The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1866-11-10

Violation OF the Factory Law..Dis-
graceful Revelations.
The Fall River Nsps contains report Of
. lecture, delivered at the City Hall IN that
city, by State Commissioner J. B. Ham, on
tho violation Of the factory Law and she edu-
c>tional interests Of the operatives. The
following is the Ne,cs report, somewhat
condensed by us:
Mr.. Ham said he had been kindly re
ceived by the mill owners generally. He
was sorry to say, however, that he bad found
. dreadful state Of things existing here. He
had heard gentlemen who had been here be-
fore him say the same on their return to
Boston, and that they should not cease 10
lobby the Legislature until something was
done TO bring about different state Of af-
fairs. The condition OF some our mill oper-
atives was as bad, if not worse. than that
which formerly existed among the slaves OF
the South. We were building up city on the
blood, the bones Of women and children.
he had been in cur mills, aud the atmos-
phere in some oi the rooms was unfit for
human beings. We ought not to put any
thing in ID contribution box 70 send mis-
| sionaries b Burmah while such q state Of
things existed here. II the Burmese should
send missionaries TO Fall River, they would
go back and say they found children Oft, s, 0
and 10 years, put down in damp, dark rooms,
and kept at work there and the women OF
Burmah would take the IIngs out OF their
noses and put them into the contribution
box to send relief to these children. The
laws Of the State provide that no children
under 10 years of age shall be employed in
ihe mills, and none between the ages of 10
and IL, unless they have attended school six
months 10 each year. Nor can children be-
tween those ages be kept at work more than
eight hours per day. Fine for violation in
each case, $50. 10 enacting these laws the
Commonwealth dRfs not wish to interfere
with the industrs8 interests Of her people,
but to work ont the best good OF
all concerned. Nothing of any use
can be effected, however, until the
truant laws are enforced. IR will
not do to leave the enforcement Of
these laws to the local police, but officers
must be appointed BY the state for that es-
peeial purpose The streets must be cleared
Of the boys who are hsnging around the
saloons aud grog= shops, then tn wnersof
/ the mills, we are assured, will do whatever
is right in the matter. III they do not ray
their help enough, and parents are obliged
to put their little children in the mills in
order 10 exc out a sustenance, the sooner
they do pay them sufficient wages, the bet
4 ter The mill owners haye duties rs citizens,
70 perform, and so have the municipal author
tiles, and when those duties are discharged
there will he no more trouble
Mr.. Tam said he had found boy Of four
teen years Of age in the mill who was already
seventy five years old in every movement,
dwarfed, and distorted by early toll, and
with the prospect Of life before him and not
worth living. His father, By working an
hour extra, earned 81 IS per day,on which TO
support family OF Eve children, and he
put his boy WHO earned $25 per month-in
the mill to help in their support. He also
described q room in one OF the mills as be-
ing low and damp, where some twenty little
girls were confined, some Of them receiving,
as the overseer informed him only IS per
month, ten cents per day. If he
was misinformed, he wished to be
corrected. He must say that ministers when
they elevate there guns and fire away at the
Jews, had better depress them . little and
hit sombody nearer home.
What surprised him when be visited this
city, was that be found no reading room
no rooms for intellectual improvement, and
the young were left to hang arcund the cor
ners Of the streets. What then shall be done
with the childreng Shall the law be en-
forced and hundreds more Of children bc
turned into the streetsi lie was told that
parents needed the aid Of their children. So
mnch the worse. If your operatives are so
poor that they are Obliged to live on the
hearts blood OF their children, you had
better make up the deficiency. Operatives,
tits said, fiock to Fall River, because they
think they can work here withless schooling
than anywhere else. This il q damage ~
you You pay thousands TO convert the
heathen. Better convert them ut your own
1 door. > ai 48
There ia class here who are loafing and
living on the earnings of their children, but
il people are allowed to grow up as hesthens
this evil will continue to exist He was seni
here to enforce the law. lie did not wish tc
be obliged 10 do it !; he wanted the people
! themselves 10 do it. If you will first zee thf
'truant law enforced rigidly, and the chill
dren Of the streets put TO school, then the
children in the mills will be taken care Of
| He had found here what be had not ex
pected to find in Massachusetts L
years of age WHO cannot tell how old they
tire. He was sorry to 6nd in the Report ol
the school committee Of this city such 70.
marks az were to be- found on the 18th snt
10th pages Of that document, from which hs
read.
1t is said that large portion Of the chii
Ndren in this community are Catholic chill
r 81 l.-s1i - - NJ unhonlo
This Is no excuse. In East Boston, where
1.-The speaker resided, with . population Of
t25 900, there were many Catholics, and ysl
they had met with no trouble. The traana
law was enforced, and the Catholics provid-
ed Schools. and their schools are now .
lcfedit 70 the State. There's the effect Of q
truant Law enforced asit should be. aa
4 But II Is said these factory children at.
tend evening school. Miserable excuse
An evening school will be Of benefit 70 SONS
i sdnlts, but not to little children whose
| physical energ o. have bsen overtssked by
the long and weary labors Of the day. &
Mr. Ham said he wAs going aways bu'
would como back soon and see what pro
grsss had been made. He believed he shoult
fnd progress. But " not, he should en-
], force the law and take the children out Of
the mills. Massachusetts, cannot afford Il
allow these evils 10 exist, and she will not.
/ The speaker said, were he dictator be
4 would cut down the days work to esghl
thoufs, and min owners wosld thank him foI
it. He would establish reading rooms. places
ces of instructien. and other means Of men.
tai and moral Improvement Of the working
fclasses. He gave an account OF the strug
gle which resulted In the establishment ol
4 the ssa hour system in his native towa oi
Bath, Maine, and the disastrocs result,
| which It was predicted would ensae, bat ID
ten years from that time, the workingner
4,wer6 better fed, better clothed, better sdu
Gated. chan ever. a aha
! Dyqllings of the Poor I'm ireland.
| According to the census OF 1861 ther,
were In Ireland SIS, ,042 mud cabins that /,
considerably more than one half the sntif,
u1rnirar sof dwafisuun In sho rsonrs~u ~wD~.