This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XXXIII. THE GOVERNMENT AND THE INTERESTS. It was evident throughout the investigation that not only were the Bureau officials biased as to what the investigation should show, but it was sought to obtain such facts only as would show that factory employment is detrimental to the employed. The Commissioner of Labor himself referred to certain business men as pirates, and declared in my presence that one, manufacturer who had attempted to convince him that the employment of the poor children in the cotton-mills of the South had proved beneficial to them, was a liar. He instructed his agents at the mills to seek the very worst conditions, and every effort was made to gather data that would support the representations of those special interests whose very existence is dependent upon their misrepresentations. Agents were sent at Government expense to attend one of their conventions at least, while on the other hand they were cautioned to doubt the manufacturer and all statements that would tend to reflect credit upon him. It was openly assumed that he was dishonest, and any information obtained from him could not be relied upon; in other words, that he was anything but a desirable citizen. While I did not believe Senator Beveridge had wilfully perverted the truth in his speech denouncing child labor in the South, I was aware that he did not know any more about the subject than I knew when I began my part of the investigation. He was merely the mouthpiece of the organizations that supplied him with the material for his speech and urged him to deliver it, just as they subsequently supplied Colonel Roosevelt with similar material and induced him to present it to a large assembly gathered in Carnegie Hall, New York. As a special agent of...