The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-10-05

| ldM dlihG OS llSLA Stlttl pOOIs Dy SA ANS"'
 and small; on the contrary, they are
 ceaselessly on the watch to cry out that the Constitution is violated whenever any eeffort is made to invoke
 the aid of the national government
 whether for the efficient regulation ot
 railroads, for the efficient supervision
 of great corporations, or for efficiently
 securing obedience to such a law as the
 national eight-hour law and similar so.
 called "labor statutes"
 The doctrine they preach would
 make the Constitution merely the
 shield of Incompetence and the excuse flor governmental paralysis; they
 treat. it as a justification for refusing Ito attempt the remedy of evil, instead
 of as the source of vital power neces-
 sary for the existence of mighty and
 ever-growing nation.
 Strong nationali33 tho an, and firm
 tho my beief is that there must be a
 wide extension of the power of the na-
 tional government u deal with ques-
 tions of this kind, 1 freely admi. that
 as regards many matters of first-rate
 importance we must rely purely upon
 the states for the battenment of present
 conditions. The several states mus; do
 their duty or our citizenship can never
 be put on prooer plano. Therefore I
 most heartily congratulate the people
 of the state of Pennsylvania on what I its legislature upon what it's govern
 ment, has accomplished during this
 present year. It is a remarkable rec
 ord of achievement.
 Thru your legislature you have abo,- ished passes; you have placed the of-
 fees of the secretary of the common
 weather and the insurance commis- sioner upon an honorable and honest
 basis of salary only by abolishing the fee system, you have past law com Ipelling the officers and employees of great cities to attend t0 the duties for
 which they are paid by all the taxpay-
 CTS, and to refrain from using the POW CT conferred by their ofi.es to influ- ence political campaigns, you have prohibited the solicitation or receiving of political assessments by city en- playes; you have by law protacted the state treasury from depredation and conserved the puhlic moneys for use only in the public Int est you have
 by law for the pro.9cti1n of the elec- tive franchise made tamperng with the lpallot boxes and the casting of Illegal votes so difficult as in all probability to be unprotitable yoN have provided Q primary election law which guaran- tees to the voters free expression in the selection of candida-es for office; you have by law regulated and im- proved the civil service systems of your greatest cities; and finally, you have past law containing a provision which l most earnestly hope will in substance be embodied likewise in a law by the congress at the coming ses- sion-a provision prohibiting the of- fcers of any corporation from making contribution of the money of that corporation to any candidate or any political committee for the payment of any election expenses whatever
 It is surely not too much to say that this body of substantative legislation marks an epoch in the history of the practical betterment of political condi- tions, not merely for your state, but for all our states. I do not recall any other state legislature which, in a sim- liar length of time, has to it's credit such a body of admirable legislation. Let me, however, most earnestly urge that your legislature continue this re- cord of public service by enacting one or two additional laws. Ane subject which every good citizen should have at heart above all others is the matter of child labor. Everywhere the great growth of modern industrialism has been accompanied by abuses in connec- tion with the employment of labor which have necessitated complete change in the attitude of the state to- ward labor.
 This is above all true in connection with the employment of child labor. 1 In Pennsylvania you have made a be- but only beginning, in pro- per legislation and administration on this subject; the law must if necessary be strengthened and it must be rigor- 1usly enforced. The national govern 1 ment can do but little in the matter of child labor, tho I earnestly hope that that little vii be permitted to be done by congress. The great bulk, of the work however, must be left to the | state legislatures; and if our state leg lslatures would act as drastically and yet as wisely on this subject of child labor as Pennsylvania haas acted with | in the present year as regards the sub l iects I have enumerated above. the gain would be literally incalculable; 1 and one of the most vital needs of | modern American life would at last be | met.
 So much for the state. Now for the | nation; and here I can not do better than base my theory of governmental action upon the words and deeds of one of Pennsylvania's s greatest sons, Justice James Wilson. Wilson's career has | been singularly overlooked for many years, but believe that more and more it is now being adequately appre- 'iated; and I congratulate your state lpon the fact that Wilson's body is to | be taken away from where it now restsI and brought back to lie, as it should, in Pennsylvania soil. He was signer of he Declaration of Independence. He was one of the men who saw that the Revolution, in which he had served as 3 soldier, would be utterly fruitless un- less it was followed by a close and per- manent union of the states; and in the constitutional convention, and in se- curing the adoption of the Constitution and expounding what it meant, he rem lerad sar.!.inas n1-n,, a..