The Washington herald., 1908-01-18
Elected Honorary Member OF
Forum There.
MEANING OF THE TINES
Indiana Statesman Gets an Ovation
After Making Address on Present.
day Conditions and DaBgers-De-
mands Measures Against Child
LabOr-Must Guard Our Resources.

Albert j. Beveridge. OF Indiana. got an
enthusiastic reception here tonight from
the Yale students when he addressed the
law schoolmen under the auspices OF the
Forum on "The meaning Of the times. "
Hundreds were turned away.
Immediately upon the conclusion OF his
speech Beveridge was chosen an honorary
member of the Yale Forum A tremen-
dous ovation ensued.
Senator Beverage in his address said
the meaning OF the hour was that every
body should play the game fair. lie said
that whenever an attempt was made TO
right a wrong il brought suffering. ana
that the righting Of American business
methods had brought pain.
He predicts that the process would go
on despite the cries of those who were
hurt, and that the march in the right
direction would continue until the tariff
had been revised; child labor had been
abolished by national legislation, and the
public had been protected from watered
stock schemes.
He advocated the appointment OF
tariff commission. and said. in his judg
ment history will class President Roose-
welt with Washington and Lincoln.
Senator Beveridge's Speech.
Senator Beverage said, in part:
THE meaning OF the times is the or
ganization OF honesty The nation Is
writing into law. for all men to obey.
those rules Of fair dealing which. without
any law, most men already obey.
Nothing wrong is ever made right
without pain. There is no such thing as
a comfortable reform.
we have been busy with material
things. making money, building railroads.
sinking mines, occupying land; busy with
trade and the development OF resources.
All this was good. But finally We became
so busy with real things we forget
ideal things so busy with re-
suits that We forget methods, De-
yelopment of resources too often be-
came exploitation Of resources: trade
too often became trickery; government
too often became graft; building industry
too often became juggling with industry;
/ the praisewOrthy spirit OF gain By fair
methods too often gave WAY to the evil
spirit of gain by any methods
Men took and sawed into lumber for
ests belonging to the nation. and called Il
enterprise; men sold poisoned food and
diseased meat to the people. and called
IL business; men watered stocks. over
charged the people TO make the stocks
pay dividends, and called 1t finance, men
forced secret rebates from railroads. built
prosperous plants upon the fraud, and
H. al
terry Of cities and States, got corrupt priv
fleges end contracts, and called IL govern
ment,
Epighefs of Reaction.
When we stopped the robbery OF the
nations forests, the robbers called it
paternalism; when We stopped the sale Of
poisoned food and diseased meats, the
sellers called IL socialism; when We are
trying TO stop stock-juggling, criminal
rebates, and the like. the jugglers call
il raid on prosperity; when we try TO
stop government by graft and politics by
purchase those who grow rich by graft
or get high places by purchase call our
work Interference with private affairs in
the one case and assault upon respectable /
fly in the other case.
already done are now agreed TO, and
1t IS found that nobody is hurt, but that
everybody is helped by them
A Sane Tariff Method.
1--WE must revise our tariff, and that Is
a big thing, but we must do more-we
must now make sensible up-to-date plans
for revision, and that Is a bigger thing.
There are nearly four thousand items
named in our tariff laws, and every year
new articles are put on the market
which are not named, but which are Gov
cred by general terms Of the law.
1T is plain that just and intelligent
duties cannot be fixed without a
knowledge of the facts upon which every
one Of these duties are supposed 10 rest. |
Yet. as we have made our tariffs here
tofore, committees OF Congress. working
part of the time for a few months, /
not only have to find out these facts. |
but also fit duties TO these facts. study
how those duties viii work out with for
eign tariffs. how our trade will thereby
be helped or hurt, and ali other things
that must be thought Of In making a
tariff
yet il is plain that II would be hard
in so short a time to say nothing of the /
other work our Congressional committees
are now forced TO do In making a tariff !
law. II is not fair TO these committees
to make them do such work IN so brief |
a period. Other nations have seen this [
plain truth, and therefore made the COM /
nonsense plan Of finding out the facts |
upon which their legislatures can act with |
knowledge and wisdom. So Germany and /
Japan, whose tariffs are the most careful /
of all tariffs. had a body of tariff ex-
perts find out the facts and then made /
their tariffs ct those facts.
Child Labor.
ALSO we must stop child labor in our
mills, mines, and sweatshops The only |
reason for this national evil IS greed. |
There are plenty of men to do the work |
these children are made to do; but man /
hood wages are greater than childhood |
wages The mills and mines that work |
these children to death or ruin make |
more money than any other business: |
they are highly protected by our tariff. |
and so those men and women who have /
spent years getting to the bottom of |
child labor think that mOney-lust is the |
cause of this national crime. I call it a |
national crime because it is so general. |
We must end it by national law.
Those who grow rich from the blood /
OF these children say that the nation has
no right to forbid this national sin They /
say that we must leave it to the States |
They say the same thing that has been
said every time the nation has tried to /
stop any great evil that was putting I'M |
rio ", he 80