The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-08-06


first charge upon the Industrial states
manship of the day. he said, lis to
prevent human waste. The dead
weight of orphanage and depleted
craftsmanship, of crippled workers
and workers suffering from trade dis
eases, of casual labor, of insecure old
age, and of household depletion due
to industrial conditions are, like our
depleted soils, our gashed mountain
sides and flooded river bottoms, so
many strains upon the national Struc-
ture, draining the reserve strength of
all Industries, and showing beyond
peradventure the public element and
public concern in industrial health. y
He proposed several specific methods
for preserving and improving our
human resources, and therefore our
labor power" Wage scales and other
labor data should be made public; all
deaths, injuries, and diseases due to
Industrial operation should be report
ed to the authorities; wage commits
sions should be established in the ma
ton and state to determine the mini
mum wage scale in different indus
tries; the federal government should
investigate all Industries with view
to establishing standards of SANTA
ton and safety; there should be mine
and factory inspection according to
standards fixed by interstate agree
ment or by the federal government;
national and state legislation should
establish standards of compensation
for Industrial accidents and deaths
and for diseases clearly due to indus
trial conditions; for the adoption by
law of a fair standard of compensa-
ton for casualties resulting fatally
which shall clearly fix the the mini
mum compensation in all cases; the
equivalent of a living wage
varies according to local conditions,
but should be sufficiently high to
make morality possible and to pro-
vide for education, recreation, proper
care of the children, maintenance
during sickness, and reasonable saving
for old age; excessive hours of labor
should be forbidden; one day of rest
in seven should be provided by law;
continuous twenty-four hour labor
should be divided into three shifts of
eight hours by law; tenement house
should be entirely pro-
hibited, and labor camps should be
subject to governmental sanitary reg
ulation; all industries employing
women and children should be special
ly subject to government inspection
and regulation; insurance funds
against sickness, accident. tnvaidism,
and old age should be established by
a charge either in whole or in part
upon the Industries; the suffrage
should be granted to women, if for
no other reason, to enable working
women to combine for their own pro-
LOCl1On ny TIC use u the Od4IOls As
4 people we can not afford to let any
group of citizens or any individual
citizen labor under conditions which
are injurious to the common welfare.
Industry, therefore, must submit to
such public regulation as will make
It a means of life and health, not of
1eath or inefficiency."
The Farmer.
1.-The Country Life commission should
be revived with greatly increased
oCWer; it's abandonment was a, severe
blew to our people. The welfare of the
farmer is a basic need of this nation i
The country school should be brought
n touch with country life. For this
'eason the Progressives approve of gov
srnment cooperation with the farmer
. make the farm more productive. Co |
opera tive associations of farmers both !
or the produ :tion and the selling of /
agricultural products should be encour- !
lged. $50 long as the farmer leaves
cooperative activities with their profit |
sharing to the city man of business, so |
ong will the foundation of wealth be !
and the comforts of en- |
ightenment be impossible in the coun-
r. communities
The Tariff.
On the tariff he says: Il believe in a |
tariff, but I believe in it as a |
approached from a standpoint /
# the interests of the whole people, and |
Tot as a bundle of preferences to be |
,iven favorite individuals" He believes
he American people favor the principle |
II a protective tariff, but are in rebel |
ion against the wrong-doing and I'M /
ust application of that policy and the |
buses in past legislation. ct is not |
merely the tariff that should be revised. |
Dut the method of tariff-making and of |
ariff administration" THE first steps
hould be the creation of a permanent /
commission of nom partisan experts Of /
ample powers to secure exact and !
e]iable information" 1.-THE present
ariff board is entirely inadequate in
'oint of powers reposed in it and scope
f work undertaken The tariff com
nission in Germany affords a splendid
model. This commission must scien-
ifically determine ''the difference in the
est of production here and abroad
he effect on prices to the consumer
insure full justice to the pay envelope |
+ the wage-earner. The commission
must not attempt to encroach on the t
arif-making power of congress. IT |
hall report with full publicity and
rcmptly. The tariff shall be revised
by schedule to avoid the
staggering blows to business incident i
D former general revisions. The effect
7ill be to wipe out the 'Iog-rollins and
ote-trading' secured by special inter-
SITS in the past. only by this special
beans can the tariff be taken out of
OlAI4CS. L ne substitution CT q tariff
or revenue only as proposed by the
Democratic platform would plunge this
ountry into the most widespread in
ustrial depression we have ever seen. -
he revision shall be downward and not
lerely to the manufacturer, but to the
'age-Worker and to the general con
inner.
The High Cost of Living.
1.-The cost of living says Mr.. Roose-
cit, has risen during the last few years
ut of all proportion to the increase OF
lost salaries and wages What is first
ecessary is fearless, intelligent. and
earching inquiry into the whole subject.
ade absolutely by a nonpartisan BODY of
Sperts with no prejudice to warn their
inds, no private object to serve who
nall recommend any necessary remedy
eedless of what interest may be hurI
hereby, and caring only for the interests
he I,rRIo |