The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1906-12-29
FOR BEVERIDGE BILL
Nebraska Teachers IndOrSe
Fight on Child Labor.
SENATOR'S SPEECH PIEASES
Indianian Addresses the Association,
Telling OF OutFages of Stunning
CitizenshiD-ExpIai Provisions of
Measure Now Before Congress to
Three Thousand PedaEOgues.
Special to The Washington Herald.


Lincoln, Nebr Dec. 2S.-After listening
to speech against child labor delivered
by Senator Albert J. Beveridge. before
the Nebraska state Teachers Association,
5000 public school teachers to-day de-
clared in favor of his BILL indorsing it
by name, as the Beverage child labor
bill. in resolutions demanding their Sen
ators and Congressman to support it.
Senator Beveridge attacked child labor
as an Institution sapping the foundations
Of the nation, and said, in part:
The last four years have proved that
we understand the highest use of pros
perity. which is not only food and cloth
1ns md luxury but also strength and
leisure to think on righteousness and to
enact conscience into statutes This
American moral revival proves that We
have not lost sight Of the purpose for which
this republic was founded-the making
of citizenship, Of character of better,
happier men and women. Free institu-
tions have no reason for existence un-
less they make human life more worth
the living.
Praises President Roosevelt.
I'VE have been going too fast in our
material activities, even from the view
point of solid prosperity itself. We are
living too high too feveTishly. For ex-
ample, all over the country there are
thousands of homes mortgaged to get
automobiles. In great affairs We have
been on the edge Of running development
into exploitation. If Theodore Roosevelt
had not put or the brakes we would
II
His restraining hand upon the reins
of the wild horses Of commercial frenzy,
for which certain men call him a rad
ical. really proves that he is the wisest
conservative in the nation. Nothing
shows how greed forgets humanity as
much as the child slavery in certain sec
tions of this country. There is something
wrong with a prosperity which is so i'm
mense that it finally comes to feed upon
the lives of little children.
There are. at a low estimate, half a
million children under fourteen years
of age at work in cotton mills glass fac
tories. sweat shops. mines. and other ike
industries It is probable that there are
more than million Of these. And those
whom such toll does not kill are being
literally ruined for citizenship. We are
turning out. at a low estimate. 100000
adult London 'HOOligans' every year;
ana these become in turn parents Of hun
dreds of thousands OF other degenerates.
And so this civic pesttlence riots and
spreads.
Child Labor Must BE stopped.
1T has got 10 be stopped-if not for the
sake Of these children themselves, then
for our own sake; if not for the sake Of
common humanity. then for the sake Of
the republics safety.
This national evil can only he reached
by a national remedy. We cannot leave it
10 the States. acting separately. The
States will never pass uniform laws or
execute them equally. Even if that end
could ever be secured, it would take a
generation at least. Meanwhile a million
children would be murdered and millions
of others grow to maturity. knowing that
they had been irretrievably ruined. and
hating with a quenchlesS hatred the So
ciety that permitted that ruin. We can
not thus sacrifice human life and free
citizenship to please anybody. either theo-
rists or demagogues or milIionaires.
Il have presented a bill to wipe out this
national evil and national disgrace by ma
tOnal regulation. It provides that no car
rier of Interstate commerce shall trans
port the products Of any factory or mine
that employs children under fourteen
years of age.
Law Requires No Inspectors.
1T does not require single Federal in
spector or necessitate a single extra clerk
in railroad. factory, or mine. II merely
requires an affidavit in form prescribed
by the Secretary Of the Department Of
Commerce and Labor to be filed with the
railroad by the proper officer Of factory or
mine named in the bill. stating that such
factory or mine does not, and for six
months previously has not. employed chill
dren under fourteen years Of age. This
affidavit is to be fled twice year. on the
first Of January and the first OF July
Fine and imprisonment are provided for
the violation of the act: and when any
information is received from any source
that any factory or mine is employing
child labor or that any railroad is in col
fusion with factory or mine in transport
ing child-labor products. the Department
Of Justice begins prosecution
1.-THE bin is so simple and effective that
its worst enemies admit that il will cure
the evil, and no question of States rights
is involved. and We are going TO pass il -