Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1903 — PRESIDENT DECIDES FOR MILLER [ARTICLE]

PRESIDENT DECIDES FOR MILLER

Government Cannot Accept Dictation from Any Organisation. President Roosevelt refuses to dismiss Foreman W. A. Miller from the government printing office because of the objections of labor unions. His decision, which he said was final, was formally announced Tuesday night at the White House at a conference with officials of the American Federation of At the close of the conference a statement was given out to the press quoting the President as saying to the labor leaders: “As regards the Miller case, I have little to add to what I have already said. In dealing with it I nsk you to remember that I am dealing purely with the relation of the government to its employes. I must govern my action by the laws of the land, which I am sworn to administer, and which differentiate any case in which the government of the United States is a party from all other cases whatsoever. “These laws are enacted for the benefit of the whole people, and cannot and must not be construed ns permitting discrimination against some of the people. I am President of nil the people of the United States without regard to creed, color, birthplace, occupation or social conditions. My aim is to do equal- and justice ns among them all. “In the employment and dismissal ot men in the government service I can no more recognize the fact that a man does or does not belong to a union as being for or against him than I can recognize the fact that he is a Protestant or a Catholic, a Jew or a Gentile, as being for or against him. “In the communications sent me by various labor organizations protesting against the retention of Miller in the government printing office, the grounds alleged are two-fold: (1) That he is a non-union man; (2) that he is not personally fit, “The question of his personal fitness is one to be settled in the routine of administrative detail, and cannot be allowed to conflict with or to complicate the larger question of governmental discrimination for or against him or any other man because he is or is not a member of a union. “This is the only question now before me for decision, and as to this my decision is final.”