their children and grandchildren can meet on ternm of equality our children and grandchildren, so ns to try to be decent citizens together to-gether and to work together for the uplifting up-lifting of tho republic. "Now, a word as to the petitioning of employees of Congress. That stands in no shape or way on a par with tho petitioning peti-tioning of men not employed by the Government. Gov-ernment. I cannot have and I will not have when I can prevent It. men who aro concerned In the administration of Government affairs going to Congress and asking for increased pay without the permission of the heads of tho department. depart-ment. "Their business Is to como through the heads of the departments. This applies to postmasters, to army and navy officers, of-ficers, to clerks In the Government departments, de-partments, to laborers; It applies to each and all, and must apply as a matter of simple discipline to all." The delegation remained with the President Presi-dent about three-quarters of an hour, and tho subjects suggested were considered Informally after .the addresacs had been delivered. It was agreed that on points of difference tho executive council of tho federation should appoint a committee of three, which should draft tho views of the organization and submit them to the President at a later date. It Is likely that President Compere will be tho chairman of that committer. Earlier In the day the delegation called on Speaker Cannon and Senator Fryo of Maine, president pro tempore of the Senate, Sen-ate, and laid boforo them the same memorial me-morial which they presented to the Prenldent. Speaker Cannon received the delegation In the lobby of tho House of Representatives. Representa-tives. After tho memorial had been presented pre-sented the Speaker addressed tho delegation. delega-tion. When the memorial was presented to Senator Fryo ho made no comment beyond be-yond a mere statement that he would lnV tho memorial beforo tho Senate, |