The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1901-08-03
CHILDREN IN TIE CO7TON MILLS.

poor, has come TO TINS country 10
prosecute a similar work.
Miss Ashley has visited many of
the cotton mills in the south. and has
drawn Il most graphic and pathetic
picture Of the children employed in
these mills, in an article which APP
reared in the New Orleans Picayune
of recent date The following extract
is quoted from the article:
Child labor. the tragedy and
shame of industrial England n hun
dred years ago, is the Specter of the
new south today" she says. The
commercial Minotaur claims the chill
dren of the sunny southland as hos
tages of fortune. and their cry rings
through the land. For twelve long
hours the little laborer walks the
treadmill to the whirring of countless
spindles and the singing of myriad
wheels. From O'Clock in the morning
until + O'Clock at night the tiny.
fragile hand plies its task. Then
comes the night shift. Another little
gray shadow fits to the loom. An
other little figure tiptoes to the ropes,
another baby guides the endless cot
ton thread through the midnight
hours until the break of another day.
''Throughout the cotton States the
cry of the children is heard today,
p~laintive and pitiful. Seven months
spent among the mills of the Caro-
| linas, of Georgia and Alabama. and in
the mills of the latter state alone |
computed there were 1.200 children
under the age of twelve years. In
| the twenty-five mills of which | have
statistics personally collected there
are CPS operatives. 400 at least of
which are children. On the same
basis of calculation there are about
900 in the state. but this estimate is
below the actuality. In many cases
was able to count personally a
larger number than the superintend-
ents acknowledged. To these must
be added the children and sisters, who
are not counted or paid "a workers,
although they often do Il full days
NbI r. do dlHlltllNIAtNs q
manufacturer is not responsible for
this condition. Its responsibility lies
entirely with the northern capitalist.
"Of eleven practical superintendent
to whom | talked, several being from
Massachusetts or Pennsylvania, ten
declared that doing away with the
labor of children under l. years old
would benefit. rather than harm the
industry.
This, because they are wasteful
workers. need much supervision, and
what is still more important from the
| selfish standpoint Of the mill owner
himself. they are spoiled as operatives
for the future by the destruction Of
their health.
This observation regarding the
responsibility of northern capitalists
is borne out by many facts which
personally Investigated.
In the ten mills | visited, run by
northern capital, the number of chill
dren under II was almost double the
number in the remaining number run
by southern capital.
THE %prejudices, fears and supersti.
tion Of ignorant local manufacturers
are cleverly played upon and as the
helpless citizens OF ancient Athen,
once a year sent their innocent chill
dren as hostages to the monster OF
Crete. so the people of the south are
pledging their little children as host.
ages of fortune to IA monster not les
cruel and at the beheSt of Il %supersti
ton not less senselesS."
Several years ago the working o
children OF tender years in mills
and factories was prohibited undo
heavy penalties by the government il
Germany. The same thing has beef
done recently in New Zealand. II
many of the states in this country tn
employment of children of tender ag
in factories is prohibited by the stat
ute.
Miss Ashley does not overstate tn
cause of these unfortunate little chi
dren who are made old during thei
tender childhood, and worn out in tn
very spring time Of their young lives
Miss Ashley, no doubt justly place
the responsibility in the states 'mei
toned by her, upon the northern car
~italists who own the mills. But wha
about Mississippi, where the mills al
owned almost if not exclusively b
, home capitalists?
Mississippi has. comparatiy e |
speaking. only a few cotton mills. bu
! in those little children Of tender year
are working as factory hands, an
presumably under substantially til
| same conditions as those described b
Miss Ashley as existing in Mort
and South, Carolina, Alabama an
Georgia. Mississippi did noble won
of philanthropy when the Constitl
/. ts,n1 ff,rtt,. , 80 ISnn ,hnlipIn