Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1898-01-18
n .eN SOLD INTO SLAVERY.
Rows Bought to Work in
French Factories.

French Factories.
ITO attention has been called to a
n of slave trade now carried on in
noa and Italy by disclosures which
holng made on the subject. The
AIMS are Italian children who are
'rbt from their parents by padrones
forced to work in glass factories,
aar in the central part of France.
,merly large numbers of these chill
N we're sold into virtual slavery as
,cors when multilations were prac-
a "A mon them to excite sympathy,
musicians and as chimney sweeps.
# slave trade was suppressed, but
does not reach the present form.
children bring from 100 TO $50
,ncs $50 to $500, and are sold for a
rod of three years. 1t is so much
Opey found and mouth less to fill,
neasants say. The contracts are
D. r executed before notary, and the
haze priest blesses the departing con
of little ones. There are no sta
Etles Of the mortality among them,
\ # was calculated formerly that of
children taken from their homes
padrOnes twenty returned home at
end of their period of slavery, thir-
settled permanently in their new
hines. and the other fifty died; and,
view of the conditions in which they
ni themselves at the glass works,
hpre is no reason to suppose that the
totality is any less now. The French
forbids the employment Of chill
Nm less than 13 years old at such
rk but that is evaded esaily. Their
,yces are sold to the manufacturers
from 81 to $13 a month, according
the locality, and they work ten hours
DAY. The padrOnes pocket all their
ages and sometimes even the gratui-
4 that may be distributed among the
uDOyes of an establishment upon spe-
ID occasions.
Their condition in the factories is de-
ctbd as shocking. They work in a
uperheated atmosphere, charged in
EDITION with noXious gases, and are
INSTANTLY exposed to severe accidents,
khle their injuries do not receive prop
treatment. They are especially sub
Wt to lung troubles. Bad as their nor
bal state is, in many cases 1t Is aggra-
|ated by brutality of the regular work
ben, who hate them both as being
Italians and as working far below the
Regular scale of wages. They are nat
ally ill-fed. A magistrate who was
iled upon to make an investigation in
certain case found that their chief
fire was sOupe aux legumes and bread,
Flh occasionally a bit of cheese and
vine, but never any meat. 1t Is esti-
hated that the cost of sustenance of
tse children ranges from to 8 cents
day each to the padrones. In one
1@ the cost Of feeding thirteen of the
lte slaves was found to be 40 cents
day. The children are wretched in
ppearance, as is to be expected. They
Pre- lodged in ill-smelling tenements,
FhFee and four on a mattress of sOdden
Etnw, with rarely any coverings, even
winter. They are clothed in rags,
G the padrOnes do not permit them to
parry any luggage from their homes, to
nve expense. The number of these
Fhlldren can only be guessed at. 1t Is
Stmated that in two departments
aO are employed. More children are
INSTANTLY being bought into France
nom Italy to take the places of those
VAo die or become incapacitated for
york. and to supply the increasing de-
nand for cheap labor. So great has
ne demand become of late that girls
swell as boys are being sold by their
aients. The attention of the French
lAa the Italian governments has been
aAed to the matter, and the trade will
regulated, if not suppressed.