The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1896-06-19

-uch results as are given heref Would
itnot bea mild course OF procedure and
eminently just to the children 20 saw
this?
The evils of this system have become
80 notorious in the manufactnr;pS
States of the North that they have. many
OF them' enacted stringent laws against
IL; Massachusetts,. hitherto tho greatest
manufacturing State. 80 far as textile
fabrics are concerned, have gone, I
believe, farther than has any other.
State on that line.
Many manufacturers would cheer.
fully acquiesce in sach akw; bns till
positive prohibitlonis is enacted against
employing children under certain ages
In my manufacturing establishments,
competition being SO 'sharpas it is,
the unscrupulous competitor would
have decided advantage over the
more humane man; and this fact COM
Peis the humane man to employ the
children, or else compete with his un-
scrupulous rival at disadvantage.
Free the manufacturer from taxa.
ton for series of years, If you will,
alheit their profits in the South render
them abler to pay taxes than. are the
farmers, but save the children from
the cupidity OF Iounging. loating, lazy
men. who claim to be- parents without
an just claim to that sacred nppellation,
and save them to society and State. !.
know parents who nre Industrious
and work hard themselves,
who put their children in fac
tories to work. This is all
we'll enough after q certain age, but
not in mere childhood. Many of the
beet and most thoughtful men and
women, who have made carefpl study
of the situation, now claim that the
child shonld be taken while quite
young into the kindergarten depart
ment, and its powers drawn out there
till old enough to go to higher de-
partment. OF one thing I feel quite.
sure aud that is that the State should
provide ample opportunities for every
child in its borders to obtain fair
English education, placing good
moral training-not q sectarian one,
at the very foundation of the edpoa-
tional fabric, and them compel the
parents to accept and utilize the pro-
visions.
The State has o right to claim
good citizenship, both in it's own pres.
ent interests and the interests of fn-.
ture generations. 1t is poor stntes.
manship to build with an eye only to
the present emergency, ignoring the
future. 1 know many thoughtless
persons say, "Take care of the present
and let the future provide for ITSELF" y;
Where would we be now had the men
of 1776 acted upon that foolish .sug,
gestion
Will anybody say, 1--WE shall scare
off Northern capital if We undertake to
protect the children9" Stop and think
minute. Do you remember that on.
ly the other day one youth of 20. and
another of 18 years we're arraigned in.
2XHaelthsm 2Halliams an&aa n&aassseeegass.ts, eeg for ines9s
charge of kindling various Ares. which
we eyre told had consumed one and
one half million dollars worth of prop.
erty ''just to see the blaze"? ..-.-.:
DO you think Northern capitalists
will stay away from the South because
we assure them that we intend to train
our boys to better behavior than that
by putting them in school as soon as
they are old enough, and keeping them
there till they are fixed in better hab-
it's?
But to close, with one other idea
about preserving the little ones from
the cruel bondage of the factory slave.
You enact laws for the protection of
horses and oxen from tho. cruelty of.
owners, and therein you do. we'll. Is
not child of more valne than horse.
or an ox?. If SO, why not protect
them?" Take heed that ye despise not
one of these little ones; for, say unto.
you that in heaven their angels do al
ways behold the face of the Father
which is in heaven. said the Master.