Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. IV.djvu/167

THEODORE ROOSEVELT 131 limit the power of the courts to enforce injunctions, and with the prohibition of child labor. A law about this latter for the District of Columbia was passed. On March 4, 1907, was passed "An Act to promote the safety of employees and travelers upon railroads by limiting the hours of service of employees thereon." It made unlawful the per mitting of any employee to remain on duty for more than sixteen consecutive hours. An Act of May 30, 1908, provided for compensation for in juries to Federal employees. The month of June, 1906, is associated with an other memorable step taken by Mr. Roosevelt in the direction of humane policy. It is the second time in our history that a novel has been the quick- ener of public changes. In other countries, works of fiction have frequently exerted a marked in fluence upon opinion. In our own, there had been no case of this since "Uncle Tom s Cabin" until the appearance of "The Jungle." This story by Mr. Upton Sinclair concerned the processes of meat-packing and the life of packers in Chicago; and beneath its sensational inaccuracies lay enough truth to set both America and England talking. It raised and justly a storm of excitement. England was as severely shocked as if her own skirts were spotless and she had never forced upon helpless China the opium grown in her Indian Empire. We differ from England in many ways,