, 1925-01-28

may see fit.
The Child Labor Amendment is So
cialistic in tendency: legally, if not
in actual practice, it would take away
State and individual rights to self
government and vest this authority in
the Federal government. Some men
of vision believe this amendment to
be but another weapon secretly forg-
ed for the destruction of our Consti-
tional form Of government; for if this
becomes unduly oppressive our people
will revolt and destroy it, as other.
previously have done. The chaos and
abject misery following the overthrow
of organized government in Russia
should be a horrible example to all
men and women or red-radical lean
ings. The Russian common people
have found that even the ~despotism
of the Tsars was kind and paternal as
compared with the bloody tyranny of
the autocrats from their own ranks
that now rule them. Certainly l am
no half-baked alarmist; nevertheless
it is folly to deny that the established
order is in some danger from the
scheming of those who have the fan
atic's zeal to tear down, but no ability
or desire to build up. l am not at all
opposed to change-for the better.
But l have n enough to know that
improvement is a matter of work and
slow growth and not of smashing up
of what we have because it is not
perfect. The ways of propagandists,
their wonders to perform, are we'll
nigh as secret and mysterious as those
of Providence.
In their willingness to hand over to
Congress their State and individual
rights, many of our citizens are actu-
ated by the mistaken belief that this
body is an all-wise, benign force-a
sort of earthly Providence-whose
sole concern is the welfare of the gen.
eral public. On the contrary, Con-
gress is made up of a few statesmen,
the majority of whom are no smart
er, no better, and no more altruistic
than the rest of US; and whose chief
business in life, even as yours and
mine, is to get on in the world. Such
being the case, l feel that l, for one,
am better fitted to shape the destiny
of my W young, through properly
directed industry and education, than
is a Congress which knows nothing
about this particular child and cares
less. So are all right-minded, reason
ably intelligent parents, Federal reg
ulation of family matters is at nee an
affront to the intelligence, the integ-
rity and the ~self-respect of an indie
pendent people.
Anything like general enforcement
of the proposed amendment would be
impossible-unless this country should
establish a spy system equal to that
of Russia, where every person is the
potential enemy of every other per-
son. This, no doubt, would be highly
satisfactory to a horde of job-seekers
who, being congenitally opposed to
the idea of real and useful work, are
looking for . easy money" and soft
snaps" But ever the cost of maintain
ing a Federal bureau with powers OF
enforcement would add terrifiically to
the burdens of an already overtaXed
people. Witness the tremendous eX-
pense incident to the alleged prohibi-
ton enforcement, with a crew OF
crooked so-called prohibition agents,
in league with a gang of organized
bootleggers to play both ends against
the middle-the long suffering public.
Owing to the passing of numerous
fool laws we are fast becoming a
nation of law-breakers. The rising
generation, quite naturally, has con-
tempt both for laws and those who
make them. They are without respect
for those things which, as a people,
we formerly held in reverence; be-
cause such institutions r no longer
worthy of it. The youngsters are re-
fusing TO be taken in by humbug.
During the recent campaign ! heard
a naturalized candidate make the sill
ly speech: II am for making lots Of
good laws for Wyoming!" We do not
need more laws. We need fewer and
wiser ones-laws that we can respect
and obey with allegiance, and not re-
bellion in our hearts. We need, a.
bove all, a modicum Of that sound
common sense which characterized
the citizens of early America.