The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-12-06

away with the competition OF convict
contract labor in the open labor mar
ket. So far as practicable under the
conditions of government: work, pro-
vision should be made. to render the
enforcement of the eight-hour law
easy and certain. In all industries
carried on directly or indirectly for
the United States government, women
and children should be protected
from excessive hours of labor, from
night work and from work under I'M
sanitary conditions. The government
should provide in it's contract that
all work should be done under fail"
conditions, and in addition to setting
a high standard should uphold it by
proper inspection, extending, II neces-
sary, to the sub-contractors. The gov
| eminent should forbid all night work
for and children, as well as
| excessive overtime. For the District
of Columbia a good factory law should
be passed, and as a powerful indirect
aid to such laws, provisions should be
made to turn the inhabited alleys,
the existence of which is a reproach
to our capital city, into minor streets,
where the inhabitants may be healthy.
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 n side
the betterment of social conditions,
moral and physical, in large cities,
and for another side, the effort to deal
with that tangle of fa%r-reaching ques-
tions which we group together when
we speak of labor" The chief fac
tor in the success OF each man-wage
worker, farmer and capitalist, alike
must ever be the sum total of his own
individual qualities and abilities.
Second only to this comes the power
of acting in combination or associa-
ton with others. Very great good
has been, and will be accomplished
by associations or unions of wage
workers, when managed with fore
thought and when they combine in
sistence Upon their own rights with
law-abiding respect for the rights of
others. The display of these qualities
in such bodies is a duty to the nation,
no less than to the associations them
selves. Finally, there must also in
many cases be action by the govern
ment in order to safeguard the rights
of all. Under our constitution there
is much more scope for such action
by the state and the municipality than
blythe. nation. But on points such as
those touched on above the national
government can act.
Each man must work for himself,
and unless he SO works no outside
help can avail him, but each nan must
remember also that he is indeed his
brothers keeper, and that while no
a who refuses to walk can be car
ried with advantage to himself or any
one else, yet each at times needs to
have the helping hand outstretched
to him. To be permanently effective,
aid must always take the form of
!, helping a man to help himself and we
a all best help ourselves by Joining
together in the work that is of com
mon interest to all.
l immigration.
Our present immigration laws are
unsatisfactory. We need every honest
and efficient immigrant fitted to be-
come an American citizen, every immi-
grant who comes here to stay, who
brings here a strong body, a stout
heart, a good head and a resolute pur.
! pose to do his duty well in every
' way and to bring up his children as
. ~law-abiding and God-fearing members
! of the community. But there should
. be a comprehensive law enacted with
e the object of working a threefold i'm.
t provement over our present system
First, we should aim to exclude abso'
r lutely not only ali persons who are
$ known to be believers in anarchistio
principles Or members of a%narchistic
societies, but also a II persons who are
of low a moral tendency or of un
d savory reputation. This means thai
we, should require a more thorough
d system of inspection abroad and
more rigid system of examination al
e our immigration ports, the former be
e ing especially necessary.
e The second object OF a proper i'm
e migration law ought to be to secure
by a careful and not merely perfume
8 tory educational test some-intelligen
h capacity to appreciate American in
J. situations and act sanely as Ameri
can citizens. This would not keep on
all anarchists, for many of them be
It long to the intelligent criminal class
# But it would d O what is also in point
e that is, tend to decrease the sum o
e ignorance, so potent in producing thu
e envy, suspicion, Malignant passion
and hatred Of order out of which an
.e archistic sentiment inevitably springs
r. Finally, al persons should be excluded
who are below a certain standard o
,e economic fitness to enter u indus
trial field as competitors with Amer
G. can labor. There should be prope
If proof of personal capacity to ear
IL an American living and enough none,
ID to insure a decent start under Amer.
can conditions. This would stop tn
influx of cheap labor, and the result
k ing competition which gives rise t
d so much of bitterness in America,
Industrial life: and it would dry u
the springs of the p~estilential socia
conditions in u great cities, wher
anarchistic organizations have thei
III greatest possibility of growth.
as Both the educational and economi
If tests in a wise immigration law shout
re be designed to protect and elevate tn
at general body polite and social.
is very close supervision should be exc