Public Service
In 1894, Boyce was elected to the Idaho state senate as a Populist from Shoshone County, Idaho. Boyce battled for the eight-hour day for miners, the establishment of an arbitration board to settle labor disputes, and an investigation of the 1892 mining war. He objected to appropriations for the state militia, charging that it was a tool used by the state and mine owners to suppress labor. He called for legislation to forbid employment of aliens, to outlaw yellow-dog contracts and prohibit company stores. In one of the most dramatic speeches he ever made, Boyce denounced the blacklist:
Senate bill fifty six provides for no class, no special legislation, but under its provisions those relentless persecutors, known as corporations, are prevented when they discharge an employee from following him with a blacklist and depriving him of the means of earning an honest living in another part of the state….Why do you not produce some argument against it to show that it should not become a law? No, it is not necessary: you of the Republican party have the votes to kill the bill and that is all you desire. But remember these words: the laboring men of Idaho have asked you for bread and you give them a stone: we ask you for justice and you treat us with scorn, but the day is fast approaching when your action will be condemned by every man who has one drop of manly blood in his veins.
But the Populists were unable to pass the legislation they desired, and Boyce—disillusioned with the political process—quit after one term.
Read more about this topic: Ed Boyce
Famous quotes containing the words public and/or service:
“Typical of Iowa towns, whether they have 200 or 20,000 inhabitants, is the church supper, often utilized to raise money for paying off church debts. The older and more conservative members argue that the “House of the Lord” should not be made into a restaurant; nevertheless, all members contribute time and effort, and the products of their gardens and larders.”
—For the State of Iowa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“The true courage of civilized nations is readiness for sacrifice in the service of the state, so that the individual counts as only one amongst many. The important thing here is not personal mettle but aligning oneself with the universal.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)