The age-herald., 1901-03-31
cwIENzatloN MSoutMevu NIlAs
BY ANOTHER JONES'"

fed half-clothed, half-housed, they toll on, while the poodle dogs of their mas ters are petted and coddled and sleep on pillows of down. and the capltalistlc judges jail the agitators that would dare to help these helpless ones to better their condition.
 Gibson Is another of those little sec tions of hell with which the South is GOV cred. The weaving of gingham Is the principal work. The town Is owned by a banker who possesses both people and mills One of his slaves told me she had received one dollar for her labor for one year. Every weekly pay day her em- ploYer gave her a dollar On Monday she deposited that dollar in the pluck me" store to secure food enough to last until the next pay day, and so on week after week.
 There was once a law on the statute books of Alabama prohibiting the employ ment of children under 12 years of age more than eight hours each day. Tine Gadston Company would not build their mill until they were promlsed that this law should be repealed
 When the repeal came mp for the final reading l find by an examination of the records of the House that there were sixty members present Of these fifty seven voted for the repeal and but three against To the everlasting credit of young Manning, who was a member of that House, let 1t be stated that he both spoke and voted against the repeal.
 l asked one member of the House why he voted to murder the children, and he replied that he did not think they could earn enough to support themselves If they only worked eight hours. These are the kind of tools the intelligent working men put in office.
 The Phoenix mills in Georgia were con- sdering the possibility of a cut in wages 1 something over a year ago. but after making one attempt they reoonsidered and started q savings bank Instead. At l the end of six months the board of direc- l tors met and found out that the poor l wretches who were creating wealth for them were saving 10 per cent. of their wages. Whereupon they promptly cut them that 10 per cent, and the result was the '96 strike I wonder how long the American people will remain silent under such conditions as these.
 Almost everyone of my shop-mates in these mills was a victim of some disease or other. All are worked to the limit of existence The weavers are expected to weave so many yards of cloth each work l ing day To come short of this estimate l ieopardies their job. The factory opera tor loses all energy either of body or of mind The brain is so crushed as to be l incapable of thinking. and one who min l gles with these people soon discovers that their minds, like their bodies are wrecked. Loss of sleep and loss of rest 1 gives rise to abnormal appettes, indiges- ton, shrinkage of stature, bent backs and aching hearts.
 l Such a factory system is one of torture l and murder as dreadful as a longdrawn- l out Turkish massacre, and is a disgrace l to any race or age. As the picture rises l before me I shudder for the future of a nation that is building up a moneyed aristocracy out of the life-blood of the children of the proletariat. It seems as l if our flag is a funeral bandage splotched with blood. The whole picture is one of the most horrible avarice, selfishness and cruelty and is fraught with present hor- TOT and promise of future degeneration. The mother, over-worked and under-fed, gives birth to tired and worn out human beings.
 l can see no way out save in a com plete overthrow of the capitalistic system