Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-08-09
CH|LD-LABOR BILL
PASSED BY SENATE
Victory for President Wilson ir
Forcing Measure Through
Congress.
BALLOT STANDS So TO II
Martin, Swanson and Several
Other Southerners Give 1t
Their Support.

WASHINGTON. August s.-The Sem
ate late to-day passed the hill to pre-
vent interstate commerce in products
! of child labor by n vote of SO to l2.
! Tho measure. which already had
| passed the House. was brought to
vote In the Senate upon the insistence
| of President Wilson after the Demo-
cratic Senate caucus once had decided
! to defer its consideration until next
| December.
Senator's who voted against the bill
were: Bankhead. Alabama; Bryan and
! Fletcher Florida; Hardwick and Smith.
Gcorgia: Overman and simmons. North
| Carolina; Smith and Tillman, South
Carolina: Williams, mississippi (Demo-
! crats); and Oliver and Penrose. Penn
/ sylvania Rcpublicans).
CHIEF OPPOSITION
| COMES FROM SOUTH
| Opposition to the measure had come
| Chiefly from the Southern cotton-mill
owners. and the group of Southern
! Democrats who voted against it had
| fought it in caucus. and maintained
| their opposition during the Senate de-
| bate on the ground that the regulation
! proposed is unconstitutional. and would
interfere with the rights of the States.
Senators Martin and Swanson. Virginia;
/
sissppi; Culberson and Shcppa rd
Texas: Ransdell. Louisiana: Robinson
Arkansas, and Shields. Tennessee, voted
| for it.
In order to expedite consideration of
| the measure in conference, Senate con-
ferceS were appointed Immediately after
| the final vote was taken. The only
| amendment adopted would extend the
bills provisions to bar all products Of
establishments employing children from
! interstate commerce. The House meas
ure was directed only against those
| products on which child labor actually
had been employed. Senator Borah
! did not offer the amendment he had
drawn attaching the immigration bin
! as a rider. In order to force action on
! 1t at this session. Amendments to
make the prohibition apply only to
children under fourteen who could not
read nor write, to make it apply to
children on farms. and to postpone its
effective date for two years wore voted
down
TILLMAN DENOUNCES
COT"TON-MILL OWNERS
During the closing hours of debate
| to-day Senator Tillman denounced
Southern cotton-mill owners opposing
| the bill, and said that, while he believed
1t unconstitutional, lie was tenlptcd to
support ii because of the selfshness of
the interests fighting il. He also de-
clared Congress was too much in
! huenced by the attitude of labor in
tcrests.
II have been shocked" aid the South
Carolina Senator, ito see men, we'll
educated men. who were willing to
swell their dividends at the expense of
little children. The veil of sophistry
III their letters could not hide their
hcartlessness. Their plea stripped of
FerbiaSe. is. Let the children toll that
we may live in luxury and yet we
wonder at the spread of socialism and
the increasing hostility of labor to-
| ward capital"
Servility OF present day vote seekers
10 organized labor" he added. pre-
sents as great a problem as did the
| TO concentrated wealth
The Congress OF the United States
trembles every time tho labor unions
| irown, he continued. Capital, with
lts brutal. cynical disregard for human
ity' started the conflict, and labor in
| ISelt-detense organized for the struggle
we have ceased to legislate in the
way we know to be right and have
hecome panderers to public opinion. or
rather we are making Il cowardly sur
render to those who vote and demand
thesc things. / predict that in time a
Id" VIII be passed making it unlawful
, lor anything to enter into interstate
| commerce that is not desired by vote
of labor unions
uPLIFTERS C0UNTEHPAHTS
OF OLD ABOLITIONISTS
The reccnt-day uplifters of human
ity are the counterparts of the old
abolitionists. Those fanatics honest
and well meaning as they were. de-
ciared the Constitution was league
win death and covenant with hell,
and their twentieth century successors
| lndorSe tho statements i'm acts if not
| in words.
i believe in organized labor because
the alliance of big business and the
republican party made necessary some
| power to combat II. but unless labor
Is restrained by real leaders and per-
suaded TO act Justly. instead of being
| fondled and slobbered over by vote
seekers and demagogues. as is now
being done. ! shudder to think what
may happen"
The vote followed n heated passage
between Senator Hardwick and Senator
Iippitt. of Rhode Island. who is largely
Interested in New England cotton mills.
Senator Lippitt disputed an assertion
| by tho Georgia Senator that commcr-
cial rivalry had inspired much OF the
activity In favor of the bill.
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| Ehc EYpI 0CION vi G CIV