Thomas F. Eagleton Quotes
Whether we, as individuals, are motivated by simple humanity or by simple economics, we can no longer permit profits to be dependent upon an unsafe or unhealthy work site.
Thomas F. Eagleton, U.S. Senator (Democrat, MO), Senate debate
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As hard as it is to understand today, there were few states with safety laws governing industry. There was no OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration ) or other federal regulation of industrial safety conditions.
At the time there was very little such legislation or regulation, and the little there was only occurred after massive lobbying efforts by organized labor. In modern times, often it takes a horrible tragedy to occur before the political will can be mobilized to cope with issues of occupational health and safety.
He in that same year then persuaded sympathetic MP, John Hobhouse, to introduce the first bill into the House of Commons regulating child labor in the mills. Considered radical in its day, forbade employment of children under the age of 9 from working in the mills, and then limited the hours that children from 9 to 18 to 12 hours a day. The bill was rejected with the same claims that have been made regarding child labor reform attempts ever since. It would slow growth, harm the economy, exacerbate the poverty of poor families and interfere with the parents right to bring up their children. It was not until after his death in 1861 that meaningful child labor laws were passed for the British mills.
The First Lady was very practical. Although she was a strong advocate of women working in all areas of the labor force, she also realized that there were very few women who had done so before and thus there were few role models for them. So women did not generally know how to dress to keep themselves safe. And if she thought any information was needed, she used her daily syndicated column in many of America’s newspapers to convey that information.
President Harrison had first brought the problem of injured workers having no protection or recourse to public attention {640537} Then Roosevelt’s term created legislation and the Congress passed it. The very conservative Supreme Court had declared the Employers’ Liability Act of 1906 unconstitutional, leaving no recourse of assistance for American railroad employees injured on their job through no fault of their own. Roosevelt was furious and he had the legislation redrafted to get around the Supreme Court objections. and that was passed in 1908 and was not overturned.
Thomas Francis Eagleton was a United States senator from Missouri, serving from 1968 to 1987. He was briefly the Democratic vice presidential nominee under George McGovern in 1972. He suffered from bouts of depression throughout his life, resulting in several hospitalizations, which were kept secret from the public. When they were revealed, it humiliated the McGovern campaign and Eagleton was forced to quit the race. He later became adjunct professor of public affairs at Washington University in St. Louis.
