The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-02-08
FEWER CHILDREN
IN COTTON MILLS
~-------~--------~---
And a F educlion in the Hours
of Labor.
THE QUESTION DISCUSSED
A Powerful Plea For the Children
Made by Mr.. Collins.
AND MILL MEN PROMISE 70 DO BETTER
They Give Assurances That Very Large Mai.
ority of the Mill Men Will Reduce Their
Hours Of Labor and Stop the EN-
nIoyment nf Children.
ployment of Children.

poyment Of Children.
The bills prohibiting The employment of
children and fixing the hours of labor
in factories were considered yesterday by
the House Committee on Proposition and
Grievances.
Remarks were made in behalf of such
measure by Representative Wright, of
Rowan, author of one of the bills, and
by Mr.. Collins, chief of police of Randle-
man, who lives in a factory community
and has made considerable study of the
operatives and their condition.
Mr.. Wright explained the provisions of
his bill and then spoke OF the great
necessity for the enactment of some such
law He discussed in Il general way the
evil effects of long hours of labor on
mill operatives and the blighting effect
of mill employment on children.
Mr.. Collins, who lives in a factory
town and has observed closely the fac
tory question, said
1.-The children are dwarfs in mind and
body-those that are put in the factories.
They work twelve hours da4 standing
most of the time on their feet They
eat twice at night and once in the day.
They get up between and o'clock and
put Some cold or half prepared food into
their stomachs go TO the mill in the
dark often through rain and mud. AT
noon they have only 80 minutes for dim
ner, then back to the drudgery and whirr
OF the mill i'll it is again dark, when
they 90 home to supper A man cannot
stand such life long. How can children
be expected to grow and thrive under
it? They need your help they need ii
in mind and body. man in High Point
today said his observation was that mill
operatives as a rule did no. live to be
over % or 80 years old. Those that go
into the factories as children are always
dwarfs. The strong men and women
around factories come from the country
after they have grown up. Those that
have education usually get ii before NOV
ing to the mills. Many children in the
mills that | know have never seen in
side school house and never will I'M
less YOU help them"
Touching the hours of labor, Mr.. Col
Inns favored a shorter work day and
said:
THE bill proposes IL hours. I thlnr
10 hours better a man can do as much
and certainly better work in 10 hours
than in II. l have had operatives to tell
me this and my own observation and
experience tell me that it's true"
Mr. Colli"s spoke with much earnest
ness and showed perfect familiarity with
the subject of which he was speaking.
He closed his remarks by saying:
Il can't make a speech and never
I Ia Of nd
education, but ! can say may the Lord
direct you to do the right thing in this
matter by the children of the State"
Speeches were made in opposition to
the bill by Mr. S. b. Tanner, secretary
and treasurer of the Henrietta mills in
Rutherford county, and by Mr.. Moses
Cone, president of the Proximity mills at
Greensboro.
Mr. James Fl. Pou attorney for the
mill men Interested in the bill, also
made a statement before the committee
in which he said that the cotton spinners
and manufacturers of the State, at a
recent meeting in Greensboro, had agreed
TO reduce the hours of labor to eleven
and TO discontinue as far as possible the
employment of children under IL years
OF age. This agreement, he said. had
already been signed by a very large per
cent of dhe mill men of the State and
that Mr. Odell had assured him that III
a few days at least four ffths of the
mills and nine tenths OF the spinners will
have signed it.
when they do" added MIR. Pou, "the
other mills will have to comply with
the terms of the agreement, whether they
sign it or not, or they will find them
selves without operatives"
MIR. Cone and Mr. Tanner spoke much
to the same effect. Both told of schools
aud churches maintained and built by
their mills, and declared that the condi-
ton of the mill operatives was much bet
ter than that of the average man on the
farm.
''At our mills, said Mr.. Tanner, 1--WE
employ as few children under IL years
Of age as possible, and only give those
employment who have afflicted parents
or widowed mothers. In such cases we
can in this way do something to help
those who can't help themselves and we
feel that we ought to be left free to do
it. We insist on the young people en-
by us going to school and try to
so arrange that they may take advan
tage of the schools we maintain. At one
mill we have six teachers and at another
We nave TWO. ABOUT SIX nunQFeu chill
dren attend these schools. The county
school funds for the district are used and
then the company contributes enough to
keep the school going from eight to ten
months in the year
Mr. Cone considered legislation on these
point just at this time useless, since the
mills were willing to voluntarily do just
what was asked of them, and were sign
ing an agreement to that effect. He
thought also that it was dangerous, cal
culated to disturb in some degree the
relations now existing between employer
and employe in the mills.
Il don't believe the operatives want
such laws, and to make them now would
be like going into a family and producing
discord and friction among it's members.
The pleasant relations existing be-
tween capital and labor in North Carolina
and the absence of stringent legislation
on the subject Mr.. Cone thought were in