Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1912-04-04

In MASSACHUSETTS, In Minnesota, i &c
not know as they have here, but they
have come up again and again In New
York, Pennsylvania. Illinois, Ohio, In
diana. Colorado and California, where
the people, trying to do social and
industrial justice. have found their
enorts frustrated by the courts.
Concrete Examples.
1T Is always better to deal with
concrete examples. Now | will give
you three or four examples that call
ed my attention to 1t. Thirty years
ago. nearly, when l was first In the
New York legislature, I was one Of a
committee to look into the tenement
houses Of New York, to see about
the manufacture of tobacco into cigars
In those houses. i went down-and
now let me say In interJection-I hold
emphatically that We are false to the
principles Of Abraham Lincoln, false
to the principles upon which the repAb-
lican party Is founded, II We do not
remember that we are our brothers
keeper, II we do not remember that
II Is our business to see that the con-
ditions Of life and work are not too
hard for those unable to protect
selves. (Applause). Dreadful suffering
has come In New York city because
we failed in time to leaiize that. And,
oh, friends, OF this great and growing
city, dreadful suffering will come here
II you fail to recognize your duty in
time, II you are content to live easily
and happily and not to think Of the
conditions OF life, Of your brother "
your sister less we'll off than you are
Now | went through the tenement
houses; ! remember one room, a
room, oh, perhaps 20 feet square, and
two families were living in it. and
one OF the families had a boarder,
and they were living there day and
night, men, women and children, and
working in indescribable filth and
squallor, at the manufacture of cigars,
from the piles OF loose tobacco heap
ed about on. the beds, under the beds
showed under the foul mattresses, for
the men to work.
1--WE put the law through, and the
court of appeals, the highest court of
the state, declared it unconstitutional
and In their opinion came this gem
OF a sentence That they would not
allow the legislature to trespass ON
the sanctity of the home The sane.
room In which two families lived and
worked
, That Word "FearlessIy"
Again We passed a law in New
York city saying that girls and wo-
men in factories should not be put TO
work, or allowed TO work, before six
o'clock in the morning, after nine il
the evening, for more than ten hours
a day, for more than six days a
week. And the court said that law
was unconstitutional. And there ws5
another gem in that opinion: The
court said there had been altogether
too much OF this legislation invading
personal rights, and that it was the
duty OF the courts fearlessly to put
a stop to it,
"Fearlessly! love that word Fear
lessly to say that We should allow
helpless women, girls, to be worked
haggard, their womanhood wrecked.
Fearlessly to stand up for the big
man who owns a big factory, or the
small man who works small sweat
shop and who coined their their
money out of the lives of the wretch
ed women who worked for them. Now,
the court was composed of admirably
we'll meaning, entirely good intention.
ed old gentlemen (Laughter), who
knew law but didn't know life CAP.
plause).
They had no friends who worke
fourteen hours q day In factories.
They did not know what 1t means to
work twelve to fourteen hours, and
especially for a woman. They had
never been inside Of a tenement
house. They did not know how their
fellow citizens lived or what was
necessary for them, what was neces-
sary to enable them to live their lives
as they should live them.
Another. We passed law II was
not very advanced law. 1t was only
sixty years behind a similar law in
Germany, but it was twenty years
ahead Of the courts still (Laughter).
We passed law decreeing that there
should be guards for dangerous ma
chimes. A girl lost her arm because
there was not a guard for fly wheel.
and brought suit, and under the law
was awarded damages
THE supreme court Of the state, the
court of appeals, threw out the case
because they said it interfered with
her liberty. Her liberty to do what?
Her liberty to contract for an insult
ficient wage to run the risk OF killing
herself or Gripping herself for life.
That was the liberty which the court
felt obliged to maintain by upsetting
the verdict in her favor.
Again, only year ago the court
Of New York declared that in New
York we could not have a working
mems compensation act. There is
no power in Europe, except Turkey,
that has not workmans compen.
sation act, that I know Of, and
think there are only two or three OF
the more backward states Of Central
and South America that haven't got
1t. State after state has It. The ma
ton has 1t. The courts of Iowa and
Washington, for instance have held
that that law is con stitutional. The
supreme court of the nation has held
that such law is constitutional, but
the court OF appeals of the state Of
New York says that New York must
stand back on level with the two
or three most backward of the South
American states and cannot do that
piece OF elemental Justice.
UNnW frian1e mind vpu MIND van