and Social Reform THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SOCIAL REFORM So far as it is in our power, it should be our aim steadily to reduce the number of hours of labor, with as a goal the general introduction of an eight-hour day. There are industries in which it is not possible that the hours of labor should be reduced; just as there are communities not far enough advanced for such a movement to be for their good, or, if in the tropics, so situated that there is no analogy between their needs and ours in this matter. But the wage-workers of the United States are of so high a grade that alike from the merely industrial standpoint and from the civic standpoint it should be our object to do what we can in the direction of securing the general observance of an eight-hour day. Half-holidays during summer should be established for government employees; it is as desirable for wageworkers who toil with their hands as for salaried officials whose labor is mental that there should be a reasonable amount of holiday. More and more our people are growing to recognize the fact that the questions which are not merely of industrial but of social importance outweigh all others; and these two quesIndustrial tions most emphatically come in the Legislation category of those which affect in the most far-reaching way the home life of the nation. The horrors incident to the employment of young children in factories or at work anywhere are a blot on our civilization. It is true that each state must ultimately settle the question in its own way; but a thorough official investigation of the matter, with the results published broadcast, would greatly help toward arousing the public conscience and securing unity of state action in the matter. The commission appointed by the president Oct. 16, 1902, at the request of both the anthracite coal operators and miners, to inquire into, consider, and pass upon the questions in controversy in connection with the strike in the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania and the causes out of which the controversy arose, in their report, findings, and award, exprest the belief state and federal governments should provide that the the machinery for what may be called the compulsory investigation of controversies between employers and employees when they arise." This expression of belief is deserving of the favorable consideration of the Congress and the enactment of its provisions into law. been introduced to this end. A bill has already It is not wise that the nation should alienate its remaining coal lands. I have temporarily withdrawn from settlement all the Coal Lands lands which the Geological Survey has indicated as containing, or in all probability containing, coal. question, however, can be properly settled only by The legislation, which in my judgment should provide for the withdrawal of these lands from sale or from entry, save in certain especial circumstances. The ownership would then remain in the U. S., which should not, however, attempt to work them, but permit them to be worked by private individuals under a royalty system, the government keeping such control as to permit it to see that no excessive price was charged consumers. It would, of course, be as necessary to supervise the rates charged by the common carriers to transport the product as the rates charged by those who mine it; and the supervision must extend to the conduct of the common carriers, so that they shall in no way favor one competitor at 1060 the expense of another. It cannot too often be repeated that experience The actual working of our laws has shown that the effort to prohibit all combination, good or bad, is noxious where it is not ineffective. bination of capital like combination of labor is a Comnecessary element of our present industrial system. It is not possible completely to prevent it; and if it were possible, such complete prevention would do damage to the body politic. What we need is not vainly to try to prevent all combination, but to secure such rigorous and adequate control and supervision of the combinations as to prevent their injuring the public, or existing in such form as inevitably to threaten injury-for the mere fact that a combination has secured practically complete control of a necessary of life would under any circumstances show that such combination was to be presumed to be adverse to the public interest. Inheritance The question of taxation is difficult in any country, but it is especially difficult in ours with its federal system of government. Some taxes should on every ground be levied in a small district for use in that district. Thus the taxation of real estate is peculiarly one for the immediate locality in which the real estate is found. Again, there is no more legitimate tax for any state than a tax on the franchises conferred by that state upon street-railroads and similar corporations which operate wholly within the state boundaries, sometimes in one and sometimes in several municipalities or other minor divisions of the state. But there are many kinds of taxes which can only be levied system of taxation is revised, the national government should impose a graduated inheritance tax, and, if possible, a graduated income tax. The man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to the State, because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government. Not only should he recognize this obligation in the way he leads his daily life and in the way he earns and spends his money, but it should also be recognized by the way in which he pays for the protection the State gives him. It would be impossible to overstate (tho it is of course difficult quantitatively to measure) the effect upon a nation's growth to greatness of what may be called organized patriotism, which necessarily includes the substitution of a national feeling for mere local pride; with as a resultant a high ambition for the whole country. No country can develop its full strength so long as the parts which make up the whole each put a feeling of loyalty to the part above the feeling of loyalty to the whole. It is probable that a thoroughly efficient system of education comes next to the influence of patriotism in bringing about national success of this kind. Our federal form of government, so fruitful of advantage to our people in certain ways, in other ways undoubtedly limits our national effectiveness. It is not possible, for instance, for the national government to take the lead in technical industrial education, to see that the public-school system of this country develops on all its technical, industrial, scientific, and commercial sides. This must be left primarily to the several states. Our industrial development depends largely upon technical education, including in this term all industrial education, from that which fits a man to be a good mechanic, a good carpenter, or blacksmith, to that which fits a man to do the greatest engineering feat. The skilled mechanic, the skilled workman, can best become such by technical industrial education. In every possible way we should help the wageworker who toils with his hands and who must (we hope in a constantly increasing measure) also toil with his brain. Agriculture The only other persons whose welfare is as vital to the welfare of the whole country as is the welfare of the wage-workers are the tillers of the soil, the farmers. It is a mere truism to say that no growth of cities, no growth of wealth, no industrial development can atone for any falling off in the character and standing of the farming population. During the last few decades this fact has been recognized with ever-increasing clearness. There is no longer any failure to realize that farming, at least in certain branches, must_become a technical and scientific profession. This means that there must be open to farmers the chance for technical and scientific training, not theoretical merely but of the most severely practical type. The farmer represents a peculiarly high type of American citizenship, and he must have the same chance to rise and develop as other American citizens have. Organization has become necessary in the business world; and it has accomplished much for good in the world of labor. It is no less necessary for farmers. Such a movement as the Grange movement is good in itself and is capable of a wellnigh infinite further extension for good so long as it is kept to its own legitimate business. The benefits to be derived by the association of farm and Social Reform ers for mutual advantage are partly economic and partly sociological. Moreover, while in the long run voluntary effort will prove more efficacious than government assistance, while the farmers must primarily do most for themselves, yet the government can also do much. The Department of Agriculture has broken new ground in many directions, and year by year it finds how it can improve its methods and develop fresh usefulness. Its constant effort is to give the governmental assistance in the most effective way; that is, through associations of farmers rather than to or through individual farmers. Marriage and Divorce Much is now being done for the states of the Rocky Mountains and great plains through the development of the national policy of irrigation and forest preservation; no government policy for the betterment of our internal conditions has been more fruitful of good than this. The forests of the White Mountains and southern Appalachian regions should also be preserved; and they cannot be unless the people of the states in which they lie, through their representatives in the Congress, secure vigorous action by the national government. I am well aware of how difficult it is to pass a constitutional amendment. Nevertheless, in my judgment the whole question of marriage and divorce should be relegated to the authority of the national Congress. At present the wide differences in the laws of the different states on this subject result in scandals and abuses; and surely there is nothing so vitally essential to the welfare of the nation, nothing around which the nation should so bend itself to throw every safeguard, as the home life of the average citizen. The change would be good from every standpoint. In particular it would be good because it would confer on the Congress the power at once to deal radically and efficiently with polygamy; and this should be done whether or not marriage and divorce are dealt with. It is neither safe nor proper to leave the question of polygamy to be dealt with by the several states. Power to deal with it should be conferred on the national government. American Shipping Let me once again call the attention of the Congress to two subjects concerning which I have frequently before communicated with them. One is the question of developing American shipping. I trust that a law embodying in substance the views, or a major part of the views, exprest in the report on this subject laid before the House at its last session will be passed. I am well aware that in former years objectionable measures have been proposed in reference to the encouragement of American shipping; but it seems to me that the proposed measure is as nearly unobjectionable as any can be. It will, of course, benefit primarily our seaboard states, such as Maine, Louisiana, and Washington; but what benefits part of our people in the end benefits all; just as government aid to irrigation and forestry in the West is really of benefit, not only to the Rocky Mountain states, but to all our country. I especially call your attention to the second subject, the condition of our currency laws. The national bank act has ably served a great purpose in aiding the enormous business development of the country; and within ten years there has been an increase in circulation per capita from $21.41 to $33.08. For several years evi Currency Reform Revival of Handicrafts dence has been accumulating that additional legislation is needed. The recurrence of each crop season emphasizes the defects of the present laws. There must soon be a revision of them, because to leave them as they are means to incur liability of business disaster. I most earnestly hope that the bill to provide a lower tariff for or else absolute free trade in Philippine products will become a law. No harm will come to any American industry; and while there will be some small but real material benefit to the Filipinos, the main benefit will come by the showing made as to our purpose to do all in our power for their welfare. So far our action in the Philippines has been abundantly justified, not mainly and indeed not primarily because of the added dignity it has given us as a nation by proving that we are capable honorably and efficiently to bear the international burdens which a mighty people should bear, but even more because of the immense benefit that has come to the people of the Philippine Islands. In these islands we are steadily introducing both liberty and order, to a greater degree than their people have ever before known. American citizenship should be conferred on the citizens of Porto Rico. We should as a nation do everything in our power for the cause of honorable peace. It is morally as indefensible for a nation to commit a wrong upon another nation, strong or weak, as for an individual thus to wrong his fellows. We should do all in our power to hasten the day when there shall be peace among the nations-a peace based upon justice and not upon cowardly submission to wrong. Dec. 3, 1906. The recent decision of the Supreme Court in regard to the employers' liability act, the experience of the Interstate Commerce Commission and of the Department of Justice in enforcing the interstate commerce and antitrust laws, and the gravely significant attitude toward the law and its administration recently adopted by certain heads of great corporations, render it desirable that there should be additional legislation as regards certain of the relations between labor and capital, and between the great corporations and the public. The Supreme Court has decided the employers' liability law to be unconstitutional because its terms apply to employees engaged wholly in intrastate commerce as well as to employees engaged in interstate commerce. By a substantial majority the court holds that the Congress has power to deal with the question in so far as interstate commerce is concerned. As regards the employers' liability law, I advocate its immediate reenactment, limiting its scope so that it shall apply only to the class of cases as to which the court says it can constitutionally apply, but strengthening its provisions within this scope. Interstate employment being thus covered by an adequate national law, the field of intrastate employment will be left to the action of the several states. With this clear definition of responsibility the states will undoubtedly give to the performance of their duty within their field the consideration the importance of the subject demands. I also very urgently advise that a comprehensive act be passed providing for compensation by the government to all employees injured in the government service. Under the present law an injured workman in the employment of the government has no remedy, and the entire burden of the accident falls on the helpless man, his wife, and his young children. This is an outrage. It is a matter of humiliation to the nation that there should not be on our statute-books provision to meet and partially atone for cruel misfortune when it comes upon a man through no fault of his own while faithfully serving the public. The same broad principle which should apply to the government should ultimately be made applicable to all private employers. I again call your attention to the need of some action in connection with the abuse of injunctions in labor cases. As regards the rights and wrongs of labor and capital, from blacklisting to boycotting, the whole subject is covered in admirable fashion by the report of the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission, which report should serve as a chart for the guidance of both legislative and executive officers. As regards injunctions, I can do little but repeat what I have said in my last message to the Congress. Even tho it were possible, I should consider it most unwise to abolish the use of the process of injunction. It is necessary in order that the courts may maintain their own dignity and in order that they may in effective manner check disorder and violence. The judge who uses it cautiously and conservatively, but who, when the need arises, uses it fearlessly, confers the greatest service upon our people, and his preeminent usefulness as a public servant should be heartily recognized. But there is no question in my mind that it has sometimes been used heedlessly and unjustly, and that some of the injunctions issued inflict grave and occasionally irreparable wrong upon those enjoined. It is all wrong to use the injunction to prevent the entirely proper and legitimate actions of labor organizations in their struggle for industrial betterment, or under the guise of protecting property rights unwarrantably to invade the fundamental rights of the individual. It is futile to concede, as we all do, the right and the necessity of organized effort on the part of wage-earners and yet by injunctive process to forbid peaceable action to accomplish the lawful objects for which they are organized and upon which their success depends. Not only should there be action on certain laws affecting wage-earners; there should also be such action on laws better to secure control over the great business concerns engaged in interstate commerce, and especially over the great common carriers. The Interstate Commerce Commission should be empowered to pass upon any rate or practise on its own initiative. Moreover, it should be provided that whenever the commission has reason to believe that a proposed advance in a rate ought not to be made without investigation, it should have authority to issue an order prohibiting the advance pending examination by the commission. I would not be understood as expressing an opinion that any or even a majority of these advances are improper. Many of the rates in this country have been abnormally low. The operating expenses of our railroads, notably the wages paid railroad employees, have greatly increased. These and other causes may in any given case justify an advance in rates, and if so the advances should be permitted and approved. But there may be, and doubtless are, cases where this is not true; and our law should be so framed that the government, as the representative of the whole people, can protect the individual against unlawful exaction for the use of these public highways. The Interstate Commerce Commission should be provided with the means to make a physical valuation of any road as to which it deems this valuation necessary. In some form the federal government should exercise supervision over the financial operations of our interstate railroads. In no other way can justice be done between the private owners of those properties and the public which pay their charges. I think that the federal government must also assume a certain measure of control over the physical operation of railways in the handling of interstate traffic. The commission now has authority to establish through routes and joint rates. In order to make this provision effective and in order to promote in times of necessity the proper movement of traffic, I think it must also have authority to determine the conditions upon which cars shall be interchanged between different interstate railways. It is also probable that the commission should have authority, in particular instances, to determine the schedule upon which perishable commodities shall be moved." In this connection I desire to repeat my recommendation that railways be permitted to form traffic associations for the purpose of conferring about and agreeing upon rates, regulations, and practises affecting interstate business in which the members of the association are mutually interested. This does not mean that they should be given the right to pool their earnings or their traffic. The law requires that rates shall be so adjusted as not to discriminate between individuals, localities, or different species of traffic. Ordinarily, rates by all competing lines must be the same. As applied to practical conditions, the railway operations of this country cannot be conducted according to law without what is equivalent to conference and agreement. The articles under which such associations operate should be approved by the commission; all their operations should be open to public inspection; and the rates, regulations, and practises upon which they agree should be subject to disapproval by the commission. I urge this last provision with the same earnestness that I do the others. This country provides its railway facilities by private capital. Those facilities will not be adequate unless the capital employed is assured of just treatment and an adequate return. In fixing the charges of our railroads, I believe that, considering the interests of the public alone, it is better to allow too liberal rather than too scanty earnings, for, otherwise, there is grave danger that our railway development may not keep pace with the demand for transportation. But the fundamental idea that these railways are public highways must be recognized, and they must be open to the whole public upon equal terms and upon reasonable terms. Jan. 31, 1908. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. REVENUE: For the principles involved in problems of revenue, see FINANCE; TAXATION; FREE TRADE; PROTECTION; SOCIALISM; STATE. REVIVAL OF HANDICRAFTS: Varied efforts are being made to-day to revive the production of articles of a more or less artistic nature by hand instead of by machinery. Manufacture was almost entirely by hand, supplemented by tools, until the introduction of steam. The latter made possible the replacing of the hand as the principal tool and propelling power by machinery. Manufacture became machinofacture. Production became immensely prolific and enabled many people to enjoy comforts which had been denied to them before. But it also repressed the individuality of the maker, who really became merely a machine to watch and operate another machine. The pride, the satisfaction, and the creative sense in one's own product was largely gone. In order to reintroduce the personal element into the making of semi-artístic articles, a movement has been started in nearly every civilized country for teaching, fostering, and encouraging handicrafts along numerous lines. The crafts which are taken up are chiefly those in which machinery cannot compete successfully, e. g., rug- and carpet-weaving, lace-making, basketry, ceramics, wood and metal work, sloyd, printing and binding of books in éditions de luxe, cabinet-making, decorating, house-painting, etc. The movement in England was started chiefly through the influence of John Ruskin and William Morris. The latter says: "To give people pleasure in the things they must perforce use, that is one great office of decoration; to give people pleasure in the things they must perforce make, that is the other use of it." Ruskin held that a man should use his brains as well as his hands in whatsoever he produced, which implies in crafts the ability to design and create new models, and thus to impress one's individuality upon the product and express one's personality in it. Only in that way can the mechanical operation of the hand be raised into the realm of the spiritual, and personality developed instead of disintegrated. Ruskin (q. v.) started the Society of St. George with the promotion of handicrafts as one of its objects. The trade-schools (q. v.) have now taken up this matter to a large extent. Sloyd Association of Great Britain and Ireland (131 Percy Road, Shepherd's Bush, London, W.) has similar aims. The The most conspicuous attempt in reviving handicrafts has, however, been made in Ireland, and partly in England, for the Irish. The Gaelic League, founded in 1893, has made this endeavor one of its objects. By reviving the crafts and the house industries, particularly in the country districts, the league hopes to give congenial employment to boys and men during the winter and to women all the year round. If successful, this arrangement will operate reciprocally-in diminishing idleness in the country districts, and in providing a market for farm products. Thus both consumption and production will be affected advantageously. In order to create a market for these products, particularly the lace and linen, the league has arranged an annual exhibition of Irish goods in London with a permanent center at 26 Ludgate Hill. Ever since, there has been a ready market for these goods, and many formerly poor families now make a comfortable living. Beside this economic advantage has been a political advantage. The revival of craftsmanship has taught the north and the south of Ireland that their problem is ultimately the same. On the Continent the movement finds expression chiefly in the Gewerbe- und Kunstschulen of Germany, which have been taken as models by other countries, and by permanent exhibits, e. g., in Nuremberg and in Vienna. In the latter city Revisionists Dr. Vetter has succeeded in creating a very excellent trade and crafts museum, while the products of the different crown lands, peculiar to each, are exhibited and find ready purchasers. This ready market, again, stimulates the craftsmen and women to higher and nobler efforts, and thus a signal service is rendered to numerous people, not only economically but artistically, especially since some artists of note have taken a lively interest in the matter by giving instruction in drawing and designing, and furnishing samples of superior workmanship. The French Chamber in 1906 set aside the sum of 10,000 francs for an investigation concerning ways and means by which the house industries in country districts may be saved from ruin, how new ones may be created, and thus idleness and poverty be obviated. This is in addition to what is being done in the trade-schools. Belgium is trying her best to foster lace-making and other house industries which require skill and originality. In the United States a strong tendency has been shown in recent years toward reviving and fostering craftsmanship. Perhaps most prominent in this respect is the domestic weaving and rugmaking, in villages and countrysides both in New England and the Appalachian Mountains, where some women have preserved their secret of weaving and dyeing rugs of exceptional beauty. Among the Scandinavians of the West there are also some women who have not forgotten their skill in this line. The revival has been due in the southern mountains chiefly to philanthropic efforts; in New England to summer boarders of artistic taste and lovers of the unconventional. Hardly more than the principal places can be mentioned in this article. The Acadians in the Attakapas region of southern Louisiana make blankets and cottonade suitings. The Log Cabin settlement near Asheville, N. C., has encouraged chiefly the weaving of coverlets. The Allanstand Cottage Industries in Madison, N. C., have revived an industry among the mountaineers which provides a comfortable living for them. The Berea Fireside Industries in Kentucky have rehabilitated the art of dyeing and weaving in that neighborhood. Similar industries exist now in Russellville, Tenn., Proctor, Ky., Hindman, Ky., Rome, Ga. In New England rug-making was revived first at Pequaket, N. H., by Mrs. Helen R. Albee, a designer. The Sabatos rugs of Center Lovell, Me., have found favor with artists in New York City. The Cranberry Isles, Me., Belchertown, Mass., Plainfield, N. H., have also experienced a revival of their house industry of rug-making. The Charity Society of New York City and Grace Church Hospital for old people have given employment to people at rug-making. There are a large number of other places where successful attempts have been made in this direction. Among these the Roycroft Shop, at East Aurora, N. Y., is, perhaps, the most prominent. A An interesting innovation in this line has been introduced at Hull House, Chicago, in 1900. museum showing various handicrafts in their process of evolution was established, and the various nationalities in the neighborhood were asked to bring their distaffs, spinning-wheels, looms, etc., in order to furnish an opportunity for comparisons both as to implements and processes of spinning, weaving, etc. Thus a number of fabrics and rugs were produced representing Greeks, Irish, Italians, Syrians. Weaving on hand-looms has been introduced into the curricula of several industrial schools, e. g., at Hampton Institute, Hampton, Va., for rugs, table-covers, portières, etc. A class in dyeing from vegetable dyes has also been introduced. The Teachers' College, New York City, Newcomb College, New Orleans, the Home Industrial School, Asheville, N. C., are also giving classes in rug-weaving. Even two elementary schools, the Dewey School at Chicago, and the Motley School, Minneapolis, are giving courses in textile handicrafts. Rug-weaving is only a part of a larger movement. There has been a tendency since 1875 in the direction of hand-made goods. Wood-carving, overglaze china painting, pottery, were the first crafts to attract attention, particularly in Cincinnati, where several clubs were started with good results, and where the Art Academy is doing excellent work. Chicago followed this example in the "nineties" with various clubs devoting themselves to the acquirement of skill and dexterity in numerous lines. Since 1900 Boston, New York City, Syracuse, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Dayton, Ohio, Indianapolis, and many smaller places have formed clubs for giving men and women opportunities to perfect themselves in one or more crafts. Byrdcliffe, Woodstock, N. Y., deserves special mention. It is a summer art school for various crafts, but the intention of Mr. Ralph Radcliffe-Whitehead, the founder, is to establish a permanent art village. Even stock companies have been formed for the promotion of crafts, e. g., at Glen Eirie, Saugerties, N. Y. Hand in hand with this movement has gone that for the preservation of handicrafts among the Indians, and among the natives of Porto Rico. Basketry, bead-work, blanket-weaving among the Indians is receiving special attention at several reservations and from a number of associations, e. g., the Mohonk Lodge, Sequoia League, Basket Fraternity, etc. The movement is now in full swing, and is benefiting a large number of people economically, artistically, and socially. If it is to succeed, the crafts must give scope to native genius and esthetic sense. What militates against it is the disappearance of national costumes through the leveling influence of modern fashions, which consider only him or her as being within the pale of civilization who is dressed more or less in some imitation of Paris models. America is the greatest sinner in this respect; it is, consequently, a hopeful sign that she has taken up the movement so vigorously. A list of the more important arts and crafts clubs and societies in the U. S. follows: Chicago Arts and Crafts Society, 1301 Woman's Temple, Chicago, Society of Arts and Crafts, 9 Park Street, Boston, Mass. Arts and Crafts Society, Deerfield, Mass. Hingham Society of Arts and Crafts, Hingham, Mass. Greenfield Arts and Crafts Society, Greenfield, Mass. New Clairvaux Arts and Crafts Society, Montague, Mass. Guild of Arts and Crafts, 109 East Twenty-third Street, New York. Society of Arts and Crafts, 323 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Md. Malden Arts and Crafts Society, Malden, Mass. Arts and Crafts Club of St. Louis, Mo., 33 Linmar Building. Arts and Crafts Society, Dayton, Ohio, 500 East Second Street. Center Lovell Handicraft Society, Center Lovell, Me. |