The President's Duty Done

It is now stated that although Foreman Miller has resumed his position in the government printing office and that the International Brotherhood of Bookbinders has postponed action in the case for thirty days.

According to reports, the civil service commission has made a careful examination into the case of Miller and found him competent and honest and trustworthy and with habits which make him a satisfactory government workman in all ways. If this be true and Miller is in all ways fitted for the work he is engaged in, it will not appear to the mass of people why the government should make any other requirements of him. The laws of the country are superior to the rules of any organization and, when the president has satisfied himself that a man holding a government position is qualified in all ways for the work of the position sought or occupied, that is as far as his duty requires him to go. He might just as reasonably require a government employee to belong to the Baptist church or the Methodist, as to require him to belong to the bookbinders' union. The Chicago Post puts this matter correctly in quoting President Gompers as follows:

"In deciding not to strike at present the Brotherhood is following the wise counsel of President Gompers of the American Federation of Labor. He asserts that the Brotherhood should stand by the President because he is simply enforcing the law. And the Brotherhood will be wise in acknowledging the full force of this statement and in making no further attempt to place the national statutes secondary to the rules and regulations of this organization."