The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-11-10

with one or two of our Eastern mills as "spectacular." The gentlemen Of this | committee have no desire to express themselves in the language of impulsive | enithet. We are sincerely grateful TOT ev- | cry motive and for every work which touches and blesses the lot of the unprivi- legged. But when large photographs of the exceptional philanthropies of single mill are seriously brought before the commit Io1 ausmnSIe ue sB sIu1eIsISs'I mo 10 se1 who represents investments from out side The evils may be supported from | the perpetuatio of the general conditions i of child labor in this State. when the ad . | vertisements of unique establishment | are used to cloak the wretched lot or | the average factory when. upon the basis of the representations of Alabama City' men are taught to ignore the essential cru city of the whole miserable system, and | are made blind to the wasting misery of hundreds whom that factory can never 1 touch, then I frankly declare that such philanthropies are indeed 'spectacular." " | for they have actually cursed more than | they have ever blessed. They have be- | come a mockery of love. They may have | benefited the employees of one mill; but | they have served to rivet the chains of a | heart-breakng and wretched slavery up- on hundreds of our little children in the State at large. And, no philanthropy however exceptional, and no institution | al compassion, however effective, can ev- CT justify the refusal, at the door of the factory, of legislative protection to the little child under twelve years of age That is the sole contention of this com mittee.
 Is that asking too much? If Massachu. setts protects at 14 years, may not Ala bama protect at F? Is this too drastic q demand upon the exceptional philanthropy of the mill at Alabama City? hope not , do not mean to write with the slightest personal unkindness, but do write with an intense earnestness of concern in be- half of the sad and unnatura fate of the little people of our factories. We, for their sakes. do not want enemies any where We want friends everywhere. It is with pleasure therefore that l recur to the instructions forwarded by MT. Nich' ols to his agent. Speaking of the employ ment of little children, he said, Not on- ly is it wrong from humanitarian standpoint, but it entails an absolute loss to the mill" There speaks the man of wisdom and the man of heart Does Mir. Nichols mean it? Does the mill a Alabama City mean it? Will Massachu- setts join hands with Alabama?
 That mill, with its great influences, has led the fight in this State against the protection of our little children. Will il continue to represent policy of opposi tion and reaction? Or, will 1t represent a policy of cooperation and of progress Will 1t send its representative, with this committee, before our next Legislature and there declare that the cotton industry of the South, as here undertaken by Mas sachusetts, is too important in it's dignity and it's value to be longer involved in the odium and the horror of an indus trial system which all the world has cast off? If so, that representative may indeed find himself in the company of some of the nobler forces from ''outside.P The whole world has a way of taking the little child to its heart. But he will also find himself in the company-the increas- ingly resolute company-of thousands of the people of Alabama.
 EDGAR GARDNER MURPHY.
 St. Johns Rectory, Montgomery, Ala, November End, 1901.