The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-01-10

tav e0nyuse mankind, then go down
inl3 history. very often hardly leaving
n memory, but this question Of how to
treat labor has been with man from the
beginning.
Masonry. as its name implies. was q
l.,}sar organization originally. Its hIsto-
RI goes hack further than that Of any
country OF religion. Solomon most ike
IL found il as an old institution when
tee began the temple and, needing sys-
tom of tliscinline to manage his thousands
al workmen. be recognized the order
rlade il work to his interest and not a
ea:nSt him. besides sending his name
down through all time rs the first grand
master
The point Of this is that solomon had
the good sense 40 use a labor organization
for his own benefit instead Of antagonlz-
ing 4 and ma king it his enemy. Alas.
we have no Solomons low. Too many
,f tE2 managers of our industrial estab-
giSRmcnts by their treatment of their OPP
a,rafiycs make labor organizations ne
cessity. and then when the logical consc-
auence of their treatment has done Just
What ii has through Vi ages Of the world
ANA they should have known what was
coming. then they undertake 10 crush out
the very thing they have nnrsed into life,
Except on the railroads there Is very bit
The organization among southern wage
carners. There arc some lodges Of the
typographical union. some of the binders,
carpenters and some few other oyganlza-
5ions. But they are not strong enough to
1e considered 4 real force.
Their Is no organization in the COTTON
and wooden factories, and as long as these
factories are managed rs they have been
ana fhc help is treated as it is new there
should be none As ] said one year ago,
the mill owners have an opportunity Of
making what they please out of their
help. They have as fine material as ever
went into "A factory from a farm. Ii
they are treated as help has been in older
factories and in England they will reap
the same harvest Of friction, unrest and
discord AMI they will have no one to
blame but their own greed and their self
iShness.
The mill men of North Carolina will
average above any other class of our elti-
zens always excepting the ministry. They
build school houses, churches and add to
the school year furnished by the free
schools. i have been 10 the mills, been
TO the houses Of the employees, which IN
a great many instances are furnished
rent free, and have been much gratified
at their home life. But the worst phase
of this question is, what TO do with the
children.
The less labor laws are needed the bet
ter the wage Garner is off, but this child
question should be fairly faced, met .end
settled. What hope is there for coun-
try when the children who are to become
the fathers and mothers OF large por-
ton of our people are stunted and
dwarfed morally, mentally and physically
hy being put 10 work too young. But
how can ii be helped? A distinguished
bishop once said, Give me child until
il Is 10 years old and l care mot what
church takes it after that" 1t will not
do to turn the chtldren loose on the com
snunity until they are IL or II years old
without any control or discipline more
than they an get from their parents,
who foo often want them at work so
they can live in idlencss from their poor
little wages. It will surprise a great
many people to know that some parents
are so depra we'd that they look upon these
tots as crop for them to profit by
bringing them UP in ignorance, but let
IL be said TO the credit of the owner OF
the mill. that nineteen out OF twenty
fines he does not want them, but has to
put them to work to retain the older nlem-
bers OF the family 1t seems to me that
the only solution of this important ques-
ton is 10 pass
], COMPULSORY SCHOOL LAW.
And AS ;he parents are harder to reach,
make II against the law for a child to be
rmphoyed without having certiflcate
showing that they had been 10 school a
certain length of time the preceding year
until they reach the age IA, and then
they must be able to read and write.
Some time ago a professor in one OF
our colleges said to me: If the parents
want TO put the children TO work at
or 10 years old, and the mill owner Is
willing, | do not see that. the State has
any right TO interfere" My answer was:
10 make an illustration illustrate, II
must go 10 an extreme. Now, suppose
a factory could use the fingers OF children
and were willing and anxious TO pay
good price for them, and the parents We're
willing, would the State have right to
YES. sir!' Then | asked: If it can
stop the running of the hand, has it not
also the right to protect and save what is
Of infinitely more value-the mental and
moral nature?' The length Of the day
could and should be regulated by the
mills so that there viii be no need Of
any law on the subject. O7T people do
not need law to limit the hours Of labor
nearly so much as they do law to give the
factories business to employ the idle help.
During the past summer very large ma
iority of the mills either shut down or
worked only part of the time.
Now, as the greatest compliment that
can be paid man is to initiate him,
will follow in the illust"ious footsteps Of
the great economist. Edward Atkinson,
in your January 1896 number, and say a
word about finance. He advocates the
gold standard, which means simply IA
contracting currency, and speaks of the