The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1901-03-09
CHILD LABOR IN THE SOUTH.


CHILD LABOR IN THE SOUTH.
Disappointment is expressed in many
quarters. at the recent defeat in the
Georgia legislature Of bill prohibit
| ing the employment of children under
the age of twelve years in textile mills.
There are still two dark stains upon
the fair fame of Georgia." declares the
Philadelphia Inquirer; ''her system of
convict labor and the employment of
immature YOUTH Child labor must
CO., adds the Columbia, IS. c. State,
| land that the system, as a system, will
soon be abolished there is every reason
to believe" 1t. continues:
1.-The mill managers in the abundance
of their wisdom realize their duty to
! their operatives and to mankind. They
are ready, we believe, to ameliOrate
abhorrent conditions and to supply the
facilities for the educational training
of their employees children, to the end
that succeeding generations may fur
nish a more intelligent and, therefore,
a more desirable class Of operatives.
The wisdom of dollars and cents de-
mands it no less than the promptings
of conscience. These men of great
ideas and abundant achievements must
realize the obligation to furnish educa-
ton for the young and information and
culture for their elders. There must be
in the mill villages not only schools
and churches but libraries, reading
rooms, lyceums and theaters. A life
lOf incessant toll makes poor work.
man. Diversion is requisite to effici-
ency."
The Farmers Review, a radical paper
published at Bonham, Texas, finds in
the action of the Georgia Legislature
proof that 1.-The southern bourbons are
as much under capitalist influence as
the Republicans are, led by Mark Man.
ma" ''There is no difference between
them, says the Review, except that
the Democrats are worse in their ac-
lions. There are child-labor laws in
most of the Republican states, while
the Democrats of Georgia refuse to
place child-labor law upon the statute
book. No state deserves to be called
civilized that does not possess a suf-
fcient amount Of virtue to protect
helpless children against the brutality
of capitalism
Although the advocates Of the bill
restricting child labor have been de-
feated, it is expected that a part, at
least, of what they sought may be OBJ
tanned by voluntary action on the part
of the employers. The leading textile
manufacturers of Georgia have entered
into an agreement by which they re-
fuse to employ any child under twelve
who has a father able to support him
or to employ children at night. Says
the Raleigh, N. c. News and Observer
1T is gratifying to see that mill own
ers, church leaders, educators and the
press are agreed that child labor shall
end in the factories. There may be
here and there disagreement as to the
manner of putting a stop to it, but an
effective method will be found to do it.
The demand of lazy fathers, who put
their babies in the mills to support
them in idleness, In favor of employing
young children In the mills, will not be
needed. The children must be saved
from the dwarfing process of early con-
finement in the factories. It will not
do to wait another year for this reform
that is demanded in the name of hu-
manity."
In Alabama a bill for the prevention
of child labor is pending in the legisla-
ture and has the support Of most of the
newspapers in the state. A bill has
also been introduced in the South Caro-
Ina senate making 1t a misdemeanor
for a cotton mill to employ children
under twelve years of age. The gov
ernor of South Carolina devoted part
of his recent message to the question.
l"Unless something is done," he said,
Ito protect the tender children of YAM
pire parents, who spend their time in
ldleness and live off the labor of their
little ones, who are required to labor
in the mills from year to year without
the advantages of school, the situation
for the future becomes alarming"
This utterance will be especially CON-
mended," declares the Newark News
when it is considered that South Caro-
lima is the second state in the union in
the number of spindles operated in the
cotton industry" The Boston Trans
cript believes that such legislation as
is proposed is an indication of a change
of opinion, the significance of which
should not be lost sight Of in the north.
LAS the south prospers," it continues,
I'VE may expect to see the southern
parents lose some of their eagerness to
place in factories children that should
be in school. With the intelligence and
self-protection Of southern labor be-
coming something like equal to those of
the organiged labor of Massachusetts,,
the conditions will be evener in the
competition between New England and
southern manufacture.-Litera Digest
| LABOR MOVEMENT.
In general way, the history of the
lS0=nallad Lob he q