The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-12-11

Truly yours,
A. c. MILLER,
Proprietor Belmont Cotton Mills.
Shelby, y. c., Nov. II. 1900.
To the Editor: Your letter, in which
YOU ask me to write you on the subject
of child labor in Southern cotton mills
has been duly received. | at hrSt heSl-
tated. but with the sole hope that | may
set right a few erroneous ideas and that
| may throw some light on the SUBJECT, !
have decided to write you.
The child labor problem is a subject
that few men understand thoroughly,
and it is a subject that should be handled
| most carefully. In arriving at a solution
of this problem it is we'll to note that
the elimination of one evil may give
| rise to other and more serious evils. The
| interests of the working children are IN
| many cases the interests of home. Let
me illustrates: We have hundreds OF
widows in our State whose sole depend
ence for life's necessities rest upon the
labor of a few small children; many OF
these mothers are physically lncapacl-
| tated for work. What if legislation
should offer her kindly hand and forbid
the working Of these children? WHAT
| would become Of the children? What of
| the lQOJn6TS !. Either III lS5ioiibuiC
| must enact laws providing for them, or
! they must throw themselves on the colo
! charities of the world.
l would not impugn the motives of our
honorable legislators, but would suggest
that they exercise great care in legislat-
ing in behalf of a class upon whose real
conditions and responsibilities they are
not fully posted. Man is mortal and
hence liable to err. 1t is possible for
ones feelings to impair the correctness
of his judgment. Men who do not con-
tinually come in contact with the chill
dren in our textile mills have most err
roneous ideas of the condition Of these
children. That the children are being
worked to death or made dwarfs by rea-
son of being put to work in cotton mills
are ideas as false as they are prevalent.
AS q matter of fact the children of from
8 to II years Of age do not work half of
their time; they are given just enough
work to make them happy and contented.
In the spinning room, for there most OF
the children work, girls Is to IS years of
age can attend to eight or ten sides of
spinning and make from soc. to S1.O0 per
day of eleven hours: a child can attend
TO two or three sides and make zoe. to soc.
per day.
repeat that l am perfectly willing that
the children be prohibited from working
in our mills provided the same law
makers make full provisions for the chill
dren and their mothers. The only fear
is at the hands of men who do not know
the situation. and if these men should
forbid by law enactment the working of
these children and leave them unprovided
for. they will invoke the curses of the
children and their mothers, rather than
their blessings.
If the Legislature wishes to confer a
blessing upon the mill children let it pass
an act making it compulsory for the chill
dren to attend school three or four months
out of each year. That is the only hope
for the education Of these children.
| am interested in four mills in Gas
tonia. at each of which we own a school
building of modern style and we'll equip
ped. For each school we employ a first
class teacher. and all we ask is for the
children to attend. the children of each
home too young to work alternating in
their turns. Our experience is that only
d small per cent attend these schools.
Great have been the improvements
made in the factories during the past %
years. There are today few dangers to
operatives: comforts, conveniences and
safe guards are many. The children are
Well cared for and protected.
The writer wishes to say, if you VIII
pardon a personal reference, that he
started TO work in a cotton factory when
he was Just eight years old, and in the
good old days of long ago when they
worked II hours per day. and longer if
? the lard OIL in the little tin lamps
would hold out, and he did not work for
fun either, nor yet for his health; he
worked for bread for self and mother. He
has seen yon sun twice twenty
times return since he started to work in
the mill. and those VINO know him will
l testify that he is neither a dwarf nor an
invalid.
The children Of today arc not being
hurt, they do not work half so hard nor
half 50 long as they did IN the long ago.
1t must be admitted that some children
|! work liz mills as d result of indolent and