The more I had studied the subject the more strongly I had become convinced that an eight-hour day under the conditions of labor in the United States was all that could, with wisdom and propriety, be required either by the Government or by private employers; that more than this meant, on the average, a decrease in the qualities that tell for good citizenship.

I finally solved the problem, as far as Government employees were concerned, by calling in Charles P.Neill, the head of the Labor Bureau; and acting on his advice, I speedily made the eight-hour law really effective.

Any man who shirked his work, who dawdled and idled, received no mercy; slackness is even worse than harshness; for exactly as in battle mercy to the coward is cruelty to the brave man, so in civil life slackness towards the vicious and idle is harshness towards the honest and hardworking.
We passed a good law protecting the lives and health of miners in the Territories, and other laws providing for the supervision of employment agencies in the District of Columbia, and protecting the health of motormen and conductors on street railways in the District.

We practically started the Bureau of Mines.

We provided for safeguarding factory employees in the District against accidents, and for the restriction of child labor therein.