in proportion to
the responsibilities which they carry. One of the gentlemen has
asked: "What is the relation of all this labor talk to the
ballot?" I will give you some examples: I was for four years the
head of the factory inspectors of Illinois. During that time we
had an eight-hour law enacted for the protection of women and
children employed in manufacturing industries. The Supreme Court
held that it was contrary to the constitutions of the State and
of the United States for women to be deprived of the right to
work twenty-four hours whenever it suited the convenience of the
employers. The court said--and it took 9,000 words to say
it--that women could not be deprived of working unlimited hours,
because they were citizens, although it said the term
"citizenship" was limited; the Court said they could not be
allowed to work underground in mines; they could not be allowed
to work out their taxes on the roads, as farmers do; they could
not be called to the militia; they could not vote except for
school committees and once in four years for the trustees of the
State University, but, with those minor deductions, they were
citizens and could not be deprived of the freedom of contract.

The Supreme Court of the United States has proclaimed that the
Judges of Illinois guessed wrong on that occasion, that it is not
contrary to the Constitution of the United States to limit the
working hours of women but that it is the obvious duty of every
Legislature to do this in the interest of public health and
morals. A year ago, largely through the efforts of Mrs. Robins,
the Legislature tried it again and passed this time a ten-hour
law for women. A Judge was found who held that it was a
legitimate object for an injunction and he enjoined my successor,
the present factory inspector, and the prosecuting attorney from
enforcing this law. To-day under that injunction the women are
again free to work twenty-four hours, as they do one day in the
week quite regularly in the laundries in Chicago, and to work
sixteen hours a day as they do in the stores during the Christmas
rush, and as they do in the box factories and candy factories.
Yet the women of Illinois have not had one word to say as to the
personnel of these courts which decide what is a matter of life