The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-11-10
CHILD LABOR IN THE MILLS.
ROUSE KILLS THE BILL INTENDED
TO PROHIBIT 1T.

The Action Preceded by Protract-
ed Debate But the Measure Turned
Down by the Decisive Vote of 123
10 Motion to Reconsider the
Vote 10 BE Made TO-daY-A Joint
Resolution Introduced Providing
for n Commission to Revise the
Ranking Laws.
Atlanta. Ca, Nov. 9.-The bill prohibit
ing child labor in factories ana other sim
liar places, introduced last session by Sen
ator Craig of the Sixth district was killed
in the House this morning, after warm
debate The bill was special order, and
many speeches were made upon it. 1t
has been more or less discussed by mill
owners. ever since it was introduced, ana
a number of them made p1grimages to
the capitol TO oppose it, Whether the
work of the mill owners had anything to
do with the emphatic manner in which
the House slaughtered the bill is merely
& matter of speculative interest. They
are satisfied with the result at any rate.
When the bill came up Mr.. Rudicil
moved TO amend by making the bill not
applicable to children who are employed
in cotton factories in the rural. districts.
In other words, Mr.. Rudicils amendment
simply killed the effect of the bill, and it
was adopted.
Mr.. Reid of Bib, Mr.. Craig of BibD,
Mr.. Nevin of Floyd and Mr.. Thomas of
Clarke opposed the amendment and Mr..
Rudicil read a letter from cotton fac
tory opposing the bill
Mr.. Boynton of Spalding spoke in favor
of the amendment and said that if it was
a sin for children to work in cotton fac
tories it was upon the head of the parents,
and not the children.
Mr. Thomas, of Clarke, agreed with
Judge Boynton, that the sin was upon the
head of the parents. But" he said, ''let
us fix 1t so the father can't sin against his
children in any such a way. The bill is
in the interest of humanity"
Mr. Brannen, of Bulloch, made a strik-
ing speech: This House represents the in
telligence of the state" said he, yet we
protect the possum and hesitate to protect
the innocent little children. We take care
of the animals of the forest, and the birds
of the air, but for commercial reasons we
withdraw our protection for innocent lit
tie children. There is no lobbyist here to
work for these little children but they
appeal to our hearts, to the noblest senti-
ments of our nature"
Mr. Hill, of Troup, opposed the bill. He
said it was a reflection on every parent,
who had a child at work. If you forbid
these boys and girls to work in the mills,
you make them idle. There is not enough
work on the farms to employ the chill
dren. The saddest sight he ever saw was
girl blowing, or picking cotton. 1t was in
IL %1.oFa, aslfl M
comfortably clad in a building kept at a
temperature uniformly comfortable. There
is a maudln sentiment behind this bill,
said he, "it is an hallucination; it is a
dream
Mr. Swift, of Elberton, offered to amend
the act by making it apply 10 farm hands,
pages in the general assembly, and news
boys so that children under the ages men
toned shall not be permitted to labor in
such capacities.
The ayes and nays were called for on
this amendment, and it was killed by
vote of 1913 to s.
The bill was favorably reported from the
committee on labor and labor statistics,
and a motion to disagree to this report
was made, which prevailed and the bill
killed.
Mr. Nevin of Floyd gave notice that he
would move to reconsider it tomorrow.
The baMnce of the days session was
taken up by a DEBATE over EeSOluliOH
to pay Col w. S. Thompson of Atlanta
$500 for legal services rendered the state
an collecting taxes from G. W. Collier of
Fulton county. The House declined to
pay, though favorably recommended by
the finance committee, being 10th to set
such a precedent.
AS the House was about to adjourn, Mr..
Calvin introduced an important joint res
olution, providing for the appointment by
the governor of a commission of five to
revise the banking laws of the state and
recommend legislation on the subject The
commission is to be composed of one sena-
tor, two representatives and two citizens.
The resolution was adopted and trans
mitted to the Senate.
Phere was barely a quorum present in
the Senate to-day, and the session was de-
voted principally to the transaction of
routine business. Only one important bin
was introduced, and that was offered by
Mr. Mcfarland of the Forty-fourth dis
trict. His bill has for its purpose the
abatement of the cigarette evil, and not
only would prevent the sale of cigarettes
IN Georgia, but also against bringing them
into the state.
There was considerable debate on the
Joint resolution of Mr.. Thomas of Clarke,
appointing a committee of the Senate and
House TO visit and inspect the State Nor
NAL School at Athens. Senator Dunwoody
moved that the resolution be put upon
its passage Immediately. The resolution
was vigorously fought by several of the
members, but was finally passed by vote
of Is TO Il.