The San Francisco call., 1901-11-19
CHILD LABOR IN THE SOUTH.

TX ITH the increase of the manufacturing in
Nv dustry in the South the people of that sec
ton of the Union have been called upen to
confront several labor problems which the people of
the North and the West have settled long ago. One
of these is that of employing child labor in the newly
established factories Mill have been in
cned to take advantage OF cheap child labor wherever
they could. 1t was SO in old England and in New
England. 1t is therefore not strange that the same
practice would have been introduced in the Southern
States, and is foregone conclusion that the over
throw OF the system will require long and hard
fight.
In two important respects the people who fight
ing against child labor in the South have advantages
over those who made the same fight in Great Britain
and in the Northern States. They have body of
public sentiment already formed to which they can
appeal; and they have also strongly organized labor
unions 70 help them in the contest. By reason of
these advantages the struggle in the South may end
IN victory for the children much more promptly
than in the older manufacturing In fact
siderable progress has been already made in several
States and it is not at all unlikely that legislation SINH
lar to that in Northern States the subject will be
enacted ir some of the Southern States in the near
future.
A curious phase in the Southern fight against the
abuse of child labor is the recent appeal made by
Southern reformers "the people and press of New
England" The appeal appears strange to those who
not familiar with the situation for it is not ap-
parent the face OF things how New England sem
timent could be influential in promoting legislation in
the South 1t happens however, that so many South
mills owned by New Englanders that the peo-
pie have begun to classify the mills into what they
call Northern mills" or those owned in the North,
and Southern mills or those owned by local capi-
the Southern owners, but New England sentiment is
desired to influence the New England owners
The most significant paragraph in the appeal says:
while the proportion of children under IL in our
Northern and Southern mills is approximately the
yet in the mills representing Northern invest
ments the number of such children employed is twice
great the number found in the mills controlled
by Southern capital" AS the appeal comes from Ala
bama and is signed exclusively by Alabama men, it
may represent the condition of affairs in the mills of
that State only 1t is probable however that in other
Southern States the situation is not essentially differ
ent, and it would seem therefore, that in going South
the Northern capitalists have been seeking not only
milder climate and cheaper raw material but also
cheaper labor even if they have to resort to children
to get it.
From all reports the evil has become serious one
The wages paid the children range from 2s and 90
cents day and in parents have been found
living in ideness on the wages earned by children ur-
der 12 years of age The profits to the mill owners
from such labor seems to be considerable, and their
opposition to any legislation the subject has been
persistent and strong. The issue affects Northern
labor as well Southern for the New England fac
tory hand forced to compete against the cheap labor
of the South 1t is therefore quite proper that the
Southern reormers have appealed to Northern senti-
ment for assistance in bringing about the enactment
| of laws that will put an end to the practice