LAD#30

Photo1: Espionage Act of 1917

LAD #30

Schenck v United States was a Supreme Court case concerning enforcement of the Espionage Act of 1917 during World War 1.

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. provided an opinion that concluded that the defendants (Charles Schenck and Elizabeth Baer) who distributed fliers to draft-age men urging them to resist induction into the armed services (on the grounds that it constituted involuntary servitude which is prohibited by the Thirteenth Amendment) could be convicted of obstructing the draft, a criminal offense.

In his opinion, Holmes said that expressions which were intended to result in a crime and posed a ‘clear and present danger’ of succeeding, could be punished. 

The opinion’s most famous passage was: ‘The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic’.  

Photo2: In later wars people could legally get out of the draft by being "conscientious objectors" meaning that their religion prevented them from fighting.

LAD#29

Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916:

It is illegal to ship or deliver for shipment in interstate or foreign commerce any product of any mine or quarry that in the last month employed children under the age of 16, or any product of any mill, cannery, workshop, factory or manufacturing establishment that in the last month employed children under the age of 14, or employed children between the ages of 14-16 for more than eight hours per day or more than six days per week, or at night.

To enforce this act, the Secretary of Labor or anyone authorized by him is authorized to enter and inspect worksites.

It is the duty of each District Attorney to prosecute cases brought to them.  Boys and girls canning clubs are exempt. 

Violations are subject to fines and imprisonment. 

No dealer will be prosecuted if they have a guarantee from the person who shipped or delivered the goods stating that child labor was not used.

LAD#28

Woodrow Wilson First Inaugural:

There has been a change of government.  The House of Representatives, the senate, the President and Vice-President are all democrats.  What does this mean ?  The nation seeks to use the Democratic Party to change itself.

In many ways life is great, especially in material aspects, in its body of wealth and the industries conceived and built.  But with riches have come inexcusable waste.  We have not stopped to conserve the exceeding bounty of nature, nor to count the human cost.  Government has too often been used for private and selfish purposes.

Our duty is to correct the evil without imparting the good.  Our work is a work of restoration.  The chief items to be altered are: 

- Tariffs

- Banking and currency system

- Industry

- Agriculture

- Watercourses undeveloped, waste places unreclaimed, forests unattended

- Waste heaps at every mine 

The government must also focus on sanitary laws, pure food laws, and labor laws.  

We will make changes in a step by step process from where we are to where we want to be. 

This Is a day of dedication !  I summon all honest men, all patriotic, all forward-looking men, to my side !

Photo#2: Obama

LAD #27 Clayton Anti-Trust Act

It is unlawful to charge different prices for the same commodities to different purchasers.  It is ok to charge different prices based upon differences in grade, quality, quantity sold, shipping costs etc.   

It is unlawful to lease or sell goods, wares etc, based upon agreement that the leasee or purchaser will not buy from a competitor.

A corporation cannot acquire the stock of another corporation where the effect will be to reduce competition or tend to create a monopoly.

Photo#2: IBM entered into a consent decree in 1956 to prevent the threat of being broken up

LAD #26

LAD #26 MLK "I have a dream" speech

One hundred years ago Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope.  But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free.  The Negro is crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.  The Negro lives in poverty in a vast ocean of material prosperity. 

In a sense we have come to our nations capital to cash a check.  America has given the Negro a bad check.  But we refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of the nation.

We have also come to remind America of the urgency of Now.  Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.  It would be fatal to overlook this. 

We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into violence.  We will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream".

Even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.  I have a dream that one day my children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. 

Let Freedom Ring ! 

And when this happens, all God's children will be able to join hands and sing "Free at last, Free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last".

Photo#2: Chinese immigrants to the United States were also considered second class citizens, often not receiving the full benefits that they should have.

LAD #25

LAD #25: Dawes Severalty Act

The President of the United States is authorized to have Indian reservation land to be surveyed and allocated to individual Indians in sections.  Upon approval of the allotments the United States will hold the land for 25 years in trust for the Indian to whom it had been allotted to.  After 25 years the land will be transferred to the Indian. 

The Indians who receive such allotments will be citizens of the United States and will have the benefit of and subject to the laws of the State or Territory in which they reside

Photo#2: Bikini Island Atoll residents being relocated by the United States because of thermonuclear testing.

LAD #24

William Jennings Bryan’s Cross of Gold speech; July 9, 1896

We have a huge issue being fought out with the voters.  The money issue is paramount.  Believers in free coinage of silver have organized, and went forth from victory to victory.  Country workers are just as important as city bankers and businessmen.  The great cities rest upon the productivity of the farms.  Destroy the farms and the cities will also perish.  Not visa - versa !  Democrats do not believe in trickle down economics.  When the masses are prosperous, the prosperity will find it’s way up.

We will support bimetallism.

You will not crucify mankind on a cross of gold.