Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1908-05-22
SENATORS DIFFER
ON CHILD LABOR
EARLY SHELTERED LIFE OPPOSED
BY SELF-MADE STATES
MEN.
QUOTE OWN EXPERIENCES.
Nelson Drove Oxen, and Worked II
Blacksmith Shcp-Teller and
Piles Worked When Boys.
MEASURE STILL IN DISPUTE.

WASHINGTON, u. c., May 1S.-The
discussion of the bills to regulate the en-
ployment of child labor in the District OF
Columbia has occupied the time of the
Senate considerably of late, and ii
brought out many interesting facts con,
corning the early life Of the members OF
the upper house of Congress. 1t was
noticeable, too, that the advocates of the
measure are senators who as u rule may
be said to have been born to the pur-
pie. Senator Lodge, who is recognized
rs one Of the best educated men in the
Senate was particularly strenuous in his
advocacy Of law to prevent a boy from
earning his own support before reaching
the age OF fourteen. Senator Beveridge
who has lived under a smiling sky nearly
All his life, and who is the author of a
child labor bill to apply TO the whole
country was another champion of the
measure. But there are senators who
have been through the ruStling stage and
they were the advocates of the oppor-
;uuily for 4 youngster 10 start early il
life to carve out a career. Senator Mel
son Of Minnesota. told Of his early strug-
giles. He said:
Il speak from my own experience, Mr.
President. From the time | was IL years
old | was obliged 10 work for my living.
When l was y years old l walked be-
hind pillow and yoke of cattle and held
the pillow. and l want to say to the
senators, it was the proudest moment
Of my life when | was able to guide that
plow and drive those oxen. | have al
ways felt that whatever success | have
had III life. is owing to the fact that
from the time l was little boy | was
obliged TO work for my living; and |
have always felt that the best part of my
education was the education that taught
me how to work and labor and earn my
own living ii my younger days"
Senator Beveridge tried to pin him
down to an admission that all his early
work for d living was performed in the
open air. but the sturdy Norwegian boy
added: Il worked in blacksmith shop. |
worked in a paint shop. | worked i'll u
store. In other words | boxed the com
pass when | was a boy in the way of
employment"
Senator Teller of Colorado, who was
born on a farm in western New York,
and who did all sorts of farm work in
his teens, while supporting the general
provisions Of the bill. thought that the
boys of this generation should not be de-
prived of the opportunities which We're
enjoyed by the youngsters of half a cen
fury ago. And the senator knows some
thing Of these opportunities, for when he
entered the Senate upon the admission
of Colorado in 1876, he had as colleagues
five other boys" who had worked with
him in the harvest fields of the valley of
the Genesee river before he had ever
heard of the United States Senate.
Senator Piles of Washington said that
the greater portion Of his life had been
spent on the plains and among the
mountains Of the west, and he insisted
that the boy of u or Il should not be
deprived of the opportunity to earn
few dollars during the vacation, and be
fore and after school.
The bill as originally drawn would pre-
vent any boy in the District of Columbia,
under the age of IA, from carrying
newspaper route on a winter morning
nor would he be permitted to deliver
evening newspapers after shutdown! 1t
was designed to keep children of tender
years out of factories and workshops.
But numerous amendments We're adopted
before the bill came to a final vote. 1t
is probable that still other amendments
will be incorporated before it passes the
House and that some months will elapse
before the law can be fully tested in the
District of Columbia. 1t is admitted to
be the most drastic of the kind upon the
statutes of any state or territory Of the
union.