The times., 1898-12-12
HEARD In THE LOBBIES.

"The employment of child labor in the
factories and sweat shops of st. Louis is
on the increase yearly" said ]. w. Kel-
logg, of that place, at the Cochran last
night. in fact this truth is so potent
TO the Missouri. State Labor Bureau that
an effort will be made, in conjunction
with the Humane Society of ST. Louis and
other organizations for the prevention of
cruelty to women and children, TO secure
the enactment of laws at the coming ses-
sion of the legislature that will COM
pletely wipe out the evil.
Certain laws were passed by the last
legislature, but they proved inadequate
Under them it is still impossible for the
commissioner of labor to prevent parents
from putting the children TO work who
ought to be in nurseries. Furthermore,
unscrupuFous employers who seek to grow
rich by replacing adults with child labor
cannot be legally reached. Even the ap-
pointment- of a factory inspector by the
mayor. which might have tended to cur
tail the practice, has been blocked by the
action of the municipal assembly in
pigeonholing a bill calling for an appro-
priation to pay the salary of such an
officer.
There are only thirty-eight children un-
der the prescribed age employed in fac
tories in Missouri, according TO the last
report of the labor commissioner All
these are in St. Louis. He explains,
though, that the number of cases is very
much larger, but that he has no power to
| go behind the mere statements Of chill
| dren that they are fourteen years old or
more
LAS matter of fact, the number is way
| up in the hundreds. while at Christmas
| time and just before the holidays even
| this estimate would fall short. The other
! day / was talking to a friend. who found
nineteen young girls along with others,
employed in a certain alley. Nearly all
wore short skirts and the effect of the
work they are compelled to do showed in
nearly every face. 1t seems almost use
less to pursue the matter though Even
if there were any way III which to prove
the c..--~ren are too young to be at work
| the parents could set up plea of pow
erty and checkmate any effort that might
be made to secure their discharge"
''The Rev. DR.. Lyman Abbott, during
recent meeting of the Congregational
| Club, in Brooklyn said H. H. Mcclure
of that city. at the Shoreham. spoke
at length on the topic of expansion He
asserted that there were many persons
who said we had no right to secure Cuba
and the Philippines simply for the sake
| of expansion, and now that we had
them we don't know what to do with
| them, unless it be to set up an imperial
government. Such a thing was never
said by the President or the people who
desired a war for humanity
when we took louisiana people said,
You are to manage your own affairs in
| your own way, and We'll protect you.'
I've began the war by declaring, by
unanimous vote. that We were not going
to take Cuba for ourselves. What did
we do said DIR. Abbott, to give any
body an Idea that anything else would be
done? We conquered the Philippines,
not for ourselves. but for the sake of
humanity. We wanted to see the Amer
icah Government protect those possess
sions against the enemy on the outside
and against anarchy and insurrection
within. The United States should make
other nations keep their hands off An
attack on these islands should be consid-
cred an attack on u.s.