Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-08-28
HONEST INSPECTOR
NOT ENCOURAGED
Local Juries Won't Convict, Says
-. Mrs. Florence Kelley. Il.
SHE WANTS 4 FEDERAL Law.

Child labor laws will not be enforced
until there is q federal law which the
government will enforce. So Mrs.
Florence Kelley told the Eleventh An
n,lal Conference OH Child Labor at Its
recent San Francisco meeting. During
her wide and varied experience Mrs.
Kelley has accumulated many exam
pies Of why a state child labor law
, can never be properly enforced and
why the federal government must take
hand in it. a., s..,r..l i,,..s
After a state child labor law is on
the statute books the difficulties of the
inspectors are only a part Of the obsta-
cles that confront the state in getting
that law enforced If an inspector
works very hard he is commonly re-
moved-that is, If he works hard and
honestly and ably. ! have watched in
spectors working hard. honestly and
ably being removed for thirty. three
years, One who does not work hard
and ably and honestly will probably be
removed anyhow. when the politics of
the state changes. -
while the Inspector is working hard,
ably and honestly it is exceedingly diff
flcult to get a law enforced, If prosecu-
ton is required, because. local magis-
trates are usually reluctant to enforce
it and local juries to uphold it. Some
years ago We were prosecuting in Chi
cago q certain sweater who had en-
ployed sixteen girls Illegally. A dozen
witnesses were subpoenaed, and, they
all swore cheerfully that the law had
been kept, although they knew that
they had been working illegally that
day. - ~. II ~
"The justice thought 1t q merry Jest
that we could not get warrants against
those perjured witnesses. He said, III
l were going to choke my office up
with perjury suits against witnesses
in minor cases we would not get any
business DONE so those perjured wit
nesses went scot Free SIS
AS a further illustration Mrs. Kelley
spoke of the difficulty the New. York
State Department of Labor has expert.
enced in the past two years in prose
cutting camera The trouble was not
with perjured witnesses there, but with
local juries. The local 1uries would
not convict because most Of them were
farmers who sell their goods to the
canneries and bad no idea OF partici.
pating in the punishment Of their Gus.
toners. THAT condition IS 10 wide.
spread throughout New York, New Jer.
sey, Maryland and Delaware said
Mrs. Kelley, that there q no present
hope Of enforcing the child labor law
in, the, canneries Of those states with
local jurors In local courts. HI .{i
81 do not share thn millennial. belief
that We shall in any near future have
our laws obeyed b. the agreement Of
employers and employees in industries
in which the employees are inorganic.
ed. Laws are obeyed only where there
are powerful organizations Of workere
to compel obedience. But where there
is a body Of helpless aliens, a. In most
sweated industries, or in remote vi.
lagos far from the searchlight It will
take q great deal Of evidence to con.
vince me that all employers will vol.
UNFAIRLY obey the child labor law. Our
immediate need IL the passage Of
federal child labor law to enable the
federal government to enforce the
law" 7 4,