Evening star., 1920-10-01
HARDING CENSURES
LAX enforcement
OF THE DRY" LAW
Candidates Theme Is $50
ciaI Justice and Welfare"
at Marion Today.
BY the Associated Press.

! BY the Associated Press
MARION, Ohio. October LAX en-
forcement of prohibition was con-
demned without qualification today
by Senator Harding in a front-porch
| speech outlining a policy of organ
lied federal effort for the promotion
of social justice and welfare
Addressing a gathering of women.
the republican nominee proposed es-
tablshment OF department of pub
| lie welfare" in the national govern
ment, and added that in his opinion
law enforcement was one of the i'm
portant requisites of social progress.
! The enforcement of the law is an
executive responsibility, he con-
tinued, and must be undertaken by
the executive without regard for his
personal approval or disapproval of
the law. which it has been the peo-
pies will to enact. We must have
throughout the land a respect for
law-abiding principles. We must all
condemn without qualification the
failure of enforcement of prohibition.
just as we must all condemn the
! failure of established authority to
prevent outrages of violence, such as
| lynching."
| frtnClR1c OK American SODSCAeHcc.
! The senator asserted that lie re-
garded enforcement of law as IA
fundamental principle of the Amer
/ lean conscience" but he did not dis
cuss the prohibition law at length.
In another part of his speech, the
senator warned against assumption
of too much authority by the federal
government in welfare efforts or in
other activities, declaring there was
grave danger at hand. when central
lied expression begins to take from
! local communities all the burdens OF
social conscience
Sketching his conception of the new
federal department, he said it might
we'll be formed in part by combin-
ing the various governmental bureaus
now dealing with the different as
poets of social welfare. He suggested
that women should have an important
part in the work of the department.
and mentioned maternity care, child
welfare, public health. humane labor
regulations and stability of employ
ment as questions involved in social
betterment.
Voices Conscience in Women.
He also voiced his confidence that
American women would stand with
the republican party against the Ver-
sailles league of nations, but said ne
would refuse to make any emotional
or meretricious appeal to the hearts
of the women of America"
said. must be the machinery of ad-
ministratiOn, and when the time
comes for us to reorganize our ad-
mfntstrative government in Washing
ton we must all stand together for
| the crEation OF a department of pub
/ He welfare.
'At the present time we find social
welfare bureaus and social welfare
undertakings scattered hopelessly
through the departments, sometimes
the one overlapping the work of the
! other, and sometimes. indeed, engag-
ing in chickering's between themselves.
The picture is one of ineficiency and
of wasted funds.t
Must Avoid Bureaucracy.
I'm creating federal departments
for the administration of social JUS
tice and social welfare we must avoid
the fearful results of bureaucracy.
Undoubtedly thc great blessings Of
our Constitution are: the checks which
/ It places upon the development in a
national center of a great bureau
cratic paternalism. We have been
will be saved throughout America S
| continued progress from the growth
of too much centralism, too much pa
ternalism, too much bureaucracy and
too much infringement of the indi-
viduaPs right to construct his own
| life within our American standards
of reason and justice.
4 would like to point out to all
America that there is grave danger
at hand when centralized expression
begins to take from local communi-
ties all the burdens of social con-
science. like to think of an Amer
| lea whose spirit flows from the bot
tom and is not handed down from the
| top.
Protection of Motherhood.
"The protection of the motherhood OF
! America cannot be accomplished until
! the state and the nation have enacted
|. and, by Their example, have enforced
customs which protect womanhood it.
self. + know full well that there are
| women VINO insist that women shall be
| treated upon the same basis that men
are treated. They would have a right
to take this position in their own behalf,
! but ! insist that all true Americans must
! insist that no woman speaks for her
/ self alone. She is the possessor of our
| future and though she becomes engaged
| in the tasks and services of civilization,
| we must preserve to her the right of
wholesome maternity.
Twelve million women in the Unit
ed States, 40 per cent of them between
| fifteen and twenty years of age, are en-
sions Such an army Of potential mater
| nifty demands from America careful and
| adequate protection in the conditions
which surround their labors.
Sees Growth Of S-Hour Day.
| There is a growing and probably
| wise sentiment in America in favor of
| an eight-hour day everywhere for
| women Justice and American standards
demand that women who are employed
should be paid a living wage.
II am hearing constantly voices
| raised in behalf of the women in indus
! try desire to raise mine now in be-
>Aalf Of the women on the farms of the
| Omitted States, who in the labor short
| age of this year have gone into the
! fields. There must be labor, normal la
| Dor, available to farm as well as fac
tory.
under a department Of public welfare
might well be the childrens' bureau,
which now exists, but whose work al
ready proved so useful. must be ex-
| tended
"The program to prevent abuses of
child labor, already greatly advanced by
republican efforts. represents the prog
! reSs of legislation toward wise preven-
ton, which will receive the sanction of
| constitutional law.
| National Health Needs.
Next to maternity and childhood,
believe that our attention must be
centered upon our national health. We
must attack, first, a low standard of
health among children; secondly, the
invasion of diseases which attend a
low standard of morals, and thirdly.
the invasion of epidemics and the
| neglect of the chronic diseases of
\ ,,vffH