The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1906-12-05
Part 2.

tween such a reactionary and such an
agitator fundamentally. they are alike
in their selfish disregard of the rights
of others; and it is natural that they
should join in opposition to any move
ment of which the aim is fearlessly to
do exact and even justice to all.
Railroad Employees Hours and Eight
Hour Law.
I call your attention to the need of
passing the bill limiting the number Of
hours of employment Of railroad en-
ployes. The measure is very mod
crate one and I can conceive of no seri-
GUS objection to it. Indeed, so far as It
is in our power it should be our aim
steadily to reduce the number of hours
of labor, with as a goal the general in
PRODUCTION of an eight-hour day There
are industries in which it is not posi-
BILE that the hours Of labor should be
reduced; just as there are communities
not far enough advanced for such a
movement to be for their good, or, If in
the tropics, so situated that there is no
analogy between their needs and ours
in this matter. On the Isthmus of
Panama, for instance, the conditions
are in every way so different from
what they are here that an eight-hour
day would be absurd; just as it is abb
surd, so far as the Isthmus is con-
| oerned, where white labor can not be
employed, to bother as Ito whether the
necessary work Is done by alien black
men or by alien yellow men. But the
wage-workers of the United States are
of so high grade that alike from the
merely industrial standpoint and from
| the civic standpoint 1t should be our
object to do what we can in the direc-
ton of securing the general Observance
of an eight-hour day. Until recently
the eight-hour law on our Federal
statute books has been very scantily
observed Now, however, largely thru
the instrumentality of the Bureau Of
Labor, it is being rigidly enforced. and
1 shall speedily be able to say whether
/ or not there is need of further legisla-
ton in reference thereto for our pur-
pose is to see 1t obeyed in spirit no less
than in letter. Half holidays during
summer should be established for gov
eminent employees; it is as desirable
for wage-workers who toll with their
hands as for salaried officials whose La
Dor is mental that there should be q
reasonable amount of holiday.
Labor Of Women and Children.
\ The congress at its last session wise-
" provided for truant court for the
District of columbia; marked step in
advance on the path of properly caring
for the children. Let me again urge
}, that the congress provide for thoro
investigation of the conditions of child
labor and of the labor of women in the
United States. More and more our peo-
!. pie are growing to recognize the fact
/, that the questions which are not mere
" Of industrial but Of social impor-
lance outweigh all others; and these
!. two questions most emphatically come
in the category of those which affect in
the far7reaching way the home life of
} the Nation, The horrors incident TO
the employment of young children in
| factories or at work anywhere are a.
blot on our civilization. 1t is true that
} each state must ultimately settle the
question in it's own way; but thoro
official Investigation of the matter,
with the results published broadcast,
would greatly help toward arousing the
public conscience and securing unity Of
state action In the matter. There is,
however one law on the subject which
should be enacted Immediately because
there is no need for an investigation IN
reference thereto, and the failure TO en-
, act it is discreditable to the national
, government. A drastic and thorogoing
child-labor law should be enacted for
the District of Columbia and the ter-
! ritories
Employers Liability.