Слике страница
PDF
ePub

State court, and has handed down the unanimous decision which, in effect, permits the Interborough Rapid Transit Co. to violate one of the fundamental terms of the aforesaid contract that has been in force and effect for a long period of time: Now therefore be it

Resolved, That the Board of Estimate and Apportionment of the City of New York, acting on behalf of over 6,000,000 people residing within the boundaries of the said city, memorialize the Congress of the United States, respectfully petitioning that body to enact such amendment or amendments to the law as will prevent the continuance of the practice resorted to by the Interborough Rapid Transit Co., and in particular that section 380 of the Federal Judicial Code be limited so as not to apply to a case where both parties are residents of the same State unless and until it is shown to the Federal court that the parties to the action could not obtain justice by recourse to the State courts; and be it further

Resolved, That the board of estimate and apportionment call upon the people of New York City to communicate with their Representatives in the national legislative body, urging upon them the need of immediately enacting such legislation that will insure the inviolability of contracts.

Indorsed: A true copy of resolution adopted by the board of estimates and apportionment May 10, 1928.

JOSEPH F. HIGGINS, Assistant Secretary.

WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE OF PEACE AND FREEDOM Mr. BLEASE. Mr. President, I ask permission to have inserted in the RECORD an article from the Washington Eagle relating to an article which was, at my request, printed in the RECORD on March 21, 1928, at page 5094.

The VICE PRESIDENT. Without objection, it is so ordered. The article is as follows:

[From the Washington Eagle, Friday, May 11, 1928]

RACE REPRESENTATIVE ATTENDS WILLARD HOTEL DINNER Neval H. Thomas, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People of Washington, and member of the national board of directors, attended the annual banquet of the Women's International League of Peace and Freedom at the New Willard Hotel on Friday evening. This is the same group that fostered the Villard dinner some weeks ago at the Hotel Washington. The colored readers of the Nation were refused admission when these ladies were arranging the contracts for the Nation dinner by the Mayflower, and the organization declined to hold the function there or to make it the headquarters of their national convention here this week. By this high ground that these women are taking the Mayflower lost thousands of dollars.

At the banquet of the national gathering held there on Friday, Jane Addams spoke and presided. Senator DILL, of Washington State; Representative HAMILTON FISH, Jr., and Horace Knowles, former minister to Santo Domingo, spoke on the Caribbean situation. Mr. Knowles, an authority on our relations with South America, paid glowing tribute to the genius of the Haitian Republic, and spoke in eloquent and bitter condemnation of our conquest of Haiti. When he said, "I have associated with the black statesmen of this black Republic. They are trained in the universities of Europe, and are as able and cultured as the best white statesmen in our own country," the vast banquet hall simply roared with prolonged applause.

PRISON-MADE GOODS

Mr. BLEASE. Mr. President, I ask to have printed in the RECORD and to lie on the table a letter addressed to me by W. R. Bradford, of Fort Mill, S. C., a member of the board of directors of the South Carolina Penitentiary; also a letter addressed to me by William H. Jones, president of the Jones School Supply Co., of Columbia, S. C.; a letter addressed to me by E. R. Cass, of New York City, N. Y., president of the American Prison Association; and a letter addressed to me by John L. Moorman, president of the board of trustees of the Indiana State Prison, Michigan City, Ind., relative to the so-called Hawes-Cooper prison labor bill, introduced in the Senate by the junior Senator from Missouri [Mr. HAWES]. There being no objection, the letters were ordered to lie on the table and to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

Hon. COLE L. BLEASE,

THE FORT MILL TIMES, Fort Mill, S. C., March 9, 1928.

United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR BLEASE: I am inclosing herewith a letter addressed to you relative to the proposed Hawes law against prison-made goods being sold in certain States. Macaulay tells me that you are opposed to the bill; but it occurred to me that it might help a little if one of the directors of our penitentiary would write you his views with the view of asking you to have the letter inserted in the RECORD. I don't know whether I have written anything worth printing in the RECORD or not. I hope it is no worse than some other matter the RECORD carries. For certain reasons I shall probably print the letter in the Fort Mills Times

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR BLEASE: As a member of the board of directors of the South Carolina Penitentiary, I am taking the liberty of writing you with reference to the Hawes bill, now pending in the Senate, which provides that prison-made goods shall not be sold in certain States of the Union. I urge that you give this bill your earnest consideration and that, if possible, you use your very great influence to prevent its passage.

The purpose of the Hawes bill, I am informed, is to prevent the sale of goods made in prisons in such States as now have, or may hereafter enact, laws proscribing the sale within their borders of such goods. believe that the passage of the Hawes bill will ultimately destroy the market for the furniture we manufacture at our penitentiary, as it will ultimately destroy the market for the articles manufactured at the other State prisons of the country.

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a meeting of the Interstate Commerce Committee of the Senate a few days ago held to give opponents of the bill an opportunity to be heard. At the meeting the statement was made that the principal proponents of the bill were the American Federation of Labor and the Federation of Women's Clubs. The statement should be investigated. The American Federation of Labor, it was claimed, has a membership of 5,000,000 people, all committed to the passage of the bill. The claim may or may not be true. It is probable that it is not true. Likely enough some central body of the American Federation of Labor has gone on record as favoring the passage of the bill. Then the word is put out to influence Members of Congress who have not the time to investigate the accuracy of the claim that the great labor body is solidly behind the bill and, incidentally, will have fault to find with Members who do not support it when the time comes for their reelection. I dare say there are hundreds of local unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor which are in no wise interested in the passage of the Hawes bill. Indeed, it is not unlikely that many of the local unions never heard of the bill. Nevertheless, we are told that organized labor

is a unit for its passage.

A similar claim is set up as to the attitude of the Federation of Women's Clubs toward the bill. A meeting of representatives of the women's clubs is held in Washington City, at which a resolution is passed indorsing the Hawes bill. Then the Interstate Commerce Committee is told that the Federation of Women's Clubs is behind the bill and is demanding its passage. This statement is bunk. By and large, the women's clubs of the country know nothing about the Hawes bill, and care less about it. The women's clubs of South Carolina—and there are hundreds of them here. too many for the good of some homes represented in them-like the women's clubs of the other States, are not interested in this bill and have not gone on record as favoring it. I do not believe that the Hawes bill has ever been considered in a single woman's club in the whole State of South Carolina.

So much for the alleged attitude of organized labor and the women's clubs toward the bill, to say nothing of other interests seeking its passage from the private gain point of view.

Many good reasons can be urged, and ought to be urged, it seems to me, against the passage of the bill. Of course, I am immediately concerned with the effect the bill, if enacted into law, will have on our penitentiary in South Carolina. To-day we have something like 400 prisoners in our penitentiary. Most of these prisoners work in the furniture factory at tasks they are able to perform. None of them are subjected to hardships in connection with their work, and most of them are paid a bonus for good work. All are well fed, well clothed, and humanely treated in every way. The State, in consequence of its considerate treatment of the prisoners, makes a profit on the furniture produced in the factory. The furniture is not sold at cutthroat prices as some claim is the case with all prison-made goods. If we are forced to close our furniture factory under the Hawes bill, what sort of employment shall we find for the prisoners who work in the factory, and what sort of employment shall we find for the 75 other prisoners who work on our cotton farms? If we are prohibited from making furniture to be sold in interstate commerce, we may be expected to stop raising cotton which finds its way into articles now sold outside the State. Certainly it seems reasonable to conclude that we would not be allowed to sell prison-raised cotton in any State coming under the operation of the Hawes law. And if we are not allowed to sell our

furniture

or cotton under the Hawes law, who can think of an article our prisoners might manufacture or produce which would not be similarly proscribed? Anything that might be produced by prison labor will come into competition with free labor.

If it is reasonable for Congress to say to South Carolina that South Carolina shall not sell its prison-made goods in other States, why is it not also reasonable for Congress to say to this State that the building of good roads with prison labor must stop in this State because it would be better to build the roads with free labor and because the roads these prisoners build are used in interstate commerce? Which would mean idleness for the 1,500 county prisoners in the State.

We shall be hard pressed to find employment, we fear, for our prisoners if the Hawes bill becomes a law. The people of this State will rebel against paying taxes to provide for the upkeep of idle prisoners, with the effect that it will discourage convictions in our

courts.

While Congress is considering the plea of those who are seeking to have the Hawes bill become a law, it ought not to be too much to hope that Congress will also consider the interest of the large number of prisoners in the country and the millions of citizens who do not want such a law. Not one of the 48 States in the Union, so far as I am informed, has appealed to Congress through its governor or through its legislature to pass the Hawes bill.

If Congress is ever to reach a stopping place in encroaching on the rights of the States, it seems to me that the Hawes bill offers a

good stopping place.

Very respectfully yours,

W. R. BRADFORD.

COLUMBIA, S. C., March 24, 1928.

Hon. COLE L. BLEASE,

United States Senator from South Carolina,

Washington, D. C.

DEAR SIR: This is in reference to Hawes bill S. 1940 relating to prison-made goods. We wish to express ourselves as being opposed to this bill.

This bill seeks to divest prison-made goods of their interstate character. It will ultimately mean the several States going into the manufacture of everything used by institutions within the State, thus competing with outside labor and ultimately destroying enterprises that go to support and make possible the existence of the State itself.

I have made a study of this bill and believe that it will prove harmful to both labor and to industry. I shall greatly appreciate it if you will consider voting against it when it comes up for passage. Respectfully yours, WM. H. JONES, President Jones School Supply Co.

THE AMERICAN PRISON ASSOCIATION,
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT,
New York, April 2, 1928.

Hon. COLEMAN L. BLEASE,

United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR BLEASE: I note your interest in the prison labor bill introduced by Senator HAWES, of Missouri. Inclosed herewith is a general statement on the prison labor problem, prepared by me, and presented at the time of the National Crime Commission conference in Washington, the early part of November. Since you are interested in the pending legislation, I think you will want to give this your earnest consideration.

The need for providing employment for the inmates of penal and correctional institutions is one of the serious problems confronting the administrators of those institutions. Usually legislation having as its purpose the curtailing of the movement of the products of prison labor does not give any assurance of continuing what little employment now exists the various institutions throughout the country and does give indication that the deplorable and demoralizing idleness among the inmates in those institutions will increase.

I hope that the inclosed pamphlet will give you a well-rounded picture of the prison-labor problem, and thus aid you in your discussion of Senator HAWES's bill.

If you can use several of the pamphlets we shall be glad to send them to you.

[blocks in formation]

passage of this measure. Before the Senate committee I made the remarks which you will find printed in the inclosure. This pamphlet gives my ideas on prison-labor problems after long years of practical study in connection with the Indiana State Prison, located at Michigan City.

As Senator HAWES says, this measure has passed the House two or three times, and has been as far along in the Senate as it now is. As an officer of the State prison I have repeatedly appeared before the various committees in Washington in opposition to this measure in some form or another. I have no personal interest in the matter, except as a citizen of the State and as an officer of this institution. It has been my observation for many years past that the proponents of measures of this type profess to represent union labor, manufacturers' associations, and women's organizations. I have never heard them say they represented the prisoners or their dependents or the taxpayers of the various States who are directly concerned financially in the upkeep of the prisons. To me it looks like a selfish proposition, so far as the union labor or manufacturers' organizations are concerned. Women's organizations seize upon the prison problems as a sort of fad, and they allow themselves to be used in support of a cause about which they know nothing for sure.

Union labor and manufacturers make a mountain out of a mole hill, so far as prison labor is concerned as being in opposition to them. Statistics show that goods manufactured within prison walls or by prisoners represent only one-twentieth of 1 per cent of goods produced beyond the walls. Senator HAWES comes from a State which makes many shoes. I presume the shoe industries strongly urge him to support such a measure, and he responds to the call of his constituents. In the State of Ohio union labor caused to be enacted some very drastic prison laws some few years ago, and is doing great damage to the penal institutions of that State. More than half of the prisoners

of that State are idle and the prisoners are maintained at a heavy cost to the taxpayers.

Governor Donahey is opposed to this bill. or anything of the kind, yet Mr. COOPER of Ohio advocates the passage of this bill. I presume he, too, is under the sway of union labor.

As a citizen and a taxpayer I can see no earthly excuse for the enactment of this measure. It could gain so very little for union labor or manufacturers, but at the same time it could do very great damage to the taxpayers and to the dependents of prisoners and to prisoners themselves. I appraise this bill as only an enabling act. It would merely serve as a stepping-stone for organizations in various States to force through restrictive legislation. In my solemn judgment inside of 10 years not a prison in the land would be near self-sustaining, but, on the other hand, idleness would be the rule. In the States of the South that produce sugar and cotton with prison help such restrictive legislation as this would be destructive. In my State, where we manufacture chairs, binder twine, clothing, signs, tinware, etc., we would be shut out of the markets in the general fields. Our State could not any way near consume such products as our institution would make along these lines. We would be compelled to diversify our industries at a great expense, and I fear it would be at no profit if we are compelled to sell all our goods within our own State.

In 10 years' time the population of my State has increased almost 200 per cent. We are constantly making room for more prisoners, and the stream flows on toward our doors with ever-increasing volume. If the Government could do something to reduce crime it would be much better than to do something to harrass and distress prison officials who are charged with the ever-increasing colony of criminals.

I was told at Washington recently that both the Senate and the House favored the passage of this bill. Just why they favored it they did not say. To my way of thinking, it is done for the simple and sole purpose of favoring certain organizations with a view to gaining votes in the coming elections. If prisoners or prison officials were as powerful politically as organized labor or manufacturers' organizations or women's associations, I do not believe any Member of Congress would think of introducing such a bill. Prisons are the football of designing politicians, of fad-following women's organizations, and the like can say anything they please about a prison and there is no comeback.

I want you to know, Senator, it is a distressing situation, viewed from the standpoint of men who are charged with the control of these penal institutions. We are expected to conduct them along proper lines and at as small a cost to the State as possible, with very rare encouragement from lawmaking bodies. On the other hand, we are compelled to defend ourselves against these bodies.

Even in my own State bills were introduced at the last session of the legislature which, if enacted into law, would have certainly closed down the industries in this place. I do not know what is coming over the people. A statesman once said, "Laws are not made; they are discovered." Now, if any man can discover a single reason that will stand the light of day for a moment for the enactment of the Hawes-Cooper measure I would be very glad indeed to see it. When Congress wants to find out something about the tariff question or some other question they call in people who are familiar with the facts and make a thorough investigation. It was not so with the prison-labor question. If some of us had not been on the watch

we would not have known when the hearings were had, especially in the Senate. Why do they not call upon prison wardens and men who are interested in the control of prisons and get their attitudes upon the subject fairly and honestly before they write any new laws? My dear Senator, I hope I have not bored you by this long letter. I am very full of this subject and have given years of my life in an effort to better prison conditions. I sometimes feel very bitter when I am compelled to listen to the arguments men and women produce in favor of restricting labor within prison walls. I can only hope that you will have splendid success in your opposition to the Hawes-Cooper bill. If I come to Washington any more this season I would like the privilege of calling upon you at your office.

Yours very truly,

JOHN L. MOORMAN,

President Board Trustees, Indiana State Prison. CIVILIAN ASSISTANTS, OFFICE OF GOVERNOR GENERAL, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

Mr. BINGHAM. Mr. President, there is on the calendar, and has been for a long time, a bill providing for the employment of civilian assistants in the office of the Governor General of the Philippine Islands and fixing the salaries at certain figures. It is Calendar 396, Senate bill 2292, introduced by the late Senator Willis. A similar bill was introduced in the House by Congressman KIESS. I presume nearly every Senator has received certain communications from Manuel L. Quezon, president of the Philippine Senate, and a letter in regard to the bill in opposition to it. I ask that there may be printed in the RECORD a letter from the Secretary of War inclosing a cablegram recently received from Governor General Stimson in regard to the statement of President Quezon; and also an article from the Mindanao Herald of March 24, 1928, written by Governor General Stimson himself, in which he gives his reasons for asking for the passage of the bill.

[blocks in formation]

United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR BINGHAM: The following cablegram has been received from Governor General Stimson to-day:

"Reference Quezon statement there is absolutely no evidence in attitude insular press or of people toward me of alleged evil effect of pendency Willis-Kiess bills. My advocacy of bills was well known before my arrival and repeated in formal statement by me 10 days after arrival explaining purpose of bills. This received with friendliness even by portion of press opposed to bills. This friendliness and cooperation with my administration has steadily increased ever since. My opinion cooperation with me will not be jeopardized by passage of bills, but may be seriously jeopardized by their failure, showing lack of support at home. On the other hand, experience shows even more clearly the necessity of nonpolitical inspectors and assistants provided by bill. Charges of malfeasance, oppression, and fraud in some portion insular, provincial, or local governments are matters of almost daily occurrence, and in most cases complainant requests me to make personal or American investigation charging ordinary Filipino official investigating agencies with political bias. While most of such charges unfounded, there are many cases where a thorough nonpolitical investigation absolutely imperative; this need will inevitably increase with development of autonomy, which I propose because the increased powers and responsibilities which I am giving to the department heads requires corresponding ability on my part to check up the exercise of such powers. The Willis bill, thus, instead of being a backward step, is indispensable to progress in self-government. At present have absolutely no such investigators available except so-called military staff and one or two officers Philippine constabulary. Action by Congress and not Philippine Legislature necessary because latter action would necessitate either confirmation such assistants by Philippine Senate or their appointment by the Secretary of War. Passage second bill for governor's non-Christian Provinces equally important, though not so immediately pressing. It is not true that Philippine Senate will readily confirm American governors. Nomination of Governor Early, the most outstanding and successful of such governors, was held up nearly two years and finally confirmed only under emotional reaction caused by General Wood's death."

[blocks in formation]

before Congress for action. Piticians have tried to convince the people that it is a pernicious measure designed to curtail autonomy and set up the Governor General as an absolute czar. Nothing could be further from the truth. The bill merely clarifies the original intent of the Jones law, and empowers the Governor General to exercise that supervision and control " over the gradual development of autonomy in the government which is essential to success. Colonel Stimson has issued a straightforward statement, giving his reasons for urging the passage of the legislation, which should put a quietus to the bogeyman propaganda. The statement follows:

[ocr errors]

"A member of my cabinet has suggested that a statement of my views on the Kiess-Willis bill would relieve apprehension and misunderstanding here. It appears that there is fear lest I will create a supercabinet in case the bill is passed or interfere with the development of responsibility and autonomy among the present department heads. No greater mistake could be made.

"The Kiess bill contemplates two classes of appointments by the Governor General: First, technical advisers; and, second, assistants to perform duties of investigation for him. The need for the first is becoming more evident every year. In my inaugural address I alluded to the necessity of stimulating economic development in these islands. During the past 40 years the Philippines have failed to make the progress which their friends have desired in the diversification of their agriculture. In some respects it may even be said that they have been approaching a one-crop development. Forty years ago they lost the cultivation of coffee, which had previously been an important crop, but, unlike Java, which suffered the same loss at the same time, they have never restored that crop.

"To-day there is reason to believe that their monopoly in hemp is threatened, both by disease and by the cultivation of substitutes in other competing countries. While other industries have to some extent been introduced, I think all friends of the islands will agree that the progress and development of a wide and diversified agriculture has not been as rapid or energetic as our needs demand, and to-day we are too much dependent upon the prosperity of our chief crop-sugar.

"It is my intention, if granted the financial resources provided in the Kiess bill, to use a portion of it in the employment of the best possible advisers, both for advice on the kinds and methods of crops and industries needed, and also as to the financial methods necessary for the safe encouragement of such new crops. I feel keenly my need of such advice, and believe that any Governor General in my position would feel his own needs as I do. Such advisers would not be permanent appointees; they would not become a part of a permanent staff; they might not even be appointed on full time.

"They would be sought for in all places and under all conditions where the best men could be found to do a specific work or make a specific report, and would leave when that work was done. It is clear that special provision must be made for such employment, and that it can not be left to the routine of the permanent civil staff of the islands.

"The other class of assistants contemplated by the act are men to perform special investigation for the Governor General in the exercise of his duties of supervision and control' under the Jones law. But in this there is no intention of interfering with regular department inspection and supervision. The Department of the Interior has an executive bureau which regularly performs such work, and has done it very well in the past.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Every department head will be expected to rigidly supervise and inspect his department in the future and will be held responsible for it. But your own law, in section 64 of the administrative code, imposes upon the Governor General the duty of making when in his opinion the good of the public service so requires an investigation of any action or the conduct of any person in the Government service.' Past history has abundantly shown the value and necessity of such special investigation, and the department heads upon whom rests the duty of regular and normal inspection would be the first to recognize the importance of these special investigations and to admit that cases frequently arise which can be handled only in that way, and for which routine departmental investigation does not offer a sufficient remedy. "Indeed, the further we proceed in cultivating autonomy in the departments and imposing upon their heads responsibility of supervision in their own departments, the more important it is that the Governor General should be possessed of the necessary machinery, like his eyes and ears, to keep him informed how that autonomous development is working. The more freedom he allows to his department heads in making their daily decisions the more necessary is it for him to be able to inform himself when occasion arises how that trust has been carried out. Otherwise his responsibility of supervision and control' under the Jones law might be entirely defeated by ignorance of the actual workings of the Government.

"There is nothing in the proposition to appoint these two classes of assistants to the Governor General which is at all unusual. Such technical advice is provided for in the laws of most of our American States, including, as I happen to know, my own State of New York.

"It is my purpose, if granted the means by the passage of the Kiess bill, to devote a portion of it to the employment of the most competent

and trustworthy men for the making of such investigations. No other consideration than fitness would enter into those appointments. It would be my aim to employ for that purpose both Filipinos and Americans, wherever men of the requisite fidelity and intelligence can be secured.

[ocr errors]

Now, the reason of having this provision made by the Congress of the United States in the form of an amendment to the Jones Act, and not by the Philippine Legislature, is simply this: All of these appointments, as I have pointed out, must be made upon the basis of merit and fitness alone; politics must not enter into their selection. They must be solely responsible to the Governor General, because they are acting as his eyes and ears in performing one of his most sacred duties imposed upon him by the Jones law. Provision can not be made for such appointments by the Philippine Legislature unless they are either subject to confirmation by the Philippine Senate or appointed by the Secretary of War in Washington, as was provided by the recent appropriation vetoed by Governor Gilmore.

"Neither of these methods would meet with entire satisfaction the requisites of these appointments. Confirmation by the Senate would inevitably introduce political consideration. Appointment by the Secretary of War, in Washington, even under the best of circumstances and the most cordial cooperation between the Secretary of War and the Governor General, would diminish the personal responsibility of the Governor General, and might tend to introduce foreign considerations to appointments which should be made solely with reference to the need here in the islands.

"Therefore, while I shall not reject any assistance which might be offered me by the insular legislature and shall regard their willingness to make such appropriation as a fine gesture of good will, in my opinion it would not be as effective for the purpose which I believe we all unite in desiring, as if it were made by an amendment to the organic law by the Congress of the United States.

"It has been my hope that consideration of these facts and circumstances, which seem to me to govern the situation, will gradually lead those who have feared or opposed the new Kiess bill (which, by the way, is an entirely different, and in my opinion much more favorable bill to the islands than the old Kiess bill) to withdraw their opposition and assist in the working out of the common purpose which has for its object solely the benefit of the islands and the development of an efficient and autonomous government."

MOTHERS' DAY

Mr. NEELY. Mr. President, for more than 19 centuries mankind has had three unfailing sources of inspiration to heroic efforts, great accomplishments, and sublime achievements. For more than nineteen hundred years the three words that represent these ever-flowing fountains of inspiration have charmed the ears, brightened the hopes, and thrilled the hearts of all the children of men. They have incited the genius that has produced the most exquisite pictures ever painted, the most beautiful poems ever written, the most melodious songs ever sung-songs, poems, and pictures that have given us sunshine for our shadows, joy for our sorrows, smiles for our tears, and intimated to us the endless bliss of immortality in that "realm where the rainbow never fades," where no one ever grows old, where friends never part and loved ones never, never die.

These three mighty, magic, and inspiring words are "Jesus," 'Home," and " Mother."

The first of them impelled Charles Wesley to write:

Jesus, lover of my soul.

Let me to thy bosom fly; While the nearer waters roll, While the tempest still is high.

All my trust on Thee is stayed; All my help from Thee I bring; Cover my defenseless head

With the shadow of thy wing.

Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,
Till the storm of life is past;
Safe into the haven guide,

O receive my soul at last.

What unspeakable consolation born of boundless faith in the everlasting Father's imperishable love for His erring children is revealed in this beautiful hymn. Its music, "like a sea of glory, has spread from pole to pole."

The second of our magic words prompted John Howard Payne to compose that deathless song that has been sung and played around the world. Millions of weary wanderers on foreign strands have been transported upon the wings of imagination back to the romantic scenes of their childhood, to the picturesque paths which their infancy knew, to the happy

days of the long ago by that soothing symphony of sublime sentiment:

[ocr errors]

'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;
A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,

Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere.

Home! home! sweet, sweet home!

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

And the last of this tranquilizing trinity of wondrous words, with the stirring force of the celestial muse of Isaiah, impelled Elizabeth Akers Allen to write the following pathetic, appealing, and rapturous poem that is destined to live until the everlasting hills, "the vales stretching in pensive quietness between," and 'old oceans gray and melancholy waste," shall be no more: Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight, Make me a child again just for to-night! Mother, come back from the echoless shore, Take me again to your heart, as of yore; Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care, Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair; Over my slumber your loving watch keep, Rock me to sleep, Mother, rock me to sleep.

Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years!

I am so weary of toil and of tears-
Toil without recompense, tears all in vain,
Take them and give me my childhood again!

I have grown weary of dust and decay,
Weary of flinging my soul-wealth away;
Weary of sowing for others to reap;
Rock me to sleep, Mother, rock me to sleep.
Mother, dear mother, the years have been long
Since I last hushed to your lullaby song.
Sing then, and unto my soul it shall seem
Manhood's years have been only a dream.
Clasped to your breast in a loving embrace,
With your light lashes just sweeping my face.
Never hereafter to wake or to weep-

Rock me to sleep, Mother, rock me to sleep.

days, thanksgiving days, and emancipation days for observance Kings and potentates and parliaments have proclaimed holiby the people of various kingdoms and countries and states. But Miss Anna M. Jarvis, a distinguished woman of West Virginia, has established Mothers' Day in the love, in the devotion, and in the throbbing heart of the humanity of all the world.

To-day we venerate the sacred name and memory of mother. We laud the virtue, extol the spirit of self-sacrifice, and eulogize the loving kindness of every mother living; and in imagination, with bowed heads, grateful hearts, and generous hands lay new wreaths of the freshest, the fairest, and the most fragrant flowers upon the graves of all the mothers who have gone from the fitful land of the living into the silent land of the dead. In this hour of sober and serious reflection we realize that everyone who treads the globe owes his birth to the unspeakable agony of a mother. From mother's breast the baby first was fed. In mother's arms the baby first was lulled to sleep. Mother, in the twilight hour of baby's existence. breathed the fervent prayer:

That He who stills the raven's clamorous nest,
And decks the lily fair in flowery pride,
Would, in the way His wisdom sees the best,
For her darling child provide; but chiefly

In her loved one's heart, with grace divine preside.

Then, as the days grew into the months and the months lengthened into the years, mother's life became a continuous round of solicitude, service, and sacrifice for her child.

Mother's hands made the first dress that baby ever wore. Mother's deft fingers made playthings for the little one that filled his eyes with wonder and his heart with joy.

A splinter in baby's finger, a briar in baby's foot, or a bruise on baby's toe became an affliction of such momentous consequence that only mother could heal it; only mother could banish its ache; only mother could exile its pain; only mother could smile away the tears it caused to flow down baby's cheeks.

And a little later mother, like an inexhaustible encyclopedia of universal knowledge, informed her baby about the birds and the beasts and the flowers and the trees. She discussed with him the cause of day and night; of winter's storm and summer's calm; the mysteries of the earth and sea and sky. She

explained as best she could the marvels of the sun and moon and stars and the grandeur of the far-off Milky Way.

And the little one at night upon his knees, at mother's side, with mother's hand upon his head, learned to say in the lisping accents of childhood:

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep,

If I should die before I wake,

I pray the Lord my soul to take.

And this I ask for Jesus' sake.
Amen.

Thus from the day of the birth of her babe, "toiling, sorrowing, rejoicing, onward through life mother goes," generously giv ing the best of her thought and energy and effort and life to make of her child a successful, useful, and righteous woman

or man.

But until

The stars are old,

And the sun grows cold,

And the leaves of the judgment book unfold

No one will ever know the full measure of service the mothers of earth have constantly rendered their children.

The following touching story illustrates the fact that the average mother is ever ready to sacrifice as sublimely for her children as the mother pelican is said to sacrifice for her young by feeding them the lifeblood from her breast:

A poverty-stricken Italian woman was by the death of her husband compelled to work hard in a "sweatshop" to support her three little children. A humane organization learned that this unfortunate woman was in the last stage of consumption and endeavored to take her from her task. But she resisted and continued to work until she died of a hemorrhage. During this martyr's last moments some one inquired of her why she had worked so hard and so long. And she gasped, I had to work to get the grub for the kids."

Greater love than this has no woman shown. She laid down her life for her children.

Just such love as this poor, dying Italian woman had for her children every other mother has for her own.

In token of our appreciation of the great boon of maternal devotion which we all enjoy, or have enjoyed in the days gone by, let us habitually exalt the name, commemorate the memory, and sing the praises of our mothers, and let us devoutly beseech our Heavenly Father to love them and keep them, and shower His richest blessings upon them forever and for

ever.

O mother, thou wert ever one with nature,
All things fair spoke to my soul of thee;
The azure depths of air,

Sunrise and starbeam, and the moonlight rare,
Splendors of summer, winter's frost and snow,

Autumn's rich glow, bird, river, flower, and tree.

Mother, thou wert in love's first whisper,

And the slow thrill of its dying kiss;

In the strong ebb and flow of the resistless tides of joy and woe;

In life's supremest hour thou hadst a share,

Its stress of prayer, its rapturous trance of bliss.

Mother, leave me not now when the long shadows fall athwart the sunset bars;

Hold thou my soul in thrall till it shall answer to a mightier call,
Remain thou with me till the holy night puts out the light,
And kindles all the stars.

Mr. HEFLIN. Mr. President, I have listened with profound interest and pleasure to the beautiful and magnificent speech just made by the Senator from West Virginia. I would that every person in America could read that speech.

He referred to Miss Annie Jarvis, of Philadelphia. I remember that 16 years ago she came to Congress leading the movement to establish Mothers' Day. She lived in Congressman Hampton Moore's district. He told her to see me and request me to offer a resolution creating Mothers' Day.

We talked over the matter, and I told her that I should be glad to render any assistance I could; and I introduced a resolution naming the second Sunday in May as Mothers' Day. My resolution passed the House. The able and distinguished Senator from Texas [Mr. SHEPPARD]-who has always been on the side of the good mothers of the country and the homes of America, and on the right side of every moral question-took charge of my resolution when it reached the Senate, and it passed this body. President Wilson approved it, and the great

commoner, William Jennings Bryan, proclaimed it as Secretary of State.

The second Sunday in May has become a fixed institution in America. On that day, under my resolution, the flag is to be unfurled upon all public buildings of the land, and above the homes of the people in America; and that flag was never used in a more beautiful and sacred cause than when flying above that tender, gentle army, the mothers of America. A poet has said, beautifully:

The greatest battle that ever was fought

Shall I tell you where and when?

On the map of the world you will find it not;
It was fought by the mothers of men.

That is true, Mr. President.
Another poet has said:

The world at times has beat me back
In battles I have fought;

Not always has the god Success
Touched tasks in which I wrought.

Full oft has fortune dealt a blow
Instead of bent to bless ;
And heartaches followed close upon
The heels of happiness.

And often, when a solemn woe
Of grief my heart intoned,
And often when my spirit writhed
And all my nature groaned.
There stole refrains that softened pain
Not phrased by mortal tongue
But born of memories old and sweet-
The songs my mother sung.
When she took me in her arms

And gently stroked my hair,
And bore me with her down to sleep
In that old bye-bye chair.
And be who, harking back to youth,
Goes forth and nobly tries
To color life to match the light

That shines from mother's eyes-
He'll not pride his faltering feet

Upon the race they've made,

But search his heart, and bless the part
That mother love has played.

He'll walk adown the ways of life,
And in his daily prayer

Thank God that all his best was born

In that old bye-bye chair.

[blocks in formation]

The great awakening of nature, the season of spring, with its unfolding of all life from the sleep or shelter of winter, is again rejuvenating the hearts of all mankind. All around us we witness renewed activities in all realms for the advancement of human welfare and happiness. It is natural that this season should stir us to worship the origin of all-God, the Creator of the universe-and inspire us to reverence for the mothers of the human race. We, in our individual and finite minds, trace our beginning to the heart of a noble being we know as mother.

Through infancy, youth, and maturity it is mother to whom we look for guidance, for understanding, for encouragement. It is she who inspires us to achievements and consoles us in misfortunes. Womanly intuition and insight, more than any other agency, has helped man over the rough and ragged places of life. All others may lose faith, but mothers believe in us with all the yearning of their loving souls to the last flicker of life.

Now, therefore, I, Vic Donahay, by virtue of authority vested in me as Governor of Ohio, and in accordance with established custom, do hereby designate Sunday, May 13, 1928, as Mothers' Day in the State of Ohio and request observance by all citizens in appropriate manner, that every mother may be compensated by tokens of appreciation and love for her sacrifices and services.

« ПретходнаНастави »