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Show WILSON OPENS HIS CIPII IN HOME STATE Replies to Republican Criticism Crit-icism of His Settlement of Threatened Railroad Strike. ADDRESS IS MADE TO BUSINESS MEN Declares Eight-hour Day Is Not Arbitrable and Discusses Dis-cusses Means . of Preventing Pre-venting Disputes. LONG BRANCH, N. J., Sept. 23. Today President Wilson actively opened his campaign for re-election with a speech replying to Republican criticism of his settlement of the recently threatened threat-ened railroad strike. With emphatic gestures, before a large crowd assembled at Shadow Lawn, he defended the eight-hour eight-hour day and declared also that the nation na-tion must be freed from the possibility of interference with its commerce. Business Busi-ness men from various parts of New Jersey interrupted the president with handelapping and cheering. "The chief cloud that is upon the domestic do-mestic horizon is the unsatisfactory relations re-lations of capital and labor," the president presi-dent said, adding that "so Jong as labor la-bor and capital stand antagonistic the interests of both are injured and the prosperity of America is held back from the triumphs which are legitimately its own." Bright Future for Business. Mr. Wilson spoke of the bright future fu-ture for American business and then launched directly into a discussion of the railroad situation. Without directly direct-ly mentioning Charles E. Hughes, the Republican nominee, the president brought in tho Republican party by saying say-ing that about seventy Republicans supported sup-ported the eight-hour day in the house of representatives and senate Republicans Repub-licans put no obstacle in the way of the passage of the measure. "This was because the proposal was reasonable and was based upon the right," asserted Mr. Wilson. Question Not Arbitrable. The president, met the arguments that the railroad question should have been arbitrated with the flat statement that he did not believe tho eight-hour day an arbitrable question. Means of preventing a repetition of the threatened railroad strike were taken up in detail. The president said: "It will be intolerable if at any time any group of men by any process 'should be suffered to cut society off from the necessary supplies which sustain life. ' ' After talking for twenty minutes about the railroad problem, the president presi-dent discussed business generally. He said that business men in America have had their real commercial strength put at their service by such measures as the federal reserve act and now arc on their mettle. Speaks From Porch. M r. Wilson spoke from the porch of Shadow Lawn. He was int rod need bv W. P. riunyon of Perth Am boy, N. X., who said the men in all part's of the country were organizing to secure the president 's re-election. After his speech, the 'resident stood for thirty minutes on the porch a nd shook hands with everybody present. "Mrs. Wilson stood by hU side and near by were Attorney General Gregory. Pc-t-master Genera! Burleson, ' 'olonej E. M.-House. M.-House. Henry M or gent hau, former embassador em-bassador to Turkey, and Jacob Sehiff. M r. Wilsnn today bepan mak ing ar-raneements ar-raneements for trips to the middle, west iu October to speak' before non-parti'-nn organizations on public questions. In addition to accepting definitely nn invitation invi-tation to speak iu Omaha on October -j. tentative plans were begun for him to visit (.'hieago. He already 1 rd decided to go to 1 ndianapolis on October 1 2. Attorney General Gregory disciie-of with the president the selection of Knifed Knif-ed States di-tri'-t judges in Ohio. Louisiana Lou-isiana and New Mexico. Walter Hines Page. American embassador to Grept Britain, v. ho came here a.t niht to -ec the president, left this afternoon. Address in Full. I'r--s: kant U'd.on's spec-h, in full, fo- Mr. Chi i -man. Gntlf rr.f-n of thr-T;isir,r-s Men's Ix-a K'-U-s. Ladies ami I n v;'-'l Iiot !! ni v.' hat q ypie. of crnit'-;-wu it zcr. tr,p lhat von (Continued on Page Two.) WILSON OPENS HIS CAMPAIGN JIT HOME (Continued from Page One.) should come bearing this generous - message which I have just heard from your chairman. There is a sense in which the business men of America Amer-ica represent America, because America Amer-ica has devoted herself time out of mind to the arts and achievements of peace, and business is the organization or-ganization of energies of peace. No one who looks about, upon the field of American business, at the present moment can fail to realize that a new breath and spirit have come into the business of America. There have been times when it looked as if Amerira were interested only in herself, but in tliese recent years American business men have lifted their eyes to more distant horizons find have seen how the markets mar-kets of the world were waiting for their service, and na they have sought and obtained entrance into the markets mar-kets a new vision has come to them, of what the development of the resources re-sources of America means, of what the organization of American efficiency ef-ficiency means; of why it was that A merican merchants and American manufacturers, atid American miners and all the multitude of men who have developed the peaceful industries of America, were planted under this free policy In order that they might look out upon the service of mankind and perform it. Beginning of New Era. There never was a time when the pulse of energy and success beat so strongly In the veins of American business as it beats today. And yet I hope tlmt all business men in America Amer-ica realize that we- are only at the j beginning of a new era. America has ; not played its proportionate part in the development of the trade of the world. I mean that it has not played a part proportionate to the gifts of Americans and the resources of America, Amer-ica, and that in the times to come, partly because of the unhappy circumstances cir-cumstances of recent years, but chiefly because America is now about to release her energies, the scope of American business wljl be what men have hitherto not dreamed of, if American men know how" to take advantage ad-vantage of the opportunity. The problems that are before American business are world problems prob-lems rather than American domestic problems. America must understand the world in order to subject it to its peaceful service. And yet when we look upon the field of American business busi-ness there are some things that disturb dis-turb us. Some men seem to think that the way to advance American business is to walk backward and to attempt again the provincial policies pol-icies which have characterized an age when we shut our doors against influences in-fluences of the world. Cloud Upon Horizon. Fut the chief cloud that is upon the domestic horizon is the unsatisfactory relations of capital and labor. There Is only one way. gentlemen, in which the relations of capital and labor can be rendered satisfactory. That is by, in the first place, regarding labor as a human relationship of men with men: and. In the second place, to regard re-gard labor as part of the general partnership part-nership of energy which is going to make for the success of business and businesj enterprise in this country. So long as labor and capital stand antagonistic, the Interests of both are injured and the prosperity of America Amer-ica is held back from the triumphs which are legitimately Its own. You know that we have been a legalistic le-galistic people. I say with all due respect to some men for whom I have a high esteem, that we have been too much under the guidance of the lawyers, law-yers, and that the lawyer has always regarded the relations between the employer and the employee as merely a contractual relationship, whereas, it Is. while based upon contract, very much more than contractual relationship. rela-tionship. It is a relationship between one set of men and another set of men with hearts under their jackets and with interests that they ought to serve in common with persons whom they love and must support on the one side and on the other. Labor Not a Commodity. Jjabov is not a commodity. It Is a form of co-operation, and if I can make a man believe in me, know that 1 am just, know that I want to share the profits of success with him, I can get ten times as much out of him as if he thought I were his antagonist. A nd his lahor is cheap at any price. That is the human side of it, and the human side extends to this conception, concep-tion, that that laboring man is a partner part-ner of his employer. If he is a mere tool of his employer he Is only as serviceable as a tool. His enthusiasm does not go Into it. He does not plan how the work shall be better done. He does not look upon the aspect of the business or enterprise as a whole and wish to cooperate co-operate the advantage of his brains' and his invention to the success of it as a whole. Human relationships, my feHow citizens, are governed by the heart, and if the heart is not in it nothing is in it. Distressing Experience. have recently been through an experience ex-perience which distressed me. I tried to accommodate a difference, between some of the employees of the American Ameri-can railwas aid the executives of the An:eri'-an railways, and the distressing dis-tressing thine I discovered was that on the one hand tlire was unlimited suspicion and distrust of the other side, and that that suspicion and distrust dis-trust was returned by the other side in full measure. ' The executive? did not believe In tl'A sincerity of the men, and the men Mid not believe in tn sincerity and rairnss of the executive., and" while arbitration was being discussed I had this aad thought: Arbitration is a word associated with t he dealings of hostile interests. It is an altemathe of war. There ought to be no such thing as the contemplation uf hostility hos-tility as between men whose interests are the same and who should co-operate together. And, therefore, it came upon me with a force that It had never had before, that the real problem of capital capi-tal and labor was to bring the two sides to understand and believe in one another; that the problem of the next generation, it' America were really tu release her energy, was to be this real, genuine, fundamental reconciliation reconcilia-tion between capital and labor. Great Task Worth While. I did not realize until I held those conferences just how far apart ihey were In that particular and indispensable indis-pensable part of our national life, the transport a lion of the country, and when I did realize it, I saw that there was n great task that was worth any man's while ahead of us. to bring the minds of the country together to see that tiie men understood one another, anoth-er, and to gee that they had some assurance as-surance that they were speaking the t rut!) to cne another. 1 never had franker conferences in my life than I had with the representatives of the two sides. You know that when the public began be-gan to notice this controversy.' it already had been going on for some time. 1 had been watching it with great anxiety, and when it became evident that an accommodation was not going to be reached. I thought it my duty to try my hand at the difficult diffi-cult task of accommodation, because I knew how much was involved, not i only in the immediate effects of a great strike such as was threatened, but also In tnc ultimate effects, the soreness left, the resentment that would remain, the feeling of hostility that would be accentuated; and so I asked the privilege of consulting with them. Learned the Facts. Before I consulted with them. I, of course, made myself acquainted with the points at controversy, and 1 learned that they were very simple indeed : that tiie men demanded an eight-hour day and that in order to make the eight-hour day work they demanded that the railroads pay them one-half more for overtime than they paid them for the time in the regular day, the men alleging that that was the only way they could obtain a genuine eight-hour day, by making the railroads pay more for the time beyond the eight hours than they paid for the time within the eight hours. I saw at once that there was one part of this that was arbitrable, but that in my opinion there was, another part-that part-that was not arbitrable. I do not regard the question of the principle of the eight -hour dav as arbitrable. The first thing 1 told both sides before be-fore I requested their opinion was that I stood for the eight-hour day. I received no suggestion of any kind from either side as to when the basis of settlement was to be except that the i ail road executives did suggest that congress give them some sort of assurance that if the eight-hour day went into operation, they would get increased rates for tiie carriage of their frieght. I pointed out to them that it was impossible to tell whether they would need Increased rates for the carriage or their freights. Theory of Eight-Hour Day. We believe in the eight-hour day because a man does better work within with-in eight hours than he does within a more extended day, and the whole theory of it, a theory which is sustained sus-tained by abundant experience, is that his efficiency is increased, his spirit in his work is improved, and the whole moral and physical vigor of the man is added to. This is no longer conjectural. Where it has been tried, it has been demonstrated. The Judgment of society, so-ciety, the vote of every legislature in America that has voted upon it is a verdict in favor of the eight-hour day. And. therefore, I said to those gentlemen gen-tlemen on both sides at the very beginning: be-ginning: "The eight-hour day ought to be conceded." But they said: "It will cost us an Immense sum of money." "How do you know how much it will cost you?" I asked. You remember there was a case decided by the supreme court of the United States. It was known as the, SO-cent gas case, where, by legisla-' tion in the state of New York. 80 cents was established as the charge for the unit of the supply of gas, and the law wa3 contested upon the ground that it was confiscatory and therefore unconstitutional. And when the appeal readied the supreme court of the United States, it said : "Xobody can tell until you try to manufacture gas at 80 cents whether it is confiscatory or not. Go ahead and manufacture gas and sell it for SO cents and then if It proves impossible to conduct your business upon that charge, come back and discuss with us the confiscatory character char-acter of this act." And it may be re- ' marked in passing that the company' never went back to discuss it. Proposal to Railroad Men. T said to the railroad executives: "You are asking that the result of the eight-hour day be predicted and the prediction be arbitrated. You are asking for an arbitration of a conjecture, con-jecture, of an opinion, of a forecast of the figures of experts based upon an entirely different experience, and if you were to ask me personally to arbitrate such a question I would say I am not competent to arbitrate it. "The reasonable thing to do is to grant the eight-hour . day. not because be-cause the men demand it. but because be-cause it is right, and let me get authority au-thority from congress to appoint a commission of as impartial a nature as 1 can choose to observe the results re-sults and report upon the results, in order ;hat justice may in any event lie done the railroads in respect to the cost of the experiment." That was the proposal which thev rejected and which congress put into law. a proposal which I made to them before I conferred with it, which T urged upon them at every conference, and which, when the one side rejected re-jected and the other side accepted. I went to congress and asked congress con-gress to enact. I did not ask either side whether It suited them, and T requested my friends in congress con-gress not to ask either side whether it suited them. I learned before the controversy began, so far as I was concerned in it. that the whole temper of tiie legislative body of the T'nited States was in favor of the eight-hour day. Vote on the Bill. When I carried it to congress some very- interesting things happened, in the house of representatives the pi mi was passed, was sanctioned by a vote which included, I am told, about seventy sev-enty Republicans as against liny-four liny-four Republicans: and in the senate. T am Informed that the Republican members of the senate held a conference confer-ence in which they determined to put no obstacle in The way of the piissaze of the bill. Now. this wns because the proposal was reasonable and nap based upon right. But. la-Jics and gentlemen, that is not the end of the story. This thing ought to have been done, and it had to be done at the time that it was done, so as to bring about a reasonable reasona-ble trial of the eight-hour day and a careful examination or the results of the eight-hour day. But that does not finish the matter. Iet me call vour attention to what I believe we ought all to be thinking about, so as to set the stage for this and all similar simi-lar cases. Interests of Society. Therev are some things in which societv is so profoundly interested that its interests take precedence of the interests of any group of men whatever. One of these things is tiie supnlv of the absolute necessaries of life.' It would be intolerable if at any time anv group of men, by any process, 'should be suffered to cut societv off frorti the necessary supplies sup-plies "which sustain life. But these supplies are of no use unless thev can be distributed, and in the matter of the distribution of goods, particularly of the goods that sustain life and industry, the interest j of societv is paramount to every : other interest; and the difficulty j about all situations like that which we have just passed through is this, that the main partner is left out of the reckoning. These men were dealing deal-ing with one another as if the only thing to settle was between themselves, them-selves, whereas the real thing to settle set-tle was what rights had the hundred .million people of the United Stales. The business of government is to see that no other organization is as strong as itself, to see that nobody or group of men, no matter what their private interest is, may come into competition with the authority of societv; and the problem which congress, because of the lateness of the session, has for a few months postponed post-poned is this problem: By what means are we going to oblige persons who come to a controversy like this to admit the public into the partnership partner-ship by which the thing is discussed and decided? That is not an easy problem. A great many different methods have been proposed and one of the reasons why congress thought it necessary to postpone the decision for a few months was that there were so many honest differences of opinion, not as to the object, but as to the method. Suggests a Test. I want to suggest to you a means of testing your fellow men as to whether thev know what they are talking about or not. 11 is not necessary nec-essary for a man to come and argue with me an obvious moral principle, I but I om very much interested when he comes and'argues with me how he is going to make it work. And when men say "We must not permit any organization to neglect the interests of society," 1 say, "Amen, but what I want to sit down and discuss with vou is, how are we going to prevent pre-vent it?" The only thing worth talking talk-ing about ir. politics, or any other sphere is the constructive idea: "How ; are vou going to do it?" We all j know", or at any rate we pretend to know, what we ought to do, but we do not all know how to do it, and the very difficult question which the American people are now face to face with, and which they are going to settle, .is this: ''How are we going to organize our participation as a partner in the settlement of disputes between capital find labor which interrupt in-terrupt tiie ilfe of the nation'.'" I invite in-vite all subscribers to suggest a method. Tiie Muestlon is apt to be obscured in some quarters, as if we were saying say-ing that it was the right, of the government gov-ernment or of organized society, which is another term for the same thing, to say to a ma n : "You must work whether you want to or not." Amerira Amer-ira is never going to say to any individual: in-dividual: "Vou must work whether you want to or not." But it is privileged to say to an organization of person's: "Vou must not interrupt the national life without consulting us." H is not a question of obliging individuals; in-dividuals; it is a question of enforcing enforc-ing a partnership and seeing to it that no organization is stronger than that organization which we all belong be-long to and support and call and love by " the name of our own government. govern-ment. So 1 laid a programme before ton-cress ton-cress by which. n any rate, a beginning be-ginning m:sht be made in th.tl direction, direc-tion, ai:d that programme is going to he proceeded with. It is no fi.n talking unless ynu ran etvrt to do so thin-. Tiie only zest thjt evei con1."? into affair for a nvm with rrd blood in his elns ' i tiie ,f'St lh;it omcF . when b is put fo It to think nut a diff iu't thing and do it, and I, for my part. congratulate the business men of America that some of their difficulties difficul-ties have i.'ceni removed by legislation: legisla-tion: that they have been fortified against certain forms of control which must have been intolerable to them ; that they have had their real commercial com-mercial strength put at their service by such acts as the federal reserve art. for example, and that now. if they think they can conquer tiie world, it is up to them to do it: and that nobody no-body is going to assist them, because it is a thing in which they cannoV. be assisted by anything but their own brain. We are now out in the open, competitors for the confidence of the world, and (here is only one -way to get it, and that is to earn it. 1 cannot imagine anything more inspiring in-spiring than to be put on your mettle after legislation has taken the shackles off you and appraised you. You know that you are no man's servant. ser-vant. Reaction in this matter would shut us up like a province. To turn back upon any portion of the road we have traveled would be craven. To pretend that we are able to compete v.ith the world and then cringe at the opportunity would not be worthy of any of the traditions of America, and so, for my part, T am particularly-'proud to be supported bv the business opinion of American men. because I know7 myself to have a great enthusiasm for the triumphant development of American enterprise throughout the world. |