198 THE NEXT GENERATION 



that factory managers and mill owners still overworked and 

 underpaid their fellow human beings, and they concluded 

 that nothing could loosen the grasp of greed and of cruelty 

 but laws stern enough to force mercy from the merciless. 

 This, then, was the second step in race improvement. 



Promptly a new order began. One law after another was 

 passed, until now, in every civilized land, these laws grow 

 more important every year. They decide how many hours 

 each day one man may work for another, what protection he 

 must have against dangerous machinery, what shall be paid 

 in case of accident, how many holidays he must be granted, 

 etc. Other laws in different places control the age at which 

 children may begin to work by the day, the hours of their 

 work, the amount of their wages, the kind of occupations 

 they may or may not go into, their education while at work, 

 and so on. 



Right Environment for the Children 



Each state is passing such laws every year, but even while 

 the earliest ones were being enforced, those who watched 

 results saw that laws against overwork were not enough — 

 that for the sake of real race improvement children must be 

 supplied with right surroundings of every kind from the time 

 they are born until they are grown. This was the third step. 



It was precisely in this connection that the government of 

 the United States, in 191 1, took a great step toward serving 

 the children better. It then established what is known as the 

 Children's Bureau. This bureau proposes to crush the forces 

 that are ready to crush the children. In order to do this it 

 intends to look up present conditions and report them to the 

 public, to educate the same public, and to enforce more laws. 



