We find that 80 to 90 percent of the injuries which are occurring in our company [Du Pont] are due to a human failure rather than a piece of equipment, a machine, or so on.
Notwithstanding all the talk of a probable exodus of manufacturing interests the commission has not found a single case of a manufacturer intending to leave the State because of the enforcement of the factory laws.
That same threat was made when the child labor law was passed and not one of the manufacturers moved out.
I can’t see what all this talk is about. How is it wrong for the State to intervene with regard to the working conditions of people who work in the factories and mills. I don’t see what they mean. What did we set up the government for?
Contrary to the predictions of the canners, the next year there was no shortage of canned vegetables or fruits.
In Utica no one ever bothers the factories about these things. Why are we bothered this way? No, we do not keep the names and addresses of our homeworkers. Women wanting such work come in and get it and that’s all there is about it.
They pay absolutely no attention to the fire hazard or to the protection of the employees in these buildings. That is their last consideration.
I have seen children working in factories, and I have seen them working at home and they were perfectly happy.
[Those killed in factory fires are] an infinitesimal proportion of the population.
The hardship entailed on a certain proportion of the home workers, without means of support, the distress they will suffer, their loss will be greater than the benefit coming to the public through the elimination of that work.
